Iranian-German playwright Nassim Soleimanpour and director Omar Elerian have launched There & Then, an impartial theatre firm whose inaugural manufacturing brings “White Rabbit Purple Rabbit” again to London’s West Finish in its fifteenth anniversary 12 months, in affiliation with producer Nica Burns.
The format locations a unique performer onstage every week, handed a sealed envelope containing a script they’ve by no means learn, which they need to then carry out chilly, with none preparation or directorial steering. The lineup revealed to this point options David Harewood on June 8; David Tennant on June 15; Jo Joyner on June 22; Asim Chaudhry on June 29; Luke Thompson on July 6; Jodie Whittaker on July 13; Kathryn Hunter on July 20; Kunal Nayyar on July 27; Archie Madekwe on Sept. 21; and Riz Ahmed on Sept. 28. Additional casting can be introduced. The manufacturing runs on the Duchess Theatre from June 8 to Nov. 2.
Soleimanpour wrote the play whereas he was forbidden from travelling outdoors Iran. It premiered in 2011 and has since clocked over 4,000 stagings throughout greater than 25 languages. The West Finish manufacturing is forged by Matilda James CDG.
Soleimanpour and Elerian’s decade-long inventive partnership has produced initiatives together with “Echo” on the Royal Courtroom Theatre and “Nassim” on the Bush Theatre. Govt producer Roz Coleman and producing advisor Malú Ansaldo full the corporate’s core group. Along with its personal productions, There & Then intends to collaborate with artists and communities throughout totally different profession levels on a global foundation. The corporate is individually mounting a second world tour of “Echo,” with Immanuel Bartz serving as producer on that mission.
Soleimanpour stated: “We’re all fabricated from the tales we dare to inform, and the silences we lastly give a voice. What started as a leap into the unknown with ‘White Rabbit Purple Rabbit’ has, via years of collaboration with Omar Elerian, turn into a shared theatrical language and the muse of this new firm, and we’re excited that our first manufacturing can be in affiliation with Nica Burns and Nimax as we share this subsequent chapter with audiences.”
Elerian added: “I’m extraordinarily excited to embark on this new inventive chapter in collaboration with my partner-in-crime, Nassim Soleimanpour. Collectively, we stay up for introducing one thing contemporary and unconventional to the West Finish, assured that London audiences will embrace the exhilarating high-wire nature of our work – anchored in presence, immediacy, and a spirit of the unknown. In these fragile and unsure instances, we hope to reaffirm that threat, creativeness, and the enduring energy of storytelling stay amongst our most significant and transformative forces.”
Coleman stated: “I’ve at all times labored alongside artists who push the boundaries of what’s anticipated, and There & Then is a pure subsequent chapter. The size of ambition alongside the lightness of contact conjures up me, and the return of ‘White Rabbit Purple Rabbit’ opens a door to one thing a lot larger. With ‘Echo’ touring Europe this spring and a rising physique of recent work taking form, I’m proud to be a part of constructing an organization with this type of vary and restlessness. We’re solely simply getting began.”
Burns added: “I’m delighted to welcome two distinctive artists producing collectively for the primary time with their new firm – playwright Nassim Soleimanpour and director Omar Elerian – to our first Monday night residency on the intimate Duchess Theatre. Each efficiency of ‘White Rabbit Purple Rabbit,’ a sold-out hit @sohoplace in 2024, is as distinctive as every of our excellent firm of performers, who seem solely as soon as. Positively price seeing twice.”
