59E59 Theaters (Elysabeth Kleinhans, Artistic Director; Peter Tear, Executive Producer) welcomes Nihal Theatre Company in association with Louise Chantal Productions to Brits Off Broadway with the US premiere of DON'T WAKE ME: THE BALLAD OF NIHAL ARMSTRONG, written by Rahila Gupta, directed by Guy Slater, and starring Jaye Griffiths. DON'T WAKE ME: THE BALLAD OF NIHAL ARMSTRONG begins performances on Tuesday, April 1 for a limited engagement through Sunday, April 20. Press opening is Sunday, April 6 at 7:30 PM. The performance schedule is Tuesday - Thursday at 7:30 PM; Friday at 8:30 PM; Saturday at 2:30 PM & 8:30 PM; and Sunday at 3:30 PM & 7:30 PM. Performances are at 59E59 Theaters (59 East 59th Street, between Park and Madison Avenues). Tickets are $25 ($17.50 for 59E59 Members). To purchase tickets, call Ticket Central at (212) 279-4200 or visit www.59e59.org.
Rahila Gupta was told that her severely disabled son Nihal would never have a "normal" life. They both proved the experts wrong. This powerful and poetic story of the bonds between mother and son features an indelible performance by Jaye Griffiths.
DON'T WAKE ME: THE BALLAD OF NIHAL ARMSTRONG swept the 2013 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, with
Jaye Griffiths receiving a Best Solo Performer nomination. The play was called " a beautifully constructed piece that relives this mother-son relationship with a heart-aching sense of authenticity" by London's Evening Standard. Joyce McMillan, writing in The Scotsman, said it "moves along on a tide of mighty poetry, like a great love song from the mother to her beautiful and brilliant boy."
The production designer is Elroy Ashmore. Music by Sophie Cotton.
Rahila Gupta (playwright) has written for Westway (BBC World Service Drama), co-scripted the screenplay for Provoked, starring
Aishwarya Rai,
Naveen Andrews and
Miranda Richardson, released in 2007. She writes for The Guardian and openDemocracy among other papers and websites. Her books include Circle of Light (reissued as Provoked), From Homebreakers to Jailbreakers: Southall Black Sisters and Enslaved: The New British Slavery.
Guy Slater (director) began his professional career as an actor, wrote many TV dramas, series as well as single plays for Armchair Theatre, ITV Playhouse and ITV's first original TV screenplay for Euston Films, Seasong. He founded the Horseshoe Theatre Company of Basingtoke at the Haymarket Theatre and remained its Artistic director for seven years. In TV he was the originating producer and director of individual episodes of three long-running series for the BBC, Nanny with
Wendy Craig, Miss Marple with
Joan Hickson and Love Hurts with
Adam Faith and Zoe Wanamaker. He has also directed
Robert Powell in Hannay, Paul Schofield in Only Yesterday and many of the most illustrious British acting fraternity, including
Peter Cushing,
Derek Jacobi,
Penelope Cruz,
Tom Wilkinson,
Sylvia Syms,
Trudie Styler, Zoe Wanamaker,
Wendy Craig, and
Timothy West.
Jaye Griffiths (actor) recent credits include the title role in Clytemnestra for the re-opening of the Sherman Cymru Theatre in Cardiff. Jaye recently appeared in Coronation Street (ITV), Silent Witness, 3 series (BBC), Skins (E4), Salome (
Headlong Theatre), Category B and Seize the Day (
Tricycle Theatre), a Touch of Frost (ITV), Criminal Justice (BBC), Bugs, 4 series (BBC) and The Bill (ITV). Theatre includes Othello (
Cheek by Jowl) for which she won the
Clarence Derwent Award, A Midsummer Night's Dream (Bristol Old Vic), Julius Caesar (Young Vic), Gasping (Haymarket), A Woman of No Importance (RSC) and Wit (West End).
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