“One look in her eyes tells us how she has been wronged” – The trailer for James Martin Charlton’s new play Reformation gives a flesh-creeping taste of how model Eva is manipulated and misused. Take a look then book your tickets.
The funny, gripping and challenging new drama runs from 25 June to 14 July 2019 at the White Bear Theatre.
Berlin. Eva learns that the celebrity artist Cranach is visiting her city. A chance meeting in the market place leads to romance with the artist’s son. Eva gets the chance to model for Cranach’s latest painting, The Rape of Lucrece. When Joachim, the all-powerful Elector of Brandenburg, sees the sketches of Eva, he wants the model. Is Cranach willing to sell the human his son loves? In an age where upsetting the powerful meant obscurity or death, what’s a poor girl like Eva to do?
Reformation is a play about those who don’t make the history books. It tells the story of a young woman who finds herself in a world where the desires of the powerful have priority. This premier production, in contemporary dress, suggests many striking contemporary resonances between Eva’s situation and #metoo.
Award-winning playwright James Martin Charlton returns to the White Bear Theatre, where he previously staged I Really Must Be Getting Off and Coward. Reformation is staged by former Associate Director of the Mercury Theatre and Belgrade Theatre, Janice Dunn. Her credits at the Mercury include directing the world premiere of Howard Barker‘s The Europeans.
Jason Wing leads the cast as Cranach, with Alice De-Warrenne as Eva and Simeon Willis as Joachim. Ram Gupta, Imogen Smith, Adam Sabatti and Matt Ian Kelly complete the cast.
Reformation leads a summer season at The White Bear Theatre that also includes a revival of Abi Morgan‘s Splendour, journey into memory Nostalgia and new comedy Past Tents.