Steven Berkoff's Masterpiece EAST to Open in 2018 at the King's Head Theatre

In an exciting new revival from the winners of the Carol Tambor Best of Edinburgh Award 2016 (Life According to Saki), Steven Berkoff's masterpiece East opens 2018 at the King's Head Theatre, where it made its London debut in 1975.

Performances will run Wednesday 10th January - Saturday 3rd February, with press night set for Friday 12th January at 7pm.

Full of wit, lust, and fury, East remains a startlingly original and influential piece of theatre - a triumphant shout of youth and energy. Its language veers from Shakespearean verse to the depths of profanity without missing a beat, teeming with life in all its murk and glory.

East catapults us into the rowdy youth of Mike and Les as they fight over Mike's girl Sylv and become unexpected allies. Assaultive, riotously funny, and entirely unapologetic, we are lured into their tall-tales of felony and bravado and we come to recognise their brutal kind of charm. Sylv knows her most potent weapon is her sexuality, but she still has the spit and pluck to level with the boys. Meanwhile, Mum and Dad live separate inner lives, both coming alive in the flickering light of memories, recalling lives they once led - or wish they had.

Bringing East to life at the King's Head Theatre will be Russell Barnett (Hamlet, The Riverside Theatre; The Tempest, The Drayton), Jack Condon (Housed, The Old Vic; Clybourne Park, RADA; Scuttlers, RADA), James Craze (The Beginning of the End, Hull Truck Theatre and Theatre N16; Home Theatre, Theatre Royal Stratford East; Ernie - a One Man Play by James Craze), Debra Penny (Our Country's Good, National Theatre; Flowers of the Forest, Jermyn Street Theatre; Martha Josie and the Chinese Elvis, Bolton Octagon and tour) and Boadicea Ricketts (professional debut). Carol Arnopp (Freelance keys, RTÉ Concert Orchestra; Children's Musical Director, The Magic Flute, Cork Opera House) will take the role of the pianist and musical director.

Director Jessica Lazar comments, East's characters are violent and relentless and sometimes grotesque, but they are also electrically funny, brutally charming. They leap from frustrated dreams and fantastic nightmares to punch-drunk reality and back again. They don't ask to be pitied. East resonates so powerfully in the mood of 2017/18 because Berkoff sought to turn "a welter of undirected passion and frustration into a positive form". But it is also, put simply, a brilliant play.

Berkoff's East still feels amazingly relevant today as it yanks us into interior worlds, rioting in unfulfilled dreams and explosions of longing, leaving no room for polite middle ground. Although set in Berkoff's hometown of London, he has explained that East could be set on any east side of any city.

East will be directed by Life According to Saki director Jessica Lazar. Set and costume will be by Anna Lewis, a Jerwood Young Designer, MGC Futures Bursary Holder, and Offie Nomine (Costume Design - After October, Finborough). Sound and lighting will be by Dublin-based David Doyle, previous winner of the Best Theatre Award at the Adelaide Fringe and the NSDF Commendation for Lighting Design at the Edinburgh Fringe.

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IF YOU GO:

EAST
by Steven Berkoff

Wednesday 10th January - Saturday 3rd February 2018, 7pm
Tuesday - Saturday, 7pm
Sunday matinees, 3pm
Extra matinee - Saturday 3rd February, 3pm
No performances on Mondays

Running time 2 hours (including interval)

At King's Head Theatre, 115 Upper Street, Islington, London N1 1QN
The nearest underground stations are Highbury and Islington (on the Victoria and Overground lines) and Angel (on the Bank branch of the Northern line). The nearest rail station is Highbury and Islington.

Tickets are available from kingsheadtheatre.com and 0207 478 0160 from £19.50 (concessions £15/18). Previews from £10. Premium tickets are available priced £25.

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Jessica Lazar is a freelance director whose interests include new writing, verse texts, film, and puppetry (not necessarily at the same time). She is a co-founder of Atticist. Her 2016 Edinburgh production, Life According to Saki, won the 2016 Carol Tambor Best of Edinburgh Award and transferred Off-Broadway in 2017. Her most recent production, Deadly Dialogues, was long-listed for the 2017 Amnesty International Award. Other theatre productions include The Caucasian Chalk Circle and Another Country at Oxford Playhouse, Eight at the Burton Taylor Theatre, and Judgment at Nuremberg at the Keble O'Reilly, as well as work for Little Pieces of Gold at Southwark Playhouse and Free Rayne's Spiral.

The King's Head Theatre was established in 1970. The most ethically and socially responsible fringe theatre in the UK, they are known for their challenging work and support of young artists. Last year 87,031 audience members saw a show of theirs: 43,857 at their 110-seater home on Upper Street and 43,174 on tour. At their home in Islington they had 861 performances last year of 84 different shows. They are committed to fighting prejudice through the work they stage, the artists and staff they work with and by producing work for minority audience groups. They believe in fair pay for all on the fringe and create accessible routes for early career artists to stage their work; work they are passionate about. This year they announced the theatre is on the move. In 2018, subject to a fundraising campaign, the King's Head Theatre will move into a custom-built space in the heart of Islington Square, directly behind its current home securing the future of the venue for generations to come.

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