Paines Plough's Roundabout Pops Up in Brixton This August
Filled with world premiere Paines Plough productions as well as a host of cabaret, comedy, family friendly activities and music, the Roundabout will be in the heart of Slade Gardens this August.
Roundabout, a portable pop-up theatre venue from the new writing company Paines Plough, is set to have a summer season in London’s Brixton this August. For 10 days at the end of the summer, the award-winning, in-the-round auditorium will be filled with four world premiere plays performed in rep alongside cabaret, comedy, family shows, drag, a host of activities for young people in partnership with Lambeth ELEVATE and a programme of community events.
Landing in Slade Gardens from 19-29 August, audiences will be able to pick up a takeaway pint at the pub across the street before heading into the venue.
The line-up of four world premieres playing across the season, in co-production with Belgrade Theatre as part of Coventry City of Culture, includes:
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A brand new musical by Chinonyerem Odimba - Black Love explores sibling relationships through real life stories, soul music and ancestral voices. Black Love tackles how lives are interrupted or disrupted by racism and what black love is, and can be. With music by Ben and Max Ringham, it is co-directed by Chinonyerem Odimba and Paines Plough Co-Artistic Director Katie Posner, in Association with tiata fahodzi.
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Lori is a professional chef. Bex waits tables to make ends meet. One night together in a walk-in fridge and the rest is history. Chris Bush’s new play Hungry is about food, love, class and grief in a world where there's little left to savour. Directed by Katie Posner.
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Phoebe Eclair-Powell’s new family show Really Big and Really Loud features a rageful rhino, a very helpful fly called Stephen and some really good songs about chips. It is directed by Katie Posner.
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Paines Plough’s 2019 Playwright Fellow Frankie Meredith presents May Queen - a coming-of-age story about sixteen-year-old Leigh in Coventry on May Day in 2022. Soon she will have to face up to the events of that day, and ask herself who she is and how she got there. Directed by 2021 Co-Artistic Director of Belgrade Theatre Balisha Karra.
The four shows are performed in rep by Nathan Queeley-Dennis, Leah St Luce, Eleanor Sutton and Yasmin Dawe
Tickets for Roundabout: Brixton are now on sale now.
Visiting artists also presenting work include Bonnie and the Bonnettes, RashDash, Nouveau Riche, Sukh Ojla, Sindhu Vee, Thanyia Moore and Jen Ives & William Stone. Productions include:
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Bonnie And The Bonnettes: Drag Me to Love - Set against a backdrop of pop anthems and glitter this acclaimed autobiographical three person show returns, combining drag with storytelling to build the world of Bonnie Love and The Bonnettes. It follows writer Cameron Sharp in Doncaster in 2009 as he throws himself into a pair of 6-inch stilettos.
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Rashdash: Look At Me Don't Look At Me - A cabaret about love, art and legacy asking, who has really suffered for our great art? Rashdash takes a closer look at that famous Pre-Raphaelite muse, Lizzie Siddal and her so-called ‘tragic life’.
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Nouveau Riche: Resonate by Ntonga Mwanza and directed by Tobi Bakare - Merging physical theatre, hip hop dance, clowning, mime and spoken word Resonate takes a deeper look into the hyper sexualisation of culture and society and asks, “where can we truly find peace?” A pulsating lyrical journey into the soul of a young man.
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Sukh Ojla: Life Sukhs - Audiences are invited to join Sukh as she tries to figure out how to move forward in reverse. From dealing with mental illness to moving back in with her parents, Sukh explores mental health, identity, and living a double life in a searingly honest look at what happens when life doesn’t go to plan.
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Sindhu Vee and Friends - Former investment banker and one of comedy's freshest voices, Vee made the finals for the BBC New Comedy Award in 2016 and was nominated for Best Newcomer in 2018 after making her Edinburgh Fringe debut with SANDHOG. She comes to Roundabout and invites her friends for an evening of mirth.
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Thanyia Moore: Bully (work in progress) - Funny Women Award winner Thanyia Moore has been a bully, and she’s been bullied. What does that make her: villain, victim, both? This is a candid, hilarious show about being a “nightmare” child – and overcoming it. This is a work in progress performance.
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Jen Ives: PEAK TRANS & William Stone: DISTRACTOR BEAM (work in progress) - A split bill from rising stars Jen Ives and William Stone. Jen delves into the trans-experience in the UK, covering whether JK Rowling is the Devil, can men love trans-women and still be straight, and most importantly, can she blag maternity leave from work? Find out as she scales Peak Trans. William is easily distracted, an overthinker, but to be fair he has his best ideas when he's thinking. Join him for a welcome distraction from the world in Distractor Beam.
The venue and the four headline productions, as well as visiting company Bonnie and the Bonnettes will then tour across the UK to cities including Salford, Ramsgate, Doncaster, Lincoln and Bournemouth throughout the autumn.
Paines Plough are planning to partner with food banks across the Roundabout tour to support those most affected by the pandemic and, alongside family show Really Big and Really Loud, they plan to work with young people across the country to deliver an engagement programme that encourages them to use their voices after over a year kept away from their friends and peers.
Roundabout is supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England and has been additionally supported by the Theatre’s Trust. The Brixton Season is supported by the London Borough of Lambeth through #LambethELEVATE.
