Kieron Barry's Spy For Spy, making its world premiere this summer at West London's Riverside Studios June 15-July 2, is unveiling its leads. The new work is set to open June 20.
Olive Gray (Halo) and Amy Lennox (Cabaret) will star as two women whose only thing in common is their love for each other. As Sarah and Molly move in together, meet families, break up, fall in love, and all that's in-between, Spy For Spy tells their story in a random new order of scenes every night.
Director Lucy Jane Atkinson helms the creative team which will also feature designer Bethia Jane Green, lighting designer Holly Ellis, and sound designer Anna Short.
Barry, the work's playwright, said, “I was intrigued by the disparity between how we experience events and how we remember them. In contrast to our society’s endless promoting of the now, I have often found the present moment to be insubstantial compared to the reckless zeal of the past, which seems forever vivid and urgent as it crowds about us. Of course, here and there a huge event comes along and one suddenly feels alive and present again, yet the fate of such a moment is to become just another memory and so it continues. I wanted to write a play which would recreate the zigzagging, chaotic sensations of recollection, and in particular the act of summoning memory to examine the sharpest question of all: were we loved?”
Six members of the audience will be asked to pick a song title from a bowl. Each relates to a scene, and the order picked will determine the order of the scenes for the evening.
“It allows us to explore the same relationship from many different orders, and potentially draw different emotional conclusions as a result," said Atkinson, the director, in a statement. "Do we view the relationship differently if we see them break up before they get together? Do we root for their love in the same way if we see them fight before we see them kiss? A memory play, a love story, a comedy, a drama, a tragedy, the possibilities are endless (well, actually there are only 720 different potential orders, but still...)."
Co-produced by Feather Productions and TeamAkers, Spy For Spy will announce full casting at a later date.
Visit RiversideStudios.co.uk.
