RSC ANNOUNCE FULL CASTING FOR THE PULITZER PRIZE WINNING PLAY ENGLISH AT THE OTHER PLACE AND KILN THEATRE
By Sanaz Toossi
Directed by Diyan Zora
The Other Place, Stratford-upon-Avon
Thursday 09 May – Saturday 01 June
Press Night: Wednesday 15 May
Box Office: rsc.org.uk, 01789 331111
Kiln Theatre, London
Wednesday 05 June – Saturday 29 June
Press Night: Thursday 06 June
Box Office: kilntheatre.com, 020 7328 1000
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The Royal Shakespeare Company announces the full cast and creative team for English in association with the Kiln Theatre. The Pulitzer Prize winning play by Sanaz Toossi will have its European premiere at The Other Place in Stratford-upon-Avon between 9 May – 1 June before transferring to the Kiln in London from 5 June. There will be a press night at The Other Place on 15 May, and a London press night on 6 June.
Full cast includes Nadia Albina as Marjan, Sara Hazemi as Goli, Lanna Joffrey as Roya, Nojan Khazai as Omid and Serena Manteghi as Elham. Four of the five actors will make their RSC debut as part of Daniel Evans and Tamara Harvey’s inaugural season as Co-Artistic Directors.
A classroom in Iran. Four adult classmates grapple with learning English as a foreign language. As they attempt to perfect their accents, pronunciation and vocabulary, they realise that there is more to their lives than can ever be uttered through language.
Nadia Albina, playing Marjan, last performed at the RSC in Hecuba, Othello and The Merchant of Venice in 2015. Albina played Lady Katherine in Emilia both at Shakespeare’s Globe in 2018 and during its West End run at the Vaudeville Theatre a year later. Other theatre credits include: Maryland, Living Newspaper: 5 (Royal Court), Dear Elizabeth (Gate Theatre), Macbeth (National Theatre) and Quiz (Chichester Festival Theatre).
Sara Hazemi makes her RSC debut as Goli - she was nominated for an Off West End Theatre Award (Lead Performance in a Play) for her role in A Sudden Violent Burst of Rain (Paines Plough/Gate Theatre). Other theatre credits include: A Guest (Vaults Festival), Half Empty Glasses, The Ultimate Pickle (Paines Plough) and Tales From Hans Christian Anderson (Guildford Shakespeare Company).
Lanna Joffrey plays Roya in her RSC debut season. She is an award-winning performer and a company member of The Factory, Barefoot Theatre, the Membership Lead of MENA Arts UK and the Founder of Hyphen Artist Collective. Lanna’s latest theatre credits include Sister Radio (Pitlochry, Traverse, Tron, Perth, Lemon Tree, Derby, Byre), I Call My Brothers (Gate Theatre), The Time Of Our Lies (Park Theatre) and The Eyes of the Night (Cervantes Theatre).
Nojan Khazai is an Oxford School of Drama graduate who makes his RSC and professional debut in the role of Omid.
Known for her roles in Bleak Expectations (Criterion Theatre) and as Alba Ortiz in the British thriller, The Diplomat, Serena Manteghi makes her RSC debut in the role of Elham. Other theatre credits include Hamlet (Shakespeare’s Rose Theatre), Eurydice (Holden Street Theatres, Adelaide), The Rise and Fall of Little Voice (Stephen Joseph Theatre), and the UK tour of The Hound of the Baskervilles.
English is directed by Diyan Zora. The creative team includes Anisha Fields as Set and Costume Designer, Elliot Griggs as Lighting Designer, George Dennis as Sound Designer, Maria Tarokh as Movement Director and Lotte Hines CDG as Casting Director. Full biographies can be found on the RSC website.
-ENDS-
For further press information, please contact: Armani Ur-Rub, Senior Publicist, RSC: armani.ur-rub@rsc.org.uk
LISTING INFORMATION
English
The Other Place, Stratford-upon-Avon
Thursday 09 May – Saturday 01 June
Press night: Wednesday 15 May
Audio Described and Captioned: Saturday 25 May, 1.30pm (Touch Tour, 11.30am)
Performance with Integrated BSL Interpreter and Post Show Talk (BSL Interpreted): Friday 31 May, 7.30pm
Performance with Integrated BSL Interpreter, Chilled and Handheld Captioned: Saturday 01 June, 1.30pm
Kiln Theatre, London
Wednesday 05 June – Saturday 29 June
Press night: Thursday 06 June
Post show Q&A: Tuesday 18 June, 7.30pm
Captioned performance: Thursday 20 June, 7.30pm
Relaxed performance: Wednesday 26 June, 2.30pm
Touch Tour: Thursday 27 June, 6pm
Audio Described performance: Thursday 27 June, 7.30pm
FOR FULL SCHEDULE DETAILS VISIT RSC.ORG.UK
NOTES TO EDITORS:
The RSC is supported using public funding by Arts Council England
The work of the RSC is supported by the Culture Recovery Fund
The RSC is generously supported by RSC America
English at Kiln Theatre is supported by Cockayne – Grants for the Arts: a donor advised fund held at The London Community Foundation
RSC £10 Tickets for 14-25s supported by TikTok
The RSC Acting Companies are generously supported by The Gatsby Charitable Foundation
New Work at the RSC is generously supported by Hawthornden Foundation and The Drue and H.J. Heinz II Charitable Trust
Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC)
The Royal Shakespeare Company creates exceptional theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon, London and around the world, performing plays by Shakespeare and his contemporaries, as well as commissioning a wide range of original work from contemporary writers. Our purpose is to ensure that Shakespeare – and theatre as a whole – is for everyone, and we do that by unlocking the power of his plays and live performance, and with our learning and education work throughout the UK and across the world.
Kiln Theatre
Kiln Theatre sits in the heart of Kilburn in Brent, a unique and culturally diverse area of London where over 140 languages are spoken. We are a welcoming and proudly local venue, with an internationally acclaimed programme of world and UK premieres. Our work presents the world through a variety of lenses, amplifying unheard/ignored voices into the mainstream, exploring and examining the threads of human connection that cross race, culture and identity.
We believe that theatre is for all and want everyone to feel welcome and entitled to call the Kiln their own. We are committed to nurturing the talent of young people and providing a platform for their voices to be heard.
Artistic Director: Amit Sharma | Co-Interim Executive Directors: Michele Lonergan & Catherine Thornborrow
www.KilnTheatre.com | @KilnTheatre | Charity No. 276892 | KilnTheatre.com
Arts Council England is the national development agency for creativity and culture. We have set out our strategic vision in Let’s Create that by 2030 we want England to be a country in which the creativity of each of us is valued and given the chance to flourish and where everyone of us has access to a remarkable range of high-quality cultural experiences. We invest public money from Government and The National Lottery to help support the sector and to deliver this vision. www.artscouncil.org.uk.
Following the Covid-19 crisis, the Arts Council developed a £160 million Emergency Response Package, with nearly 90% coming from the National Lottery, for organisations and individuals needing support. We are also one of the bodies responsible for administering the Government’s unprecedented Culture Recovery Fund, of which we delivered over £1 billion to the sector in grants and loans. Find out more at www.artscouncil.org.uk/covid19.
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