BRUTE by Izzy Tennyson to Hit the Soho Theatre

After a successful run at the Edinburgh Fringe 2015, Izzy Tennyson's BRUTE comes to Soho Theatre. BRUTE (winner of the 2015 IdeasTap Underbelly Award) is an exciting piece of new writing based on the true story of a rather twisted, horrible schoolgirl. Tennyson's truthful writing is fearless, laced with a deliciously scabrous humour.

BRUTE will play the Soho Theatre (21 Dean Street, London W1D 3NE) Tuesday 15th, Thursday 17th and Saturday 19th March 2016, 7pm.

Being 14 is an awful age. You're not a very nice person at 14. No one knows this better than new girl Poppy who has just started at an all-girls' state school. There are rules with no logic, sadistic jokes that aren't actually funny and the most sinister games played out of boredom. And, you'd better not be fat or clever or you're fucked.

Set in a girls' school in a provincial English town far away from cosmopolitan and cultural influences, BRUTE explores memories of the protagonist's intensely passionate female friendships as they escalate into violence.

Written as a dynamic monologue, the piece is based on girls from Tennyson's peer group. The themes in BRUTE explore the economic climate, bullying and female violence along with the complexity of adolescent female friendships. BRUTE also touches on the sensitive topics of adolescent hysteria and girls' relationships with authority, especially how female 'problem cases' are handled at school.

BRUTE is part of the Soho Rising Season this Spring. Tennyson, part of Soho Theatre's 'Soho Young Company' developed BRUTE during the Writers' Lab Course. Soho Education Producer Jules Haworth has worked as Dramaturg on BRUTE from its inception.

IF YOU GO:

BRUTE by Izzy Tennyson

Tuesday 15th, Thursday 17th and Saturday 19th March 2016

Running time: 1 hour

Soho Theatre, 21 Dean Street, London W1D 3NE

Tickets are available from www.sohotheatre.com or 020 7478 0100; priced at £15 (£12.50)

Soho Theatre is located on Dean Street. The nearest underground stations are Tottenham Court Road (on the Central and Northern lines), Oxford Circus Street (on the Bakerloo, Central and Victoria line) and Leicester Square (on the Northern and Piccadilly lines). The nearest rail station is Charing Cross.

Izzy Tennyson's work encompasses playwriting, stand-up comedy, poetry and performing her own autobiographical work and immersive theatre. After winning third prize in the Roundhouse's 2014 Poetry Slam, Izzy went on to perform her work at Bestival and as a curtain- raiser for Kate Tempest's Hopelessly Devoted with the Roundhouse Collective and has supported Byony Kimining's at Scottee's Fraff Night. She has performed stand-up with the Soho Theatre Comedy Lab and took her act to the 2014 Edinburgh Fringe Festival as part of Rooke, Woods and Tennyson. Alongside performing, she has also written several plays, including On Hold, which had a well-reviewed one month run at the 2013 Edinburgh Fringe Festival and with the theatre company Scatchworks won the award for the 'Best Overall Body of Creative Work' from the NSDF/Sunday Times. Izzy has also written with the Almeida Theatre Latitude Show as well as working with Viv Franzmann at the Lyric Hammersmith Young Writers and has been selected to compete for the Soho Theatre Young Writers Award.

Hannah Hauer-King is a freelance theatre director and co-founder of Damsel Productions. She recently acted as resident assistant director at Soho Theatre, and artistic associate for Nomadic Theatre in Washington DC. Recent work includes: Dry Land (Jermyn Street Theatre), associate on Titus Andronicus(Smooth Faced Gentlemen, Edinburgh Fringe, Greenwich Theatre), PLAY (Old Red Lion Theatre), Mark Ravenhill's Pool (No Water) Spring Awakening (M&B Theatre, Washington DC), and Caryl Churchill's Don't Frighten Her (Georgetown University). Assistant directing credits include: I Kiss Your Heart and Symphony (Soho Theatre), Daytona (Theatre Royal Haymarket) and Radiant Vermin ( Soho Theatre). Upcoming productions include: Brute (Soho Theatre), CLAY (Pleasance Theatre, London) and associate director to Daniel Kramer on Tristan and Isolde (ENO).

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