Inaugural HERETIC VOICES Extends at Arcola Theatre

Heretic Productions today announces an extension of the inaugural Heretic Voices - a new competition which aims to find the best new writing in monologue form, at the Arcola Theatre now running from Tuesday 9 January until Saturday 20 January. The recently announced winners, chosen by Michael Billington, Lolita Chakrabarti, Monica Dolan and Mel Kenyon, will have their monologues produced by acclaimed directors and actors at the Arcola Theatre.

Award-winning director Roy Alexander Weise directs Ted Reilly in Sonya Hale's Dean McBride; Max Gill directs Lauren Samuels in A Hundred Words for Snow by Tatty Hennessy; and Amanda Boxer performs Woman Caught Unaware by Annie Fox, directed by Jessica Edwards. The three monologues will be performed each evening from 9 January until 20 January and they will also be published as a collection 'Heretic Voices' by Nick Hern Books.

DEAN McBRIDE

By Sonya Hale

Dean McBride is a vivid and poetic story of loss and redemption set on a Croydon council estate.

Sonya Hale's other plays include Glory Whispers at Theatre503. As a writer, she has worked with The Outside Edge Theatre Company, Synergy Theatre Project and Clean Break and her plays have been performed at The Southbank Centre, Latitude Festival, E15 University and in prisons and treatment centres.

Ted Reilly is most well-known for his current role Johnny Carter in Eastenders. His theatre credits include Plaques and Tangles and Vera Vera Vera (Royal Court Theatre).

Roy Alexander Weise is the 19th annual winner of the James Menzies-Kitchin Award and is an Associate Director at Harts Theatre Company. His theatre credits include The Mountaintop (Young Vic), Jekyll and Hyde (National Youth Theatre), Dead Don't Floss (National Theatre), The Ugly One (Park Theatre), The Dark (Ovalhouse), Primetime (Royal Court Theatre), Stone Face (Finborough Theatre). He is also directing the forthcoming productions of Nine Night (National Theatre) and Br'er Cotton (Theatre503).

A HUNDRED WORDS FOR SNOW

By Tatty Hennessy

A Hundred Words for Snow describes a teenage girl's solo journey to the North Pole with her father's ashes.

Tatty Hennessy's previous work includes an adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen's The Snow Queen commissioned by Theatre N16, and All That Lives developed in association with Ovalhouse.

Lauren Samuels was previously a contestant on BBC1's Over the Rainbow. Her theatre credits include La Ronde (Bunker Theatre), Vanities: The Musical (Trafalgar Studios), The Buskers Opera (Park Theatre), Bend It Like Beckham (Phoenix Theatre), Love Story (Octagon Theatre Bolton), Water Babies, Peter Pan A Musical! (Curve), We Will Rock You (Dominion Theatre, UK tour), Vampirette (Opera House Manchester), Children of Eden (Prince of Wales Theatre), The Last 5 Years (Tabard Theatre) and Grease (Piccadilly Theatre)

Max Gill directs. He is a director and writer, and the co-founder (with Ellie Keel) of Heretic Productions. He has previously assisted Kenneth Branagh on Plays at The Garrick and has directed for stage in London, Moscow and Tokyo. He was a Finalist in the Royal Theatrical Support Trust Director Award 2016 and 2017 and the Kevin Spacey Artists of Choice Award. He is a screenwriter for film and television and his plays have been published in the UK. His adaptation of Schnitzler's La Ronde, which he directed at Bunker Theatre in March 2017 has been nominated for the WhatsOnStage award for best Off-West End Production.

WOMAN CAUGHT UNAWARE

By Annie Fox

Woman Caught Unaware by Annie Fox is a searing examination of the culture of body shaming. This is Fox's debut play.

Amanda Boxer's theatre credits include Mosquitoes (National Theatre), Relative Values (Harold Pinter Theatre), Prisoner of Second Avenue (Vaudeville Theatre), The House of Bernarda Alba, The Graduate (Gielgud Theatre), A Touch of the Poet (Young Vic), Blue Heart (Orange Tree Theatre), Medea (Almeida Theatre), The Painter, Macbeth (Arcola Theatre), The Destiny of Me, Many Roads to Paradise (Finborough Theatre), The Arab-Israeli Cookbook (Gate Theatre, Tricycle Theatre), The Pain and the Itch, The Strip (Royal Court Theatre), The Yiddish Queen Lear (Southwark Playhouse), Come Blow Your Horn, The Misanthrope and Absurd Person Singular (Royal Exchange Manchester). Her television credits include Silent Witness, Trial and Retribution and Chalk.

Jessica Edwards directs and is Artistic Director of Flipping the Bird. Recent credits include Denim: World Tour (Soho Theatre/Underbelly), Punts (Theatre503), Revolutions (Arcola/Old Vic Lab), The Gulf (Old Vic Lab), Torch (Latitude/Edinburgh Festival 2016), Haters Make You Famous (Almeida Theatre), Queering Marlowe (Duke of York's Theatre), White Hot & Weak (Old Vic New Voices Festival), The Box (Latitude/Theatre Delicatessen), The Itinerant Music Hall (Lyric Hammersmith/Watford Palace/GDIF/Latitude), Jekyll & Hyde (Southwark Playhouse/Assembly Edinburgh) and the forthcoming Berlin Non Stop (The Vaults) and Hedi Mohr (BKA Theater Berlin, Spring 2018).

Box Office: 020 7503 1646 / www.arcolatheatre.com

Heretic Productions is run by Artistic Directors Max Gill and Jordan Waller and Producer Ellie Keel. Its previous production was an adaptation of Schnitzler's La Ronde, directed by Gill, which ran at the Bunker Theatre in early 2017. The company works across stage and screen with a number of short film productions also in development.

Arcola Theatre is one of London's leading off-West End theatres. Locally engaged and internationally minded, Arcola stages a diverse programme of plays, operas and musicals. World-class productions from major artists appear alongside cutting-edge work from the most exciting emerging companies. Arcola delivers one of London's most extensive community engagement programmes, creating over 11,000 opportunities every year. By providing research and development space to diverse artists, Arcola champions theatre that's more engaging and representative. Its pioneering environmental initiatives are internationally renowned, and aim to make Arcola the world's first carbon-neutral theatre.

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