Olivier Award-winning actress Kathryn Hunter will star in mythical drama Mare Rider at the Arcola theatre later this month.
The acclaimed actress, who has previously appeared at the East London venue in Tell Them I Am Young And Beautiful and Yerma, will appear alongside Matthew Flynn, Anna Francolini and Hara Yanas in the evocative play from 22 January (press night 25 January) to 16 February.
Mare Rider tells the story of Elka, a timeless creature of myth, the subversive and vengeful baby-stealer. The dark drama weaves classic mythology with fears of child-birth and issues of identity to take audiences on a fantastical journey which starts on a maternity ward in a London hospital.
Hunter received an Olivier Award for her role in The Visit at the National Theatre in 1990. Her many other theatre appearances include her critically acclaimed one-woman performance in Kafka’s Monkey and Peter Brook’s Fragments at the Young Vic theatre, The Diver at Soho theatre and numerous leading roles for the Royal Shakespeare Company. As a director Hunter’s credits include Othello for the RSC, The Birds at the National Theatre and Pericles at Shakespeare’s Globe. In April she will return to the Young Vic theatre to direct My Perfect Mind.
Mare Rider is performed as part of Europe Now, a theatrical collaboration between five theatres across Europe who share a collective vision of Europe’s intercultural future, and will see a creative collaboration between the Arcola’s Leyla Nazli and Mehmet Ergen. Nazli, who wrote the production, is the venue’s Executive Producer, while the show’s director Ergen is the theatre’s founder and Artistic Director.