Mush and Me a New Play by Karla Crome – 2014 Ideastap Underbelly Award Winner

MUSH AND ME A NEW PLAY BY KARLA CROME – 2014 IDEASTAP UNDERBELLY AWARD WINNER

A love story about faith, family and bacon butties

People talk. Rumours spread. No one approves. In a greasy spoon, two young believers reluctantly fall in love. Cultural pressures, family loyalty and everday romance collide in MUSH AND ME, a witty, stirring and sharply contemporary play by Misﬁts actress and Screen International 'Star of Tomorrow' Karla Crome. Winner of the 2014 IdeasTap Award, it premieres at Underbelly, Cowgate from 31 July – 25 August at 2.50pm.

Gabby, 26, Jewish, lives at home, is struggling to get a job and get over her break-up with nice Jewish boy Lee. Mushtaq, 24, Muslim, a bored computer salesman, is the youngest brother in a large Lebanese family. As fractious first flirtations turn to fiery young romance, both must ask whether religion, culture and family are more important than love. Richly evoking their cultures – from Klezmer to sung prayer, hummus to chicken soup and bagels, and a shared distaste for bacon – MUSH AND ME is a comic and compassionate love story for multicultural Britain.

The show also has a deeply personal side, inspired by actress Daniella Isaacs’ 101 year-old Jewish great aunt, who has been single all her life and whose only love was a Christian boy she left in the face of family pressure. Asking if the same could happen today, the show is punctuated by extracts from real interviews with people of all faiths talking about loves lost, fought and hidden away.

'6 million Jews in the world, why couldn’t I ﬁnd just one?' Nina, 26, journliast, Jewish

‘He said ‘if you speak to your parents tonight, I’ll speak to mine.’ So we both did it at the same time. I was basically told to pack my bags and leave.’ Chetna, 25, hairdresser, Sikh

Making her Edinburgh Fringe debut with this striking new play, Karla Crome is best known as an actress, with lead roles in Sky Atlantic's Hit and Miss, BAFTA-winning BBC drama Murder, E4’s Misfits, and the upcoming second series of Under The Dome (Channel 5). Now making her reputation as a writer to watch, previous writing credits including Our Days Of Rage (Old Vic Tunnels, Time Out Critics’ Choice) and a full-length National Youth Theatre (NYT) commission, If Chloe Can, which recently toured the UK.

Winner of this year's IdeasTap Underbelly Award, MUSH AND ME is mentored by Rachel Tyson, producer at London’s Bush Theatre. The show stars actress Daniella Isaacs, whose career began aged ten on ITV’s Night and Day, with recent credits including Sarah Solemani’s Eating Ice Cream on Gaza Beach (Soho Theatre), James Graham’s Relish (Tramshed), and lead roles in both Karla Crome’s previous plays. It is directed by Rosy Banham, whose credits include Kenneth Emson's England Street (Oxford Playhouse studio & tour) and previous ThreeWeeks Editors' Award winner Edges (C Venues).

CONTACT: Will Young | Supporting Wall | 07799 497497 | [email protected]