The Playground Theatre to Present Season of Women and LGBTQ+ Stories

The Playground Theatre will present a season of work featuring stories about women and LGBTQ+, 31 August - 30 September.

A Double Bill of Forbidden Love

14 -30 September
Press are invited to review Friday 15 September at 7.30pm

Artefact

by Rena Brannan
with Sophie Ward

Our First Lady Priscilla discovers an unopened letter from her college roommate Julia that declares her absolute love for her 25 years earlier. 

and

Something Unspoken 

by Tennessee Williams
with Amanda Waggott and Sarah Lawrie

“Don’t you feel there’s - something unspoken between us?”

Originally written as a companion piece to ‘Suddenly Last Summer’, ‘Something Unspoken’ is a short, comic tale of suppressed love and desire from one of the 20th century’s greatest playwrights.

1950s Mississippi. Wealthy spinster Cornelia Scott is waiting for a phone call. Today is the annual election of the Confederate Daughters - surely this will be the year she is rightfully elected Regent. And to make things even more special, today is the 15th anniversary of her secretary Grace’s arrival. As a gift Cornelia has bought her 15 roses - a rose for every year, a year for every rose. After all, Grace is more of a companion than a secretary. If only Grace was a little more forthcoming with her feelings. And if only the phone would ring.

Creative team:
Director Anthony Biggs
Set and Costume Designer Tara Kelly
Choreographer and Lighting Designer Steven Dean Moore
Sound Designer Eloise Sheffield

Sophie Ward is an actor and writer who has worked in film and television since her feature film debut in Steven Spielberg’s ‘Young Sherlock Holmes’, and in theatre, most notably with the Citizens Theatre in Glasgow. On television she played Dr Helen Trent in ‘Heartbeat’, Sophia Byrne in ‘Holby City’, Lady Ellen Hoxley in ‘Land Girls’ and Lady Verinder in the mini-series ‘The Moonstone’. Sophie has been an active campaigner for LGBTQ rights and her non-fiction book, ‘A Marriage Proposal’, was published by the Guardian in 2014. Her first novel, ‘Love and Other Thought Experiments’, was longlisted for the Booker prize in 2020.

Rena Brannan Born in Seoul, Korea, Rena Brannan is of Irish and Korean descent. She was a member of the Critical Mass BAME Writers’ Programme at The Royal Court. She is one of the founding members of the  Arcola’s Middle Eastern, Asian and North African writer’s group and the resulting play, ‘The Cu*ts’ was part of the 2nd Playwright Festival. One of a trilogy of plays about the US Constitution, ‘Mount Vernon’ premiered at The Hudson Theatre, Hollywood Fringe Festival 2016. ‘Mount Vernon’ had its European premiere at the King’s Head Theatre in 2018. Rena’s play ‘The History Of Two Lovers’ had a residency at the Arcola Lab in November 2018 and a subsequent R&D in 2022 at the ARTS theatre. Her play ‘Shutters: A Lesbian Rock Opera’ premiered at the Omnibus Theatre for Pride Festival June 2023. She has a double bill - ‘Ginzel’s Little Cordoba’ premiering at the Edinburgh Fringe 2023.

Griswold

Thursday 31 August 
at 7pm
Tickets are free

“Griswold enlightened and inspired me. This marvellous play reanimates Estelle Griswold, a woman that should have never been forgotten”  Faith de Savigné (A is For)

On the eve of the sexual revolution, a bold and iconoclastic woman in her sixties will engineer her own criminal arrest, resulting in the landmark — and now increasingly relevant — United States Supreme Court case, Griswold v. Connecticut, which strikes down laws prohibiting birth control, establishes a right of sexual privacy, and directly paves the way for other guarantees of liberty, including, on the 60th anniversary of the Griswold case, the right of same-sex couples to marry. 

Beginning in the early 1960s and fusing docudrama, magical realism and comedy, ‘Griswold’ mines the extraordinary events leading to the Griswold v. Connecticut case and the essential link between the right of sexual privacy and human dignity.

‘Griswold’, recipient of multiple playwriting awards, by the acclaimed Angela J Davis, will be performed at The Playground Theatre and live streamed to New York City in collaboration with Playhouse Creatures New York and the K&C Festival.

‘Griswold’ is a community reading, part of the Playground’s WELL READ LIVE! Programme: Our local community sits side by side with professional actors, to share this play aloud, followed by an open discussion led by selected experts, notable for their association with the subject matter, with music, surprise performances and free community food. This is a free event, open to all, no experience required. Email wellread@theplaygroundtheatre.org.uk to get involved.

“The most important new play of 2022”
Gaen Murphree (adjudicator, American Dreaming New Works Festival)

Ruby Wax: I’m Not As Well  As I Thought I Was

work in progress

Written and Performed by Ruby Wax

7 - 9 September
at 7.30pm 

“The original idea behind this show was based on the extreme journeys that I wanted to take in order to find an antidote to living a frazzled life. Along the way I wanted to find meaning, peace, happiness - the stuff we’re all chasing. However, after some transcendent experiences, I ended up in a mental institution. Obviously, I didn’t find what I was looking for.”

After four years, Ruby returns to the stage following her critically acclaimed, sell out tour, How To Be Human. It is her rawest, darkest and funniest stage show yet.

From the Royal Shakespeare Company to primetime TV; from a master’s degree in mindfulness based cognitive therapy from Oxford University to best-selling author; from interviewing the president who shall not be named to delivering a ground-breaking TED Talk. And from a mental health campaigner to being awarded an OBE for services to mental health. Ruby’s brought the same mould-breaking establishment questioning and pioneering energy to everything she’s done.

Director & Artistic Collaborator Alison Summers
Set Designer Bob Crowley
Sound Designer Eleanor Isherwood
Lighting Designer Matt Eagland

PERFORMANCE DETAILS

Playground Theatre presents

A season of work featuring stories 
about women and LGBTQ+ 

14 -30 September 

A Double Bill of Forbidden Love
Directed by Anthony Biggs

Artefact
By Rena Brannan
with Sophie Ward

and

Something Unspoken 
by Tennessee Williams
with Amanda Waggott and Sarah Lawrie

Press Night:
Friday 15 September at 7.30pm

Monday - Saturday at 7.30pm
Matinees Saturday at 3pm
Tickets from £10

The Playground Theatre, Playhouse Creatures 
and K&C Festival Present 

Griswold
by Angela J Davis
will be performed at The Playground Theatre and live streamed to New York City

Thursday 31 August 
at 7pm
Tickets are free

Ruby Wax: I’m Not As Well 
As I Thought I Was
work in progress

written and performed by Ruby Wax

7 - 9 September
at 7.30pm 
Tickets from £15

The Playground Theatre
8 Latimer Industrial Estate, 
343-453 Latimer Road, 
London W10 6RQ

Website:       
www.theplaygroundtheatre.london

Box Office: 020 8960 0110

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