Cast Announced for PLASTIC by Kenneth Emson at Old Red Lion Theatre

Louis Greatorex (Safe, Netflix; The Last Post, BBC1; Last Tango In Halifax, BBC1), Madison Clare (The Dark Things, Linbury Studio Theatre; War Whores, Courtyard Theatre; Close, Landor Space), Mark Weinman (Captain Amazing, Soho Theatre/Live/UK Tour; The Gamechangers, BBC2; Press, BBC1) and Thomas Coombes (Barbarians, Tooting Arts Club - winner of Best Male Performance at the Off West End Theatre Awards; Hatton Garden, ITV; Him & Her, BBC Three) will star in Plastic by BAFTA-nominated playwright Kenneth Emson. This powerful new play explores how the insecurities of childhood can follow us into later life in this unflinchingly honest drama about time, memory and escape.

Directed by JMK 2017 award winner Josh Roche (My Name Is Rachel Corrie), this poetic and unflinching production is an extraordinary mix of drama and performance poetry set in an Essex school which tells the story of four young people who are forced into adulthood. Through its innovative verse, Plastic examines the creation of urban folklore and the sealed world of adolescence with all its unique pressures - how hard it can be to survive, and how hard it is to be left behind.

Remember the moment you became an adult? Or did you miss it? Kev used to have a girlfriend called Lisa - she wore a fitted blazer and reebok classics and lit up the school yard. Kev used to be the captain of the school football team and he scored the winner in the All-Essex schools cup final. Ben used to get beaten up most days. He stole money from his mum's purse to pay off 'Wicksy'. Now he's an accountant. But Ben always had Jack. His loyal, unbreakable mate Jack. Adults are the kids that survive school right? But what if some kids don't?

Essex playwright Emson comments, I'm delighted to bring Plastic to the Old Red Lion. It's a theatre with a rich history of new writing and produces some of the most exciting and idiosyncratic voices in theatre. I'm proud to be added to that list. Plastic is a play that means a great deal to me personally, it's set within the community I grew up in and the characters formed from the people I knew there. For this story and those characters to occupy a London stage is incredibly exciting.

Plastic is generously supported by Arts Council England, Royal Victoria Hall Foundation, Blyth Watson Charitable Trust and The Old Vic Theatre.

Plastic will also be touring to The Mercury Theatre in Essex from 26th - 28th April 2018.

Tickets are available priced £17 (£15 concessions). Available from Old Red Lion Theatre Box Office and www.oldredliontheatre.co.uk or 0333 012 4963.

Run by Artistic Director Molly Roberts who is one of The Old Vic 12 for 2016-2017 and a Stage One New Producer, Poleroid Theatre are a new writing theatre company and pioneers of Artist Development. We discover, curate and give a platform to fast-rising emerging writers, actors and directors from across the UK. Our collaborative method gives writers the vital time and space to work practically alongside a director and professional actors to create bold, current, high-quality new theatre work which pushes the boundaries of form and style, and we bring this work to areas of low cultural engagement across the nation. In 2014 we were nominated for three Off West End Theatre Awards for our production of Free Fall by acclaimed television and stage writer Vinay Patel (Murdered by my Father), published by Methuen Drama. Our recent production This Must Be The Place by Brad Birch and Kenneth Emson (Latitude 2016 and Vault Festival 2017) received 4* and 5* reviews and sold out its Vault run, winning the Vault's Show of the Year Award, published by Nick Hern Books.

Other work includes The Locker Outings (five new plays by Vinay Patel, Sarah Kosar, Jonathan Schey, Helen Russell-Clark & Andrew Thompson for Vault Festival); The Allotment by Andrew Thompson (Live Theatre, supported by Arts Council England); Bangin' Wolves by Phoebe Éclair-Powell and Life On A Plum by Luke Barnes (Wilderness Festival). Poleroid also produce Write It : Mic It, an acclaimed eclectic performance platform which has given opportunities to 200 established and emerging artists from across the UK since 2012 and has been hosted at the Paines Plough Roundabout, Live Theatre, Vault Festival, Hackney Attic, Ritzy Brixton, Castle Hotel Manchester, Wilderness Festival and Standon Calling Festival.

Photo Courtesy of Helen Murray

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