Casting Announced for Sam Steiner's YOU STUPID DARKNESS! at Southwark Playhouse

Paines Plough have today announced casting for the transfer of Sam Steiner's YOU STUPID DARKNESS! to Southwark Playhouse, a co-production with Theatre Royal Plymouth. An urgent play about the struggle for optimism and community amid the chaos of a collapsing world, the production is directed by former Paines Plough co-Artistic Director James Grieve and the cast includes: Andrew Finnigan; Jenni Maitland; Lydia Larson; Andy Rush. The show opened at Theatre Royal Plymouth earlier this year and will run at Southwark Playhouse from 16 January - 22 February with a Press Night on Monday 20 January.

"I just think it's, you know, important to look at the good things that are happening as well."

Everything's been falling apart for a while now. In a cramped, crumbling office four volunteers spend a few hours every Tuesday night on the phone to strangers telling them everything is going to be ok. As the outside world disintegrates around them, Frances, Joey, Angie and Jon teeter on the edge of their own personal catastrophes. Their hopes and fears become entangled as they try, desperately, to connect with the callers and with each other.

Andrew will reprise his role as Joey. His theatre credits include: BROKEN BISCUITS (Live Theatre/Paines Plough and UK tour); DRIP (Hull City of Culture/Boundless Theatre/Tour); MY UNCLE FREDDIE, WORMTOWN (The Customs House, South Shields) and Great North Run for BBC Radio 4.

Jenni's theatre credits includes: EMILIA (Vaudeville Theatre, West End and Shakespeare's Globe) BY JEEVES (Landor Theatre); GUYS AND DOLLS (Cambridge Arts Theatre); THE RIVALS (Southwark Playhouse); HOBSON'S CHOICE (Chichester Festival Theatre UK Tour); A CHORUS OF DISAPPROVAL (The Mill At Sonning); NORTHANGER ABBEY (York Theatre Royal/Salisbury Playhouse/UK Tour); IN EXTREMIS (Shakespeare's Globe); CORAM BOY (National Theatre); PLASTIC JESUS (Old Vic); HOUSE AND GARDEN, FEN, SHARP RELIEF (Salisbury Playhouse); AMADEUS (York Theatre Royal).

Lydia will reprise her role as Angie. Her theatre credits include: FINDING FASSBENDER (Pleasance, Edinburgh), SKIN A CAT (UK tour, Bunker & Vault, Offie shortlisted: Best Actress), BRUTAL CESSATION (Assembly), WE HAVE FALLEN (Underbelly), THE AFTER-DINNER JOKE & SPRINGS ETERNAL (Orange Tree), PERSUASION (Salisbury Playhouse), PRIDE AND PREJUDICE (Theatre Royal Bath and UK Tour), 24 HOUR PLAYS (Old Vic), ARCADIA (SFP).

Andy's theatre credits include: THE HERE AND THIS AND NOW (Southwark Playhouse / Theatre Royal Plymouth); I GOT MY SUPERPOWERS FOR MY BIRTHDAY (Paines Plough/Half Moon Production); LOVE LIES AND TAXIDERMY (Paines Plough/Clwyd Theatr Cymru/Sherman Cymru); GROWTH (Paines Plough); TIPPING THE VELVET (Lyric Hammersmith); JUMPERS FOR GOALPOSTS (Paines Plough); HELLO GOODBYE (Hampstead Theatre); THE KITCHEN SINK (Bush Theatre).

Sam is a playwright and screenwriter from Manchester. His debut play, the award-wining LEMONS LEMONS LEMONS LEMONS LEMONS, was first produced by Walrus Theatre (a company he co-founded), and has subsequently been performed all over the world, in eight different languages. Since then Sam's work on stage has included KANYE THE FIRST (HighTide) and most recently A TABLE TENNIS PLAY (Walrus Theatre) at the Edinburgh Fringe. Other pieces of Sam's work have been showcased at the Royal Exchange, Soho, Southwark Playhouse, Sala Beckett in Barcelona, and the Cannes and London Film Festivals. He completed an attachment at Paines Plough as their Playwright Fellow and holds an MA in Screenwriting from the National Film and Television School. Sam is currently under commission at Paines Plough, and developing television and film projects with Euston North and Sunny March.

James Grieve was Joint Artistic Director of Paines Plough 2010-2019. He was formerly co-founder and Artistic Director of nabokov, and Associate Director at The Bush Theatre. His current work includes GOD'S DICE by David Baddiel starring Alan Davies at Soho Theatre and a new production of CABARET for Gothenburg Opera in Sweden.

James' directing credits for Paines Plough include POP MUSIC by Anna Jordan, OUT OF LOVE by Elinor Cook, BLACK MOUNTAIN by Brad Birch, HOW TO BE A KID by Sarah McDonald-Hughes, THE ANGRY BRIGADE by James Graham, BROKEN BISCUITS and JUMPERS FOR GOALPOSTS by Tom Wells, HOPELESSLY DEVOTED and WASTED by Kate Tempest, AN INTERVENTION and LOVE, LOVE, LOVE by Mike Bartlett, FLY ME TO THE MOON by Marie Jones, TINY VOLCANOES by Laurence Wilson, YOU CANNOT GO FORWARD FROM WHERE YOU ARE RIGHT NOW by David Watson, THE SOUND OF HEAVY RAIN by Penelope Skinner and HAPPINESS by Nick Payne for BBC Radio 3.

Further credits include the new musical THE ASSASSINATION OF KATIE HOPKINS (Theatr Clwyd - Winner Best Musical Production, UK Theatre Awards 2018), a new production of LES MISERABLES for Wermland Opera in Karlstad, Sweden, TRANSLATIONS (Sheffield Theatres / ETT / Rose - Winner Best Production, UK Theatre Awards 2014), 66 BOOKS: A NOBODY by Laura Dockrill, THE WHISKY TASTER by James Graham, ST PETERSBURG by Declan Feenan and PSYCHOGEOGRAPHY by Lucy Kirkwood (The Bush), ARTEFACTS by Mike Bartlett (nabokov/The Bush, National Tour & Off-Broadway); KITCHEN, BEDTIME FOR BASTARDS and NIKOLINA by Van Badham (nabokov), and the world premieres of OLD STREET by Patrick Marber (nabokov Arts Club) and THE LIST by David Eldridge (Arcola).

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