A Refugee Love Story, in Collaboration with Indie / Folk Music Sensation Ben Caplan
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PRESS RELEASE – Thursday 20 June 2019 IMAGES CAN BE DOWNLOADED HERE FOOTAGE CAN BE DOWNLOADED HERE OldStockWiltons.com T: @OldStockLove | I: @oldstocklove | F: /OldStockLove 2b theatre company presents OLD STOCK: A REFUGEE LOVE STORY ● CASTING ANNOUNCED FOR INTERNATIONALLY ACCLAIMED 2b theatre company’s OLD STOCK: A REFUGEE LOVE STORY, IN COLLABORATION WITH INDIE / FOLK MUSIC SENSATION BEN CAPLAN ● ON WORLD REFUGEE DAY, AWARD-WINNING WRITER HANNAH MOSCOVITCH REFLECTS ON HER OWN FAMILY’S PERILOUS HISTORY AS REFUGEES ● CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED THROUGHOUT CANADA, IN NEW YORK, EDINBURGH, ACROSS THE UK, IN AUSTRALIA AND HOLLAND FOR ITS INNOVATIVE, GENRE-BENDING STYLE, OLD STOCK MAKES ITS LONDON DEBUT AT WILTON’S MUSIC HALL FROM SEPTEMBER 18TH – 28TH Full casting is announced today for OLD STOCK: A REFUGEE LOVE STORY, a dizzying 80 minute, genre bending, darkly funny gig-meets-live theatre experience based on a true story of two Jewish Romanian refugees fleeing Romania for Canada in 1908. Covering sex, religion, tragedy and triumph, the show follows Chaim and Chaya as they make a fresh start in the New World. Joining previously announced Ben Caplan and Mary Fay Coady are Eric Da Costa, Jeff Kingsbury and Kelsey McNulty. This ingenious Klezmer / folk music theatrical hybrid received rave reviews at its premiere in Halifax, Canada and has since been performed to great critical acclaim throughout Canada, in New York (where it garnered six Drama Desk Award Nominations) and Edinburgh, across the UK, in Australia and Holland. 2b theatre company bring Old Stock: A Refugee Love Story to Wilton’s Music Hall from September 18th – 28th, for its London premiere. Marking the UN’s World Refugee Day, writer Hannah Moscovitch says "The play gained a dark relevance over the time that we've worked on it. With the Syrian conflict continuing to decimate a nation, and Trump trying to turn his racism into policy, the plight of refugees is far from a story of the past.” “The urgency to write the play was really crystalized by one of the most famous photographs of the last decade: the image of three year old Alan Kurdi, whose lifeless body washed up on a beach in Turkey after his family tried to escape Syria in a tiny rubber raft. Before I had a kid, children were largely symbolic to me. But as a mother, the reaction I had to that photograph was amplified. Now I can imagine what it would be like to lose a child. You would never recover from that”. “Anyone who came into Canada by boat would have come through Halifax and Pier 21, as my great grandparents did in 1908. Pier 21 is a little bit like Ellis Island. It had never occurred to me before but this was the moment that they were safe. Before that they were in peril. It was a question of life or death. "I take my lead from a hero of mine, Primo Levi, who survived the Holocaust. He talks about history as identity, and that you cannot know yourself without knowing your history. And genocide is an attempt to wipe out history. The alternative history of my family was death – as with Alan Kurdi. It was impossible for me, knowing my family came in through Pier 21 fleeing pogroms, not to see a parallel. All of that came together to make Old Stock.” Hailed as “Canada’s Hottest Young Playwright” by The National Post, The Globe and Mail, and Now Magazine, Hannah Moscovitch has written Other People's Children, This Is War, What a Young Wife Ought to Know. She has won many awards, including the prestigious international Windham-Campbell Prize administered by the Beinecke Library at Yale University and the Trillium Book Award (she is the only playwright to win in the award’s thirty-year history). Christian Barry wears many hats in this production including Director, Co- Set/Lighting/Sound Designer, as well as co-writing the songs. He is an award-winning director, dramaturge, actor, writer, and designer from Halifax, and a founding member and artistic co-director of 2b theatre company. Ben Caplan is both the production’s co-songwriter and performs the role of narrator, The Wanderer. Though best known as a songwriter, his first experiences as a performer were in the theatre. This production marks his first return to the theatre after a ten-year hiatus. He has released three albums to critical acclaim, including his latest: a companion piece to this production titled Old Stock. Mary Fay Coady (Chaya, Violin) received the Robert Merritt Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Lead in 2018 for this performance. Further acting credits include: This Is Nowhere, At This Hour (Zuppa Theatre/ Merritt Award nominee), Miss Caledonia (Neptune/Canada/UK Tour), David For Queen (Halifax Theatre for Young People), Tribe of One (Doppler Effect/ Merritt Award nominee), Jekyll and Hyde (Misery/ Shakespeare By The Sea), Twelfth Night, MacBeth, Love’s Labour’s Lost (Shakespeare By The Sea), The Perfection of Man (Atlantic Fringe Festival/ winner Best Comedy Award) and In the Backseat (Eastern Front). Eric Da Costa (Chaim, Clarinet & various other instruments) has been a musician for as many years as he has been a performer. Previous credits include: Annie, Honk!, Snow White: the Panto, Peter Pan: the Panto (Drayton Entertainment), Key Change (Globe Theatre Regina), and Hollywood Hits (Stage West Calgary). Jeff Kingsbury (Drumset) is a freelance drummer/multi-instrumentalist from Kentville, Nova Scotia. Currently based in Ottawa, he tours regularly with his main project Pony Girl, and with artists like Gianna Lauren, Marie-Clo, Mauno, Scattered Clouds, HIGHS, and Kalle Mattson. He has performed with Symphony Nova Scotia in Halifax and also plays regularly with the Ottawa-based Governor General's Foot Guards Band and the Band of the Ceremonial Guard across Canada and in Bermuda. Kelsey McNulty (Keyboard, Accordion) is a multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and teacher living in Toronto. Originally from Ottawa, she quickly became an active member of the Toronto music scene. Kelsey has performed and toured with many bands including The Boxcar Boys, Maylee Todd, Jadea Kelly, Jaron Freeman-Fox and the Opposite of Everything. As well as leading her own bands she has also recorded on many albums, building experience in many different styles of music (Jazz, Soul, Pop, Country, Folk and Classical). -ENDS- For further information please contact The Corner Shop PR on 020 7831 7657 Ben Chamberlain or Hannah Barnett Leveson [email protected] or [email protected] LISTINGS OLD STOCK: A REFUGEE LOVE STORY Wilton’s Music Hall 1 Graces Alley, Whitechapel, London E1 8JB First performance: September 18th 2019 Final performance: September 28th 2019 Press night: September 19th at 7:45pm Performance schedule Monday to Saturday at 7:45pm; Thursday and Saturday at 3:00pm Box office details website: www.wiltons.org.uk telephone: 020 7702 2789 Recommended for Age 12+ Prices from £12.50 OldStockWiltons.com T: @OldStockLove | I: @oldstocklove | F: /OldStockLove IMAGES CAN BE DOWNLOADED HERE FOOTAGE CAN BE DOWNLOADED HERE NOTES TO EDITORS PERFORMERS THE WANDERER Ben Caplan CHAYA, VIOLIN Mary Fay Coady CHAIM, CLARINET & VARIOUS Eric Da Costa DRUMSET Jeff Kingsbury KEYBOARD AND ACCORDION Kelsey McNulty CREATIVE TEAM PLAYWRIGHT Hannah Moscovitch DIRECTOR Christian Barry SONGS BY Ben Caplan & Christian Barry* *Except for “Traveler’s Curse” by Geoff Berner and “The Happy People” by Danny Rubenstein **Additional Music Composed by Graham Scott ASSISTANT DIRECTOR Laura Vingoe-Cram PRODUCTION MANAGER, STAGE MANAGER Louisa Adamson TECH MANAGER, SOUND ENGINEER & OPERATOR Rory Howson COSTUME DESIGN Carly Beamish SET DESIGN Louisa Adamson and Christian Barry LIGHTING DESIGN Louisa Adamson and Christian Barry SOUND DESIGN Jordan Palmer, Christian Barry, Ben Caplan About 2b theatre company 2b theatre company is recognized in their home country of Canada and internationally as a driving artistic voice that creates vital theatre for the world stage. Based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, 2b creates, develops, and presents works for the regional, national, and international stages. They have presented their work across five continents, 11 countries, and 60 cities, from Halifax to Hanover, Bristol to Buenos Aires, and Aarhus to Auckland. 2b’s work has played at some of the biggest festivals in the world, including Luminato, the Sydney Festival, New Zealand Festival, and the Noorderzon Performing Arts Festival. They have won awards and accolades the world over. For more information, visit 2btheatre.com. PRODUCER (LONDON) Sam Levy Sam Levy is a New York-based theatre producer. Recent credits include Come From Away (co- producer Worldwide); The Ferryman (co-producer Broadway); and The Mentalists (producer West End). Sam was formerly the Literary Director at ATM Productions, a company producing commercial theatre in New York and London, receiving over 90 Tony and 35 Olivier nominations since 1998. Before working in commercial theatre, Sam was Director of Programming and Producer at the New York Summer Play Festival, an acclaimed incubator of new plays and musicals at the award-winning Public Theater in New York City. .