Gate Theatre Announces Its First Season In Camden

Gate Theatre has announced its first season at Theatro Technis @ 26 Crowndale. Starting this spring, this follows the announcement of Gate Theatre's permanent move from Notting Hill to Camden, following a long search for a more accessible home.

Interim Artistic Director Stef O'Driscoll said 'Our first season in Camden is full of stories which speak to values close to the hearts of our team and local community, from the UK premiere of Robert O'Hara's outrageous and hard-hitting Bootycandy about growing up black and gay in 1970s' America; to a co-pro with Pigfoot on HOT IN HERE featuring theatre's first energy-harvesting dancefloor and derived from interviews with climate advocates across the world; and lastly Brassic FM, a collaboration with Zia Ahmed about work which connects deeply to our local multicultural working class community in Somers Town. The Gate has always been a place to nurture and challenge the next generation of artists to create ground-breaking theatre. Our first season at our new home at Theatro Technis @ 26 Crowndale is no exception. In true Gate style, no two visits to our shows will be the same. This season celebrates everything the Gate has come to stand for across its 43-year history, connecting global voices to local stories. We can't wait to see you again this spring. Let's come together again to think, imagine and play."

Chair of the Board Shami Chakrabarti said 'My thanks to everyone who nearly broke my inbox with anger at the politicised cut to our theatre. Please now come and break the box office for an exciting new season that will help us keep the Gate open for many great seasons, stories and artists to come'

Bootycandy

By Robert O'Hara

Directed by Tristan Fynn-Aiduenu

Designed by Milla Clarke

Monday 13 February to Saturday 11 March

PRESS NIGHT: THURSDAY 16 FEBRUARY AT 7PM

"It's called a Bootycandy you too young to be calling it a d*ck don't let me hear you say that again have you lost your mind in real life?"

Tristan Fynn-Aiduenu directs the UK premiere of Robert O'Hara's startlingly provocative and outrageously funny, Bootycandy, a whip-smart, high-octane, roller coaster ride about growing up black and gay.

Sutter is on a journey. A sugar-exploding pilgrimage to understand himself, the world around him, and why his Old Granny calls his d*ck a "bootycandy". But in continuing to discover all the parts that make him..."him"... will he come to terms with what he finds?

Bootycandy is a semi-autobiographical, kaleidoscopic, black queer fever dream of connected vignettes exploring childhood, sexuality, fantasy and reality.

Robert O'Hara (he/him) has received the NAACP Best Play and Best Director Award, the Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding New Play, two Obies and the Herb Alpert Award. Broadway: Slave Play (Tony Nomination). Off Broadway: He directed the world premieres of Jeremy O. Harris' Slave Play, Nikkole Salter and Dania Guiria's In the Continuum, Tarell McCraney's The Brother/ Sister Plays (Part 2), Colman Domingo's Wild with Happy, Kirsten Childs' Bella: An American Tall Tale, Ross Baum and Angelica Cheri's Gun and Powder, and his own plays, Bootycandy, Mankind, and Insurrection: Holding History. His upcoming projects include directing O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night, directing Anthony Davis's Opera X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X, writing and directing a series for Netflix/Ryan Murphy and writing and directing a feature film adaptation of his original play, Barbecue for Anonymous Content.

Tristan Fynn-Aiduenu (he/him) is a British-Ghanaian theatre-maker whose work aims to stretch the imagination of his audiences with his unique brand of storytelling. Tristan has directed at venues like Young Vic, Royal Court and National Theatre. He is an Associate Director of Initiative.dkf, and Associate Artist at Brixton House and Gate Theatre. Tristan is the winner of the 2019 JMK Directors Award. Previous work includes multi-award nominated productions Sweet Like Chocolate Boy (Jack Studio Theatre/Tobacco Factory Theatres/Theatre Peckham); Little Baby Jesus (Orange Tree Theatre); Sundown Kiki (Young Vic); and For Black Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When The Hue Gets Too Heavy (Nouveau Riche/New Diorama Theatre/Royal Court), for which he won the Black British Theatre Award for Best Director and Best Production.

Full cast and creative team will be announced shortly.

HOT IN HERE (an energy-generating dance party)

Co-directed by Hetty Hodgson and Bea Udale-Smith, and devised with the company

Monday 5 June - Saturday 24 June

PRESS NIGHT: THURSDAY 8 JUNE AT 7PM

We're fighting because we love so much... We're fighting for the survival of our species. We're fighting for the survival of the most marginalised people, the majority of people, because that's what climate justice is about' - Mitzi Jonelle Tan, Climate Justice Activist, the Philippines

A protest. A theatre show. An energy-generating dance party.

The Gate continues to support some of the UK's most exciting young and early career artists with HOT IN HERE, a co-production with Pigfoot, interrogating the most pressing issue in the world right now, the global climate emergency.

Energetic and urgent, HOT IN HERE was made from interviews with young climate advocates across the globe who are leading campaigns and protecting land at the frontlines of the climate crisis, predominantly in the Global South and nearest the Equator.

Featuring the first energy-harvesting dancefloor in live theatre, HOT IN HERE is about action for international climate justice, and the UK's place within it.

Pigfoot is a multi-award-winning theatre company, dedicated to making collaborative theatre about the climate and ecological crisis with the least carbon impact possible.

Pigfoot Theatre tell stories about the climate and ecological crisis, with the least carbon impact possible. An Associate Company of English Touring Theatre, Pigfoot 'practises what it preaches' (The Sunday Times) and protests within an industry which, in London alone, has a carbon footprint of 50,000 tonnes a year. Their bike-powered family comedy How To Save A Rock has toured with English Touring Theatre to Northern Stage and Theatre By The Lake, with Battersea Arts Centre and Found in Music, and with support from Slung Low to the Albany, Camden People's Theatre and more. HOT IN HERE (an energy-generating dance party) recently toured England to venues including York Theatre Royal, Contact MCR, and Birmingham MAC. The company's new show, Hostile Environments, supported by Boundless Theatre's Accelerator programme, will be produced in 2023. Pigfoot have led workshops for organisations including The National Theatre, Southbank Centre, HOME Manchester, and Guildhall School of Speech and Drama.

Full company will be announced shortly.

Brassic FM

Co-created and written by Zia Ahmed

Co-created and directed by Stef O'Driscoll

Monday 4 - Saturday 23 September

PRESS NIGHT: THURSDAY 7 SEPTEMBER AT 7PM

work. class.

work + class.

working class.

in a place of bootlegs and own brands

postcodes and homelands

Co-created by Zia Ahmed and The Gate Theatre's Interim Artistic Director Stef O'Driscoll, comes an exciting and provocative new piece of gig theatre about how our perspectives on work and making money are tied up in class and culture.

What does it mean to have a real job anyway?

Full casting and creative team will be announced shortly.

Zia Ahmed (he/him) is a poet and writer hailing from North-West London. He is part of the London Laureates, having been shortlisted for London's Young Poet Laureate 2015/16. He is a former Roundhouse Slam Champion and a Writer in Residence at Paines Plough as part of Channel 4's Playwright Scheme 2017. In 2018 he was chosen to be a part of the Bush Theatre's Emerging Writers Group. His credits include I Wanna Be Yours (Bush Theatre). Zia has also written for My White Best Friend and is currently under commission with the Royal Court and the Bush Theatre.

Stef O'Driscoll (she/they) is the Interim Artistic Director at Gate Theatre. She is an award-winning theatre director and was previously the Artistic Director of nabokov, the Associate Director at Paines Plough and the Lyric Hammersmith. Awards include With A Little Bit of Luck by Sabrina Mahfouz being the first radio play to be broadcast on BBC 1Xtra winning Best Radio production at the BBC Radio and Music Awards 2019. As Director, theatre credits include: How To Save The Planet When You're a Young Carer and Broke (Boundless Theatre), Love Reign (Young Vic), A History of Water in the Middle East (Royal Court), Inside This Box (Clean Break); Lit (Nottingham Playhouse/Hightide), Box Clever (The Bunker), Yard Gal (Ovalhouse, winner of Fringe Report Awards for Best Fringe Production 2009); On The Other Hand We're Happy, Daughterhood, Dexter and Winter's Detective Agency (Paines Plough/Theatre Clwyd 2019 Roundabout Season); Island Town, Sticks and Stones, How To Spot An Alien (Paines Plough/Theatr Clwyd 2018 Roundabout Season); With A Little Bit of Luck; Hopelessly Devoted (Paines Plough).

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