ROYAL COURT THEATRE & ROYAL EXCHANGE THEATRE CASTING ANNOUNCEMENT: WISH LIST

Shaquille Ali-Yebuah, Erin Doherty, Aleksandar Mikic and Joseph Quinn have been cast in Katherine Soper’s first full length play. A collaboration between the Royal Court Theatre and the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester, rehearsals started on Monday 29 August. Wish List is directed by Royal Exchange Associate Artistic Director Matthew Xia and runs from Saturday 24 September – Saturday 15 October in The Studio, with press night on Wednesday 28 September 2016, 7.30pm, and at the Royal Court from Wednesday 10 January – Saturday 11 February 2017. With design by Ana Inés Jabares-Pita, lighting by Ciarán Cunningham, sound by Giles Thomas and movement direction by Angela Gasparetto.

Katherine Soper’s 2015 Bruntwood Prize winning play explores life at the bottom of the pile and the helpless uncertainty of zero-hours contracts.

Sir Nicholas Hytner (chair of the Bruntwood 2015 judging panel) described it as a play with ‘such eloquence, such quiet craft, such dignity and such compassion.’ Wish List marks our second year co-producing the Bruntwood Prize-winning play following Anna Jordan’s YEN in 2015/16.

“I dreamt about this last night. I dreamt that I was packing boxes in boxes in boxes.”

Tamsin packs boxes in a warehouse, on the clock, with a zero-hour contract. Her brother Dean is housebound. Working to obsessive-compulsive rituals of his own.
When Dean is declared fit for work and his benefits are cut, Tamsin must fight to get the support she and her brother so desperately need.

Full listings and biography information below.

ENDS
Notes to Editors:

For more information or images please contact Anoushka Hay on 0207 565 5063 / AnoushkaHay@royalcourttheatre.com

Katherine Soper (Writer)
Theatre includes: Star Jelly (RHS Flower Show at Tatton Park).
Katherine studied playwriting at Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, where she wrote Wish List. She has developed work with a Studio Group at the Royal Court and with the Young Friends of the Almeida.

Matthew Xia (Director)
For the Royal Court: Wild Child.
Other theatre includes: Into The Woods, Brink (Royal Exchange); Blue/Orange, The Sound of Yellow, Sizwe Banzi Is Dead (Young Vic); Migration Music, Scrappers (Liverpool Everyman); When Chaplin Met Gandhi (Eastlea Theatre Company); The Wiz (WAC Performing Arts/Media College); Soundbites: Ruth The Divorcee and Barry The Love-sick Bee (Lyric Theatre Studio/Bestival); Urban Development, The Blacks (Theatre Royal Stratford East); In His Hands (Urban Theatre).
As Co-Director: Cinderella, I Was Looking At The Ceiling and Then I Saw The Sky (Theatre Royal Stratford East).
As Associate Director: Mad Blud, Aladdin (Theatre Royal Stratford East).
As Assistant Director credits include: The Misanthrope (Liverpool Everyman) and Blackta (Young Vic).
Composing/Sound Design includes: Paralympics Opening Ceremony (DJ); That’s The Way To Do It (Time Won’t Wait) and Squid (Theatre Royal Stratford East).
Matthew is Associate Artistic Director at The Royal Exchange Theatre. He was previously Director in Residence at The Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse and Associate Director at Theatre Royal Stratford East.

Shaquille Ali-Yebuah (Luke Mburu)
Television includes: Dixi, You, Me & The Apocalypse, In & Out of the Kitchen, Tag, Casualty.
Film includes: Iboy, Social Suicide, Legacy, What Comes After, Some Things Mean Something, I Only Have Eyes For You.

Erin Doherty (Tamsin Carmody)
Theatre includes: The Glass Menagerie (UK Tour); Pink Mist (Bristol Old Vic) and Peter O’Toole Memorial (The Old Vic).

Aleksandar Mikic (The Lead)
For the Royal Court: Truth & Reconciliation.
Theatre includes: Suddenly Last Summer, Cherry Orchard (Citizens); Guilt (7:84 Theatre Company); Cruel & Tender (Young Vic); King Lear, The Government Inspector, 5/11 (Chichester); Petrol Jesus Nightmare no.5 (Traverse); The Reporter (National).
Television includes: Doctor Who, Spooks, Messiah, Prime Suspect, The Comic Strip Presents, Hope Springs, EastEnders, Not Going Out, Last Detective, Blue Murder, Hotel Babylon, Belle De Jour, Gunrush, The Fixer, Trial and Retribution, Prisoners Wives, Lucan, The Gates.
Film includes: Extraordinary Rendition, Eastern Promises, It’s a Free World, The Sweeney, Red 2, Tarzan, Black Forrest.

Joseph Quinn (Dean Carmody)
Theatre includes: Deathwatch.
Television includes: Blackwards, Dickensian, Postcode.

Listings Information:
Royal Court Theatre and Royal Exchange Theatre
Wish List
By Katherine Soper
Directed by Matthew Xia
Jerwood Theatre Upstairs, Royal Court Theatre, Sloane Square, SW1W 8AS
Tuesday 10 January – Saturday 11 February 2017
Monday – Saturday 7.45pm
Thursday & Saturday matinees 3pm (from 14 January)
Captioned Performance 7 February, 7.45pm
Press Night Thursday 12 January
Age Guidance 14+ Contains strong language
Standard Tickets £25 (Mondays all seats £10 available from 9am online on the day of performance)
First Look Tickets2 stars £20
Concessions* £5 off top two prices. 25s and under £15 (available in advance for previews and all matinees)
Access £15 (plus a companion at the same rate)
*ID required. All discounts subject to availability.

To download the full press release, click here