The Royal Court theatre has announced casting for the rehearsed readings of plays written by Georgian and Ukrainian playwrights, which are to be staged at the venue’s Jerwood Theatre Upstairs next week.
On 12 March, Susan Brown, Laura Elphinstone, Trystan Gravelle, Faye Marsay, Rebecca Oldfield and Felix Scott will perform And I Don’t Care How You’re Doing Anymore, Oksana Savchenko’s play about life on the frontline of the new Ukraine.
The Caroline Steinbeis-directed reading will be followed on 13 March by Lasha Bugadze’s absurd comedy about cowardice and power The President Has Come To See You, featuring performances by Paul Chahidi, Pandora Colin, Amanda Drew, Tom Godwin, John Heffernan, Toby Jones, John Kirk, Simon Kunz, Isabella Laughland, Helen Schlesinger and Alan Williams.
Morgan Watkins, Mark Bazeley, Kirsty Bushell and Sam Spruell will perform Evgeniy Markovskiy’s foul-mouthed Ukrainian comedy Twatted on 15 March, and, completing the season, Bettrys Jones, Hayley Carmichael, Natasha Broomfield, Janet Henfrey, Richard Riddell, Jim Bywater, Alex Warren and Ben Addis will take on Mariam Agamian’s Uncle Sasha The Butcher on 16 March.
The plays have grown out of the Royal Court theatre’s on-going project with a group of 12 writers, including Constellations playwright Nick Payne, Jumpy playwright April De Angelis and director Ramin Gray, who have travelled to Tblisi, Lviv and Kyiv to work with the writers.
The final reading on 16 March will be followed by a panel discussion with the playwrights about the challenges of writing new plays in contemporary Georgia and Ukraine.