Matthew Castle and Sam Perry Star in UK Debut of PUNKPLAY, Starting Tonight at Southwark Playhouse

The UK première of punkplay by Gregory S. Moss at Southwark Playhouse is a riot of a play told at breakneck pace with a killer soundtrack, a coming-of-age story about subcultures, friendship and not-fitting-in - all on rollerskates!

Staged in the US by Steppenwolf Theatre Company, punkplay, directed by Tom Hughes, will open for a 4-week season at Southwark Playhouse from tonight 7 September and run until Saturday 1 October.

Press night is Friday 9 September at 8.00pm

There's Duck and there's Mickey. They're the kids of America and it's the 80s apocalypse. They hate their parents and there's no point in algebra. They're grabbing at this thing called life: guitars, girls, love, fury, heartbreak and noise noise noise. Punk is their escape from suburbia and it's like nothing they have ever heard. It's fast - it's alive - it's already dead.

Matthew Castle was Roger in the Regents Park Open Air Theatre's acclaimed production of Lord of the Flies.

Aysha Kala was named a BAFTA Breakthrough Brit of 2015. She played Sooni Dalal in Indian Summers and was in Shameless (both C4). On stage she was in Much Ado About Nothing at the Royal Shakespeare Company and Djinns of Eidgah at the Royal Court.

Sam Perry and Jack Sunderland are making their professional stage debuts.

punkplay is part of Punk London - 40 years of subversive culture.

Playwright Gregory S. Moss said: "I hope London theatregoers respond the same as an American audience. It's a play that works on a bunch of levels. I hope they can find some reflection of their own adolescence in the central relationship. I hope that the play does capture, in an authentic way, some of that spirit of what I thought punk rock was about: this unfettered freedom, that sense of possibility that it gave me when I was a kid. It's a huge deal for me to have the play open in London. And also to be part of Punk London - the 40th anniversary of punk in London - feels incredibly validating. It makes me very happy."

ABOUT THE ARTISTS:

Gregory S. Moss

Playwright Gregory S. Moss is a writer, performer and educator from
Newburyport, MA. His play, Indian Summers, is currently at Playwrights Horizon. His other work has been seen at La Comédie Française, Clubbed Thumb, The Guthrie, Playwrights Horizons, PlayPenn, Soho Rep., Steppenwolf Garage, and New York Theatre Workshop. Gregory is a 2012 MacDowell Fellow, a Playwrights Center Core Member, and the recipient of a 2010-2011 Jerome Fellowship and a 2011-2012 McKnight Fellowship. His work has been published by Play: A Journal of Plays, n+1 and Playscripts. He is currently working on commissions from Playwrights Horizons, Woolly Mammoth, and Clubbed Thumb. In collaboration with composer/lyricist Joe Iconis, he's creating a new musical based on the life and work of Hunter S. Thompson for La Jolla Playhouse. Recent and upcoming productions include La Brea; Orange, Hat & Grace; I Promised Myself to Live Faster in collaboration with Pig Iron Theatre Co. at the 2015 Humana Festival of New American Plays at The Actor's Theatre of Louisville, Reunion at South Coast Repertory (Best New Play of 2014, The OC Weekly), Billy Witch at Studio 42 and APAC (NY), House of Gold at La Comédie Française (Winner, Prix du Public) and at EST-LA (LA Times and LA Weekly Critics' Pick) and sixsixsix at Antimatter Collective (NY) (Editor's Pick, Flavorpill). www.gregorysmoss.com

Tom Hughes

Director Tom Hughes is currently working as staff director to Rufus Norris on The Threepenny Opera (National Theatre). He originally trained with Living Pictures and on the 2013 NT Studio Directors Course. In 2013, Tom directed the sold-out Late in the Day (Hen & Chickens Theatre). He has also worked as assistant director to Carrie Cracknell on A Doll's House (Young Vic), Wils Wilson on I Want My Hat Back (National Theatre) and Nancy Meckler on Brontë (Shared Experience/Tricycle). Tom is also co-Artistic Director of The Band Theatre Company - a collaborative ensemble who devise anarchic and noisy new plays for adventurous audiences - who have been supported by Camden People's Theatre, Theatre Delicatessen and Arts Council England to develop their first full show: The Ajax Project. Tom also holds a PhD in Film and Television Studies from the University of Warwick. At the age of 18, Tom spent much of 2002-2003 touring the UK and Europe with Austrian activist punk band J*A*N feat UDSSR.

Punk London - 40 years of subversive culture

Always more than a musical genre, punk allowed a generation to express themselves without deference, to invent without fear, and to create without boundaries. 40 years on, and some of the most cutting edge cultural organisations and businesses in London have come together to celebrate punk in all its ragged glory. A year long programme of gigs, exhibitions and films will look back at the excitement and energy of the movement's genesis, and at punk as an on-going catalyst that continues to inspire, refuse categorisation and spark creativity around the world. www.punk.london

LISTINGS INFORMATION:

Philippa Neels & Co. presents
the UK premiere of
punkplay
by Gregory S. Moss

Southwark Playhouse
The Little
77-85 Newington Causeway
London SE1 6BD

Box Office: 020 7407 0234
ww.southwarkplayhouse.co.uk

Wednesday 7 September -
Saturday 1 October

Press night:
Friday 9 September at 8.00pm

Times: Monday - Saturday at 8.00pm Saturday matinee at 3.30pm

Ticket prices:
Previews on 7, 8 September: all tickets £12
From 9 September: £20, £16 (conc)

Concessions
Students, Under 16s, Unwaged, Registered
disabled, Over 65s.
Registered disabled patrons can bring one
companion free of charge.

Pictured: Matthew Castle and Sam Perry. Photo by Helen Murray.

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