Hampstead Theatre presents the UK premiere of Lauren Gunderson’s I and You, which was a finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. Making their professional stage debuts, Game of Thrones star Maisie Williams will star as Caroline and recent Guildhall School of Music and Drama graduate Zach Wyatt will star as Anthony. Directed by Artistic Director Edward Hall, I and You is about friendship, adolescent innocence and living life to the full.
Housebound because of illness, Caroline hasn’t been to school in months. Confined to her room, she has only Instagram and Facebook for company. That is until classmate Anthony bursts in – uninvited and armed with waffle fries, a scruffy copy of Walt Whitman’s poetry and a school project due in the next day... Caroline is unimpressed all round.
But an unlikely friendship develops and a seemingly mundane piece of homework starts to reveal the pair’s hopes and dreams - as well as a deep and mysterious bond that connects them even further.
Maisie Williams will make her stage debut as Caroline. Her film work includes New Mutants; Departures; Early Man; iBoy; The Book of Love; The Falling (European Shooting Star Award 2015 at the Berlin Film Festival, 2016 London Critic’s Circle Award for Best Young performer and Evening Standard Rising Star Award) and Heatstroke. Television work includes Game of Thrones (series regular - Seasons 1 to 8 - three Emmy nominations, two Portal awards in 2012 for best supporting actress and best young actor in television, Radio 1 Teen Award 2013 for Best British Actor, 2014 nomination as one of the UK’s international screen stars of tomorrow and Entertainment Weekly’s Award for best Supporting actress); CyberBully (BAFTA nomination for best single drama); Doctor Who; The Secret of Crickley Hall and Robot Kitchen.
Zach Wyatt graduated from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in June 2018. I and You is his professional debut.
Lauren Gunderson is the most produced playwright in America of 2017/18, two-time winner of the Steinberg/ATCA New Play Award, the winner of the Lanford Wilson Award and the Otis Guernsey New Voices Award. She is also a finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize and John Gassner Award for Playwriting, and a recipient of the Mellon Foundation’s 3-Year Residency with Marin Theatre Company. She studied Southern Literature and Drama at Emory University, and Dramatic Writing at NYU’s Tisch School where she was a Reynolds Fellow in Social Entrepreneurship. Her work has been commissioned, produced and developed at companies across the US including South Coast Rep, The Kennedy Center, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, The O’Neill, The Denver Center, San Francisco Playhouse, Marin Theatre, Synchronicity, Berkeley Rep, Shotgun Players, TheatreWorks, Crowded Fire and more. She co-authored Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley with Margot Melcon, which was one of the most produced plays in America in 2017. Her work is published at Playscripts (I and You; Exit Pursued By A Bear; The Taming and Toil And Trouble), Dramatists (The Revolutionists; The Book of Will; Silent Sky; Bauer and Miss Bennet) and Samuel French (Emilie). Her picture book Dr Wonderful: Blast Off to the Moon was released from Two Lions/Amazon in 2017.
As Artistic Director of Hampstead Theatre, Edward Hall’s productions include Cell Mates; Filthy Business; Rabbit Hole; Wonderland; Sunny Afternoon (also Harold Pinter Theatre/UK tour); Raving; Chariots of Fire (also West End); No Naughty Bits; Loyalty; Enlightenment, The Strange Death of John Doe and Firebird (Hampstead Downstairs/Trafalgar Studios). As Artistic Director of Propeller, productions have included Rose Rage (adapted from Henry VI, I, II & III); Henry V; The Winter’s Tale; The Taming of the Shrew; Twelfth Night; The Merchant of Venice; Richard III; A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Comedy of Errors. His Propeller work has toured worldwide, played the West End and Broadway (as well as regular seasons at Hampstead Theatre) and has won numerous Awards both in the UK and overseas. Other theatre work includes Once in a Lifetime with David Suchet (National Theatre); A Streetcar Named Desire with Natasha Richardson (Roundabout, New York); A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (National Theatre); Mark Ravenhill’s Dick Whittington (Barbican); Calico (Duke of York’s); Edmond with Kenneth Branagh (National Theatre); Two Men of Florence (Huntingdon, Boston); Macbeth with Sean Bean (Albery); The Constant Wife (Apollo); Julius Caesar (RSC); Tantalus (Denver Centre and UK tour); Henry V (RSC); The Deep Blue Sea (Vaudeville) and The Two Gentleman of Verona (RSC). Television work includes The Durrells; Partners in Crime, a six part series for the BBC; Restless; Downton Abbey; Strike Back; Spooks; Kingdom; Trial and Retribution; Miss Marple - Sleeping Murder; Cutting Edge: Safari Strife and Richard III.
Hampstead Downstairs / Celia Atkin present
EVERY DAY I MAKE GREATNESS HAPPEN
By Richard Molloy Directed by Alice Hamilton
13 September – 20 October
Press Night 26 September 7.45pm
‘For the next six weeks, we meet here, in this room. Unless you are hospitalised, or deceased, or suffering some kind of catastrophic physical or emotional trauma, you need to be here’
Hampstead Theatre presents the world premiere of Richard Molloy’s Every Day I Make Greatness Happen, winner of the Nick Darke Award 2017.
It’s back to school with a bang for Alisha, Iman and Kareem – they all failed GCSE English and there are only six weeks until their resits. This is their last chance to continue Sixth Form, failure is not an option. It’s down to Miss Murphy to see the trio through. But collectively, the students are unruly, she’s already snowed under with her other classes and the school is literally falling apart. Can she deliver when there’s just as much drama in the staffroom as there is in the classroom?
Directed by Alice Hamilton, this play is a searingly witty exploration of a struggling system and the people inside it, on both sides of the desk, trying to make things work.
Sofia Barclay plays Alisha. Theatre work includes Mosquitoes (National Theatre); Future Conditional (The Old Vic); SYP (Soho Theatre); The Two Worlds of Charlie F (Haymarket/UK tour); Othello (Brockley Jack Theatre) and As You Like It (Lafayette Theatre NYC). Television work includes Defending the Guilty. Film work includes Sulphur and White and short films Misconduct; Avenue to Nowhere and Bistro Caprice.
Moe Bar-El plays Kareem. Moe trained at the Identity School of Acting in London. Theatre work includes Moormaid (Arcola); Punk Rock (Courtyard Theatre) and Awkward Silence (Sadler’s Wells). Television work includes Code 404; Snatch; Tyrant; Phoneshop and Black Mirror. Film work includes Zero and Austenland.
Jon Foster plays John. Theatre work includes Othello (Shakespeare’s Globe); The Unknown Island; Idomeneus; Tenet; Trojan Women; Dream Story and Mud (all Gate Theatre); F*ck the Polar Bears (Bush Theatre); Buckets (Orange Tree Theatre); A New Way to Please You; Sejanus: His Fall; Speaking Like Magpies and Thomas More (all Royal Shakespeare Company) and Long Time Dead (Paines Plough). Television work includes Prime Suspect 73; Fortitude; Da Vinci’s Demons; The Great Fire; New Tricks; Rev; Southcliffe; The Town and Mrs Biggs. Film work includes Alba; Tides and Nice Guy.
Susan Stanley plays Miss Murphy. Susan trained at LAMDA. Theatre work includes Alligators (Hampstead Downstairs); Tomcat (Southwark Playhouse); F*ck the Polar Bears (Bush); Portia Coughlan (Old Red Lion, nominated Best Female Performance, OFFIES 2015); The Separation (Theatre503); Almost Maine (Park Theatre); The Separation (Project Arts Centre, Dublin); The Last Confessions of a Scallywag (The Mill at Sonning) and Bedbound (The Lion and Unicorn).
Television work includes Fair City. Film work includes Hotel Amenities (winner of Best Actress, Malaga Film Festival 2013); Shadows in the Wind; This Chair is Not Me; The End of the Nine Till Five; Timelarks and Resurrecting the Streetwalker. Susan is co-founder of theatre company Pixilated.
Josh Zaré plays Iman. Josh graduated from The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in July 2018. Every Day I Make Greatness Happen is his professional debut.
Richard Molloy’s Every Day I Make Greatness Happen won the Nick Darke Award 2017. His playwriting credits include The Separation (Project Arts Centre in Dublin/ Theatre503 - nominated for an Off West End Theatre Award for 'Best New Play') and O Do Not Love Too Long (Irish Theatre of Chicago at their New Irish Voices festival – winner of the New Works of Merit Playwriting Contest 2017 and shortlisted for the Liverpool Hope Playwriting Prize 2015 and the Kings Cross Award 2016). The opening scenes Someone's Gonna Break Your Heart, were performed at Flux Theatre's Emerge 2 showcase at the Tristan Bates Theatre in the West End July 2017.
Alice Hamilton is the co- Artistic Director with writer Barney Norris of Up In Arms Theatre Company. Her directing credits for the company include The March On Russia (Orange Tree Theatre); German Skerries (Orange Tree Theatre); Visitors (Arcola/ Bush / UK Tour); Eventide (Arcola / UK Tour); and While We’re Here (Bush Theatre). Other theatre includes Echo’s End (Salisbury Playhouse); Thirty Christmases (Supporting Wall); Anything That Flies (Jermyn Street); Orca and Orson’s Shadow (both Southwark Playhouse). She has been a staff director at the National Theatre, and has led development and dramaturgical projects at the Royal Court, the National Theatre, Salisbury Playhouse and High Tide.
THE DOWNSTAIRS CLUB REACHES 700 MEMBERS SINCE OPENING LAST YEAR
Under 30? Join The Downstairs Club, our free membership scheme which allows under 30s to access all Hampstead Priority Booking periods for free, allowing young people the change to purchase the more cost effective seats. Email thedownstairsclub@hampsteadtheatre.com with your full name and date of birth to register.
MAIN STAGE
THE HUMANS
By Stephen Karam Directed by Joe Mantello 30 August – 13 October #HTTheHumans
I AND YOU
By Lauren Gunderson Directed by Edward Hall
18 October – 24 November #HTIandYou
Previews, Mondays 7.30pm and matinees Weds 2.30om; Sats 3pm Full Price: £30/£27/£18
Under 30s/Students: £15/£10*
Seniors (matinees only): £22/20
Groups For every 9 tickets get the 10th free Access: £16
Tuesday – Saturday evenings 7.30pm
Full price: £37/£32/£25
Under 30s/Students: £15/£10*
Groups For every 9 tickets get the 10th free Access: £16
*Under 30s and Student concession seats are available in row A (£15) & Band C (£10)
DOWNSTAIRS
EVERY DAY I MAKE GREATNESS HAPPEN
By Richard Molloy
Directed by Alice Hamilton 13 September – 20 October #HTEveryDay
THE HOES
By Ifeyinwa Frederick
26 October – 1 December #HTTheHoes
PARADISE
By Dusty Hughes
7 December - 19 January #HTParadise
Mon-Sat 7.45pm; Wed Mats 2.45pm; Sat Mats 3.15pm First Five Previews: All tickets £5
First twelve performance thereafter: £12
Remaining performances: £14
U30/students: £10
