Three plays with strong female leads have been brought together by Artistic Director Christopher Haydon for the Gate Theatre’s 35th anniversary season.
Adam Rapp’s The Edge Of Our Bodies, Deborah Stein and Suli Holum’s Chimera and Aditi Brennan Kapil’s The Chronicles Of Kalki will play at the West London venue from September to January, while current hit Grounded is set to head off to America before embarking on a national tour.
Rapp’s The Edge Of Our Bodies (25 September to 18 October), which will be directed by Haydon, tells the story of a 16-year-old girl. Pregnant and standing on the edge of adulthood, as she prepares to audition for a school production she has to untangle the real world from the workings of her own imagination.
Chimera (20 November to 20 December) is the UK premiere of a solo show that premiered at New York’s Public Theater in 2012. The show, which “combines pinpoint wit with breathtaking visuals” follows Jennifer, a woman who has to re-evaluate her whole sense of self when she discovers she has inherited a rare medical condition.
Kapil’s The Chronicles Of Kalki (8 to 31 January), which will be directed by 2013 JMK Award winner Alex Brown, is described as part film noir, part graphic novel. Like The Edge Of Our Bodies it is the story of a teenage girl, but in Kalki’s case, rather than being pregnant there is the possibility that she is the 10th incarnation of the Hindu god Vishnu. Now she has gone missing, she has left her two best friends to try to explain her disappearance, and the shocking events of the last week, to the police.
Speaking about the season, Haydon said: “I’m thrilled to announce our new season Who Does She Think She Is? to celebrate our 35th anniversary. Each play takes a different perspective – personal, political or scientific – to explore the fundamental building blocks of our identity through the prism of three compelling, complex female protagonists.”