Christopher Haydon Announces Final Season as Artistic Director of the Gate Theatre

Artistic Director Christopher Haydon today announces the Gate Theatre's new season entitled Resist!, his final season as Artistic Director.

The season opens with the UK première of The Convert by Danai Gurira, following the success of her critically acclaimed Eclipsed which ran at the Gate in 2015. This is followed by the return of Grounded, the smash hit play by George Brant, for a month-long run, with Lucy Ellinson reprising her role as the pilot. In April, Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama takes up its annual residency at the Gate Theatre with a programme of new writing. Completing the season, the Gate Theatre's Associate Director Lynette Linton directs the world première of Assata Taught Me, the debut play by Kalungi Ssebandeke which tells the story of an imagined friendship between Assata Shakur, former Black Panther and the FBI's most wanted woman, and her pupil in Cuba.

Christopher Haydon said today, "After five years at the helm of the Gate Theatre, the moment has finally come for me to announce my last season as Artistic Director. Inevitably, I have spent a great deal of time recently thinking about the work we have made over the years. So, it is not surprising that the three plays in this new season embody so much of what, I hope, the Gate has always stood for: politically radical ideas communicated through gripping stories told by exceptional emerging artists.

"I am so thrilled to be welcoming Danai Gurira back with The Convert after the huge success we had with Eclipsed. As you would expect from her writing, it is packed with complicated and compelling characters, and brings an acute eye to issues that remain vitally relevant decades after the British Empire came to an end.

"Kalungi Ssebandeke is also making his return to the Gate, following his fantastic performance in our award-winning production Image of An Unknown Young Woman. Now he joins us as a playwright with a story inspired by Assata Shakur - a former Black Panther and Black Liberation Army activist and the FBI's most wanted woman.

"Finally, I am so pleased to welcome two more old friends back to the Gate: firstly, the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama will take up residency for a week in April to showcase the talents of their latest crop of graduates. Secondly, in March, we will revive the show that, more than any, has come to define my time here: George Brant'sGrounded. Performed by the magnificent Lucy Ellinson, this high octane story of the life of a drone pilot takes an unflinching look at how modern warfare is fought. Our production has already toured to the US, Europe and around the whole of the UK and so it seems only right that it will have one more chance to fly in our Little Room in Notting Hill.

"This series of plays about rebellion and revolution is called: Resist! This was the title I gave my first ever season and it demonstrates that our key commitment to changing the world has remained constant. Indeed, I have no doubt that once I have moved on to other things, the Gate, and the extraordinary people who work here, will continue to agitate for a better world for many years to come."

UK première

The Convert

By Danai Gurira

Directed by Christopher Haydon

12 January - 11 February

"Western cultural impositions and Ancient African traditions make strange bedfellows. Never sleeping with both eyes shut for fear the other will strike."

It's 1896 in Rhodesia and Jekesai has just been given her new, Catholic name. Chilford, the only black Roman Catholic teacher in the region, has decided she'll now be known as Ester, wear European clothing and speak only in English. She's torn away from everything that she knows by her fellow African, who earnestly believes the promises of the White man.

From Tony Award-nominated playwright Danai Gurira, The Convert is a compelling exploration of a pivotal moment in history, when resisting the invading Western culture could mean death.

Danai Gurira is an award-winning playwright and actress. Her play Eclipsed received its UK première at the Gate Theatre in 2015, and later was produced on Broadway where it was nominated earlier this year for the Tony Award for Best Play. Her other plays include Familiar which premièred at Yale Repertory Theatre in January 2015 directed by Rebecca Taichman and In The Continuum which she co-wrote with Nikkole Salter. As an actress, she plays Michonne in AMC's critically-acclaimed original series The Walking Dead. Her film credits include Mother of George, The Visitor, 3 Backyards, and Restless City and the upcoming All Eyez On Me and Black Panther. She was a Hodder Fellow at Princeton University and she is also the recipient of the prestigious Whiting Writers Award (2012). She is co-founder and President of Almasi, a Zimbabwean American Dramatic Arts Collaborative Organization.

Christopher Haydon directs. He is Artistic Director at the Gate Theatre and formerly an Associate Director at the Bush Theatre. His credits at the Gate include Diary of a Madman (also Traverse Theatre), The Iphigenia Quartet, The Christians(also Traverse Theatre, winner: Fringe First), Grounded (also Traverse Theatre, Studio Theatre Washington DC, national and international tour; winner: Fringe First, Best Production - Off West End Awards), Image of an Unknown Young Woman (winner: Best Production, Off West End Awards), The Edge of Our Bodies, Trojan Women, Purple Heart, The Prophet and Wittenburg. Other theatre credits include Twelve Angry Men (Birmingham Rep/West End), Sixty-Six Books, In the Beginning (Bush Theatre/Westminster Abbey), A Safe Harbour for Elizabeth Bishop (Southbank Centre), Grace, Pressure Drop (On Theatre), Deep Cut (Sherman Cymru/National Tour), Monsters, Notes from Underground (Arcola Theatre) and A Number (Salisbury Playhouse). His short films include The Taming of the Shrew/Two Gentleman of Verona(Shakespeare's Globe), Devil in the Detail (Royal Court Theatre/Guardian). As a journalist he has written for: The Scotsman, The Financial Times, The Independent, The Guardian, The New Statesman and Prospect Magazine. He is the co-editor of three books: Conversations on Religion, Conversations on Truth (Continuum), and Identity and Identification(Black Dog).

Grounded

By George Brant

Cast: Lucy Ellinson

Directed by: Christopher Haydon; Designer: Oliver Townsend; Lighting Designer: Mark Howland

Sound Designer : Tom Gibbons; Video Designer: Benjamin Walden

23 February - 18 March

She's a hot-rod F16 fighter pilot. She's pregnant. Her career in the sky is over. Now, she sits in an air-conditioned trailer in Las Vegas flying remote-controlled drones over the Middle East. She struggles through surreal 12 hours shifts far from the battlefield hunting terrorists by day and being a wife and mother by night.

Grounded is a gripping, compulsive play that targets our assumptions about war, family, and what it is to be a woman.

George Brant's play Grounded was produced Off-Broadway in New York at The Public Theater, starring Anne Hathaway and a film of the play is currently in creation, also starring Hathaway. His other plays include Elephant's Graveyard (David Mark Cohen National Playwriting Award from the Kennedy Center, Austin Critics' Table Best New Play Award, and Keene Prize for Literature), The Mourners' Bench, Salvage, Three Voyages of the Lobotomobile, Grizzly Mama, Any Other Name, Defiant, Dark Room, Miracle: A Tragedy, Good on Paper, Ashes, NOK, The Lonesome Hoboes, One Hand Clapping, The Royal Historian of Oz, Lovely Letters, Three Men in a Boat, Borglum! The Mount Rushmore Musical, Tights on a Wire and Night of the Mime. He has received writing fellowships from the James A. Michener Center for Writers, the McCarter Theatre Center, the MacDowell Colony, the Djerassi Resident Artists Program, Fundacion Valparaiso and the Blue Mountain Center as well as commissions from Dobama Theatre and Theatre 4.

Lucy Ellinson plays The Pilot. Her previous work for the Gate Theatre includes The Christians (also Traverse Theatre - Best Supporting Female Actor, Off-West End Awards), Trojan Women and Tenet (Gate Theatre and Greyscale). Other theatre credits include A Midsummer Night's Dream (RSC and tour), World Factory (Young Vic), Money: The Game Show (Unlimited Theatre and Bush Theatre), Oh the Humanity! and other good intentions (Northern Stage and Soho Theatre), A Thousand Shards of Glass (Jane Packman Co), Presumption (Third Angel, UK/international tour), Land Without Words (UK/international tour), 3rd Ring Out (Metis Arts), Where We Meet, Who We Are, Speed death of the Radiant Child and Home-made (Chris Goode), They Only Come at Night and Helium (Slung Low) and Monsters (Arcola). Radio credits include 15 Minutes Live and The Fall. She is an associate artist with Third Angel and Forest Fringe. Her solo work includesOne minute manifesto, Kaidan and #TORYCORE.

Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama presents

NEW: 2017

4 - 9 April

Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama returns to the Gate Theatre for its annual week-long residency with a series of new plays from writers including Alison Carr, Simon Longman, Eve Leigh and Conor Mitchell. Full details of the season will be announced shortly.

www.rwcmd.ac.uk

World première

Assata Taught Me

By Kalungi Ssebandeke

Directed by Lynette Linton

4 - 27 May

Fanuco's taking English lessons from the only American he knows. The thing is, she's the FBI's most wanted woman and he's a Cuban teenager desperate to live the American Dream.

When will he realise his mentor is a former Black Panther, a convicted felon and has a million dollars on her head?

The world premiere of Ssebandeke's gripping and tense play explores black struggle across generations and genders.

The story of an imagined friendship.

This is Kalungi Ssebandeke's first full length play. His short plays include View of Her Own Beauty, My Darling Wife, The Star and Raceless. As an actor he previously performed at the Gate in Image of an Unknown Young Woman. His other acting credits include The Taming of The Shrew (Two Gents), We Are Proud to Present...(Bush Theatre, The Offies - Best Ensemble), and One Monkey Don't Stop No Show (Eclipse Theatre). For television, his credits include Cucumber, The Well, Dubplate Drama and The Dumping Ground; and for film Shoot Me and Columbite Tantalite.

Lynette Linton is a director and playwright. She is the current Associate Director of the Gate Theatre and co-founder of Production Company Black Apron Entertainment. Her directing credits include Indenture (Dark Horse Festival), Naked (Vault Festival 2015), Pornado (Theatre Royal Stratford East), This Wide Night (Albany Theatre), a scratch performance of Sweet Like Chocolate, Boy (Rich Mix), and she was co-director on Chicken Palace (which she also wrote, Theatre Royal Stratford East). As an Assistant Director, her work includes Image of An Unknown Young Woman, and The Christians (Gate Theatre), Torn (Royal Court).Her writing credits include Step, Service (Boom Festival, Bush Theatre) and Ergo Sum (Theatre Delicatessen). Her new play #Hashtag Lightie is in development with Team Angelica and Arcola Theatre.

Performance times:

Monday - Saturday at 7.30pm

Saturday matinees at 3pm

Previews and matinees: £10
Full price: £20
Concessions: £15
Under 26's on selected Young Peoples Night: £7.50

Captioned performances (followed by post-show Gate Debates):

I Call My Brothers

1 December

The Convert

7 February

Grounded

16 March

Assata Taught Me

25 May

Young Peoples Night:

I Call My Brothers

17 November

The Convert

27 January

Grounded

02 March

Assata Taught Me

19 May

In person booking and ticket collection is only available on the day of performance from one hour before the performance begins.

The Gate is supported by:

15 Years of Jerwood Young Designers at the Gate

This year, we celebrate 15 years of Jerwood Charitable Foundation supporting the training of young designers at the Gate Theatre providing essential on-the-job training of theatrical designers at the start of their career. This partnership is an essential part of the Gate's 'teaching theatre' mission, acting as the crucial bridge into professional theatre-making for young artists, giving them time, resources and expertise to test, improve, and ultimately showcase their work.

In 2014 the Programme was extended to not only support four breakthrough Designers a year at the Gate, but also four Design Assistants right at the very start of their careers.

By the end of the 2016/17 programme, the Jerwood Young Designers Programme will have supported 84 placements over the course of 15 years.

Our Jerwood Young Designer alumni include Soutra Gilmour, Jon Bausor, Tom Scutt, Chloe Lamford, Oliver Townsend and Fly Davis.

"Time and again the Gate Theatre and Jerwood Charitable Foundation have discovered the most visionary artists of their generation" Christopher Haydon

www.jerwoodcharitablefoundation.org

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