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Directed by roxana silbert

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By deborah bruce

WELCOME As the Studio space awakens from its long Covid-enforced dormancy, I find myself making my Hampstead Downstairs debut.

The Studio is, in some ways, the creative heart of Hampstead Theatre: the spiritual inheritor of the experimental spirit of the old building. And, like the old building, it’s run on a shoestring. Everything is made in-house by our teams and the entire theatre staff contributes. The Downstairs shows are made with lots of love, not a small amount of sweat, and a lot of creative problem solving!

With our Main Stage now committed to a season of Hampstead Originals – revivals of plays from Hampstead’s back catalogue – until the end of 2021, Downstairs will be the torch-bearer for our core mission of presenting new plays and playwrights via a year of world premières of work by UK playwrights.

Going back into a rehearsal room after 18 months has been exhilarating.

Deborah Bruce’s exquisite play was a rare thing, arriving fully formed a few months after being commissioned. It’s an actors’ piece and more than anything, I have missed working with actors – the creativity, openness, generosity of spirit and boldness that’s required of them to place themselves in front of an audience never ceases to inspire me. Brilliant plays attract brilliant creative teams and the company I have had the privilege to collaborate with on this has made the experience uplifting. I hope that watching the play has as positive an effect on you all!

ROXANA SILBERT ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

THE

DAVINA MOSS

INTERVIEW

DM | When we commissioned the play originally, you already had an outline idea for Raya in your head. Where did it come from?

DB | The ideas for Raya had been bubbling under for some time. I suppose that’s how it works in a writing head. Separate thoughts, ideas for characters, things you are interested in, they hang around in your mind until some of them connect up and attach themselves to each other and a story forms.

The ingredients for Raya were: - Turning 50 - an age that drops us neatly into a feeling of middle.

- How time suddenly shifts into a different shape and pace.

- How memories mutate and become unreliable.

- The menopause! This assault on a woman’s sense of self, how destabilising it can feel to be shunted into an unconfident mind and body.

- University reunions, what do we need from them?

- The potholes in a long marriage.

- Grief.

These ideas spoke to each other, especially the effect that the wrecking ball of menopause has on the memory. I am fascinated by the gaps in two people’s memory of the same event, and how the gaping hole of time leaves no way of either of them knowing what actually happened.

I think being on the brink of a new decade makes us re-assess. I started thinking of characters who had reached a point where in order to see forward, they needed to look back.

DM | Did the idea change a lot from that first conception to the final draft?

DB | The idea didn’t change a lot from my first pitch to the final draft, but it surprised me that the atmosphere of the play seemed to unravel like a ghost story. I think of it now as a story about two people on the cusp of 50, who spend a night in a house being haunted by their younger selves.

There are lots of mismatched slightly wonky relationships in the play – a daughter without a father, a wife without a daughter, a husband without a wife, a daughter without a mother — none of them match up — the characters are trying to connect, but none of the pieces fit. These ideas presented themselves to me as I wrote the play.

DM | Have you ever been to a school or university reunion yourself?

DB | No, I have been invited to a couple but I haven’t been able to go. Part of me would like to go and fall backwards into the weird hybrid of familiar and anonymous that the opportunity offers. But then again, maybe I don’t want to do that, I wrote the play instead.

The characters in the play think they can use the evening to retrieve something, reconnect with something, root themselves, at a time in their lives when they feel lost.

The idea of a reunion felt like an interesting way of looking at how we might chase old versions of ourselves. It made me think of time as something that works forwards and backwards, a place that still existed in a shared memory, somewhere that you could nip back to and pick up something that you’d left behind.

HAMPSTEAD THEATRE’S LITERARY MANAGER TALKS TO THE WRITER

DEBORAH BRUCE DM | The emotional trajectory of the end of the play feels almost ‘Ovidian’ – daytime arrives and you spring a lovely tender surprise on the audience. Without giving too much away, how did you arrive at that did you always have it in mind?

DB | Because time was so integral to the foundation of the play, I wanted it to exist in a night. It’s the night that the clocks go back, giving the characters an extra hour, a secret unofficial pocket of time where something could happen that might return them to who they were before.

It was that extra hour that knocked the play out of an entirely naturalistic shape. I wanted to disorientate and destabilise the events in the play in two ways. Literally, there is confusion about what the actual time is, a fact that in any other of the 8759 hours in a year we can all agree on, but in this hour is uncertain. Secondly I was interested in trying to find a structure for the play that mirrors what happens to a lot of women when they experience the menopause. It can feel like a continual tripping up, a relentless embarrassment of missteps that seem hellbent on making her the fool, a diminishing, an erosion of self that is difficult to locate but deeply interrupting. I wanted to write this into the skin of the play, I wanted to write a play through the lens of this feeling, and so the play is told from the point of view of Alex.

When day breaks in the play, a piece of information is revealed that changes the perspective of the story. This piece of the jigsaw was always in place but I didn’t want anyone to see it until the end.

It’s hard to talk around it without saying what it is, but I wanted to swing the whole play round at that point. To change the perspective altogether.

DM | It’s a knotty, intricate, and very concentrated play – and as such, it feels to me different from your work to date. Is that your sense of it or do you not think about your work like that?

DB | I don’t know if it feels different from my other plays, I think I write from quite close to myself so maybe it is an expression of how I am changing as I get older. I tend to start with character and actually, thinking about it, with this play I started from situation, so it could be due to a different route in.

I hope the play feels layered, I would like it to.

We are all more than one version of ourselves.

When the characters in the play and I were at university there was no social media, it was all plans made and kept, and handwritten notes slipped under doors. We met each other with a blank slate. Now we all have this extra layer of self to get past, we are curating an external presentation of our lives.

DEBORAH BRUCE

SHANNON HAYES

CLAIRE PRICE AND BO PORAJ

CLAIRE PRICE

BO PORAJ

CAST AND CREATIVE TEAM DEBORAH BRUCE WRITER

Deborah is a theatre director and playwright. Deborah was Clean Break’s Writer in Residence between 2016-18 and her play Dixon and Daughters will be produced next year.

Theatre work includes Our Father (RADA); The House They Grew up In (Headlong/Chichester Festival Theatre); The Distance (Orange Tree/Sheffield Theatres/Melbourne Theatre Company); Joanne (Soho Theatre/Clean Break); Same (National Theatre – National Theatre Connections Festival) and Godchild (Hampstead Downstairs).

Most recent work as director includes Pride and Prejudice (Regent’s Park).

ROXANA SILBERT DIRECTOR

Roxana Silbert is Artistic Director of Hampstead Theatre. She was previously Artistic Director of Birmingham REP and Artistic Director of Paines Plough. She has been Associate Director at the RSC, Literary Director of the Traverse Theatre, and Associate Director at the Royal Court Theatre. She’s directed plays for all the above theatres as well as nationally and internationally.

SHANNON HAYES ALANNAH Theatre work includes The Gift (Theatre Royal Stratford East); Conspiracy (Barrel Organ); The Ridiculous Darkness (Gate); Constellations and The Nether (both Oxford University).

Film work includes Totally Maisy; What you Gonna Do?; Locked and Tyger Tyger.

Television work includes Ted Lasso; Years and Years; Cold Feet; Kiss Me First; Vera and Undercover.

BO PORAJ JASON Theatre work includes What’s in a Name (UK tour); Rasheeda Speaking (Trafalgar Studios); Acceptance (Hampstead Downstairs); Gloria (Hampstead Theatre); Blithe Spirit (Apollo); Roman Bath (Arcola); Timon of Athens (Shakespeare’s Globe); Cloud Nine (Almeida); Easter; Americans and Three Sisters (all Oxford Stage Company); Doctor Faustus (Young Vic); Stairs to the Roof (Chichester Festival Theatre); The Tempest (RSC); Remembrance of Things Past (National Theatre); Hamlet (Bristol Old Vic); The Glass Menagerie (Watford Palace); Much Ado About Nothing (Cheek by Jowl); Prayers of Sherkin (Old Vic); Fair Ladies at a Game of Poem Cards and Mother Courage and Her Children (both National Theatre) and Tartuffe (Almeida).

Film work includes The Boat That Rocked; Stormbreaker; The Queen of Sheba’s Pearls and

Enigma.

Television work includes MotherFatherSon; Lucky Man; Boomers; Musketeers; Miranda; The Thick of It; Waking the Dead; Holby City; The Golden Hour; Murder Prevention; EastEnders; The Search for the Northwest Passage; Ny-Lon; D-Day; Killing Hitler; Casualty; Wycliffe; Underworld and No Bananas.

CLAIRE PRICE

ALEX

Theatre work includes The Taming of the Shrew and Measure For Measure (both RSC); King Lear (Duke of York’s); Poison (Orange Tree); Things We Do for Love (Theatre Royal, Bath/UK tour); The Winter’s Tale; The Daughter in Law; Company; The Pride; Much Ado About Nothing; Richard III and The Tempest (all Sheffield Crucible); Fifty Words (Ustinov Studios, Bath/Arcola); The Way of the World (Chichester Festival Theatre); Little Platoons (Bush); Mary Stuart (Theatr Clwyd); Private Lives (Hampstead Theatre); The White Devil (Menier Chocolate Factory); The Lady from the Sea (Birmingham Rep); Ursula (Wrestling School); Volpone and Don Carlos (both RSC); As you Like It (Royal Exchange); The Power of Yes; The Relapse and Cyrano de Bergerac (all National Theatre) and Brand (RSC/ Haymarket).

Film work includes The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel; Hereafter and Jump.

Television work includes Call the Midwife; Home Fires; Capital; The Outcast; London’s Burning; Midsomer Murders; Twelfth Night; Poirot and Rebus.

ELENA COLEMAN GRACE Elena is a student at The Lucy Lovick Dance School in South London.

Theatre work includes For All the Women Who Thought They Were Mad (Stoke Newington Town Hall) and The Stars in Their Eyes (Sadler’s Wells).

RUBY WOOLFENDEN GRACE Ruby is a student at Deborah Day Theatre School.

Film work includes Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (as the young Leta LeStrange).

MOI TRAN DESIGNER Theatre work includes Letters Project (Gate); In the Blood (Donmar); Rare Earth Mettle and White Pearl (both Royal Court); Chiaroscuro (Bush); Dear Elizabeth (Gate); Roundelay (Southwark Playhouse); Tamburlaine and The Last Days of Limehouse (both Yellow Earth Theatre); Deluge (Hampstead Downstairs); The Manual Oracle and Bacchae (both Yard Theatre); Golden Child (New Diorama); Bandages (UK tour); Imperial Fizz (Jermyn Street /The Assembly Rooms/Edinburgh Festival) and The Jewish Wife (Battersea Arts Centre).

Opera work includes The Imperfect Pearl (Corn Exchange/UK tour) and Falstaff (Opera

Berbiguières).

Dance work includes Genus classification

by Altitude of Occurrence (Gallery 223); Temporality in a Cut and Diminishing Temporality on a Square (both Display Gallery) and Beats ‘n’ Shine (MUDAM, Luxembourg).

MONA CAMILLE ASSOCIATE DESIGNER Mona Camille is a designer with a background in architecture and scenic design. Her work includes urban interventions, set designs for theatre, installations, video art and assisting established set designers. In recent years, her work has been shown at the Paris Fringe, Chinese Arts Now Festival London, Prague Quadrennial and Seychelles Biennale. Mona also teaches at the AA School of Architecture and Buckinghamshire New University.

Work as Set Designer includes The Tree of Objects (Jacksons Lane); Chinchilla (Le Théâtre des Feux de la Rampe, Paris) and Luv (Paris Fringe).

Work as Assistant Set Designer includes Summer Rolls (Park Theatre).

Work as Assistant Model Maker includes Death of a Salesman (Young Vic); A Very Expensive Poison (Old Vic) and Royal Court Theatre productions.

Work as Artist includes The Lost Supper (Seychelles Virtual Biennale); 36Q Blue Hour Installation (Prague Quadrennial) and The Busker - Three-Part Installation (Southbank, London).

MATT HASKINS LIGHTING DESIGNER Theatre work includes The Cost of Living; I and You; Wilderness; The Strange Death of John Doe; No One Will Tell Me How to Start a Revolution and Kiss Me (all Hampstead Theatre); The Lovely Bones (Birmingham Rep); Nina (Young Vic/Unity Theatre); Peter Pan Goes Wrong (Apollo); Some Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em (UK tour); Truth and Reconciliation (Royal Court); Hobson’s Choice (Royal Exchange) and The Last Five Years (New Wolsey).

Opera work includes Coraline (Barbican); The Snowmaiden; Hansel & Gretel; La Cenerentola; La Traviata; Don Giovanni; The Turn of the Screw and Cautionary Tales (all Opera North); The Commission; Café Kafka; Glare and The Virtues of Things (all Royal Opera House); A Quiet Place (Opera Zuid); Wuthering Heights (Opéra national de Lorraine); Sukanya (Festival Hall); La Cenerentola (Irish National Opera); Anna Bolena; Maria Stuarda and Roberto Devereux (all Welsh National Opera); Roméo et Juliette and Der Fliegende Holländer (both Estonian National Opera).

NICK POWELL SOUND DESIGNER & COMPOSER Theatre work includes The Lehman Trilogy (National Theatre/West End/Broadway); The Ferryman (Royal Court/West End/Broadway) Othello (National Theatre).

Film work includes Death in Gaza and 1917 (as music consultant).

Live events include scoring the Guggenheim Bilbao’s 20th Birthday event and the opening of the 2017 Edinburgh International Festival.

Nick’s solo album Walls Fall Down was released in 2021.

SHANNON HAYES

HAMPSTEAD STAFF DIRECTORS

FINANCE

Zeinab Badawi Tania Black Susie Boyt Gillian Budd Irene Dorner (Chair) James Harding Adam Jones Dan Marks Simon Parry-Wingfield Karen Paul Sue Prevezer Meera Syal Katja Tangen

Finance Controller Ashok Shah Finance Manager Wendy Teng Finance Manager Sunil Kumar

ADVISORY COUNCIL Dame Jenny Abramsky DBE Sir Michael Codron CBE Michael Frayn Daniel Peltz Peter Phillips OBE Paul Rayden Patricia Rothman DEVELOPMENT BOARD

DEVELOPMENT Director of Development Cathy Baker* Development Manager Sally Wilson* Development Manager Ilaria Pizzichemi* LITERARY Associate Director Tessa Walker Literary Manager Davina Moss* MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER

Director of Marketing & Communications Jess Woodward* Marketing Manager Grace Organ* Creative Content and Communications Manager Chiara Wakely* Head of Press and PR Clare McCormack* Programme Editor Pascale Giudicelli Design SWD www.swd.uk.com

Greg Ripley-Duggan*

TECHNICAL

PRODUCING

Technical Director Hilary Williamson* Head of Stage Michael Francis* Deputy Head of Stage Aubrey Turner* Head of Lighting Emily Holmden* Head of Lighting (Cover) Miguel Figueiredo*

Tania Black Simon Parry-Wingfield Karen Paul (Chair) Susan SchoenfeldHarrington Nicholas Snowman OBE Christopher Spray Peggy Vance ARTISTIC DIRECTOR Roxana Silbert*

Director of Operations & Associate Producer Neil Morris* Line Producer Amelia Cherry* Production Assistant Katharine Noble*

Deputy Head of Lighting Hannah Fisher* BOX OFFICE Head of Ticketing & Digital Services Joanne Boniface* Box Office & Access Manager Hannah Gill* Box Office Assistants Catherine Carnegie Daniel Gonzalez Lanna Joffrey Annie Kershaw Adam Line Kirsty Osmon FRONT OF HOUSE AND CATERING Head of Catering Assunta Dogali* Head of Front of House and Operations Manager Edith Furlong* Duty Managers Jon Cobb Lanna Joffrey Sean Jones Marissa McKinnon Rebecca Prentice Madeleine Young Bar Duty Managers Thomas Ghaleb Juliet Mann Bar Staff Funda Bedel Georgijs Gaisins Johnny Lee Roberto Tallerico Rebeka Torok Daniel Weinberger Front of House Staff Ushers Michael Antwi Katie Bachtler Patrick Bayele Alice Briganti Jonny Brown Natalie Elliott Rob Ellis Daniel Fernandez Ben Fox-Smith

Roxana Silbert image KRIS ASKEY | Cover Photograph by FREDDIE WOODWARD IMAGES

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