Full Cast Announced For Ellen McDougall's Inaugural Production As Artistic Director THE UNKNOWN ISLAND at Gate Theatre

Ellen McDougall today announced the full cast for The Unknown Island, her inaugural production of Artistic Director of Gate Theatre. She directs Jon Foster, Hannah Ringham, Thalissa Teixera and Zubin Varla in the adaptation of Nobel Prize winner Jose Saramago's short story which opens on 18 September, with previews from 11 September, running until 7 October.

We want to tell you a story

We want to take you on a journey

We want everything to be different

This is an adaptation of José Saramago's inventive and beautiful short story, The Tale of The Unknown Island. It's a story about getting stuck, about trying to escape, about shooting for the moon, about going further than the furthest thing. It's a story about finding something you didn't think you needed.

McDougall also announces today that Ola Ince will direct Anna Deveare Smith's Twilight: Los Angeles 1992, the third production of her inaugural season, which opens on 15 January 2017, with previews from 11 January, running until 3 February.

José Saramago (1922 - 2010) was a writer and winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1998. His plays include The Night, What Shall I do with this book? and The Second Life of Francis of Assisi. Other writing includes Blindness (turned into a film in 2008 starring Julianne Moore and Mark Ruffalo), Possible Poems, Probably Joy, From this World and the Other, The Traveller's Baggage, The Year of 1993, Risen from the Ground, Quasi Object, Baltazar and Blimunda, The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis, The Stone Raft, The History of the Siege of Lisbon, The Gospel According to Jesus Christ, In Nomine Dei, and All the Names. He also translated works by authors including Colette, Pär Lagerkvist, Jean Cassou, Maupassant, André Bonnard, Tolstoi, Baudelaire, Étienne Balibar, Nikos Poulantzas, Henri Focillon, Jacques Roumain, Hegel and Raymond Bayer.

Jon Foster's previous work for the Gate Theatre includes Idomeneus, Trojan Women, Dream Story Tenet and Mud. His other theatre credits include Othello (Shakespeare's Globe), F*ck The Polar Bears (Bush Theatre), Buckets (Orange Tree Theatre), A New Way To Please You, Sejanus: His Fall, Speaking Like Magpies, Thomas More (RSC), Food (Traverse Theatre) and Long Time Dead (Paines Plough). His television work includes Fortitude, Da Vinci's Demons, The Great Fire, Rev, Southcliffe, The Town, The IT Crowd and Mrs Biggs; and for film, Nice Guy and Tides.

Hannah Ringham is a co-founder and performer of the UK award winning performance collective SHUNT. Her recent theatre credits include Islands (Bush Theatre), The Architects (Shunt), The Present (Unicorn Theatre, Battersea Arts Centre), Cadavre Exquis (2012), Contain Violence - Site Specific (Lyric Hammersmith), Ooogly Boogly (2008), Tropicana (Shunt). She has performed and toured internationally with many other companies including Tim Crouch, Kassys (a collaborative performance with Kassys, The Nature Theatre of Oklahoma and Nicole Beutler), Caroline Horton, Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin.

Thalissa Teixera's theatre work includes Othello, The Broken Heart, The Changeling (Shakespeare's Globe), Yerma (Young Vic), The Night Watch (Manchester Royal Exchange), BU21 (Theatre503), Electra (Old Vic). Her television work includes The Musketeers; and for film, Take Down.

Zubin Varla's theatre work includes War Horse, The Enchantment, Attempts on Her Life, The Life of Galileo and Cyrano de Bergerac and Dara (National Theatre), Julius Caesar (Lyric Hammersmith), Troilus and Cressida, Two Gentlemen of Verona, Midnight's Children, The Tempest, Roberto Zucco, Bartholomew Fair, Faust, The Painter of Dishonour and Romeo & Juliet (RSC), Twelfth Night (Donmar Warehouse in the West End), Paradise Regained (Royal Court), In the Heart of America (Bush Theatre), Teeth 'n' Smiles (Sheffield Theatres), A Midsummer Night's Dream (Shakespeare's Globe), Jesus Christ Superstar and Beautiful Thing (West End). Measure for Measure, The Changeling (Young Vic). His television work includes Deep State, Will, Our Girl, Strike Back, Silent Witness, Twelfth Night and Little Dorritt.

Ellen McDougall is Artistic Director of the Gate Theatre. She previously directed Idomeneus for the company in 2014. Her credits include a critically acclaimed production of Othello at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse at Shakespeare's Globe earlier this year, the Lyric's annual pantomime - Aladdin by Joel Horwood (2016) and Cinderella by Tom Wells (2015), The Rolling Stone (Orange Tree Theatre and Manchester Royal Exchange), The Remains of Maisie Duggan (Abbey Theatre, Dublin), The Glass Menagerie (Headlong), Anna Karenina (Manchester Royal Exchange), Henry the Fifth, Not Now Bernard, The Nutcracker, Antigone and Philoctetes (Unicorn Theatre), Glitterland (Secret Theatre/Lyric Hammersmith) and Ivan and the Dogs (Actors Touring Company/Soho Theatre - nominated for an Olivier Award). McDougall was formerly part of the Secret Theatre Company at the Lyric Hammersmith, Associate Director at the Gate, and an Associate Artist at ATC. She trained as an assistant to Katie Mitchell and Marianne Elliott. She was awarded an International Artists' Development Award (ACE/British Council) in 2012.

Clare Slater is the Literary and Editorial Manager at the Donmar Warehouse and former Executive Director at the Gate where she worked as dramaturg on Ellen McDougall's production of Idomeneus and wrote a radio play Here's How It All Began. At the Donmar, she dramaturgically supports all of the plays, with receNT Productions including Limehouse by Steve Waters and The Resistible Rise Of Arturo Ui by Bertolt Brecht in a new adaptation by Bruce Norris. As a freelance adaptor and dramaturg, her recent credits include The Last Mermaid, Man To Man (Wales Millennium Centre), Lotty's War (UK tour) and We Have Fallen (Theatre 503/Underbelly). She previously worked as the Assistant Literary Manager at the National Theatre and in television and film development with Rare Day.

Ola Ince is the 2016 Genesis Future Director Award-winner and Artistic Associate at Lyric Hammersmith and Theatre Royal Stratford East. As Director, her credits include Start Swimming (Young Vic & Summerhall), White Sky (RWCMD & Gate Theatre), Broad Shadow (National Theatre), Dutchman (The Clare, Young Vic), Rachel, The Soft of Her Palm (Finborough Theatre). As Associate Director, her credits include Bugsy Malone (Lyric Hammersmith), Tipping the Velvet (Lyric Hammersmith & Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh), Fog (UK Tour). As Assistant Director her credits include Shakespeare Trilogy (Donmar Warehouse & St. Ann's Warehouse), Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Dara, A Taste of Honey (National Theatre) Porgy & Bess (Regent's Park Open Air Theatre), Josephine & I (Bush Theatre) and Wild Swans (Young Vic).

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