Award-winning theatre company Headlong, in association with the BAFTA-winning Century Films, have announced Unprecedented: Real Time Theatre From a State of Isolation, a major new digital project, bringing together celebrated playwrights to create a series of short digital plays, as a response to the current global crisis.
Performed by a cast of more than 20 UK actors, Unprecedented will include new works from a diverse group of playwrights including: April De Angelis (My Brilliant Friend; The Village), Josh Azouz (The Mikvah Project; Buggy Baby), Deborah Bruce (The Distance; The House They Grew Up In), John Donnelly (The Pass; The Knowledge), Clint Dyer (Death of England), Jennifer Haley (The Nether; Sustainable Living), Sami Ibrahim (Two Palestinians Go Dogging; Wind Bit Bitter, Bit Bit Bit), James Graham (Ink; QUIZ; Coalition; Brexit: An Uncivil War; Labour of Love), Charlene James (Cuttin’ It; Tweet Tweet), Jasmine Lee-Jones (seven methods of killing kylie jenner) Duncan Macmillan (People, Places and Things; City of Glass; Rosmersholm; 1984; Lungs), Nathaniel Martello-White (Torn; BLACKTA), Chloë Moss (This Wide Night; The Gatekeeper), Prasanna Puwanarajah (Nightwatchman; Patrick Melrose; Doctor Foster) and Tim Price (Salt, Root, Row; The Radicalisation of Bradley Manning).
Using digital conferencing technology, and combining live and pre-recorded material, these intimate new plays see Headlong and Century Films working closely with several directors and a team of freelance creatives. The series will be published online in April for audiences to stream directly from their homes.
Jeremy Herrin, artistic director and CEO at Headlong, said: “At Headlong, we’ve been trying to process the disruption and, like many of us in the theatre industry, we have been trying to cope with the closure of shows, and the challenges facing future productions.
“In these uncertain times we want to engage with our family of artists: our playwrights, directors and actors and other creatives, and provide them with a platform to share their insight, wisdom, humour, anger, fear and optimism or whatever else they’ve got at this pivotal moment.
“Theatre is a way of processing contradictions meaningfully, and I hope that this project will help artists and audiences alike find connection and meaning in their isolation, and provide an uplifting and perhaps inspiring diversion”
Unprecedented: Real Time Theatre From a State of Isolation is the latest digital project from Headlong. Previous projects have included two series of short films produced in partnership with the Guardian, Europeans: Dramas from a Divided Union (2020) and Brexit Shorts (2017).
