Ken Urban's SENSE OF AN ENDING Premieres at Theatre503 Tonight

The world premiere of award-winning playwright Ken Urban's Sense of an Ending, directed by Jonathan O'Boyle, will be showing at Theatre503 from May. This compelling political thriller shines a light on journalistic truth amid the atrocity of the Rwandan genocide. The production will run at Theatre503, The Latchmere, 503 Battersea Park Road, London SW11 3BW from today 12th May through Saturday 6th June 2015. Press Night: Friday 15th May 2015.

Playing two Hutu nuns charged with unspeakable war crimes during 1994 will be Lynette Clarke (Boi Boi is Dead (West Yorkshire Playhouse), The Bacche (National Theatre of Scotland), The Crucible (RSC)) as Sister Justine and Akiya Henry (Deposit (Hampstead Theatre), Midsummer Night's Dream (Bristol Old Vic), Much Ado About Nothing (RSC New York)) as Sister Alice.

Ben Onwukwe (Sunset Baby (Gate Theatre), Pandora's Box (Arcola Theatre), High Life (Hampstead Theatre)) will be joining them playing Charles, a New York Times journalist who is granted an exclusive interview with the nuns. Charles is faced with a difficult decision when their version of events, attesting their innocence, is contradicted by an unknown survivor.

The cast also includes Kevin Golding (Play Mas (Orange Tree Theatre), Otieno (Southwark Playhouse), Fan the Flame (Theatre Royal Stratford East)) playing Dusabi and Akubakar Salim (Prince of Denmark (National Theatre), Lift Off, Attempts on Her Life (LAMDA)) as Paul.

Sense of an Ending marks the 21st anniversary of the Rwandan genocide. It is the first of Urban's plays to be presented in Europe and the script won the Best New Play award at the prestigious Williamstown Theatre Festival.

This powerful piece of writing is based on a true story.

Post-Show Talks:

Saturday 16th May, Q&A with Writer Ken Urban

Thursday 28th May, Reporting Genocide: The failure of the Western press - a talk from Sunday Times investigative journalist and award-winning writer Linda Malvern

Thursday 4th June, Judging Genocide in Rwanda hosted by Dr Phil Clark, Professor of International Politics at SOAS

Pre-Show Talks:

Saturday 23rd May, Measuring success by what doesn't happen: could the Rwandan genocide have been prevented? hosted by Dr Payam Akhavan

Theatre503 is located on above the Latchemere Pub on the corner of Latchmere Road and Battersea Park Road. The nearest underground stations are Sloane Square (on the Bakerloo and Northern lines then bus 319), South Kensington (on the Bakerloo, Northern, Circle and District lines) then bus 49 or 345, and Vauxhall (on the Northern and Piccadilly lines) then bus 34. The nearest rail station is Clapham Junction. Tickets are available priced £15 (£12 concessions); Pay What You Can Sundays. Available from Theatre503 Box Office and theatre503.com, 020 7978 7040.

Ken Urban is a playwright and screenwriter based in New York and a Core Writer at the Playwrights' Centre. He has had a wide range of plays produced across America and won numerous prestigious awards for his work. His major plays include A Future Perfect, A Guide for the Homesick, Nibbler, The Absence of Weather, The Awake, The Correspondent, The Female Terrorist Project, The Happy Sad, The Privates Lives of Eskimos and Wasps. Awards include the Weissberger Playwriting Award, Huntington Playwriting Fellowship, Djerassi Artist Residency, Dramatist Guild Fellowship, MacDowell Colony Fellowships, and SPF/Donmar Warehouse Residency. He wrote the screenplay for a feature film adaptation of this play The Happy Sad, which received significant distribution across festivals and cinemas.

As a director, Jonathan O'Boyle's work includes the critically acclaimed Bash Latterday Plays (Old Red Lion, then transferring to Trafalgar Studios). As an Associate Director, his work includes This Is My Family (Sheffield Theatres and national tour), Bull (Young Vic and Sheffield Theatres). He recently assisted Jonathan Church on Amadeus (Chichester Festival Theatre) and Susan Stroman on The Scottsboro Boys (Young Vic). He worked as an assistant director under Daniel Evans' mentorship at Sheffield Crucible during 2012/13. The Guardian featured him recently as a rising stage star of 2014.

Deus Ex Machina Productions Ltd was set up in 2014 by Ramin Sabi and Jessica Campbell to present productions in London's Off West End. Productions include Moses Raine's Donkey Heart (Trafalgar Studios), Paula Vogel's Pulitzer Prize winning How I Learned to Drive, Tony Kushner's A Bright Room Called Day - both at the Southwark Playhouse, Philip Ridley's Piranha Heights at the Old Red Lion and Stink Foot by Jeff James after Sophocles at the Yard Theatre. The company has a commitment to paying living wages, which the Equity Union's 'Professionally Made Professionally Paid campaign' has recognised, naming D.E.M. one of ten companies providing good employment standards on the Fringe. In addition to their work on stage, they are committed to providing access funded tickets, and their outreach work has included workshops for ex-convicts, young offenders, and local homeless people in the communities around the theatres. For more information, see www.demproductions.org.

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