Arts and Entertainment
The arts are alive and healthy in Stoke Newington and Hackney this Spring.
Stoke Newington’s very own, internationally acclaimed Arcola Theatre will be having a busy season. As well as ‘Black Crows’ (opposite), the Arcola, in conjunction with Sphinx Theatre Company, is presenting ‘Blame’, by the highly praised writers Judith Jones and Beatrix Campbell, an uncompromising and provocative play about the new British ‘underclass’, focusing on the disappearance of an eight-year-old girl and the consequent repercussions and accusations. (27 March-21 April, £13/10, 8pm). Running between 17 and 28 April is ‘The Icarus Girl’, written by Helen Oyeyemi and presented by Original Sin, ‘a story of twins, doubles and ghosts; of identity and belonging’. (£13/10, 8.15pm). From 27 March until 14 April is Owen McCafferty’s ‘Mojo Mickybo’, a funny and unsentimental play about two boys growing up in Belfast during the summer of 1970, with two actors playing seventeen roles between them.
These are followed by the Arcola’s Orient Express season, which commences on 8 May with ‘Silver Birch House’, a play by young Turkish author Leyla Nazil, set in the turbulent political climate of 1970s Turkey and directed by Mehmet Ergen. The season continues with ‘Pera Palas’, beginning on 12 June, which is concerned with the political and cultural changes which have created modern Turkey.
Also, for the first time ever, Arcola will be the producing the 'Connections Festival' – the largest youth festival in the world. In what is something of a coup for the Arcola, between 23 April and 28 April 28 the theatre will be be running sixteen shows from youth theatres all over London and Europe. The event will be produced by Stoke Newington resident Michael John Harris, Assistant General Manager, Arcola Theatre Production Company. For more information on this and other forthcoming events, visit www.arcolatheatre.com or phone the Box Office on 020 7503 1646.
The Hackney Empire is also, as usual, running a packed programme of varied events. On 20 March the BBC Concert Orchestra presents ‘Guilty Pleasures’, a fun-filled, knees-up evening. (£12-16, 8.30pm). Entertainment of a rather different sort is taking place at the Empire between 22 and 25 March, when Pilot Theatre stages ‘Sing Yer Heart Out For The Lads’, a powerful drama about race and nationalism in England, centred round a local football team watching a World Cup qualifying match in the local pub. It was described in the Yorkshire Evening Post as ‘one of the boldest, most moving, most thrilling pieces of theatre’. (£210-16.50, 7.30pm). ‘The Very Best of Funny Black Women On The Edge’, obviously comedy, plays from 27 March till 1 April (£12.50-17.50), while the Studio Theatre has ‘Special’ (between 2 and 7 April, followed by ‘Basic’, about prison relationships (19 April-7 May). For further details on the Empire’s programme, visit www.hackneyempire.co.uk or phone 020 8985 2424.
At the time of going to press, the Rio did not have details of its future programme, but you can keep in touch with what’s happening at our local, independent cinema by visiting www.riocinema.org.uk.
N16 Magazine is always interested in hearing from local artists, performers, theatre groups, film makers, actors and anyone who would like to inform our readers in the Stoke Newington area and beyond about plays and performances taking place in the area. Contact us on info@n16magazine.com and we will put details on our website www.n16mag.com or print them in forthcoming issues. We can help to promote your event. Don’t be shy.
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