Coin Drop in association with HighTide, today announces further London dates for Danusia Samal's Busking It, based on her own experiences as a licensed TFL Busker. Having recently played at HighTide Festival the production opens at Shoreditch Town Hall on 10 October, with previews from 9 October and runs until 20 October.
Stop Your Commute! Music is a powerful thing, it's amazing what you hear when you stop and listen.
Busking wasn't Danusia's first choice of job as a teenager, but a decade of singing to strangers has taught her to see the city anew. She takes us on an autobiographical journey through the London Underground, blending theatre, spoken word, original music and soul covers, with influences including Nina Simone, Sam Cook and Amy Winehouse.
An optimistic show about how, amidst the loneliness of the city, music might help us make change come.
Commissioned by the Shoreditch Town Hall; Busking It is supported by HighTide, Soho Theatre, RSC and Arts Council England.
Danusia Samal is an actress, writer, and singer/songwriter. Her acting credits for theatre include How to Hold Your Breath, B (Royal Court Theatre), Two Noble Kinsmen, The Rover (RSC), The Odyssey (Shakespeare's Globe), Billy the Girl (Soho Theatre) and The House That Will Not Stand (Tricycle Theatre). Her television credits include Tyrant; and for film her credits include Ghost in the Shell and My Friend the Polish Girl. She is a resident playwright with Tamasha and alumna of Soho Theatre's Writer's Lab. Other writing credits include Conditionally (Soho Theatre/Oxford School of Drama), Langthorne Stories (Soho Theatre/Waltham Forest) and Las Americas Above (Chaskis Theatre).
Guy Jones directs. Directing credits include Mayfly, The Winter's Tale, Twelfth Night (Orange Tree Theatre), Disnatured (Shakespeare in Shoreditch Festival) and Spokesong (Finborough Theatre). He was shortlisted for the JMK Award in 2016. In addition, he was Staff Director on Saint George and the Dragon (National Theatre) and Assistant Director on Cymbeline (RSC). As a dramaturg Jones is Literary Associate at the Orange Tree Theatre where he guides the company's work with new plays, including An Octoroon, Pomona and Jess and Joe Forever, as well as developing plays under commission and running the Writers Collective. He has been an Associate Artist at Company Three. Dramaturgy credits elsewhere include There There, Stranger (Sadler's Wells), The Armour (Langham Hotel).
Adam Cross (Musician/Composer). As a clarinetist and saxophonist he has appeared on stage with the Royal Shakespeare Company in plays such as The Rover, The Mouse and His Child and The Grain Store. He has also worked in the West End on numerous shows most notably the productions of Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies. As an MD and composer his credits include the RSC's recent Schools Production of Julius Caesar. In 2016 he started a music Production Company, Hugely Problematic, with fellow theatre musician and composer Joe Archer; he and Archer have been working with Danusia Samal on Busking It since its inception at Theatre Royal Stratford East earlier this year.
Joe Archer (Musician/Composer). In 2008 his jazz quartet album "Long trip home" was at the top of the Jazz UK chart for 9 weeks. Since then he has played guitar on the "Legends live" arena tour, playing with The Drifters and Mary Wilson (The Supremes) performing alongside Roberta Flack and Dionne Warwick at Wembley arena. He has played on the Drifters 2015 album "Stand By Me" released on Warner music. Archer has worked in a wide range of settings at the RSC including Hamlet, Cymbeline, The Tempest and Antony and Cleopatra. Since 2016 he has written music extensively for Hugely Problematic - the music Production Company he co-founded with Adam Cross.
Emma Shaw's recent producing credits include The People's Rock: A Musical (VAULT Festival), Dirty Martini, Sid & Billy and the aerial performance piece Selkie (The Night Kitchen), Mechanicals Macbeth (InSouliloquy) and the teenage audience development programme of I AM BEAST (Sparkle & Dark/UK tour).
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