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Cast and creatives announced for John Webber’s Wake Up People as part of the Blueprint Festival at Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch ‎Queen's Theatre Hornchurch have announced the cast and creative team for Wake Up People, playing 16 – 17 September as part of the Theatre’s Blueprint Festival. Inspired by anti-vaxxer marches, paranoid YouTube videos and flat-earthers, John Webber’s Wake Up People is a funny and ultimately heart-breaking glimpse into how obsessions can tear apart a family that is already under pressure. The cast of seven includes Eve Matheson (May to December and Vanity Fair, BBC). She returns to Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch following last Spring’s production of All My Sons (★★★★ The Stage). Eve will be taking on the role of Pauline, a grandmother from Thurrock who spends too much time surfing the internet. In the role of Pauline’s daughter is Laura Doddington as Stacey, with Mark Field as her ex, Hannah Traylen as their daughter and Nathan Clarke as a younger colleague from work who Stacey brings home.  Playing shadowy characters online are Jacoba Williams and David Tarkenter. Beth Kapila is directing this script-in-hand performance Video and sound projections will also help to show how the internet is enabling the contagion of conspiracy and misinformation to sweep through local communities. Beth is a former Artistic Associate at Tara Theatre, South West London. She often works with new writers to develop their work and aims to represent experiences and voices that go unheard. Wake Up People explores issues of identity and how we interact with the world, to ask questions that make us see the world in new ways, and delve deep into ideas and imaginations. Thurrock-born playwright John Webber has worked as an actor at the National Theatre, among other theatres, and his screen credits include EastEnders and Doctor Foster. The first full production of a play written by him was the acclaimed Spiderfly in 2019 at Theatre503, which The Guardian called “a taut relationship tangle” ★★★★ (Off West End Award nomination). John said: ‘I grew up a stone’s throw away from Hornchurch so I’m really excited to be part of Blueprint – and this festival shows the vibrancy of the Theatre in spades - I can’t wait. This is going to be such an enjoyable two weeks of theatrical invention. To think as a kid growing up in the neighbourhood I’d barely imagine having something on at Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch - even if it’s a reading - it’s going to be special. Do come along!’ Creatives: John Webber Writer Spiderfly (Theatre503); Beth Kapila Director Our Streets (Tara Theatre); Sarah Jane Schostack Dramaturg from High Tide Theatre, The Last Five Years (West End); Simon Frith Camera Operator Under the Radar: The Mike Edmonds Story. Cast: Nathan Clarke The Suicide (National Theatre), East is East (West End); Laura Doddington The Birds and The Bees (New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich, Norwich Playhouse and Bury St Edmunds Theatre Royal), Oleanna (New Vic); Mark Field Vincent River (Old Vic), An Inspector Calls (National Theatre Tour); Eve Matheson All My Sons (Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch and New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich), May to December (BBC); David Tarkenter The 47^th and Endgame/Rough For Theatre II (Old Vic); Hannah Traylen Heroine (HighTide Festival/Theatr Clywd/Sherman Theatre), A New and Better You (The Yard Theatre); and Jacoba Williams Before I Was a Bear (Soho Theatre), Hamlet (Shakespeare’s Globe). Wake Up People Writer John Webber Director Beth Kapila Dramaturg Sarah Jane Schostack from High Tide Theatre Camera Operator Simon Frith Cast: Nathan Clarke, Laura Doddington, Mark Field, Eve Matheson, David Tarkenter, Hannah Traylen and Jacoba Williams. Friday 16 September 6.30pm and Saturday 17 September at 2.30pm and 6.30pm. Tickets: £5* | £3* concessions Running time: 140 minutes Tickets for Wake Up People are £5, £3 concessions book here. For more details and for the full programme of the Blueprint Festival, visit our Blueprint page or call the Box Office on 01708 443333. Blueprint runs from 12 – 24 September.   *(plus +65p QNext fee)