Meet the new odd couple on the block, Laquaya and Elyot (performers Nina Barker-Francis and Timothy O’Hara) with rehearsal pictures from Essence, which premieres at VAULT Festival next month. Book your tickets now!
Sarah Henley‘s comic drama runs at The Vaults from 21 to 23 February 2020.
Peckham 2020. Laquaya (15 – loves hip-hop, feminism, Peperami) has broken into Elyot’s house. Elyot (32) is reclusive, eccentric and probably quite lonely. He’s making a model boat and listening to Beethoven whilst checking off his life week by week on a chart on the wall. Watch this slightly odd couple go on a humorous and heart-warming journey from denial to acceptance, overcoming extreme difference and fear of vulnerability to realise that deep down, the essence of each of them make for a perfect match.
Essence explores what it’s like to be lonely, how much it takes to let people in, and how the messy bits of life are ultimately where the gold lies. Expect music (classical vs hip-hop), dancing (passable vs all out dreadful) and heavy doses of Great British awkwardness thrown in for good measure.
Get to know the Essence characters
Today Laquaya’s listening to @Ocean_Wisdom Check it out on @SpotifyUK & catch us at #VAULTFestival2020 21 to 23 Feb! https://t.co/YrXAHxtmGb pic.twitter.com/GfQcIiM76T
— Essence (@essencetheplay) January 30, 2020
#WednesdayWisdom with our Elyot & his Word Of The Day… Try using it in a sentence today. Elyot will be. Be more like Elyot. pic.twitter.com/Ie7QBb0EFz
— Essence (@essencetheplay) January 29, 2020
Playwright Henley’s previous plays include Getting Out, Getting Away and From Where I’m Standing. She received Off West End Award nominations for Muted, Another Way and Streets, all projects on which she collaborated with Tori Allen-Martin. The pair also recently launched Burn Bright, an organisation to support female writers with time, mentoring, advice and bursaries, following their experience working on the Manchester International Festival and Young Vic production Tree.
Henley and Allen-Martin once again team up to present Essence, as Allen-Martin takes the director’s reins on this production. Her previous directorial credits include Streets and Boxed at The Vaults, A Splintered Woman at Theatre 503 and Who I Could’ve Been at The Space.
In rehearsals for Essence
