Full Cast Revealed For The UK Première of Lynn Nottage's MLIMA'S TALE

Kiln Theatre has announced full casting for the UK première of Lynn Nottage's Mlima's Tale. Miranda Cromwell directs Gabrielle Brooks (Githinji), Pui Fan Lee (Gouxi), Brandon Grace (Andrew), Natey Jones (Geedi) and Ira Mandela Siobhan (Mlima). The production opens on 21 September, with previews from 14 September, and runs until 21 October.

From two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage (The Secret Life of Bees, Sweat), Mlima's Tale makes its UK première at Kiln Theatre. They call him Mlima, the mountain. Killed for his magnificent tusks, killed for greed, killed for ivory, his spirit journeys through the ivory trade market, marking those complicit in his barbaric death.  

Directed by Miranda Cromwell (Death of a Salesman), this powerful and unforgettable story of the ivory trade and its corruption leaves its mark long after the lights go down. 
 

Gabrielle Brooks plays Githinji. Her theatre credits include Once on This Island (Regent's Park Open Air Theatre), Get Up Stand Up (Lyric Theatre), J'Ouvert (Harold Pinter Theatre), Anna Bella Eema (Arcola Theatre), A Midsummer Night's Dream (Regent's Park Open Air Theatre),Twelfth Night (Young Vic), The Way of the World (Donmar Warehouse), Queen Anne (Theatre Royal Haymarket/ RSC), The Wizard of Oz (Sheffield Crucible), Everybody's Talking About Jamie (Sheffield Crucible), Lazarus (King's Cross Theatre), The Strangers Case (Liverpool Everyman Theatre), The Book of Mormon (Prince of Wales Theatre) and Our House (Savoy Theatre). For television her credits include Shadow and Bone and Coming Down The Mountain. For film, her credits include Notes on A Scandal. She is creator and Producer of BlackStage UK - an emotional and educational exposé on what it means to be Black in the UK Arts industry, featuring 30 Black and Black mixed-raced workers from across the sector and from all over the UK.

Pui Fan Lee plays Gouxi. Her theatre credits include Short, Fat, Ugly and Chinese (London, Hong Kong, Singapore, and later recorded for BBC Radio, winning the Commission for Racial Equality's Race in Media Award), The Baby (The Bush), The Lower Depths (Cardboard Citizens), Jungle Book (Redgrave) and Moonshine (Hampstead Theatre). Her television work includes Po in the original Teletubbies, and was one of the first presenters on CBeebies. Her other work on CBeebies include roles as presenter, writer, co-creator, actor in Show Me Show Me, Old Jack's Boat (co-created with Chris Jarvis), The Tempest, A Midsummer's Night Dream and A Christmas Carol. Her other writing includes various platforms pan CBeebies, The Chris and Pui Show and Peppa Pig's First Cinema Experience: Festival of Fun. Her other television credits include Desmond's, Eastenders, The Bill, MIT, Chef!,  Metrosexuality, State of Play, The Nevers, Landscapers, Slow Horses and Andor. For film, her work includes Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason and Mary Reilly.

Brandon Grace plays Andrew. His theatre work includes Much Ado About Nothing (National Theatre), Kick, Abandon (Lyric Hammersmith), Rush (Baron's Court Theatre), and Stacked (Almeida Young Company); and for television, My Lady Jane and Fate: The Winx Saga.

Natey Jones plays Geedi. His theatre work includes The Harder They Come (Public Theatre, New York), Get Up, Stand Up (Lyric Theatre), Rockets and Blue Lights (Royal Exchange Theatre), Death of a Salesman (Piccadilly Theatre), Small Island (National Theatre), One Love: The Bob Marley Musical (Birmingham Rep), Doctor Faustus, Don Quixote, The Alchemist (RSC) and Tomorrow (The White Bear). For television, his work includes Casualty, Father Brown, and Waffle the Wonder Dog; and for film, Pretty Red Dress, Together, and Alpha & Omega.

Ira Mandela Siobhan plays Mlima. His theatre credits include Robin Hood: The Legend. Re-Written (Regents Park Open Air Theatre), My Brilliant Friend (The National Theatre), Equus (ETT and Trafalgar Studios), The Lion The Witch & The Wardrobe (Leeds Playhouse), My Brilliant Friend - Parts 1 & 2 (Rose Theatre Kingston), Mosquitoes (National Theatre), Imogen (Globe Theatre), Running Wild (Regent's Park Open Air Theatre), Everyman (The National Theatre), Macbeth (The National Theatre), The Wind in the Willows (Vaudeville Theatre),  The Drowned Man: A Hollywood Fable (Punchdrunk), A Season in the Congo & Feast (Young Vic), Can We Talk About This (DV8 Physical Theatre) Lifeguard (National Theatre of Scotland), Fela! (The National Theatre). For television, his work includes The Crown, History of a Pleasure Seeker, The Third Day, Brave New World and The Last Hours of Lisa Lopez; and for film, Barbie, Mission Impossible 7, London Road, Pan, Desert Dancer and To Be Straight With You. Movement direction credits include Addictive Beat (Boundless Theatre), Strike (Southwark Playhouse)

Lynn Nottage is a playwright and a screenwriter, and the first woman in history to win two Pulitzer Prizes for Drama. Her plays have been produced widely in the United States and throughout the world. Recent work includes the book for MJ the Musical (Broadway), the libretto for the Intimate Apparel Opera (LCT), and Clyde's (Broadway, 2ST, Goodman Theater), and co-curating the performance installation The Watering Hole (Signature Theater). Past work includes Sweat; Ruined; the book for The Secret Life of Bees; Mlima's Tale; By the Way; Meet Vera Stark; Intimate Apparel; Fabulation, or the Re-Education of Undine; Crumbs from the Table of Joy; Las Meninas; Mud, River, Stone; Por'knockers; and POOF!. She has also developed This is Reading, a performance installation in Reading, Pennsylvania. Nottage is a member of the Theater Hall of Fame, and the recipient of a MacArthur "Genius Grant" Fellowship (among other awards). She is also an Associate Professor at Columbia University School of the Arts and is a member of the Dramatists Guild.

Miranda Cromwell's directing credits include The Beekeeper of Aleppo (Nottingham Playhouse), Swing Sister Swing (UK tour), Rockets and Blue Lights (National Theatre and Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester), and breathe… (Almeida Theatre), Othello (NYT and Royal and Derngate), Death of a Salesman – co-director with Marianne Elliott (Young Vic, Piccadilly Theatre and Broadway – Olivier Award for Best Director), Half Breed (Talawa Theatre/Soho Theatre/India tour), Magic Elves, Hey Diddle Diddle, Sense (Bristol Old Vic), Pigeon English (Edinburgh Festival Fringe), The Rest of Your Life (Bush Theatre) and Death and Treason (UK tour). As Associate Director to Marianne Elliott her credits include Company (Gielgud Theatre) and Angels in America (National Theatre/Neil Simon Theatre) and to Melly Still on Coram Boy (Colston Hall). As Assistant Director her credits include, Strife, An Enemy of the People (Chichester Festival Theatre), hang (Royal Court Theatre), and Swallows and Amazon and Faraway (Bristol Old Vic).

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