The UK premiere of SCORCHED by Wajdi MouawadA Dialogue & Old Vic Co-Production Presented in The Old Vic Tunnels, Station Approach, London SE1
Previews from Friday 3 September Press Night: Monday 6 September at 7pm The UK Premiere of the international hit play Scorched, by award-winning playwright Wajdi Mouawad, will open at The Old Vic Tunnels on 6 September 2010.
Following the death of their mother, twins Simon (Richard Simons) and Janine (Sirine Saba) are called to thefamily solicitor, Henry Bell (Patrick Driver) for the reading of her will. They are shocked to find that theirfather is still alive, that they have a brother they knew nothing of, and that their legacy is to deliver lettersto them both.
This takes them on an emotional journey into the past, back to their mother's previous lifeand her Middle Eastern homeland - a country caught up in civil war.
Wajdi Mouawad is currently the Artistic Director of French theatre at Canada's National Theatre and isthe author of over fifteen plays including Littoral, (Tideline), Forêts (Forests), Ciels (Skies) and Wedding Dayat The Cro-Magnons. Mouawad also co-wrote the screenplay and directed the film version of Littoral, afterwinning the ‘Govenor General's Literary Award' for the play. Numerous other awards include the ‘Grand Prixde la Francophonie' and the ‘Grand Prix du Theatre'. Mouawad was the associate artist at the 2009 AvignonFestival and his work is currently the most performed in the category of contemporary French writing. Hisplays have been translated into more than fifteen languages and performed internationally.
Mouawad was born in Lebanon in 1968 and fled the country with his family when civil war broke out.(Before he left he witnessed an attack on a bus which he recreates in Scorched). His family lived in Paris fora few years before settling in Montreal, Canada.
Patricia Benecke is joint artistic director of Dialogue Productions for which directing work includesWedding Day at The Cro-Magnons (Soho Theatre), The Furies/Helter Skelter/Land of the Dead (The Bush& UK tour), Monsieur Ibrahim and The Flowers of the Qu'ran (The Bush & UK tour). In Germany, herdirecting work includes Nathan the Wise, Realism, The Miser, By the Bog of Cats, Shining City, Woman andScarecrow, A Midsummer Night's Dream.
Upcoming productions are The Wonderful World of Dissocia andAugust: Osage County.Dialogue Productions is a London based company dedicated to bringing international productions tothe UK and founded by German director Patricia Benecke and British actor/producer Patrick Driver.
Recentproductions include The Furies/Land of the Dead/Helter Skelter by Neil LaBute (The Bush, UK Tour), Monsieur Ibrahim and The Flowers of The Qur'an (The Bush, UK Tour) and Wedding Day at The Cro-Magnons (Soho Theatre)."A distinctive new company building a reputation for the best international premieres". Josie Rourke, The Bush Theatre
Full Cast: Patrick Driver (The Furies/Helter Skelter, The Bush Theatre & UK Tour; Faith Healer, SalisburyPlayhouse), Stephen Finegold (Tintin, Young Vic/ UK Tour and West End), Jennifer Kidd (The Only Girl in the World, The Arcola; Merchant of Venice, Shakespeare's Globe), Caroline Loncq (Love's LaboursLost, Comedy of Errors, RSC), Christopher Patrick Nolan (The Seagull, Royal Court & Broadway;Macbeth, Chichester/West End/BAM/Broadway), Miranda Pleasence (Crossing Jerusalem; Tricycle;Burning Issues, Hampstead Theatre), Sirine Saba (Nation, Sparkleshark, RNT; Testing The Echo, Out ofJoint), Richard Simons (In The Heart of America, West End; Ramayana, Lyric Hammersmith & UK Tour),and Jennie Stoller (Seven Jewish Children, Royal Court Theatre; Three Sisters on Hope Street, HampsteadTheatre).
Director: Patricia Benecke
Designer: Naomi Dawson
Lighting: Chahine Yavroyan
Composer: Nikola Kodjabashia
