On a cold afternoon in February, Jonah knocks on the door of a townhouse in Brooklyn Heights. He’s come to ask Claudia to sell her famously secret collection to a university archive. But in order to do that, he’ll have to persuade her to reveal her own enigmatic past, and to illuminate a series of mysteries about the nature of love, legacy and the untold history of New York City.

Sandra Dickinson (I Loved Lucy in the West End) and Jonathan Chambers (Doubt, A Parable, Southwark Playhouse) star in the European prermiere of The Unbuilt City by Keith Bunin, directed by Glen Walford, at the King’s Head Theatre from Wednesday 6 - Saturday 30 June.

Born in Washington DC, Sandra Dickinson found fame in the UK in the 1970s as the star of Birds Eye beefburger TV adverts. They established her in a succession of American ‘dumb blonde’ roles, and it was many years before she was able to shake that image. She has since enjoyed a prolific career on stage and screen. Her West End shows include Singin’ In The Rain, A Streetcar Named Desire, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Not About Nightingales (NT and Broadway) and Orpheus Descending (Donmar Warehouse). Her films include Steven Spielberg’s 2018 release Ready Player One, Malice In Wonderland, Supergirl and Superman III. Among many TV roles she is probably best known as Trillian in the cult sci-fi TV series The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy. She can be heard voicing various roles in Gumball, Counterfeit Cat and she is the voice of Grandma Tracy in ITV’s Thunderbirds Are Go.

JONATHAN CHAMBERS (Jonah)

Jonathan was born in Jamaica and trained at the Arts Educational Schools and The Royal Academy of Music.Theatre Includes: Doubt, A Parable (Southwark Playhouse), Chiggerfoot Boys (Tara Arts), Jeremy Corbyn, The Motorcycle Diaries (Waterloo East), Going UP (Dublin LGBT Theatre Festival), Make and Model (Bush Theatre), Macbeth (Shakespeare’s Globe), The Lightning Child (Shakespeare’s Globe), The Atheist (St James Theatre Studio & The Lion and Unicorn Theatre), Danny and the Deep Blue Sea (Southwark Playhouse), The Ballad of Benny Junior (Riverside Studios), The Legend of Bella Rosa (Tristan Bates Theatre), Living Under One Roof (Nottingham Concert Hall),
Incendiary (Oval House). Television & Film Includes: Casualty (BBC), Throw of a Dice (CVS Films).

KEITH BUNIN (Playwright)

Keith Bunin’s plays The Credeaux Canvas, The World Over, and The Busy World Is Hushed were all originally produced Off-Broadway at Playwrights Horizons. The Busy World Is Hushed received its UK premiere last autumn at the Finborough Theatre. His other plays include Sam Bendrix At The Bon Soir (La Jolla Playhouse & City Theatre Pittsburgh), 10 Million Miles (Atlantic Theatre Company) and The Principality Of Sorrows (Pure Orange Productions). He wrote the screenplay for the film Horns and he was also a writer for the HBO TV series In Treatment. He is currently working on a play commission from La Jolla Playhouse as well as screenplays for HBO Films and Disney Pictures.

GLEN WALFORD (Director)

Born and brought up in Worcestershire, England. Honours degree in English, Bristol University; Diploma in Education Liverpool University. Founder and first Artistic Director of London Bubble Theatre Company (1972-1979), Chung-Ying Theatre Company, Hong Kong (1979-1982) and Artistic Director of Everyman Theatre, Liverpool (1982-1989). Alongside founding and developing theatre projects, a freelance career has included directing many productions in the UK and abroad. Major regional theatre productions in the UK include Sheffield Crucible, Coventry Belgrade, Nottingham Playhouse, Liverpool Playhouse and Bristol Old Vic. London theatres include Royal Court, Bush, Greenwich, Tricycle and Aldwych. Touring productions include Cambridge Theatre Company, Bill Kenwright Ltd and English Shakespeare Company (1990/91 production of Comedy of Errors toured UK, Jerusalem Festival, the Ukraine and Moscow). International productions (in corresponding languages) include: Blood Brothers for Shownote Ltd. in South Korea, Rhinoceros Cameri Theatre, Tel-Aviv, Israel (Hebrew), Romeo and Juliet - Hong Kong Repertory Theatre, Hong Kong (Cantonese), Blood Brothers - Deutsches-Schauspielhaus, Hamburg, West Germany (German), Tugau - Rumpun Seri Drama Sarawak, Borneo (Bahasa-Melanau), Prometheus – Epidaurus Festival, Epidaurus Amphitheatre, Greece (Greek) (also toured Greece and Canada), five Shakespeare productions for Rhyming Theatre Company, Tokyo and Blood Brothers for Shochiku Company, Tokyo and Nagoya (Japanese). ACTING includes leading roles in productions in major regional theatres and in London includes leading role of Glenda in David Mercer’s Cousin Vladimir for the Royal Shakespeare Company (Aldwych Theatre).

Making Productions (Producers)

Making Productions was created by Darren Murphy to produce bold new writing and existing work in new and exciting ways to engage and entertain audiences. Combining newly discovered talent with experienced collaborators, partner organisations and other producers, the aim is to extend the scope of creativity in the performing arts. Making Productions is passionate about exploring relevant and current work for education and community organisations for the betterment of all and is unique in this practice by championing BAME, LGBT+ and female creatives. Making Productions is establishing a reputation for dynamic, engaging theatre and artistic excellence. Since forming Making Productions in 2014, we have produced the critically acclaimed Shutters (Park Theatre), a triple bill of unique American plays that explored the extraordinary journey of women over the last century. Featuring an all-female ensemble performing both male and female roles. This was followed by the hugely successful Strindberg play – The Father (Trafalgar Studios), Disaster! The Musical (Charing Cross Theatre) and Bug (Associate, Found111). Our most recent work includes: the highly critically successful and 4 time Off West End nominated world premiere of Old Fools (Southwark Playhouse), the universally acclaimed and Offie Award winning production of Doubt, A Parable starring Stella Gonet (Southwark Playhouse), the 35th anniversary production of Coming Clean, Kevin Elyot’s first play (King’s Head Theatre) and Outlaws to In-laws, were seven writers were commissioned to write a short play exploring the choices gay men have made within a social history of oppression, violence and hate (King’s Head Theatre). We were also part of the producing team behind the King’s Head Theatre and Trafalgar Studios Season with successful transfers of La Bohème (nominated for an Olivier Award for Best New Opera Production 2018) and the critically acclaimed Australian play, Strangers in Between.

Graffiti Productions (Producers)

Graffiti Productions founded in 2010 exists to discover new plays and rediscover classics. The company raises modest funds to invest in productions that will help new writings and performing talent to emerge, or encourage a fresh understanding of well-known – and not so well-known – classic texts. Our first co-production with Making Productions was the universally acclaimed production of Doubt, A Parable starring Stella Gonet (Southwark Playhouse). Past productions include Danny and the Deep Blue Sea (Southwark Playhouse) and The Atheist (The Old Red Lion, Lion and the Unicorn & St James Theatre).

To The Moon (Associate Producer)

Passionate about developing and showcasing new writing, To The Moon like to play with the dark side of human nature - always with a dash of humour. Founded by Sharon Burrell in 2012, their most recent production was the Offie-nominated, critically acclaimed Old Fools by Tristan Bernays at Southwark Playhouse. In 2017, they produced seven female solo shows across London, Bristol, Brighton and Edinburgh. Prior to that, they produced Claustrophobia, the first stage play by internationally acclaimed novelist Jason Hewitt, which debuted at Edinburgh Fringe before transferring to the Hope Theatre. Details of forthcoming productions and works in development are on the website
www.to-the-moon.net.


About King’s Head Theatre

The King’s Head Theatre was established in 1970. Passionate about championing ethically produced fringe theatre, we are known for our challenging work and support of young artists. Last year 116,151 audience members saw a show of ours: 44,607 at our 110-seater home on Upper Street and 71,544 elsewhere. At our home in Islington we had 774 performances last year of 95 different shows. We are committed to fighting prejudice through the work we stage, the artists and staff we work with and by producing work for minority audience groups. We believe in fair pay for all on the fringe and create accessible routes for early career artists to stage their work; work we are passionate about. Last year we announced the theatre is on the move. Subject to a fundraising campaign, the King’s Head Theatre will move into a custom-built space in the heart of Islington Square, directly behind its current home securing the future of the venue for generations to come.


The Unbuilt City
by Keith Bunin

Wednesday 6 June - Saturday 30 June 2018

Tuesdays - Saturdays at 7.00pm
Saturday & Sunday matinees at 3.30pm

Press Night:
Friday 8 June at 7.00pm

Running Time:
85 mins (no interval)

King’s Head Theatre
115, Upper Street
London
N1 1QN

Box office:0207 226 8561
www.kingsheadtheatre.com

Tickets:

£25 (premium); £22.50 (general);
£18.00 (over 60s and equity);
£15.00 (Students, under 18s and unemployed.
Previews (6 & 7 Juune) £14/£10.

Twitter:
@UnbuiltCity
@Make_Prods

Facebook:
Making Productions
https://www.facebook.com/makingprods

Website:
www.makingproductions.com

Tickets
https://system.spektrix.com/kingsheadtheatre/website/eventdetails.aspx?WebEventId=unbuiltcity

How to get there:

The nearest underground stations are Angel (on the Bank branch of the Northern line) and Highbury & Islington (on the Victoria and London Overground lines).

The nearest rail station is Kings Cross St Pancras.

LATEST NEWS