Kiln Theatre and Dasha Theatricals present
THE INVISIBLE HAND
by AYAD AKHTAR
This production ran from 1 – 31 July 2021.
‘You see we are prisoners of a corrupt country that is our own making. But don’t pretend you don’t participate. You do. Of course you do.’
American banker Nick Bright knows that his freedom comes at a price. Confined to a cell in rural Pakistan, every second counts. Who will decide his fate? His captors, or the whims of the market?
Following a sold out run in 2016, Kiln Theatre Artistic Director Indhu Rubasingham directs the first major revival of Ayad Akhtar’s tense, thrilling and ‘fiendishly clever’ (Financial Times) The Invisible Hand.
Ayad Akhtar (Barack Obama Favourite Books 2020 Homeland Elegies) is a Pulitzer Prize-winner, two-time Tony Award-nominee and winner of the Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
Artwork design by MUSE Creative Communications
Important Information
Age Guidance 14+
Content Advice click here
Post Show Discussion with members of the cast, Director Indhu Rubasingham and Assistant Director Tom Wright, 13 July – 7.30pm
Audio Described Performance, 15 July – 7.30pm
Captioned Performance, 26 July – 7.30pm
‘This really is edge-of-your-seat theatre. Since 2016, Brexit negotiations, Trump’s presidency and Biden’s subsequent election, and the pandemic have shifted the dynamics of global politics, and made the play even more timely’
‘Ayad Akhtar’s chillingly ingenious play. Indhu Rubasingham excels in her directorial signatures of pacy staging combined with clarity of narrative and characterisation. Ticket recommendation – buy, buy, buy’
‘Rubasingham’s return to The Invisible Hand lends it urgency by paring away at the text and adding new references to the Trump-era US. The world has changed, but this story of self-interest in a time of crisis still bites’
‘The sort of juicy, thorny, knotty one-room play that gets the blood pumping’
CAST
TONY JAYAWARDENA
Imam Saleem
Tony Jayawardena plays Imam Saleem.
Theatre credits include: White Teeth (Kiln Theatre), The Invisible Hand (Tricycle Theatre), Christmas At The Snow Globe (Globe Theatre), Hobson’s Choice (Royal Exchange, Manchester), Young Marx (The Bridge Theatre), Lions And Tigers; Twelfth Night (The Globe), The Tempest, The Roaring Girl, The White Devil (RSC), Bend It Like Beckham (West End), and England People Very Nice (National Theatre).
Television credits include: The Crown, The Duchess, Ackley Bridge, The Tunnel, Holby City, The Windsors, Strikeback, Cuckoo, The Life And Adventures Of Nicholas Nickleby, and Silent Witness.
Film credits include: A Street Cat Named Bob (Shooting Script Films), The Cook (Senator Films), Jadoo (Jadoo Films), Trance (Fox Searchlight), and The Wedding Video (Squirrel Films).
SCOTT KARIM
Bashir
Scott Karim plays Bashir.
Theatre credits include: The Arrival (The Bush), Oklahoma!; The Country Wife (Chichester Festival Theatre), The Village (Theatre Royal Stratford East), Young Marx (Bridge Theatre), Food (Finborough Theatre), Imogen (Globe Theatre), King Lear (Royal & Derngate/ATG), Brave New World (Royal & Derngate/Touring Consortium), The Invisible (Bush Theatre).
Television credits include: Halo (Showtime/Amblin), The Dumping Ground (BBC), Dracula (Hartswood Films), Crazy Diamond (Electric Dreams: The World of Philip K. Dick) (Leftbank), Britannia (Sky), Holby City (BBC).
Film credits include: White Girl (Short) (Brett Webb).
DANIEL LAPAINE
Nick Bright
Daniel Lapaine plays Nick Bright.
Theatre credits include: Holy Sh!t (Kiln Theatre), The Invisible Hand (Tricycle Theatre), The Merchant of Venice (Shakespeare’s Globe), Other Desert Cities; Hedda Gabler (Old Vic), The Winter’s Tale (Sheffield Crucible), The Dance of Death (Donmar at Trafalgar), All My Sons (Apollo), Scenes From The Back Of Beyond; F**king Games (Royal Court), Les Parents Terribles; King Lear (Sydney Theatre Co.), Island (Belvoir Street Theatre), Romeo and Juliet; Richard III; Hamlet (Bell Shakespeare Co.).
Television credits include: Upright (Sky Atlantic), Van Der Valk (Company Pictures), Who Is My Husband (Lifetime Television), Black Mirror: Black Museum (Netflix), The Durrells Series II (Sid Gentle/ITV), Versailles (Capa Drama/BBC 2), Catastrophe (Avalon/Channel 4), Critical (Hat Trick/Sky 1), Vexed; Hotel Babylon; Sex, The City and Me; The Good Housekeeping Guide; Red Cap (BBC), Inspector Lewis; Vera; Identity; Moonshot; (ITV), Black Mirror (Channel 4), Jane Hall (Granada/ITV), Golden Hour (Talkback Thames/ITV), Jericho; Death on the Nile; (Granada), Helen of Troy (USA Network), I Saw You (Granada), Tenth Kingdom (Hallmark/NBC).
Film credits include: Dead in Tombstone (Universal 1440 Entertainment), Zero Dark Thirty (Columbia Pictures), Gozo (Bishop Films), Jack The Giant Killer (New Line Cinema), Shanghai (Phoenix Pictures), Last Chance Harvey (Overture Films), Collusion (Thirdway Films), The Abduction Club (Pathe), Ritual (Miramax / Dimension), The Journeyman (Contrabando Films), Double Jeopardy (Paramount), Elephant Juice (Miramax / HAL), Brokedown Palace (Fox), 54 (Miramax), Say You’ll Be Mine (Eagle Beach Pictures), 1999 (HBO Films), Dangerous Beauty (Warner Brothers), Polish Wedding (Fox Searchlight), Lucinda 13 (Too True Films), Muriel’s Wedding (Miramax).
SID SAGAR
Dar
Sid Sagar plays Dar.
Awards include: Winner of the 2020 Eastern Eye Award for Best Actor (Theatre) for his performance in The Starry Messenger.
Theatre credits include: White Teeth (Kiln Theatre), The Invisible Hand (Tricycle Theatre), The Starry Messenger (Wyndham’s, West End), hang (Sheffield Crucible), Julius Caesar (Bridge Theatre), Queen Anne (Royal Shakespeare Company/Theatre Royal Haymarket), The Tempest, Cymbeline, The Oresteia, The Taming of the Shrew (Shakespeare’s Globe), Treasure (Finborough Theatre), The History Boys (UK Tour), True Brits (HighTide/Edinburgh/Bush Theatre), Eternal Love (English Touring Theatre/Shakespeare’s Globe), Orpheus and Eurydice (National Youth Theatre).
Television credits include: Anatomy of a Scandal (Netflix), Trying (Apple TV+), A Discovery of Witches (Sky), Unprecedented (Headlong/BBC), Silent Witness (BBC), Wild Bill (ITV), Press (BBC), EastEnders (BBC), Strike: Career of Evil (BBC), The Hollow Crown (BBC), The Lost Honour of Christopher Jefferies (ITV).
Film credits include: The Batman (Warner Bros.), Belfast (TKBC), Death on the Nile (20th Century Fox), Cruella (Disney), Dolittle (Universal), Artemis Fowl (Disney), Murder on the Orient Express (20th Century Fox), Ready Player One (Warner Bros.).
Radio includes: This is Your Country Now Too: Vijay (BBC Radio 4) and ECCo (BBC Radio 4).
CREATIVE TEAM
AYAD AKHTAR
PLAYWRIGHT
INDHU RUBASINGHAM
DIRECTOR
LIZZIE CLACHAN
DESIGNER
OLIVER FENWICK
LIGHTING DESIGNER
ALEXANDER CAPLEN
SOUND DESIGNER
BRIONY BARNETT CDG
CASTING DIRECTOR
DANIELE LYDON
VOICE AND DIALECT COACH
RC-ANNIE LTD.
FIGHT DIRECTOR
MEGAN KEEGAN
COSTUME SUPERVISOR
TOM WRIGHT
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR
PRODUCTION CREDITS
TOM LEE
PRODUCTION MANAGER
OWEN DONKIN
DEPUTY PRODUCTION MANAGER
JENNY GRAND
COMPANY STAGE MANAGER
CHARLOTTE PADGHAM
DEPUTY STAGE MANAGER
MADDIE SIDI
ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER (BOOK COVER)
KESHINI RANASINGHE
WARDROBE MANAGER
KIERAN WATSON
SHOW CREW
SAM LEVY
LIGHTING OPERATOR
STEVE ANDREWS
PRODUCTION ELECTRICIAN
JON SEALEY & BEN GILLER
PRODUCTION SOUND ENGINEER
JOE ASHWORTH-MARTIN
PRODUCTION CARPENTER
CAT CARTER
LX PROGRAMMER
FOOTPRINT SCENERY & KILN THEATRE WORKSHOP
SET BUILDING