News

Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch is thrilled to announce the cast for the upcoming script-in-hand performance of Maryland, written by Lucy Kirkwood and directed by Polina Kalinina. Maryland will be performed on Sunday 1 May 2022 at 7.30pm. Claudia Jessie, who is best known for playing Eloise Bridgerton in both seasons of the smash hit NETFLIX show Bridgerton, has been cast in Maryland. Claudia’s past work includes Vanity Fair (Amazon Studios), Their Finest (BBC Films) Doctor Who, Detectorists and Line of Duty (BBC). Claudia will be joined by Karise Yansen (Wolf, Focus Features/Universal Pictures: Death in Paradise, BBC: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, UK Tour); David Fynn (The Thief, His Wife and the Canoe, ITV: The Pembrokeshire Murders, ITV: Vanity Fair, Amazon Studios: Game of Thrones, HBO: Doctor Who, Sherlock, BBC: School of Rock, West End); and Rebecca Tubridy (Ascending Ages, Idle Discourse: Hamlet and Twelfth Night, Young Shakespeare Company.) Dagenham-born Sally Oliver (Demon Headmaster, CBBC: Holby City, Doctors, BBC: Emmerdale, ITV, Deep Blue Sea, RNT) is honoured to be producing this event as well as performing in it alongside: Kate Ellis, Naomi Ellis, Sian McLeod, Nicole Acquah and Rachael Reshma, alongside female students from Havering Sixth Form college. The production will be directed by Polina Kalinina. Maryland was written in response to the murders of Sarah Everard and Sabina Nessa and originally performed at the Royal Court in the Jerwood Theatre Upstairs in October 2021. Since it’s sell out run at the Royal Court the play has been performed up and down the country, the Maryland performance script has been offered for free to any theatre company or drama training organisation in the UK interested in staging their own script-in-hand reading. “The play was for many years a private conversation with myself. The horrific murders of Sarah Everard and Sabina Nessa galvinised me into making it public… It is simply a howl, a way of expressing what I feel about a culture of violence against women, but I am sharing it because I wonder if it might express a little of what other people feel about it too.” Playwright, Lucy Kirkwood Proceeds from ticket sales will be donated to Rape Crisis UK. Audiences are encouraged to make a donation to the charity when the book their ticket. Tickets to Maryland cost £5.00 plus 65p QNext Fee. To book, click here.