Where: New Diorama Theatre, 15 – 16 Triton Street, Regent’s Place, London NW1 3BF
£: Tickets cost £15.90 and £13.90 for concessions
What is it?
Kings, the latest play by Oli Forsyth and award-winning new writing company Smoke & Oakum Theatre, opens at the New Diorama Theatre in London this October. The darkly comic fairytale is the company’s first full-length London run and follows on from the success of Cornermen and Happy Dave.
The story follows Bess, Hannah and Ebi, three rough sleepers who have come together to form a makeshift camp under the railway arches. They manage to eke out a living, with Bess and Ebi guiding Hannah towards the ultimate goal of getting a council house. However, as nights get colder, and the waiting list grows longer, their belief that they might somehow escape their situation is beginning to fade.
Then Caz arrives, a mysterious and charismatic young woman whose charming personality and seemingly magical abilities begin to upset the balance of the group. Soon, what started as simple card tricks progress into unexplainable feats of magic, and Bess begins to fear for her position as the group’s leader as Caz’s ‘Don’t ask: Take’ philosophy begins to influence the others.
Smoke & Oakum Theatre was founded by Oli Forsyth as a new writing company in 2013. Since then they have produced six shows that have played to thousands of people at venues all over the UK, with four of the shows having been published and bought by drama schools and companies across the country. Smoke & Oakum shows cover a range of topics, from boxing to rave culture.
For this run of ‘Kings’, Smoke & Oakum will be partnering with the youth homelessness charity Centrepoint to raise funds and awareness for the plight of the homeless in the UK.
More info: www.newdiorama.com/whats-on/kings