German actress Sarah Alles has been cast in Marion Bott’s Moormaid – an explosive new play about two lost individuals’ search for freedom. Moormaid will mark both Alles and Bott’s UK debuts.
Set in Berlin, Moormaid is a thrilling chamber-play about self-destruction and rebirth that attempts to understand the fear currently gripping the European psyche, and the threats that may be posed by our own alienated youth. Bott’s inspiration for Moormaid came in 2014, when she discovered that two of her old classmates had travelled to Syria to fight for IS and didn’t come back. She was shocked by the banality with which the news was discussed and how this absurdity has now become a normality.
Moormaid tackles challenging and important issues that are often neglected: cultural differences, radicalisation, mental health, self-acceptance and isolation. It seeks to better understand the human beings caught up in extremism and the cages we build for ourselves that form our point of view.
Berlin. Eleven past eleven. Art teacher Melissa is about to do something drastic. Seeking a place to hide, her ex-pupil Mehdi interrupts her momentum. This meeting is the key to her questions as Melissa represents a depressed and fearful generation longing to break out. Medhi is the mirror of her darkest and greatest desires – he provokes and draws out all the suppressed aspects of her personality and brings them back to life, no matter how uncomfortable it becomes. Both embark on a turbulent journey, painting and battling their way through the past.
Alles comments, “I’m excited to be making my UK debut at Arcola Theatre and I’m looking forward to diving into this incredible new play. Melissa is a strong female character despite her struggles with her inner mind – she has built a cage around herself, like a dolls house that she has to live in. I hope we can make people wake up and see the cages they build and hopefully tear them into pieces.
Moormaid is at The Arcola Theatre 18th April – 19th May 2018.
