Photo Flash: Inside Rehearsal for MOORMAID at Arcola Theatre

Moe Bar-El (Le Bureau Des Legendes, Canal+; Tyrant, Fox; Snatch, Sony) and Ali Azhar (Algérie en éclats, Alouettes Theatre in Paris; Macbeth, Screen Northants/BBC; Digital Physics, Philadelphia Philms) will join renowned German actress Sarah Alles in Marion Bott's Moormaid - an explosive new play about two lost individuals' search for freedom.

Set in Berlin, Moormaid is a thrilling chamber-play about self-destruction and rebirth that attempts to understand the fear currently gripping the European psyche, and the threats that may be posed by our own alienated youth. Bott's inspiration for Moormaid came in 2014, when she discovered that two of her old classmates had travelled to Syria to fight for IS and didn't come back. She was shocked by the banality with which the news was discussed and how this absurdity has now become a normality.

Director Zois Pigadas comments, This is a very important new play that captures the essence of the human psyche and its capacity for creativity but also destruction. The play is set in Berlin, but tackles a pan-European phenomenon, so for me this flat is a 'no-place' that could be London, Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels. It is a privilege for me to work with such a talented cast and creatives from different countries, to put to life what I believe to be a very poignant text for the times we live in.

Berlin. Eleven past eleven. Art teacher Melissa is about to do something drastic. Seeking a place to hide, her ex-pupil Mehdi interrupts her momentum. This meeting is the key to her questions as Melissa represents a depressed and fearful generation longing to break out. Medhi is the mirror of her darkest and greatest desires - he provokes and draws out all the suppressed aspects of her personality and brings them back to life, no matter how uncomfortable it becomes. Both embark on a turbulent journey, painting and battling their way through the past.

Moormaid has been kindly supported by Arts Council England and Arcola Theatre.

Photos Courtesy of Meurig Marshall Photography.

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