The State We're In - Trafalgar Studios
Preview by Lizzie Guilfoyle
METTA Theatre is presenting a rehearsed reading of The State We’re In, a new play by Zia Trench, at Trafalgar Studios – on Friday, February 1, 2008 (at 3pm).
Tommy Price has spent eight years protesting in Parliament Square, the government have spent eight years trying to get rid of him – and this time it looks like the government is winning. But Tommy won’t go back to his wife and family – he won’t give up his right to speak out, his right to speak.
The State We’re In is described as a sharp new play that looks at the man behind the protest and how battles fought for liberty can cost a man his wife, his home and his sanity.
Poppy Burton-Morgan (artistic director of Metta Theatre) directs a cast that includes Samuel West, Raquel Cassidy and Liana Weafer.
West’s theatre credits as an actor includes Betrayal (Donmar Warehouse); Much Ado About Nothing (Sheffield); Doctor Faustus, The Master and Margarita and Cain (Chichester Minerva Theatre); Hamlet and Richard II (RSC); Anthony and Cleopatra, Arcadia and The Sea (National Theatre); Journey’s End and Henry IV Parts 1 and 2 (English Touring Theatre); The Importance of Being Earnest (Royal Exchange Theatre); Hidden Laughter (Vaudeville Theatre); and A Life in the Theatre (Theatre Royal Haymarket).
He succeeded Michael Grandage as Artistic Director of The Crucible in Sheffield and his production of Dealer’s Choice is currently running in Trafalgar Studio 1.
Cassidy’s theatre credits include Mirandolina, Home, Twelfth Night, Macbeth, Anna Karenina, Badnuff and The Censor. On television, she has appeared in Lead Baloon, Party Animals, Red Cap and Teachers.
Weafer’s theatre includes Troilus and Cressida, The Winter’s Tale, Measure For Measure, Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Hamlet – A Retelling and Lucifer Saved.
Trench is an award-winning political journalist who has worked for BBC, ITN and Sky news as a presenter/reporter. Her previous plays include Here’s Tommy which was performed at the King’s Head Theatre.
Tickets: £5. All proceeds go to International PEN, the worldwide association of writers with 145 Centres in 104 Countries. It exists to promote friendship and intellectual co-operation among writers everywhere, to fight for freedom of expression and represent the conscience of world literature.
Duration: approximately 90 minutes.
To book visit Metta Theatre’s website.