The Kiln Theatre is on a roll! With Blues in the Night packing in audiences in Kilburn this summer and their production of The Son about to open in the West End, it’s time to look ahead to this autumn’s world premiere of Indian dramatist Anupama Chandresekhar’s When the Crows Visit, inspired by Ibsen’s Ghosts and true events. Have you seen full casting details? Time to get booking!
When the Crows Visit, helmed by artistic director Indhu Rubasingham, runs at the Kiln Theatre in Kilburn, north London, from 23 October to 30 November 2019, with a press night on 29 October.
…and all the sins of his father and his forefathers came out of his body, through the pores of his skin, in the form of crows. When a son returns home after being accused of a violent crime, a mother is forced to confront the ghosts of her past when the crows visit.
Inspired by true events in modern-day India, Anupama Chandrasekhar explores the themes of Ibsen’s Ghosts and the cyclical nature of oppression in a dark and thrilling new play.
Ayesha Dharker, returning to the Kiln after White Teeth last year, stars as Hema alongside Ian Charleson Award winner Bally Gill as Akshay. They’re joined in the cast by Mariam Haque (as Uma/Kavita), Asif Khan (Gopi/Inspector), Aryana Ramkhalawon (Ragini), Paul G Raymond (David) and Soni Razdan (Jaya).
Indhu Rubasingham commented:
“I am thrilled to be working with such a talented cast on Anu’s new play. I first worked with Anu 12 years ago at the Royal Court. She had come through their brilliant international programme. In my opinion, she is the most important voice coming out of India, and it is a real privilege to be directing and producing her new play here at Kiln Theatre.”
When the Crows Visit is designed by Richard Kent, with lighting by Oliver Fenwick, music and sound by Ben & Max Ringham and casting by Briony Barnett.
Show trailer
Bios
Anupama Chandrasekhar‘s (writer) work has been performed at venues and festivals around the globe. Her plays include Free Outgoing, Whiteout and Kabaddi-Kabaddi, all of which were staged at the Royal Court Theatre in the UK; The Snow Queen, Disconnect, Acid, Anytime, Anywhere, Across Creation and Closer Apart.
Indhu Rubasingham (director) is artistic director of the Kiln Theatre. Her work here includes Wife, Holy Sh!t, White Teeth, Red Velvet (which transferred to New York and later to the Garrick Theatre as part of the Kenneth Branagh Season) and Handbagged (winner of Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre – also West End, UK tour, Washington DC and New York). Other productions for Kiln Theatre include The Invisible Hand, A Wolf in Snakeskin Shoes, Multitudes, The House That Will Not Stand, PaperDolls, Women, Power and Politics, Stones in His Pockets, Detaining Justice, The Great Game: Afghanistan, Fabulation and Starstruck. Other theatre credits include Ugly Lies the Bone, The Motherf**cker with the Hat (Evening Standard Award for Best Play), The Waiting Room (all National Theatre), The Ramayana (National Theatre/ Birmingham Rep), Belong, Disconnect, Free Outgoing, Lift Off, Clubland, The Crutch and Sugar Mummies (Royal Court), Ruined (Almeida), Yellowman and Anna in the Tropics (HampsteadTheatre), Secret Rapture and The Misanthrope (Minerva, Chichester), Romeo and Juliet (Chichester Festival Theatre ), Pure Gold (Soho Theatre), The No Boys Cricket Club and Party Girls (Theatre Royal Stratford East), Wuthering Heights (Birmingham REP), Heartbreak House (Watford Palace Theatre), Sugar Dollies and Shakuntala (Gate Theatre), ARiver Sutra (Three Mill Island Studios), Rhinoceros (UC Davis, California) and A Doll’s House (Young Vic). Her production of The Great Wave is running at the National Theatre in a co-production with Kiln Theatre.
The Kiln Theatre, formerly the Tricycle, was redesigned by Charcoal Blue & relaunched in 2018
Ayesha Dharker‘s theatre credits include The Island Nation (Arcola Theatre), Arabian Nights,Othello, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (RSC), Anita and Me (Birmingham REP and Theatre Royal Stratford East), Dr Faustus (Bristol Old Vic), Bombay Dreams (West End and Broadway) and The Ramayana (National Theatre/Birmingham REP). For television her credits include Indian Summers, Critical, The Indian Doctor, Little Crackers, Coronation Street (as series regular Tara Mandal), Doctor Who, Bodies, Waking the Dead, Life Isn’t All Ha Ha Hee Hee and A Mouthful of Sky; and for film, Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones, Anita and Me, Arabian Nights, Red Alert: The War Within, Mad Sad & Bad, Loins of Punjab Presents, Outsourced, Colour Me Kubrick, The Mistress of Spices.
Bally Gill‘s theatre credits include Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, Coriolanus, Salome, Vice Versa, Always Orange, Fall of the Kingdom, Rise of the Foot Soldier(RSC), The Island Nation (Arcola Theatre), A Local Boy (Arts Theatre), Dinner with Saddam (Menier Chocolate Factory) and The Bureau of Lost Things (Theatre503). He received the Ian Charleson Award for his portrayal of Romeo. For television, his work includes Wanderlust and NW.
The cast of When the Crows Visit
Mariam Haque plays Uma / Kavita. Theatre includes Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth (RSC), Home Truths (Cardboard Citizens/Bunker Theatre), Primetime (Royal Court Theatre),Diana of Dobsons (New Vic Theatre), Dara, Behind the Beautiful Forevers (National Theatre), Almost Near, Hurried Steps (Finborough Theatre), Twelve (Kali Theatre), Leon and the Place Between (Building Site Theatre Company/Unicorn Theatre), The House of Bilquis Bibi (Hampstead Theatre), Monster Under the Bed (Polka Theatre), Hearts and Mind(Khayaal Theatre) and Au Revoir les Enfants (European tour). For television, her work includes Flowers, Black Mirror, Shut up and Dance and Hunted; and for film Benjamin and Undercliff, Smear and The Long Weekend.
Asif Khan returns to Kiln Theatre to play Gopi / Inspector – he previously appeared in Multitudes and Handbagged (also UK tour). His other theatre work includes Paradise of the Assassins (Tara Arts), The Hypocrite (RSC/Hull Truck), Queen of the Nile (Hull Truck), Snookered (Bush Theatre/Tamasha), Love, Bombs and Apples (Kennedy Centre/Park Theatre), A Passage to India (Park Theatre), Tartuffe (Swan Theatre), Twelfth Night (National Theatre), The Snow Queen (Unicorn Theatre), Mixed up North (Out of Joint) and Kabaddi Kabaddi Kabaddi (Arcola Theatre). For television, his work includes Diana and I, Spooks, Doctor Who, The Dumping Ground, Dark Matters, Going Postal, Man Down, Stath Lets Flats and Bradford Riots; and for film, Love Type D.
Aryana Ramkhalawon plays Ragini. Her theatre credits include The Funeral Director (Southwark Playhouse and UK tour), The Tempest, Swallows and Amazons, Much Ado About Nothing (Storyhouse/Grosvenor Park Rep Company), The Secret Seven (Storyhouse), Hijabi Monologues (Bush theatre), Devika, Ode to Leeds (West Yorkshire playhouse) and Glasgow Girls (National Theatre of Scotland UK tour). Her television work includes Waterloo Road, Drama Matters: Lawless, Crime Stories, Bollywood Carmen and Jamillahand Aladdin.
Paul G Raymond plays David. For theatre, his work includes Pity (Royal Court Theatre). For television, his credits include Black Mirror, Kiri and The Windsors.
Soni Razdan plays Jaya. Her theatre work includes The Collector, Band Darwaze and Arms and the Man. For television, her credits include Jesus of Nazareth, Padosi, Buniyaad, Aur Phir Ek Din, This Way Up, Good Karma Hospital; and for film, 36 Chowringhee Lane, Mandi, Saaransh, Khamosh, Such a Long Journey, Page 3, No Fathers in Kashmir, Yours Truly, Raazi. Razdan also directs and is currently developing a screen version of Manju Kapoor’s book Difficult Daughters, set around the time of Partition of India.
