The Almeida Theatre has announced its line-up of productions for spring 2022, including two rescheduled premieres that were postponed by the pandemic.
Anne-Marie Duff leads the cast of The House of Shades by Beth Steel which will be staged in May 2022. The play was originally postponed as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. The UK premiere of Daddy, by Jeremy O Harris, which was also postponed, is also part of the new season which begins in February.
Elsewhere Kathryn Hunter, Marcello Magni and Toby Sedgwick will star in Omar Elerian’s new version of Eugene Ionesco’s tragic farce, The Chairs.
And The Key Workers Cycle, a collection of new plays by Francesca Beard, Sonali Bhattacharyya, Josh Elliott, Annie Jenkins, Eno Mfon, Nessah Muthy, Danusia Samal, Yomi Ṣode and Molly Taylor, celebrates the stories of those who keep our daily lives running, performed by professional actors, local community participants and key workers. Produced in partnership with All Change, Clean Break and Graeae.
Almeida Artistic Director Rupert Goold said:
“When we shut the theatre in March 2020 at the start of the pandemic, the set for Jeremy O Harris’ Daddy was already installed waiting for tech to commence. Now, close to two years later, we’re very pleased to confirm the return of both Daddy and Beth Steel’s The House of Shades which we also had to postpone last year.
“Accompanying those two new plays in the season are Omar Elerian’s new version of Ionesco’s The Chairs, featuring three legendary physical theatre performers in Kathryn Hunter, Marcello Magni and Toby Sedgwick, and The Key Workers Cycle, a collection of nine new plays starring a local community company of actors.”
Further casting is to be announced.
Dates for the Almeida’s spring 2022 productions, which follows the Christmas run of musical Spring Awakening, are as follows:
- The Chairs: 5 February-5 March 2022 (press night 10 February)
- The Key Workers Cycle: 9-12 March 2022
- Daddy: 26 March-30 April 2022 (press night 5 April)
- The House of Shades: 7 May-18 Mune 2022 (press night 17 May)
