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The Wife of Willesden

Digital Program
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Artistic Director’s Welcome

WELCOME TO THE WIFE OF WILLESDEN

This production invites us to come out of the cold and gather in the warmth of a British pub. Here, among the neighborhood regulars, we find a powerful reminder that sharing stories—and laughing together—are essential to our well-being.

The Wife of Willesden marks the playwriting debut of celebrated author Zadie Smith. Since Geoffrey Chaucer wrote The Canterbury Tales in the fourteenth century, the character Alison, the Wife of Bath, has shocked generations of readers with her no-holds-barred accounting of female power and pleasure. Now, Smith has brought Alison to new life in North West London as Alvita, who takes the stage to share the ways that her five husbands have, one after the other, all left her wanting more. Bawdy, vivacious, and irrepressible, Alvita teaches us—by trampling them—that plenty of taboos still surround the discussion of older women’s desires today.

Alvita’s tremendous energy, and her hilarious attack on centuries of prudishness, feel like such a vital gift for the present: the theater is filled with laughter. Recently, I was excited to read about the work of Natalie Dattilo, an instructor of psychology at Harvard Medical School who studies the ways that laughter can lower anxiety, reduce pain, and bring communities closer together. “In order to feel good,” Dattilo says, “we have to practice feeling good.” As director, I feel inspired by the idea that the theater, as a space to laugh together, might be a place where we can rehearse collective well-being. (In this context, I think it’s worth noting that Chaucer wrote his Tales—which are just as lewd and lively as Alvita—in the aftermath of the plague.)

This production comes to Cambridge from London’s acclaimed Kiln Theatre, located in the borough of Brent (which also includes Willesden). We are thrilled to celebrate the A.R.T. debut of this entire company, including director Indhu Rubasingham, who is Kiln’s Artistic Director. To learn more about these artists and this work, don’t miss the wealth of articles in the current issue of the A.R.T. Guide, including reflections on the Canterbury Tales by scholars at Harvard and Oxford, as well as a glossary of local London terminology from Zadie Smith.

Thank you for coming in from the cold and laughing with us.

Diane Paulus
Terrie and Bradley Bloom Artistic Director

A.R.T. in association with BAM
presents

The Wife of Willesden

A Kiln Theatre Production

Creative Team

Adapted by

Zadie Smith

Adapted by

Zadie Smith

A.R.T.: Debut. Zadie Smith is the author of the novels White Teeth, The Autograph Man, On Beauty, NW, and Swing Time, as well as essay collections Changing My Mind, Feel Free, and Intimations, and the collection of short stories Grand Union. She lives at the crossroads of Kilburn, Willesden and Queen’s Park.

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Adapted from

Chaucer’s “The Wife of Bath”

Directed by

Indhu Rubasingham

Directed by

Indhu Rubasingham

A.R.T.: Debut. Indhu Rubasingham is Artistic Director of Kiln Theatre. Her work for the company includes Handbagged (winner of the Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre), also West End, UK tour, Washington, New York; The Invisible Hand; Pass Over; When the Crows Visit; Wife; White Teeth; Holy Sh!t; Red Velvet (which transferred to New York and later to the Garrick Theatre as part of the Kenneth Branagh Season); A Wolf in Snakeskin Shoes; Multitudes; The House That Will Not Stand; Paper Dolls; Women, Power and Politics; Stones in His Pockets; Detaining Justice; The Great Game: Afghanistan; Fabulation; Starstruck. Other theatre credits include: Kerry Jackson; The Father and the Assassin; The Great Wave; Ugly Lies the Bone; The Motherf**cker with the Hat (Evening Standard Award for Best Play); The Waiting Room, National Theatre; The Ramayana, National Theatre/Birmingham Rep; Belong, Disconnect, Free Outgoing, Lift Off, Clubland, The Crutch, Sugar Mummies, Royal Court Theatre; Ruined, Almeida Theatre; Yellowman, Anna in the Tropics, Hampstead Theatre; Secret Rapture, The Misanthrope, Romeo and Juliet, Chichester Festival Theatre; Pure Gold, Soho Theatre; The No Boys Cricket Club, Party Girls, Theatre Royal Stratford East; Wuthering Heights, Birmingham REP; Heartbreak House, Watford Palace Theatre; Sugar Dollies, Shakuntala, Gate Theatre; A River Sutra, Three Mill Island Studios; Rhinoceros, UC Davis; A Doll’s House, Young Vic Theatre.

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Designer

Robert Jones

Designer

Robert Jones

A.R.T.: Debut. For Kiln/Tricycle: Pass Over, Blues in the Night, Holy Sh!t, Fabulation, Great Garbo Came to Donegal. In theater, Robert has designed extensively for the West End, Broadway, National Theatre, Royal Shakespeare Company (as an Associate Artist), Donmar Warehouse, Almeida Theatre, The Old Vic, Chichester Festival Theatre, The Royal Albert Hall, Kiln Theatre, Menier Chocolate Factory, and internationally in Australia, Los Angeles, Toronto, and Tokyo. Recent theater: The Boy in the Dress, RSC; The Unfriend, Murder on the Orient Express, Chichester Festival Theatre; City of Angels, Sweet Charity, Donmar Warehouse; The Clothes They Stood Up In, Nottingham Playhouse. Opera: Anna Bolena, Guilio Cesare, Norma, Die Fledermaus, Metropolitan Opera; Andrea Chenier, Royal Opera House/Beijing/San Francisco/Barcelona; L’incoronazione di Poppea, Paris/Berlin/Strasbourg; Don Carlos, Frankfurt/Tokyo/Chicago; Giulio Cesare in Egitto, Glyndebourne Festival/Lyric Chicago; Orfeo, Garsington Opera); Tristan und Isolde, Tokyo/Vienna; Gloriana, Don Carlo, Teatro Real, Madrid; Don Giovanni, Opera Australia; L’Elisir d’Amore, On the Town, English National Opera; Manon Lescaut, Gothenburg. Film: Hamlet, BBC/RSC; Shakespeare Live, BBC; Prisoner 33, Angelic Films. He has been nominated for four Olivier Awards and Evening Standard, International Opera, UK Theatre, WhatsOnStage Awards. He is also the winner of a Canadian Dora Mavor Moore award and a Drama-Logue award.

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Lighting Designer

Guy Hoare

Lighting Designer

Guy Hoare

A.R.T.: Debut. Kiln: The Darkest Part of the Night, Reasons You Should(n’t) Love Me, Wife. Theater: Sea Wall / A Life, Broadway; A Doll’s House, Young Vic/BAM; Julie, The Deep Blue Sea, Here We Go, National Theatre; Jesus Hopped The ‘A’ Train, Wings, Young Vic; One For Sorrow, NSFW, In Basildon, Royal Court; Roots, Serenading Louie, Donmar Warehouse; A Delicate Balance, Waste, Almeida; Clarence Darrow, Old Vic; The Father, West End; Cock, Chichester Festival Theatre. Dance: Metamorphosis (Southbank Award – Dance), Royal Opera House/Joyce Theatre; Dracula (Southbank Award – Dance), Mark Bruce Company; Chotto Desh, Chotto Xenos, Akram Khan Company; Spectrum, Skånes Dansteater; #minaret, Maqamat; Mischief, Theatre Rites; Life, Spring, Gandini Juggling. Opera: The Firework-Maker’s Daughter, ROH; Jakob Lenz, ENO; American Lulu, Bregenz; King Priam, Paul Bunyan (Olivier Award – Outstanding Achievement in Opera), ETO.

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Composers & Sound Designers

Ben and Max Ringham

Composers & Sound Designers

Ben and Max Ringham

A.R.T.: Debut. For Kiln/Tricycle: NW Trilogy, The Seven Ages of Patience, Pass Over, When the Crows Visit. West End: Prima Facie; Cyrano de Bergerac (Drama Desk Award, Best Sound Design; Olivier Award nomination), BAM; Herding Cats; Betrayal, Broadway; Pinter at the Pinter, The Man in the White Suit, The Ladykillers (Olivier Award nomination), UK tour; King Lear, Doctor Faustus, Quiz, also Chichester Festival Theatre; Perfect Nonsense; The Girl on the Train, UK tour. UK Theater: Lotus Beauty, Hampstead Theatre; Blackmail, Mercury; Blindness (Critics Circle Award Nomination, Los Metros Award Winner, Mexico), Donmar Warehouse, worldwide tour; Teenage Dick, Berberian Sound Studio, Belleville, Donmar Warehouse; Tartuffe, Ugly Lies the Bone, We Want You to Watch, Scenes from an Execution, Henry IV Parts 1 and 2, She Stoops to Conquer, The World Of Extreme Happiness, National Theatre; A Mad World My Masters, Queen Anne and Little Eagles, RSC; Love and Information, Sheffield; Machinal, Almeida Theatre; The Mighty Walzer, Parliament Square, Our Town, Royal Exchange, Manchester; Killer (Off-West End Award, Best Sound Designer), The Pitchfork Disney, STH; Lungs, Schaubuhne, Berlin; Ring (Off-West End Award, Best Sound Designer), BAC; Piaf (Olivier Award, Best Sound Design nomination), Donmar Warehouse/West End, Buenos Aires; The Architects, Amato Saltone, Tropicana, Dance Bear Dance, The Ballad of Bobby Francois, Shunt. As Creators/Directors/Writers: “Exemplar” (Radio series), BBC Radio 4; Reflections (Composition), 2 Temple Place; ANNA (Olivier Award Nomination, Best Sound Design), National Theatre; The Return (Directors), ETT; Curse of the Crackles, STH; Monument, Discount Disco, Wiretapper; Looking for Nigel, BBC R&D. Other composition/sound design: Musicals, Epic Iran, Frida Kahlo – Making Herself Up, The V&A; Mirror Maze, Room 2022, with Es Devlin; Rembrandt – The Late Works, The National Gallery; The Inspection Chamber for Alexa, BBC Research and Development; Papa Sangre II (sound-based IOS game for digital arts organisation Somethin’ Else (IMGA Excellence in Sound Design Award Winner).

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Associate Director

Hannah Hauer-King

Associate Director

Hannah Hauer-King

A.R.T.: Debut. Hannah is a director and dramaturg, with a focus on new writing and work centered around the female and/or queer experience. She is Artistic Director of theater company Damsel Productions, who recently co-produced the sell-out show The Ministry of Lesbian Affairs at Soho Theatre. As Director: The Ministry of Lesbian Affairs, Fabric, Fury, Soho Theatre; The Funeral Director, Southwark Playhouse/ETT UK Tour; The Amber Trap, Theatre 503; Grotty, Bunker Theatre, Dry Land, Jermyn Street Theatre. Associate/Assistant directing credits include: Romeo & Juliet, Shakespeare’s Globe; Daytona, Park Theatre, Theatre Royal Haymarket; Radiant Vermin, Soho Theatre.

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Associate Set Designer

Ben Davies

Associate Set Designer

Ben Davies

A.R.T.: Debut. Theater (as Associate Designer): Moulin Rouge!, London, Cologne 2022; The Drifters Girl, Garrick Theatre; Anything Goes, London, UK Tour; The Book of Mormon, UK Tour; Matilda the Musical, UK and International Tours; Present Laughter, Lungs, Art, Electra, A Christmas Carol, The Lorax, The Old Vic and US/Toronto; Beautiful, The Ferryman, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, West End/Broadway; Long Day’s Journey into Night, Venus in Fur, West End; The Red Lion, Three Days in the Country, King Lear, National Theatre; Crazy For You, Murder on the Orient Express, The Unfriend, Oklahoma!, Chichester Festival Theatre. Theater (as Assistant Designer): Groundhog Day, Old Vic/Broadway; Sweeney Todd, Oliver!, The Audience, The Wizard of Oz, Hamlet, Betty Blue Eyes, The Childrens Hour, Shrek The Musical, Gypsy, Chichester Festival Theatre and West End; Guys and Dolls, South Pacific, Chichester Festival Theatre; God of Carnage, West End/Broadway; Bombay Dreams, Broadway; An American in Paris, Broadway/Paris; The Trojans, Metropolitan Opera.

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Associate Costume Designer

Kinnetia Isidore

Associate Costume Designer

Kinnetia Isidore

A.R.T.: Debut. As Costume Designer: Scandaltown, Lyric Hammersmith; The Night Woman, The Other Palace; Our Generation, National Theatre/Chichester Festival Theatre; Aladdin, Lyric Hammersmith; Adult Children, Donmar Warehouse; Enter Achilles, Rambert, Sadler’s Wells & Onassis STEGI; Jesus Hopped the ‘A’ Train, Young Vic. As Associate Costume Designer: Constellations, Donmar Warehouse, West End; Ragtime, Arts Ed. Education/Training: Wimbledon College of Art.

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Casting Director

Julia Horan CDG

Casting Director

Julia Horan CDG

A.R.T.: Wild Swans. For Kiln/Tricycle: Girl on an Altar; Pass Over; Red Velvet, St. Ann’s Warehouse. Recent theater: A Little Life, West End; A Streetcar Named Desire, Macbeth, The Duchess of Malfi, The Doctor, Three Sisters, The Wild Duck, Machinal, The Writer, The Treatment, Oil, Uncle Vanya, Medea, Game, Mr Burns, Before the Party, Almeida Theatre; Sons of the Prophet, Hampstead Theatre; The Jungle, Young Vic/West End/Curran, San Francisco/St Ann’s Warehouse; Blood Wedding, Jesus Hopped the ‘A’ Train, Fun Home, Yellowman, Wings, Life of Galileo, Once in a Lifetime, Blue/Orange, The Trial, Ah, Wilderness!, Man, Happy Days, Public Enemy, The Shawl, Young Vic; Appropriate, Donmar Warehouse; Summer and Smoke, The Twilight Zone, Hamlet, Mary Stuart, Oresteia, Chimerica, Almeida Theatre/West End; All About Eve, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, West End; Yerma, Young Vic Theatre/Park Ave Armory; The Inheritance, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Young Vic/West End; Obsession, Hamlet, Barbican; City of Glass, 59 Productions; Tipping The Velvet, Lyric Hammersmith Theatre; Martyr, ATC; The Seagull, Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre; The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, Chichester Festival Theatre; Hope, Teh Internet Is Serious Business, Wolf from the Door, Adler & Gibb, Birdland, Khandan, The Mistress Contract, The Pass, Pigeons, Gastronauts, Royal Court Theatre; The Nether, Royal Court/West End; A View from the Bridge, Young Vic/West End/Broadway; Spring Awakening, The Seagull, Headlong; Another Country, Chichester Theatre Festival/West End; The Events, Actors Touring Company/Young Vic; A Doll’s House, West End/BAM; The Lighthouse Keeper, Birmingham Contemporary Music Group; The Winslow Boy, The Old Vic. TV/Film: Together, BAFTA Winner Single Drama 2022), Hamlet, Why It’s Kicking Off Everywhere, The Exception, Departure, The Trial – A Murder in the Family.

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Movement Director

Imogen Knight

Movement Director

Imogen Knight

A.R.T.: Debut. For Kiln: The Son, West End; The Half God of Rainfall, Birmingham Rep. Imogen is a movement director and multidisciplinary artist. Theater: Future Frequencies, Luxembourg 2022; The Body Remembers, The Place, BAC, UK Tour; Under Milk Wood, Macbeth, Amadeus, The Threepenny Opera, Les Blancs, I Want My Hat Back, Edward II, Dido, Queen Of Carthage, The Welkin, National Theatre; Walden, Uncle Vanya, Rosmersholm, The Birthday Party, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, West End; Is God Is, The Song Project, Nuclear War (Director), Linda, The Low Road, A Time To Reap, Royal Court Theatre; The Nico Project, The Skriker, Manchester International Festival; Blood Wedding, Jesus Hopped the ‘A’ Train, Measure for Measure, Young Vic Theatre; Richard II, Carmen Disruption, King Lear, Measure for Measure, Almeida Theatre; Avalanche, Barbican; The Last Testament of Lillian Bilocca, (Co-Director & Choreographer), Hull City of Culture 2017; Europe, Belleville, Knives in Hens, The Lady From the Sea, Donmar Warehouse; Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour, In Time O’Strife, The Missing, National Theatre of Scotland; The Seagull, Lyric Hammersmith; All the Angels, Shakespeare’s Globe; Hamlet, Blindsided, Royal Exchange Theatre; The Crucible, The Old Vic; Pests, Clean Break, Arden of Faversham, Royal Shakespeare Company; Of Mice and Men, West Yorkshire Playhouse. TV/Film: Firebrand, Gabrielle Tana; Embers, Mini Productions; “Chernobyl,” HBO; On Chesil Beach, Golan Films, OCB Limited; “MotherFatherSon,” “Call the Midwife,” “The Hollow Crown,” BBC; “The Rook,” Starz/Lionsgate; “The Innocents,” Netflix; “Patrick Melrose,” Sky Atlantic; “Harlots,” ITV. Music and opera: The Handmaid’s Tale, The Winter’s Tale, ENO; The Knife of Dawn, Royal Opera House; Flux, Southbank Sinfonia; Gazelle Twin & NYX: Deep England, Southbank Centre; NYX, Southbank Centre/Supersonic Festival 2022; The Little Sweep, Malmö Opera.

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Fight Director

Kev McCurdy

Fight Director

Kev McCurdy

A.R.T.: Debut. For Kiln/Tricycle: Holy Sh!t, White Teeth, Pass Over, The House That Will Not StandKev is an Equity-registered Fight Director/ Choreographer, Director, Actor, and an Action performer. Kev is also co-founder of The Academy of Performance Combat, an Honorary Fellow of The Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, an Associate Artist with Theatr na nÓg, and an Associate Instructor with The Bristol School of Acting. Theater: The Burnt City, Punchdrunk; O Island!, Ivy Tiller: Vicar’s Daughter, Squirrel Killer, RSC; The Gunpowder Plot, Layered Reality; Guardians of the Galaxy, Marvel/Secret Cinema; A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare North; Edward II, RWCMD); Let the Right One In, Manchester Royal Exchange; Guy Fawkes, York Theatre Royal; Revealed, Tobacco Factory; Wuthering Heights, Wise Children/National Theatre; The Trial of Elgan Jones, Theatr na nÓg; Nine Night, Leeds Playhouse; Les Misérables, West End, UK Tour; Sister Act, Jamie Wilson/Curve Theatre. TV/Film: “The Pact,” BBC; “The A List,” Netflix; “Y Golau/The Light,” BBC Wales/S4C Wales; “Keeping Faith,” BBC; John Carter of Mars, Walt Disney/Pixar; Protein, Broadside Films; The Lady of Heaven, Enlightened Kingdom Films. Directing: The Saliva Milkshake, The Glass Menagerie, My Friend the Walrus, Middle of the Road, Making of a Motherer.

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Voice & Dialect Coach

Hazel Holder

Voice & Dialect Coach

Hazel Holder

A.R.T.: Debut. Hazel Holder has been an actor, singer, and theatre-maker for over thirty years and then retrained, gaining her MA in Voice Studies at Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. Hazel has worked with pioneering companies such as Clod Ensemble as a Performing Medicine Associate Artist working in hospitals around London, Clean Break, Marginal Voices (working with trafficked women) and Cast Women’s Charity – “helping to transform vulnerable women’s lives through creative holistic education”. Theater: Pass Over, Kiln/Tricycle; Blues for an Alabama Sky, Rockets & Blue Lights, Death of England: Delroy, Death of England, Small Island, Nine Night, Barber Shop Chronicles, Pericles, Angels in America, Les Blancs, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, National Theatre; To Kill a Mockingbird, Get Up Stand Up!, The Glass Menagerie, Constellations, 2:22, Uncle Vanya, Tina: The Tina Turner Musical, Dreamgirls, The Goat, or Who is Sylvia?, West End; Best of Enemies, Death of a Salesman, Young Vic Theatre/West End; Caroline, or Change, Chichester Festival Theatre/Hampstead Theatre/West End; Fairview, The Convert, The Mountaintop, The Emperor, Young Vic Theatre; Cuttin’ It, Royal Court Theatre/ Young Vic Theatre; Guys and Dolls, Girls, Soho Theatre/Royal Exchange; ear for eye, Poet in Da Corner, Grimly Handsome, Pigs & Dogs, Father Comes Home from the Wars, Royal Court Theatre. TV/Film: The Silent Twins; Aisha (for Letitia Wright); “Anansi Boys”; “Wool”; “Small Axe” (Steve McQueen Anthology); “The Power”; “In the Long Run” (Jimmy Akingbola); Death on the Nile (Letitia Wright). As a performer: Here We Go, As You Like It, Medea, Death and The King’s Horseman, National Theatre; The Bakkhai, Almeida Theatre; The Tempest, Royal Shakespeare Company; The Bacchae, National Theatre of Scotland, Lincoln Center, Broadway; The Sleeping Beauty, Young Vic Theatre, Barbican, New Victory, Broadway.

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Wigs, Hair & Make-Up

Campbell Young Associates

Wigs, Hair & Make-Up

Campbell Young Associates

Broadway: Ghost the Musical, Private Lives, Spider-Man, La Bête, Mary Stuart, Rock ’n’ Roll. Touring USA: Les Misérables. For the Young Vic: Hamlet, Government Inspector, Annie Get Your Gun, The Good Soul of Szechuan, Vernon God Little, Six Characters Looking for an Author. London: Sweeney Todd, Ghost, Betrayal, Million Dollar Quartet, The Children’s Hour, La Bête, Love Never Dies, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Priscilla, Oliver, Billy Elliot, An Inspector Calls. Opera: Prima Donna, NYC and MIF; Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, WNO; Der Freischütz, Baden-Baden; Tristan und Isolde, La Scala; From the House of the Dead, Vienna Festival.

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Kiln-Mackintosh Resident Assistant Director

Jessica Mensah

Kiln-Mackintosh Resident Assistant Director

Jessica Mensah

A.R.T.: Debut. Kiln: Girl on an Altar (Assistant Director). Jessica Mensah is currently the Kiln-Mackintosh Resident Assistant Director. As Director: Yerma, Lyric Hammersmith; House, Southwark Playhouse; The Life of Olu, Soho Theatre, Theatre Peckham, Golden Goose Theatre; DRUM, Omnibus Theatre; Tales from the Frontline – Part 4, Talawa; Signed, Sealed, Delivered, National eTheatr. As Assistant Director: The Snail House, Hampstead Theatre; Typical, Soho Theatre; Queens of Sheba, Edinburgh Fringe, New Diorama. Education/Training: BA, Theatre & Performance, Guilford School of Acting, University of Surrey; training programs including Stonecrabs Theatre Young Directors Programme, RTYDS placement at tiata fahodzi, and the Young Vic’s Introduction to Directing program.

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First performance at the Loeb Drama Center on February 25, 2023
Production support of The Wife of Willesden is provided by The Linda Hammett Ory & Andrew Ory Charitable Trust.
Additional production support is provided by Brenda and Kevin Jarrell.
This production is supported, in part, by The Robert Brustein Endowment Fund for New Works.
Media Support of The Wife of Willesden is provided by WBUR.
Take Five ticket subsidies are supported by a lead gift and further supported by individual contributions.
A.R.T. Season support is provided by Harvard University, The Barr Foundation, The Bob and Alison Murchison New Work Development Fund, The Shubert Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, Massachusetts Cultural Council, Bank of America, Barton & Guestier, Meyer Sound, and JetBlue.
Runtime: One hour and 35 minutes
This production includes strobe lighting, flashing lights, haze, slurs against women, sexually suggestive scenes, and representations of sexual and physical violence.

Company

Cast (in Alphabetical Order)

Marcus Adolphy

Winston/​Mandela/​Black Jesus

Marcus Adolphy

Marcus Adolphy

Winston/​Mandela/​Black Jesus

Marcus Adolphy

A.R.T.: Debut. Theater: Signal Fires, Eastern Angles-Hightide; One Man, Two Guvnors, Wolsey Theatre; The Convert, Gate Theatre; The Suicide, The Comedy of Errors, War Horse, National Theatre; Backseat Drivers, The London Theatre; Keeler, The Charing Cross Theatre; Macbeth, The Last Refuge Theatre; The Chicago Cowboy, Rosemary Branch Theatre; Twelfth Night, The Nursery Theatre; Keeping Mum, 1867, A Christmas Carol, Brockley Jack Theatre; The Children of Salt, Alma Theatre Bristol. Television credits include: “Hijack,” “The Sandman,” “Scott and Bailey,” “Father Figure,” “Doctors.” Training: London Centre for Theatre Studies.

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Sophie Cartman

Understudy for Alvita, the Wife of Willesden and Aunty P/​​Old Wife

Sophie Cartman

Sophie Cartman

Understudy for Alvita, the Wife of Willesden and Aunty P/​​Old Wife

Sophie Cartman

A.R.T: Debut. Theater: Richard III, All’s Well That Ends Well, Royal Shakespeare Company; Manor,  National Theatre; Four O’Clock Flowers, The Space Arts Centre; Doe for EtceteraFlush, The Winemakers Club; The Crucible, UK Tour; Staffroom, The Tristan Bates; Mules, The White Bear; Macbeth, Rochester Cathedral; Ring Round the Moon, Yokohama Theatre Group (Japan); Death of a Salesman, West End. TV/Film: “Sexy Beast,” “Doc Martin,” “EastEnders,” “Twirlywoos,” “Suspicion,” “Killer Doctors on Death Row,” “Kaseifu wa Mita” (Japan), Across the Ocean, Four O’Clock Flowers (Maya, BUFF Award, Best Actress), A Very Short Film About Longing (BBC), Evil Never DiesRepercussions. Radio: “Eulogies” (Fizzy Sherbet Plays); “Monster 1983” (Audible), “A Tokyo Murder” (Radio 4). Training: BA (Hons), Rose Bruford College.

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Goerge Eggay

Pastor/​Eldridge

George Eggay

Goerge Eggay

Pastor/​Eldridge

George Eggay

A.R.T.: Debut. Theater: Archbishop, The Last King of Scotland, Crucible Theatre; The Firm, Hampstead Theatre; Ear for Eye, Royal Court Theatre; King Lear, The Old Vic; The Tiger’s Bones, New Perspectives Theatre; Arabian Nights, New Vic Theatre; Dishoodbe on TV, Hackney Empire; Passage to Freedom, This Accursed Thing, Andrew Ashmore Associates; A Streetcar Named Desire, Frozen, The Power Book, The Wind in the Willows, National Theatre; The Evocation of Papa Mas, Told by an Idiot; The Ramayana, Birmingham Rep/National Theatre; Servant of Two Masters, Nottingham Playhouse; Crossfire, Paines Plough; Bretevski Street, Theatre Centre; The Robbers, Gate Theatre; The Meeting, Riverside Studios; Love of the Nightingale, Theatre Melange. TV/Film: “Casualty,” “Finding Alice,” Red Productions; “Black Earth Rising,” Drama Republic/BBC/Netflix; “Hugo Blick,” “The Love of Books,” Sam Hobkinson at Oxford Film & Television; “Mittens & Pants” (V/O), Disney; “Doctors,” “Shoot the Messenger,” “Spooks,” Between the Lines, BBC; All You Need is Kill, Warner Bros.; Final Passage, Passage Productions. Radio: “A Noise in the Night,” BBC Radio. Training: Drama Centre.

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Andrew Frame

Ian/​Socrates/​Bartosz

Andrew Frame

Andrew Frame

Ian/​Socrates/​Bartosz

Andrew Frame

A.R.T.: Debut. Theater: Small Island, Macbeth, Market Boy, Royal Hunt of the Sun, This House, National Theatre; Mumburger, Old Red Lion; 12 Angry Men, West End; Responsible Other, Hampstead Theatre; 66 Books, Bush Theatre; Wittenberg, Gate Theatre; The English Game, Rough Crossings, Headlong Theatre; Festen, Lyric Hammersmith Theatre. TV/Film: “Jewels,” “White House Farm,” “Save Me,” “Class,” “DCI Banks,” “Inspector George Gently,” “Silk,” “Holby City,” “Trial & Retribution,” “EastEnders,” “Doctors,” “The Bill,” “Wire in The Blood,” “Touching Evil,” London Road, Broken. Radio: “The Archers,” “Is He Still Breathing,” “Festen,” “Life Together.”

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Troy Glasgow

Darren/​Young Maroon

Troy Glasgow

Troy Glasgow

Darren/​Young Maroon

Troy Glasgow

A.R.T.: Debut. Theater: DNA/Babygirl/The Miracle, Harper Regan, National Theatre; There’s Only One Wayne Matthews, Crucible Theatre; A Streetcar Named Desire, Young Vic Theatre/St Ann’s Warehouse; Fatal Attraction, UK Tour. TV/Film: “The Bill,” “Holby City,” “Casualty,” “Skins,” Film credits include: The Day of the Triffids, Adulthood, London’s Burning, MI High, Mr. Harvey Lights a Candle, Shoot the Messenger, Piggy, World War Z.

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Claudia Grant

Polly/​Sophie

Claudia Grant

Claudia Grant

Polly/​Sophie

Claudia Grant

A.R.T.: Debut. Theater: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (Original West End cast), West End; The Noble Nine, Tewl Theatre; The Tempest, Much Ado About Nothing, Grosvenor Park Open Air Theatre; Swallows and Amazons, Storyhouse Chester; Juicy and Delicious, Nuffield Theatre; Spring Awakening, Headlong Theatre/West Yorkshire Playhouse/Nuffield Theatre; Scarborough, White Bear Theatre; A Beautiful Recitation of Pi, Whitechapel Theatre; Knives in Hens, Camden People’s Theatre; The Lover, Finborough Theatre. TV/Film: “An Adventure in Space and Time,” “Doctors,” “The Bill,” “Being Me,” Invisible, Seeing Things. Training: LAMDA.

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Nikita Johal

Asma/​Kelly

Nikita Johal

Nikita Johal

Asma/​Kelly

Nikita Johal

A.R.T.: Debut. Theater: The World Goes ‘Round’, Yvonne Arnaud Theatre; Aladdin, The Harlington Centre; Princess Caraboo, Finborough Theatre; Children Of Eden, Union Theatre; Spring Awakening, Hope Mill Theatre; The Snow Queen, Liverpool Everyman Theatre; Broken Wings, The Other Palace/West End/Lebanon; Sleeping Beauty, Watford Palace Theatre; Aladdin, Newbury Corn Exchange; What the Ladybird Heard, West End/UK Tour; Migrations, Welsh National Opera UK Tour. Training: PPA, Guildford in Musical Theatre.

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Scott Miller

Ryan/​Colin

Scott Miller

Scott Miller

Ryan/​Colin

Scott Miller

A.R.T.: Debut. Theater: War Horse, National Theatre; Dragon, National Theatre of Scotland/Vox Motus; Don Quixote, Oran Mor; Hamlet, Three Sisters, LAMDA. Film: The Outrun, Brock Media/Arcade Pictures; The Road Dance, Wind Chill Media Group; Balance Not Symmetry, Dignity Films/Sparky Pictures; The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Sky Arts/Cosmic Cat. Training: LAMDA.

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Jessica Murrain

Author/​Zaire/​Queen Nanny

Jessica Murrain

Jessica Murrain

Author/​Zaire/​Queen Nanny

Jessica Murrain

A.R.T.: Debut. Theater: The Last Dinosaur, The Herd Theatre; When the Daffodils, Orange Tree Theatre; Macbeth, Shakespeare’s Globe; A Christmas Carol, Royal Shakespeare Company; Peter Pan, Troubadour White City Theatre/National Theatre; King Lear, West End; DIGS, Theatre with Legs; Skate Hard, Turn Left, Battersea Arts Centre; The Long Trick, Wardrobe Theatre/Southwest Tour; Messiah, Bristol Old Vic. TV/Film: “The Baby,” Sky/HBO; “Soulmates,” Amazon Prime; “I Used to Be Famous,” “The Sandman,” Netflix; Blonde. Purple, Amazon Prime. Training: Royal Central School of Speech and Drama.

 

 

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Clare Perkins

Alvita, The Wife of Willesden

Clare Perkins

Clare Perkins

Alvita, The Wife of Willesden

Clare Perkins

A.R.T.: Debut. Theater: The House That Will Not Stand, Fabulation, Kiln/Tricycle; Sweat, Donmar Warehouse/West End; Emilia, Shakespeare’s Globe/West End; Welcome to Thebes, National Theatre; The Convert, Gate Theatre; Mules, Royal Court Theatre; Little Revolution, Almeida Theatre; Mrs. Dalloway, Arcola Theatre; Removal Men, The Yard; Genesis Inc, Hampstead Theatre; Generations of the Dead, Young Vic Theatre. TV/Film: “Professor T,” ITV; “I Hate You,” “Damned,” Channel 4; “The Wheel of Time,” “The Outlaws,” Amazon Prime; “Suspicion,” Apple TV; “Young Wallander,” “The Crown,” “Flack,” “Been So Long,” Netflix; “Pigheart Boy” (BAFTA, Best Children’s Drama), BBC; Ladybird Ladybird, Secrets and Lies, Bullet Boy (Best Actress, Screen Nation), Censor, Medusa Deluxe (Cinema release 2023), Embers (Cinema release 2023) . Radio: “The Lamplighter,” “Eight Point Nine Nine” (Gold Winner, ARIA Awards),” “Comment is Free,” “Paid Servant,” “Lifelines” (Best Original Series, Audio Drama Awards), “A Little Princess,” “Weak at the Top,” “Westway,” “Landfall,” “No. 10,” “Best Interests,” “The Archers” (Denise), “Happy Birthday Mr. President”.

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Ellen Thomas

Aunty P/​Old Wife

Ellen Thomas

Ellen Thomas

Aunty P/​Old Wife

Ellen Thomas

A.R.T.: Debut. Theater: Amen Corner, Kiln/Tricycle. Theater: Egusi Soup, Moon on a Rainbow Shawl, Almeida Theatre; Statement of Regret, The American Clock, Fuente Ovejuna, National Theatre; The Estate, Soho Theatre; Vagina Monologues on Tour, Blest Be the Tie, Royal Court Theatre; Twelfth Night, Royal Exchange Manchester; A Bitter Herb, Bristol Old Vic; Criminals in Love, Contact Theatre Manchester; Echo in the Bone, Lyric Hammersmith Theatre; Twelfth Night, Birmingham Rep. TV/Film: “EastEnders,” “Mount Pleasant,” “Rev,” “Teachers,” “Lenny Henry in Pieces,” “Cardiac Arrest,” “London Bridge,” “Holding On,” “The Jury,” “Buried Treasure,” “Death in Paradise,” “Max,” “In the Long Run,” “The Queen and I,” “Dark Money,” “Mount Pleasant,” “Critical,” “Humans,” “Come Fly with Me,” “Coming of Age,” “Casualty,” “Moses Jones,” “Outnumbered,” “Bremner and Fortune,” “Little Miss Jocelyn,” “Trial and Retribution,” “The Marshioness Disaster,” “Never Never Active Defence,” “Ultraviolet,” “Ruth Rendell’s Simisola,” “French & Saunders,” “Hallelujah Anyhow,” Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris, Golden Years, Love Punch, It’s a Lot, Ashes, Ryan and Ronnie, Clubbed, Breaking and Entering, Risk Addiction, South West Nine, Michael Winterbottom’s Wonderland, Some Voices, Secret Laughter of Women. Radio: “The Republicans,” “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,” “Singin’ and Swingin’,” “What Does the K Stand For?,” “Say Goodbye Twice,” “Why is the Sky So Blue?,” “Writing the Century,” “Statement of Regret,” “The Community,” “Silver Street,” “Face,” “Unspoken.”

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Understudies never substitute for listed players unless a specific announcement for the appearance is made at the time of the performance.

Additional Production Staff for The Wife of Willesden

Kiln Theatre Producer

Mirain Jones

Kiln Theatre Production Manager

Nicki Brown

Kiln Theatre Assistant General Manager

Robyn Bennett

Company Stage Manager

Alex Constantin

EJ Saunders

Company Stage Manager

EJ Saunders

A.R.T: Debut. West End: All About Eve, The Comeback, Noel Coward Theatre; Leopoldstadt, Wyndham’s Theatre. Off West End: Holy Sh!t, White Teeth, Reasons You Should(n’t) Love Me, Black Love, The Darkest Part of the Night, Handbagged, Kiln Theatre; Blood Wedding, Young Vic Theatre; Seven Methods of Killing Kylie Jenner, Royal Court Theatre. Curious, Soho Theatre. Off Broadway: Yerma, Park Avenue Armory. Training: Technical Theatre and Stage Management, RADA. 

 

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Deputy Stage Manager

Anna Townley

Deputy Stage Manager

Anna Townley

A.R.T.: Debut. Theater: Love All, Jermyn Street Theatre; Rapture, Pleasance London; Girl On An Altar, Kiln Theatre; Steve, Seven Dials Playhouse; Yes So I Said Yes, Not Quite Jerusalem, Finborough Theatre; Foxes, Theatre503, Theatre Peckham; Concha, Oregon Fringe Festival; Sunnymead Court, Tristan Bates Theatre, Arcola Outside, UK Tour; A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Criterion Theatre; Frankenstein, Great Expectations, Southwark Playhouse; The Reluctant Fundamentalist, Edinburgh Fringe Festival; Lost Boys New Town, Hope Theatre; Jerusalem, Stanley Theatre. Education: University of Liverpool, National Youth Theatre of Great Britain.

Actors’ Equity Association member

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Assistant Stage Manager

Michael Medina

Assistant Stage Manager

Michael Medina

A.R.T.: Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992. Broadway: Mrs. Doubtfire, Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus, True Crime Obsessed. National Tours: Hamilton (Puerto Rico), On Your Feet!, An American in Paris. Off-Broadway/Regional: Williamstown Theatre Festival, Manhattan Theatre Club, Minetta Lane Theatre, Park Avenue Armory, The Public Theater, The Working Theatre, Roundabout Theatre Company, Atlantic Theater Company. CCM Alumnus.

Actors’ Equity Association member

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Head of Wardrobe

Keshini Ranasinghe

Production Sound Support

Dylan de Buitlear

Company Management Assistant

Shannon Kelley

COVID Safety Manager

Meg Hamblen

Access Staff

Director of ASL: Kristin Johnson
ASL Interpreters: Julia Barnes, Sho Grant
Audio Description Consultant: Amber Pearcy
Audio Describers: Maria Hendricks, Mel Watkins
Open Captioning: c2 Captioning
Occupational Therapy Consultant: Mary Beth Kadlec
NICE(r) Relaxed Performance Consultants: Spectrum Theatre Ensemble

 

Special Thanks

Daniel Donoghue, Anna Wilson
All Kiln Theatre staff

Additional Lighting Equipment provided by Christie Lites

Program Notes

About Kiln Theatre

About Kiln Theatre

“Kiln Theatre has revitalised the cultural life of Brent and brings world class theatre at an affordable price to people from all walks of life.”
– Zadie Smith

Kiln Theatre sits in the heart of Kilburn in Brent, a unique and culturally diverse area of London where over 140 languages are spoken. We are a welcoming and proudly local venue, with an internationally acclaimed programme of world and UK premieres. Our work presents the world through a variety of lenses, amplifying unheard/ignored voices into the mainstream, exploring and examining the threads of human connection that cross race, culture and identity.

“This place was a special cocoon. Now she has grown and blossomed into a beautiful butterfly.”
– Sharon D Clarke

We believe that theatre is for all and want everyone to feel welcome and entitled to call the Kiln their own. We are committed to nurturing the talent of young people and our local communities, to provide a platform for their voices to be heard.

“I wanted to say thank you for creating the most diverse theatre I have been to. In terms of race, culture, class, age, everything – not only in the selection of shows and actors, but in the audience.”
– Audience member, 2021

KilnTheatre.com
@KilnTheatre

Artistic Director: Indhu Rubasingham
Executive Director: Daisy Heath
Associate Director: Amit Sharma
Producer: Mirain Jones
Head of Creative Engagement: Romana Flello (Maternity Cover)
Head of Creative Engagement: Jenny Batt (Maternity Leave)
Finance Director: Sophie Norvill
Fundraising Director: Livvy Brinson
Head of Marketing & Communications: Amy Thomas
Head of Operations & Front of House: Simon Davis
Head of Production: Nicki Brown

Board of Trustees: Pippa Adamson, Nicholas Basden, Louis Charalambous, Dominic Cooke CBE, Moyra McGarth Brown, Sita McIntosh (Chair), Karen Napier, Shrina Shah, Zadie Smith, Christopher Yu

Registered Charity no. 276892.

Supported using public funding by Arts Council England; Lottery Funded

Staff, Boards, & Donors

Staff

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