Headlong Announces Full Casting For Penny Skinner's MEEK

Amy Hodge directs Scarlett Brookes, Shvorne Marks and Amanda Wright in Penelope Skinner's elegantly mysterious new play Meek, an unflinching vision which examines state control and self-control in an unknown theocratic society.

Meek will open at the Traverse Theatre as part of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe before travelling to Birmingham, Liverpool and Manchester.

In a society where private lives become political and freedom of expression is not an option, Irene finds herself imprisoned. As tales of her incarceration spread overseas and her growing exposure becomes a threat, she is forced to make a brutal decision.

Skinner's impassioned play for Headlong in association with Birmingham Repertory Theatre, is a searing evocation of fraught times; a haunting vision of ruthless authoritarianism, tense friendships and one woman's determination not to be broken.

Penelope Skinner said 'On a small-scale, it is a story about friendship, faith, shame and betrayal. On a wider-scale, it is about the ways in which spirituality can be co-opted for political gain, and the impact of that on our personal freedoms. It is also a play about love'

Penelope Skinner is an award-winning writer and recognised as one of the UK's leading voices in contemporary theatre. Her theatre credits include Linda, The Big Idea: Age and The Village Bike (Royal Court), The Promise (Donmar Warehouse at Trafalgar Studios), Fred's Diner (Chichester Festival Theatre), The Sound of Heavy Rain (Paines Plough), Greenland (National Theatre), Eigengrau (Bush) and Fucked (Old Red Lion/Assembly). Film credits include Mary Queen of Scots and How I Live Now. Television credits include Fresh Meat (Channel 4). For radio her credits include Planet B, The Man in Black: The Old Road (BBC Radio 7); Scratch (BBC Radio 3); and Murder in the Toilet (Cookham FM). Penelope is Winner of the 2011 George Devine Award, the Charles Wintour Most Promising Playwright Award at the 2011 Evening Standard Theatre Awards. She was also nominated for the 2012 Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre.

Amy Hodge is Associate Director for Headlong. For Headlong she directed Boys will Be Boys (Bush Hall- part of the Bush Breaks Out season). Other credits include Boat (BAC/Company 3), 7-75 (The Place), Am I Dead Yet? (Traverse and Bush Theatre), Our Big Land (Romany Theatre Company), The Rover (Hampton Court Palace), Romeo and Juliet (Theatre Uz, Uzbekistan for the British Council), Clytemnestra, The Sanger, Light Arrested, Measure For Measure, A Christmas Carol, Small Change (Sherman Cymru, while Associate Director 2008-2011), Cloak Room (Sherman and Washington DC), Playing The Game (Tricycle), Mules (Young Vic), The Ethics of Progress (Unlimited Theatre), The Tempest, Kick for Touch (Orange Tree Theatre). Amy was Studio Associate at the National Theatre (2013-14) and was recipient of Jerwood Directors Award 2007.

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