Indhu Rubasingham Reveals Final Season as Artistic Director of the Kiln Theatre

As Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York) opens, Artistic Director of Kiln Theatre, Indhu Rubasingham has announced her final season for the company, completing her 12 year tenure at the helm of the North West London powerhouse.

Indhu Rubasingham said today, “Tinged with many emotions, I am proud to share my final season at Kiln Theatre.

“Opening the season is a glorious comedy from the brilliant company Spymonkey, in a co-production with Royal & Derngate, based on Aristophanes’ The Frogs. The Kiln will then enter a really exciting collaboration with the RSC, which will be a part of Daniel Evans and Tamara Harvey’s inaugural season announcement early next year. It’s wonderful that Kiln can be a part of this pivotal moment, and I can’t wait for you to hear more about it when Daniel and Tamara share their plans for the RSC.

“Then completing the season are two world premières of Kiln commissions by two extraordinary voices – Samuel Adamson and Suhaiymah Mansoor Khan. The first of these being The Ballad of Hattie and James by Samuel, to be directed by Richard Twyman in a co-production with ETT, and the final show is a debut play by Suhaiymah – Peanut Butter & Blueberries. She is a truly unique voice, and I cannot wait for the world to know of this play and embrace her work. It feels fitting that I end my tenure as I stared – with debut plays. The bedrock of my programming and passion at Kiln has been giving platform to different voices expressing their perspectives, concerns and insights of the world around them, speaking to the different communities around Kilburn and beyond.

“I want to thank you for your support and encouragement during my time as Artistic Director here and I cannot wait to for you to experience these different worlds as you enter Kiln Theatre.”

The Frogs, The Ballad of Hattie and James and Peanut Butter & Blueberries are now on sale for Kiln Card priority booking and go on general sale at 12pm on Tuesday 14 November.

 THE FROGS

by Carl Grose and Spymonkey, with massive apologies to Aristophanes

8 February – 2 March 2024

Press night: 9 February 2024 at 7pm

Spymonkey’s tragically funny attempt to pull off a classic Greek comedy.

From the UK’s leading physical comedy ensemble Spymonkey comes a delirious trip through Greek theatre, a monster-filled Underworld and classic vaudeville double acts.

Toby Park and Aitor Basauri are at the end of the road. The other Spymonkeys have taken themselves off to a better place, and they’re about to call it a day. But when a mega-rich philanthropist and her theatrically inclined niece make them an offer they can’t refuse, this comedy duo are given one last chance. Do they have what it takes to perform the classic Greek comedy The Frogs? With golden-age glamour, modern-day angst and a jumping chorus of tap-dancing frogs, this is Aristophanes performed like you’ve never seen it before.

The production comes to Kiln Theatre after opening at Royal & Derngate, Northampton on 24 January. 

For ages 12+ 

Spymonkey’s The Frogs is supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England. 

 THE BALLAD OF HATTIE AND JAMES

By Samuel Adamson

11 April – 18 May 2024

Press night: 18 April 2024 at 7pm 

Director: Richard Twyman

An epic, life-spanning tale of friendship, music, and the moments that change you forever.

At St Pancras International, a woman sits at the piano and begins to play. The music captivates commuters, tourists and, following a viral clip, people around the world. Behind the music is the incredible story of a lifelong duet – the ballad of Hattie and James.

Throughout their lives, Hattie and James find themselves inextricably linked, for better or worse, and cannot help but replay the experiences that have shaped them.

An impassioned story from Samuel Adamson that asks who gets to have their voice heard, and can you ever settle the score?

Samuel Adamson returns to Kiln Theatre, after collaborating with Rubasingham on his most recent play, Wife. His other plays and adaptations for the stage include Running Wild (Chichester Festival Theatre/Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre), My Name is Frida (Hoard Festival, New Vic Stoke), Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya (West Yorkshire Playhouse), The Light Princess (National Theatre), Gabriel (Shakespeare’s Globe), Ostrovsky’s Larisa and the Merchants (Arcola Theatre), Frank & Ferdinand (National Theatre Connections), Decade (Headlong Theatre), Mrs Affleck (National Theatre), Some Kind of Bliss (Trafalgar Studios), All About My Mother (Old Vic), A Chain Play (Almeida Theatre), Southwark Fair (National Theatre), Fish and Company (National Youth Theatre/Soho Theatre), Ibsen’s Pillars Of The Community (National Theatre), Schnitzler’s Professor Bernhardi (Arcola Theatre), 24 Hour Plays (Old Vic), Ibsen’s A Doll’s House (Southwark Playhouse), Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard (Oxford Stage Company/Riverside Studios), Chekhov’s Three Sisters (Oxford Stage Company/Whitehall Theatre), Drink, Dance, Laugh and Lie (Bush Theatre), Grace Note (Peter Hall Company/Old Vic) and Clocks and Whistles (Bush Theatre).

Richard Twyman took up the role of Artistic Director of ETT in November 2016 and his production of Macbeth is currently on tour. He was previously Associate Director (International) at The Royal Court Theatre, where he worked with playwrights across the world to develop their plays. Prior to this, he spent five years at the RSC working on fourteen productions, including the hugely acclaimed Histories Cycle for which he directed Henry IV Pt II, which were honoured with three Olivier Awards, the Evening Standard Editor’s Choice Award and named by The Guardian’s Michael Billington as his production of the decade 2000-2010. Twyman has directed at The Royal Court Theatre, Bush Theatre, Old Vic Tunnels, Theatre Royal Bath and worked alongside Peter Hall on his 80th anniversary production of Twelfth Night at The National Theatre. For The Royal Court Theatre, Twyman has directed You for Me for You by Mia Chung, Torn by Nat Martello-White, Harrogate by Al Smith and The Djinns of Eidgah by Abhishek Majumdar. His other credits include Ditch by Beth Steel, which opened the Old Vic Tunnels; Les Liaisons Dangereuses by Christopher Hampton at Theatre Cocoon, Tokyo/Osaka; Deliver Us by Anna Leader at Théâtres De La Ville Luxembourg; Give Me Your Hand (New York), nominated for the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Unique Theatrical Experience in 2012. For ETT, he has directed Martin Crimp’s Dealing with Clair at the Orange Tree Theatre; the critically acclaimed production of Othello, which toured the UK and internationally from 2017-2019; and is currently touring Macbeth around the UK and internationally.   

PEANUT BUTTER & BLUEBERRIES

By Suhaiymah Manzoor-Khan

8 August – 31 August 2024

Press night: 14 August 2024 at 7pm

Director: to be announced

Hafsah and Bilal are not looking for love. She has her faith, her books, her dreams. Bilal…well he’s just trying to get through uni.

Studying in London, far from their hometowns of Bradford and Birmingham, they find common ground over a peanut butter and blueberry sandwich. Just as their connection is growing, the past and social realities become harder to ignore. Between opportunities, obligations and injustices, will they be able to choose each other?

In her debut play, author, poet and educator Suhaiymah Manzoor-Khan explores how to love when the weight of the world is on your shoulders.

Suhaiymah Manzoor-Khan is a writer, poet and educator. Her latest book, Seeing for Ourselves: And even stranger possibilities was published by Hajar Press in September 2023. Prior to this she authored Tangled in Terror: Uprooting Islamophobia (Pluto Press, 2022). In 2019 her debut poetry collection Postcolonial Banter was published, featuring eight years’ worth of poetry including her viral poem This is Not a Humanising Poem which placed her as runner-up of the National Roundhouse Poetry Slam in 2017 and has over two million views online. Postcolonial Banter critiques and troubles narratives about racism, systemic Islamophobia, the function of the nation-state and secularist visions of identity. She was resident writer at the Leeds Playhouse (2021-22), a Visiting Research Fellow in the School of Geography at Queen Mary University of London (2020-22), and was selected for the Royal Court 2021 Writers Group.

 

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