Casting Announced For OUR LADY OF KIBEHO At Theatre Royal Stratford East

Theatre Royal Stratford East today announces the full casting for their co-production with Royal & Derngate, Northampton, of Our Lady of Kibeho, written by Katori Hall. Marking 25 years since the Rwandan genocide, this powerful drama now has its London premiere at Theatre Royal Stratford East in a remount of James Dacre's critically acclaimed production at Royal & Derngate earlier this year. Reprising their roles are Michelle Asante (Sister Evangelique), Michaela Blackburn (Evas), Pepter Lunkuse (Marie-Claire Mukangango), Michael Mears (Father Flavia), Rima Nsubuga (Vestine), Ery Nzaramba (Father Tuyishime), Ewart James Walters (Nkango Mukamazimpaka) and Leo Wringer (Bishop Gahamanyi). They will be joined by Aretha Ayeh (Immaculee), Pérola Congo (Therese), Taz Munya (Alphonsine), Liyah Summers (Anathalie) and Mitchell Zhangazha (Emmanuel).

In 1981 at Kibeho College in Rwanda, a young girl claimed to have seen a vision of the Virgin Mary who warned her of the unimaginable: Rwanda becoming hell on Earth. She was ignored by her friends and scolded by her school but then another student saw the vision, and another, and the impossible appeared to be true.

Katori Hall's Our Lady Of Kibeho presents us with a haunting insight into the extraordinary true events that captured the world's attention. A vibrantly theatrical meditation on faith, doubt and miracles, it reunites Royal & Derngate's Artistic Director James Dacre with Katori Hall, following their collaboration on The Mountaintop which won the Olivier Award for Best New Play in 2010.

James Dacre said:

"Whether the visions that they described were real or not, the true stories of what happened in 1981 to these schoolchildren highlighted the daily injustices that they saw around them. Theirs was a protest against the moral, social and political decay of their community - a reminder that sometimes young people can sense tragedy ahead in a way that adults are incapable of. In turbulent times when the voices of young people are so often ignored, Katori and I hope that the London premiere of this extraordinary play will spark a conversation on ways to heal our own political, racial and religious divides."

Tickets from £10 for every performance of every show.

Box Office 020 8534 0310 | www.stratfordeast.com

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