Cast announced for Primetime at the Royal Court
Published on Wed 7 May 2014Wednesday 7 May 2014
Cast announced for Primetime at the Royal Court
The cast has been announced for Primetime, a series of short plays written by primary school children, at the Royal Court Theatre in London (28 – 31 May). The cast is Jason Barnett, Theo Cowan, Christine Entwisle, Sam Swann and Danielle Vitalis.
Pack your bags and hold on tight as you’re whisked away on a whirlwind of crazy adventures. And get ready to meet a host of captivating characters, including a talking sausage roll, a troop of cocktail-loving monkeys and a long-nosed hippo called Gary (of course), who will win you over with their charm whether you’re 8 or 80.
The production of nine ten-minute plays will run for six performances in the Jerwood Theatre Upstairs after which it will tour to 15 primary schools across London during June.
The Primetime plays were written by school children aged eight to 11 from Kensington and Chelsea, Westminster, Southwark and Lewisham, as part of the Royal Court’s Young Writers Festival and Peckham Young Playwrights project in 2012. A selection of the plays were then given full productions, performed by a company of professional actors during Kids Court (a week of activities aimed at children and families) in Open Court – a festival of plays, ideas and events in Vicky Featherstone’s first season at the Royal Court Theatre in summer 2013.
The plays to be performed will be:
Bad Guy Rope by Temidayo Abayomi-Joseph
Journey to Food Paradise by Jose-Luis Aquino-Mejia
Flying Boy by Joseph Burke-Gaffney
Mason’s Journey by Naseem Charrat
Baby Sister by Ruby David-Pimlott
Sports Day Life Saver by Anya Davies
Emperor’s New Fudge by Lucas Ferrar
London We Have a Problem by Jack Franco
The Magic Wig by Isabelle Kennedy-Grimes
The production will be directed by Ned Bennett, designed by Fly Davis, with music and sound by Giles Thomas.
Ned Bennett was previously resident trainee director at the Royal Court Theatre. He recently directed Superior Donuts at Southwark Playhouse, Mercury Fur at the Old Red Lion as well as Pigeons for the Royal Court Theatre’s first schools tour.
Jason Barnett’s theatre credits at the Royal Court include Open Court: Friday Night Sex, The Victorian in the Wall and The Girlfriend Experience. His other theatre credits include Emil and the Detectives at the National Theatre, Mad About the Boy at the Young Vic and Mogadishu at the Royal Exchange. He was also part of the original cast of the award-winning War Horse at the National Theatre. His television credits include The Bill.
Theo Cowan’s theatre credits include Lord of the Flies at Regents Park Open Air Theatre, A Touch of the Sun and Tamburlaine at Bristol Old Vic.
Christine Entwisle’s theatre credits at the Royal Court include Kids Court: Primetime, Narrative and The Gambler Show. Her other theatre credits include Billy the Girl at Soho Theatre, Romeo and Juliet and As You Like It at the RSC.
Sam Swann last appeared at the Royal Court in Kids Court: Primetime. His other theatre credits include Wendy and Peter Pan at the RSC, Mercury Fur at Trafalgar Studios and The Kitchen at the National Theatre.
Danielle Vitalis’ theatre credits include Holloway Jones on tour, Dream Pill at Underbelly and Every Coin at Soho Theatre. Her television credits include Youngers on E4.
ends
For further information, images or interviews, please contact Anna Evans on 0207 7565 5063 or email annaevans@royalcourttheatre.com
Notes to Editors:
Cast:
Jason Barnett
Theo Cowan
Christine Entwisle
Sam Swann
Danielle Vitalis
Creative Team:
Ned Bennett Director
Fly Davis Designer
Giles Thomas Music and Sound Designer
Listings Information:
Primetime
By Temidayo Abayomi-Joseph, Jose-Luis Aquino-Mejia Naseem Charrat, Ruby David-Pimlott, Anya Davies, Lucas Ferrar, Jack Franco, Joseph Burke-Gaffney, Isabelle Kennedy-Grimes
Directed by Ned Bennett
Wed 28 May – Sat 31 May
Jerwood Theatre Upstairs, Royal Court Theatre, Sloane Square SW1W 8AS
Wednesday to Saturday 3.30pm
Friday and Saturday 11am
Tickets: Adults £10, Children (Under 14) £5
Box Office 0207 565 5000
www.royalcourttheatre.com
Meal Deal: Adults £15 (includes a ticket and a meal from the Royal Court Theatre’s Burger Bar) Children (Under 14) £10 (includes a ticket and either a Fish Finger Bap, Chicken Burger, Hamburger or Bean Burger)
For information on how to book a free performance of Primetime at your London primary school, email dionwilson@royalcourttheatre.com
The young playwrights are from the following schools:
Ashburnam Primary School (Kensington and Chelsea)
Burdett Coutts and Townshend Foundation C of E Primary School (Westminster)
Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School (Kensington and Chelsea)
Fairlawn Primary School (Lewisham)
Holy Trinity C of E Primary School (Kensington and Chelsea)
Our Lady of Victories Catholic Primary School (Kensington and Chelsea)
St Francis Catholic Primary School (Southwark)
St Peters Eaton Square C of E School (Westminster)
The Young Writers Festival Development Phase in 2011 was originally funded by John Lyon’s Charity.
The Royal Court Theatre is supported by Coutts
Coutts is a private bank and a wealth manager with three centuries of experience, providing customised solutions for its clients. These include investment, trust and tax services. Headquartered in London, Coutts is the Wealth division of Royal Bank of Scotland Group, connecting with clients from over 40 offices in key financial centres in the UK, Switzerland, the Middle East and Asia. Coutts has a long history of supporting the arts going back 200 years, having　looked after　the financial affairs of many famous clients connected with the arts such as Bram Stoker, Charles Dickens and　Chopin.　 In 1816, Thomas Coutts married Harriot Mellon, a popular actress of her day, and together they became partners of a number of London Theatres, including the Drury Lane and the Royal Opera House.　 Coutts　has even　featured in a number of artistic works including The Gondoliers by Gilbert and Sullivan, and Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic story Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. In the new millennium, this tradition has continued not only through managing the finances of many of today’s top writers, actors and musicians, but also through our arts sponsorship programme and we are delighted to support The Royal Court and its diverse range of ground-breaking performances. For further information please visit www.coutts.com
American Airlines supports the Royal Court by providing transatlantic flights. For more information on American Airlines or our support of theatre, contact our press office at polly.tracey@aa.com.