The Almeida Theatre has announced the full cast for the UK premiere of Clare Barron’s new play Dance Nation, directed by Bijan Sheibani (running from 27 August to 6 October, with a press night on 4 September).
The cast includes Brendan Cowell, Nancy Crane, Karla Crome, Miranda Foster, Sarah Hadland, Kayla Meikle, Irfan Shamji, Manjinder Virk and Ria Zmitrowicz.
Somewhere in America, a revolution is coming. An army of competitive dancers is ready to take over the world, one routine at a time. With a pre-teen battle for power and perfection raging on and off stage, Dance Nation is a ferocious exploration of youth, ambition and self-discovery.
Clare Barron’s play Dance Nation recently received its world premiere at Playwrights Horizons (NYC) in May 2018. It is the recipient of the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize and The Relentless Award established in honour of Philip Seymour Hoffman. Her other plays include You Got Older which received an Obie Award, Drama Desk nomination for Outstanding Play, and was a Susan Smith Blackburn finalist; I’ll Never Love Again, and Baby Screams Miracle.
Joining Bijan Sheibani in the creative team are choreographer Aline David, designer Samal Blak, costume designer Moritz Junge and lighting designer Lee Curran, with sound and composition by Marc Teitler, casting by Amy Ball and dialect coaching by Brett Tyne.
Bios
Brendan Cowell plays Dance Teacher Pat. His theatre credits include Life of Galileo and Yerma (Young Vic); The Wild Duck (Barbican Theatre); Once in Royal David’s City and Miss Julie (Belvoir Sydney); The Dark Room (Company B); True West; Dissident; Goes Without Saying; Far Away; The Shape of Things and The Recruit (Sydney Theatre Company) and Hamlet (Bell Shakespeare).
Nancy Crane plays Maeve. She has previously appeared at the Almeida in Summer and Smoke, Against and Chimerica. Other theatre credits include The Sewing Group, Now or Later, The Sweetest Thing in Baseball and The Strip (Royal Court); Teddy Ferrara (Donmar Warehouse); A Lie of The Mind and Next Fall (Southwark Playhouse); The Children’s Hour (Harold Pinter Theatre); Design For Living (Old Vic Theatre); Love The Sinner and Angels in America (National Theatre); Chains of Dew and Trifles (Orange Tree Theatre).
Karla Crome plays Amina. Her theatre work includes Amadeus (National Theatre) and Linda (Royal Court).
Miranda Foster plays The Moms/Vanessa. Her theatre work includes Years of Sunlight (Theatre 503); Hamlet, God of Soho and Romeo and Juliet (Shakespeare’s Globe); Springs Eternal (Orange Tree Theatre); God of Carnage (Nuffield Southampton Theatres); The Talented Mr Ripley (Royal & Derngate, Northampton) and King Lear; The Futurists; Pravda; The Government Inspector and Animal Farm (National Theatre).
Sarah Hadland plays Sofia. Her theatre work includes The Way of the World (Donmar Warehouse); The War Has Not Yet Started (Theatre Royal Plymouth at Southwark Playhouse); The Norman Conquests and Canvas (Chichester Festival Theatre); What’s In A Name? (Birmingham Repertory Theatre) and Raving (Hampstead Theatre).
Kayla Meikle plays Ashlee. Her theatre work includes A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Jack and the Beanstalk (Lyric Hammersmith); Macbeth and Romeo and Juliet (National Theatre) and Merlin (Nuffield Southampton Theatres).
Irfan Shamji plays Luke. His theatre credits include One for Sorrow (Royal Court); Mayfly (Orange Tree Theatre); Weathered (Southwark Playhouse) and Hamlet (Kenneth Branagh Theatre Company).
Manjinder Virk plays Connie. Her theatre work includes Bodies; Free Outgoing and Workers Writes (Royal Court); Redcrosse (RSC/Coventry Cathedral); Shabnam; Autobiography of a Face and Unsuitable Girls (Lyric Hammersmith) and Come Out Eli! (Recorded Delivery).
Ria Zmitrowicz plays Zuzu. Her theatre work includes Gundog; Bad Roads and X (Royal Court); Plastic (Ustinov Studio); The Crucible (Manchester Royal Exchange); Arcadia (English Touring Theatre); Four Minutes Twelve Seconds (Hampstead Theatre and Trafalgar Studios); Chapel Street (Bush Theatre, Edinburgh Fringe, Liverpool Everyman); God’s Property (Soho Theatre) and Skanky (Arcola Theatre).
