Ovalhouse's Spring Season to Include New Show by Olivier Award-Winning Playwright Mike Kenny

Ovalhouse begin 2018 with another dynamic and innovative season of shows plus four new FiRST BiTES. For the first time, Owen Calvert-Lyons, Ovalhouse's Head of Theatre & Artist Development, will be directing a brand-new show Random Selfies by Olivier Award-winning playwright Mike Kenny, as part of a three-year research project into child loneliness.

Their Spring Season will open with Medea Electronica - an electrifying retelling of the myth of Medea which has been reimagined as a 1980s Prog Rock gig. Additionally, in the immediate aftermath of the EU referendum last year, Spanish artists Patricia and Mercè invite you to their 'leaving party' in Derailed. And, if you thought you'd had enough of referendums to last a lifetime, This Restless State fast forwards us to 2052 where Europe is ravaged by a continental war with a new referendum looming. The season will conclude with Coconut, a new comedy challenging the assumptions about Islam as we follow a modern Muslim woman looking for love.

Ovalhouse's FiRST BiTES remain a significant part of their programme as springboards of new ideas. This season sees One Item Only and So Many Reasons - two successful and poignant past FiRST BiTES - that return as full-length productions. This season's four new works-in-development will explore female sexuality, mental health, and neo-liberal capitalism.

Owen Calvert-Lyons, Ovalhouse's Head of Theatre & Artist Development, comments, It's hard to know what to be more excited about in our Spring Season programme: our artists' responses to Brexit; my own debut production for Ovalhouse; the launch of our new Learning and Participation programme; or the fact that 75% of our productions this season are female-led. If I had to pick one thing, I might choose A Crash Course in Cloudspotting, our Unlimited commission, which invites audiences to take part in the radical act of lying down in public. It might just be the most rewarding 10 minutes that you spend this year.

The full programme is as follows:

Pecho Mama presents Medea Electronica

Tues 30 January - Sat 10 February, 7.30pm

Set in the technological turbulence of the 1980s, Medea Electronica is a powerful and deeply moving piece of gig-theatre based on the ancient Greek tragedy of Medea. With the discovery of her husband's deceit and betrayal, Medea embarks on a journey of savage revenge and destruction. This intense drama takes place amidst the brilliant chaos of a live synth gig; an all original mash up of contemporary Electronica and 80s inspired Progressive Rock.

Margarita Sidirokastriti and the egg present One Item Only

Fri 16 - 17 February, 2pm

If you had to take a long journey away from home and you could only take one item with you - what would it be? This is the decision our young hero must make in his story of human migration. Follow one child's journey across continents in search of refuge from his troubled homeland, in this eventful and uplifting story of hope and resilience where the human spirit triumphs. 'One item only' is what most smugglers allow on their transport. What would you take?

Little Soldier Productions presents Derailed

Wed 21 February - Sat 3 March, 7.30pm (No performance Sun or Mon)

Twelve years after arriving in the UK, with too many heartbreaks to count, one child, half a marathon, five drum lessons and a permanently overdrawn bank account, Patricia and Mercè are feeling the post-Brexit blues. Fuelled by rage at the state of the world, they want to turn anger into positive action. As riotous and joyous as it is silly, this is their unpredictable but heartfelt story of belonging, failure, and wanting to change the world. Are they really going to say goodbye to the UK for ever?

Fuel presents So Many Reasons by Racheal Ofori

Tues 6 - Sat 10 March, 7.30pm

Directed by Zoe Lafferty and performed by Heather Agyepong, So Many Reasons is a story about the unique influence our mothers have on how we understand the world, from the perspective of a first generation British Ghanaian woman. Exploring cultural and generational shifts in how women see themselves and each other, this sassy and soulful new show asks what happens when we realise mums don't always know best. Ahead of the performance on Thursday 8 March, to celebrate International Women's Day, Anna Reading will read A Letter to My Daughter - the heartfelt letter to her seven-year-old daughter which inspired the play. There will also be a post-show celebration involving some more extraordinary women.

Fuel and Ovalhouse present This Restless State by Danielle Pearson

Wed 14 - Sat 24 March, 7.30pm (no performance on Sun or Mon)

East Berlin, 1989. Alone at the kitchen table, the radio on, Margot learns the wall has fallen and with it the only world she has ever known.

Rome, 2052. In the wake of a devastating refugee crisis and The Continental War, Galina waits in line, ready to cast her vote in the first Europe-wide referendum.

London, 2017. Jesse's train pulls out from the platform, bearing him towards the home and childhood bedroom he's about to see for the last time.

Combining intimate storytelling with evocative sound, this one-man show takes its audience across our continent's past, present and future with a story of family, nationhood, conflict and love.

Ovalhouse presents Random Selfies by Mike Kenny

Tues 27 March - Sat 7 April 2pm (no performances Sun or Mon)

If I lived in the middle of nowhere, you could understand it. If I was halfway up a mountain.
Or at the side of a lake. And I had no brothers or sisters. Well, you could understand it. Couldn't you.
If I said I was lonely. But I'm not any of that.
I live in a flat.
In one of the biggest cities on the planet.
I'm never alone.
But I am lonely.

Directed by Owen Calvert-Lyons, Random Selfies is performed on a digitally animated set, bringing to life the vivid imagination of ten-year-old Loretta; a lonely girl in a busy world. This is an exciting new play written by Olivier Award-winning playwright Mike Kenny and designed by illustrator Rachana Jadhav.

The Thelmas and Ovalhouse present Coconut

Wed 11 - Sat 28 April, 7.30pm (no performances Sun or Mon)

Ever feel like you are constantly disappointing people? Meet Rumi, a British Pakistani woman who's referred to as a 'Coconut' (brown on the outside, white on the inside). Born and brought up as a Muslim, Rumi spends more time enjoying fine wine and bacon than being at the mosque. When she meets Simon, a white guy, she hopes that his decision to convert to Islam will be enough to keep everyone happy. However, as Simon begins to explore his faith, Rumi's world spins off its axis in ways she could never have predicted.

Ovalhouse's four new FiRST BiTES are:

Ovalhouse and Unlimited present A Crash Course in Cloudspotting (the subversive act of horizontality)

Mon 29 January - Sat 10 February

An audio-visual journey for the ill, infirm and sick. That is all of us, if not today, then maybe tomorrow. An ode to invisible disability and acts of bravery we don't see. This is a R&D project supported by Unlimited, celebrating the work of disabled artists, with funding from Arts Council England.

Ovalhouse and ALL ABOUT YOU present Rejoicing At Her Wondrous Vulva The Young Woman Applauded Herself

Wed 21 - Fri 23 February, 7.45pm

A celebratory exploration of female sexuality from the team that made the breathtakingly beautiful My World Has Exploded A Little Bit by Bella Heesom. Join this epic journey of self- discovery through pleasure, shame, pride, fury and jubilation as we struggle to break free from the deeply internalised male gaze and unleash our glorious, feral appetites.

Ovalhouse and Makalla McPherson present When The Lights Go Out

Thurs 1 - Sat 3 March, 7.45pm

Wallace and Nathan: father and son, first generation immigrant and second. The father who has struggled to create a better life for his son, and the son who feels so cheated because that expectation has been thwarted. Wallace dreams of a return to Jamaica but in his struggle to persuade Nathan to come with him, both father and son's differences and secrets force them to face each other in an emotionally charged story of nature vs nurture.

Overdue Productions presents Massive Sense of Urgency

Thurs 22 - Sat 24 March, 7.45pm

Is time really money? Is money really time? What is the 'neo-liberal agenda' and why don't I have a copy? Join award-winning office temp and professional spare wheel Madi Maxwell-Libby on a journey to better understand our economic system. Prepare for drilling, dancing and some heavy-duty irony in this satirical skewering of life under capitalism.

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