Casting has been announced for the Bush theatre’s forthcoming production of Janice Okoh’s award-winning play Three Birds.
Claire Brown, Michaela Coel, Jahvel Hall, Lee Oakes and Susan Wokoma will appear in the Manchester Royal Exchange co-production at the renowned Shepherd’s Bush venue from 20 March.
Winning the 2011 Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting, Three Birds tells the story of siblings Tiana, Tanika and Tionne who find themselves home alone. Tiana’s keeping it all together by taking charge of house work and homework, but Tionne’s experiments are getting stranger and Tanika’s starting to act up. As the outside world begins to press in, the three will do anything to keep their secret safe from the adults who come to call.
Described as “a startling and darkly comic drama about childhood, family and fantasy”, the South East London-set drama will be directed by Sarah Frankcom, Artistic Director of the Royal Exchange theatre in Manchester, where the show will play prior to its London premiere.
Coel (Chewing Gum Dreams, The Yard theatre), Hall (Doctor Who) and Wokoma (Truth And Reconciliation, Royal Court theatre) will lead the cast as the three siblings at the centre of the story, while Royal Exchange regular Brown (Guilt And Shame, Soho theatre) and Oakes (Shawshank Redemption, West End; Sparkleshark, National Theatre; Celaine, Hampstead theatre) take on the production’s adult roles of Ms Jenkins and Dr Feelgood.
Three Birds will follow the Bush theatre’s first production of 2013, Money The Game Show. A playful and politically sharp look at the roots of the financial crisis and its ongoing impact, Clare Duffy’s drama begins previews later this week.