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THE BALLAD OF HATTIE AND JAMES

27 Apr - 18 May 2024

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Kiln Theatre and ETT  present

THE BALLAD OF HATTIE AND JAMES

by Samuel Adamson

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An epic, life-spanning tale of friendship, music, and the moments that change you forever.

At St Pancras International, a woman sits at the piano and begins to play. The music captivates commuters, tourists and, following a viral clip,  people around the world. Behind the music is the incredible story of a lifelong duet – the ballad of Hattie and James.

Throughout their lives, Hattie and James find themselves inextricably linked, for better or worse, and cannot help but replay the experiences that have shaped them.

An impassioned story from Samuel Adamson (Wife) that asks who gets to have their voice heard, and can you ever settle the score?

Important Information

Post show Q&A: Fri 10 May, 7.30pm

For content advice, click here.

Access Performances

Touch Tour: Thu 2 May, 6pm
Audio Described Performance: Thu 2 May, 7.30pm
Relaxed Performance: Wed 8 May, 2.30pm
Captioned Performance: Thu 9 May, 7.30pm

 

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Duration

2 hours and 30 minutes, with a 15 minute interval

Dates

27 Apr - 18 May 2024

Select a performance

★★★★
A sweeping symphony of sexual identity and music

- The Independent

★★★★
A moving, music-drenched drama

- Time Out

★★★★
Spellbinding…note-perfect

- The Telegraph

★★★★
Must-see

- The Arts Dispatch

★★★★
Sophie Thompson and Charles Edwards have marvellous chemistry

- All That Dazzles

Thompson and Edwards worked magnificently together…a true testament to their mastery of craft.

- Theatre South East

★★★★
Samuel Adamson’s new play is ambitious and erudite, offering razor-sharp observations and wit throughout

- LondonTheatre1

Photos

Videos

Cast

Charles Edwards

James
Charles Edwards

James

Charles Edwards returns to the Kiln, having previously appeared in The 39 Steps (also Criterion Theatre and Cort Theatre, New York).

Theatre credits include: Best of Enemies (Young Vic); Absolute Hell, Waste, NT50, Strange Interlude (Clarence Derwent Award winner), This House, Twelfth Night, All My Sons, The Duchess Of Malfi (National Theatre); Copenhagen (Minerva Theatre, Chichester); My Fair Lady (Opera Australia – Green Room Award winner); Richard II, Much Ado About Nothing (Shakespeare’s Globe); Blithe Spirit (Gielgud Theatre/Ahmanson
Theatre, Los Angeles); The King’s Speech (Wyndham’s Theatre); Wanderlust (Royal Court Theatre) and Hay  Fever (Haymarket Theatre Royal).

Television credits include: The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, The Crown, Downton Abbey, The Terror, Henry IX, The Halycon, Sherlock, Arthur and George, Ripper Street, Trying Again, A Young Doctor’s Notebook, and Holy Flying Circus.

Film credits include: The Duke, The Witches, Florence Foster Jenkins, Philomena, Batman Begins, Diana, Relative Values, Mansfield Park, and An Ideal Husband.

Suzette Llewellyn

Bo / Mrs Arbuthnot / Rosamund / Louise / Eve / Madame Schultz
Suzette Llewellyn

Bo / Mrs Arbuthnot / Rosamund / Louise / Eve / Madame Schultz

Theatre credits include: Foxes (59E59); The Fellowship (Hampstead Theatre); Electric Rosary (Royal Exchange Manchester); Running with Lions (Talawa Theatre, Lyric Hammersmith Theatre); Chigger Foot Boys (Tara Theatre); Urban Afro Saxons (Talawa Theatre) and Marisol (Traverse Theatre).

Television credits include: Vera (as Louisa Hampton), Eastenders (as series regular Sheree Trueman), Top Boy, Doctors (as series regular Estelle Vere), Hollyoaks (as series regular Margaret Smith), Rocket’s Island and Black Silk.

Film credits include: The Mouse, Real, Faces, Baby Mother and Playing Away.

In the 1990s Suzette co-founded the innovative theatre troupe The BiBi Crew. The company was dedicated to producing new writing from an African-Caribbean perspective incorporating, music, dance, comedy and drama. The BiBi Crew toured the UK with On A Level and But Stop! We Have Work To Do and were invited to perform in New York.

Sophie Thompson

Hattie
Sophie Thompson

Hattie

Theatre credits include: Present Laughter (The Old Vic – WhatsOnStage Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Play); Guys & Dolls (Savoy Theatre); Into the Woods (Donmar Warehouse – Olivier Award For Best Actress in a Musical); Company (Donmar Warehouse / Noel Coward Theatre – Clarence Derwent Award); She Stoops to Conquer (National Theatre); Clybourne Park (Royal Court / Wyndham’s); The Importance of Being Earnest (Vaudeville Theatre); Female of the Species (Vaudeville Theatre) and Wildest Dreams (RSC Stratford / Barbican).

Television credits include: Silo, Belgravia: The Next Chapter, Sisters, Sex Education, Sandylands, Feelgood, Detectorists, Coronation Street (as series regular Rosemary Piper), Eastenders (as series regular Stella Crawford), A Room with a View, The Railway Children and Persuasion. Celebrity Masterchef winner 2014.

Film credits include: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Gosford Park, Dancing at Lughnasa, Relative Values, Emma and Four Weddings and a Funeral.

Alivia Mihayo

Chrissie
Alivia Mihayo

Chrissie

Training: Anna Fiorentini Theatre & Film School
Commercial credits include: Vanguard and Mrs Doubtfire the Musical.

Alivia is delighted to be making her stage debut in The Ballad of Hattie and James.

Luna Valentine

Chrissie
Luna Valentine

Chrissie

Training: New London Performing Arts Centre (NLPAC) and Bodens Performing Arts
Commercial credits include: Luna has filmed various promo videos for Nickelodeon’s Paw Patrol.
Luna is excited to be making her stage debut! Luna is on Grade 3 Piano (ABRSM) and also enjoys playing the drums and singing. She also loves ballet and tap.

Berrak Dyer

Pianist
Berrak Dyer

Pianist

Berrak was the Musical Director for Pop Up Opera (2014- 2018). She has worked extensively in the world of opera, and her credits include: La Fanciulla del West, Lakme, La Traviata, Eugene Onegin (Opera Holland Park); Snow, Goldilocks and the Three Little Pigs, conductor for Robin Hood (The Opera Story); Rhondda Rips It Up (Welsh National Opera); Eugene Onegin, The Dancing Master (Buxton International Festival), and as assistant conductor: Cosi fan Tutte (ETO); Psychosis 4.48, Phaedra and The Lost Thing (Royal Opera House). During the 2021 season Berrak joined West Green House Opera with Gigi and Iford Arts on Pagliacci. In 2022 Berrak was MD for Her Day Opera in Coventry, she returned to conduct Beauty and the Seven Beasts with The Opera Story, the Royal Opera House to assist on The Blue Woman and West Green House Opera to play and assist on L’Elisir D’Amore.

Projects in 2023 included Hansel und Gretel and the world premiere of Jonathan Dove’s Itch, both at Opera Holland Park, The Yellow Wall Paper with The Opera Story and conducting the Opera Scenes at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. This year Berrak joins the cast of The Ballad of Hattie and James at the Kiln Theatre, returns to Opera Holland Park for Tosca and then West Green House for Il Barbiere di Siviglia.

Maya Irgalina

Alternate Pianist
Maya Irgalina

Alternate Pianist

London-based Maya Irgalina is a Belarusian pianist of Tatar origin. She performs internationally, with UK highlights including Barbican, Wigmore Hall, Machynlleth Festival, Oscar Wilde Weekend, and Cheltenham Jazz Festival. Maya has won numerous prizes in piano competitions, including Dudley, Sydney, Maria Yudina and Scriabin. She is the winner of the RNCM’s highest accolade for solo performance, the Gold Medal, and had her Wigmore Hall debut as a winner of the Worshipful Company of Musicians auditions.

Her playing was broadcast by ABC (Australia), BBC Radio 3 and Belarusian Radio. As a soloist, she has played with orchestras including City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Manchester Camerata, Belarusian Opera House Orchestra, RNCM Symphony Orchestra, Batumi Symphony Orchestra and others.

As a collaborative pianist, Maya has been selected as Britten-Pears Young Artist and was featured in Semyon Bychkov’s Beloved Friend project about Tchaikovsky. She regularly performs with such singers as Fleur Barron, Ruby Philogene and Nicola Said; she has received The Paul Hamburger Prize from Graham Johnson and is an alumna of Franz Schubert Institute in Baden bei Wien, Austria.

Maya is very grateful to her professors Lilia Ter-Minasian, Graham Scott, Ronan O’Hora and Julius Drake. She holds the International Artist Diploma in Solo Performance from the Royal Northern College of Music and the Master’s degree in Music from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

Creative Team

Playwright

Samuel Adamson

Director

Richard Twyman

Designer

Jon Bausor

Lighting Designer

Simisola Majekodunmi

Sound Designer

Pete Malkin

Composers

Nicola T. Chang & David Shrubsole

Musical Director

David Shrubsole

Movement Director

Anjali Mehra

Video Designer

Dan Light

Casting Director

Lotte Hines CDG

Costume Supervisor

Isobel Pellow

Assistant Director

Zoë Templeman-Young

Production Team

Production Managers

Heather Doole, Alysha Laviniere

Associate Production Manager

Charlotte Ranson

Company Stage Manager (Rehearsals)

Katie Bachtler

Company Stage Manager (Running)

EJ Saunders

Deputy Stage Manager

Caroline Meer

Assistant Stage Manager (Book Cover)

Daze Corder

Wardrobe Manager

Ayushi Srivastava

Chaperones

Griffin Chaperones

Technician

Bradley Halliwell

Technician Cover

Allie Hu

Sound Technician/Tech ASM

Tim Jan Eichelbaum

Show Crew

Chioma Bayo

Tech Swing

Ella Purvis

Production Electrician

Andy Taylor

Lighting Programmer

Paul Salmon

Production Sound Engineer

Richard Bell

Production Carpenter

Calum Walker

Rigger

Jess Wilson

Revolve Programmer

Daniel Thompson

Discover the music that inspired Samuel Adamson

We are grateful for the support of Jon and NoraLee Sedmak and the Foyle Foundation for this production.