Former Hollyoaks star Calvin Demba is to take his first major stage role, playing Kola in Rachel De-lahay’s new Royal Court drama Routes.
Demba, also a regular in hit E4 drama Youngers, will appear alongside Peter Bankolé, Fiston Barek, Claire Lams, Anamaria Marinca and Seun Shote in the play, running from 20 September to 12 October, that explores immigration and exile, asking what happens to the people who fall through the cracks.
The production, directed by Royal Court Associate Director Simon Godwin, marks a return to the Sloane Square venue for both Barek and Lams, who previously performed at the famous new writing venue in Truth And Reconciliation and Harvest respectively. Marinca, who won a BAFTA for her performance in Sex Traffic, memorably appeared at the Young Vic in 4.48 Psychosis, while Shote’s credits include Salome (Headlong) and Death And The King’s Horseman (National Theatre), and Bankolé is currently appearing opposite Lenny Henry in Fences.
Routes, which is presented as part of the Royal Court’s Jerwood New Playwrights programme is the second piece by De-lahay to be staged at the venue following 2011’s The Westbridge, which won the Writers’ Guild Award for Best Theatre Play.
Routes is part of an autumn season at the Royal Court that also includes Dennis Kelly’s The Ritual Slaughter Of Gorge Mastromas, Jack Thorne’s adaptation of vampire tale Let The Right One In, and The Mistress Contract by writer of The Hour, Abi Morgan.