Boundless Theatre Artistic Director Rob Drummer today announces the full company for the UK première of ‘Natives’, a new play by Glenn Waldron. Previously Company of Angels, Boundless Theatre produces exhilarating new theatre in the UK in conversation with Europe. Drummer directs Ella Purnell (A), Fionn Whitehead (B), and Manish Gandhi (C) in the production which opens at the Southwark Playhouse on 31 March, with previews from 29 March, and runs until 22 April.
Director: Rob Drummer
Designer: Amelia Jane Hankin
Movement: John Ross
Video Design: Cate Blanchard
Lighting: Zoe Spurr
Sound Design: Father.
About ‘Natives’
“Where are the grown-ups to do something, where are the grown-ups in this story?”
Three countries. Three teenagers. One average, life-altering day.
A young man battles with feelings of love and violence. Another is stuck with the image of someone being pushed from a rooftop. And a girl must choose between her friends and her conscience.
‘Natives’ is a rallying cry to a generation of unlikely heroes and celebrates coming of age online in a chaotic world.
Glenn Waldron
Glenn Waldron is a London-based playwright and writer. A former magazine editor and journalist, Glenn was Editor of i-D magazine and his feature writing has appeared in the New York Times, the Guardian, the Independent, Vogue, W magazine, and other publications. His first play Forever House premiered at the Drum, Theatre Royal Plymouth and his work has since been performed in Germany, Norway, the Netherlands and the USA. Upcoming productions include ‘The Here And This And Now’ at TRP and ‘End of the Pie’r at Hackney Showroom. Glenn also lectures in journalism and pop culture at the University of the Arts London.
Ella Purnell
Ella Purnell plays A. She is making her professional stage debut. She was one of Screen International Stars of Tomorrow 2010. For film, she will appear in the forthcoming ‘Churchill’, her credits include Miss Peregrine’s ‘Home for Peculiar Children’, ‘Never Let me Go’, ‘Maleficen’t, ‘Intruders’ and ‘Kick Ass 2’.
Fionn Whitehead
Fionn Whitehead plays B. He is making his professional stage debut. He was one of Screen Internationals Stars of Tomorrow 2016. For television his credits include ‘Him’; and for film, he will appear in the forthcoming Christopher Nolan’s ‘Dunkirk’ and ‘The Children Act’.
Manish Gandhi
Manish Gandhi plays C. He was included in the British Council’s 2016 global list of 33 cultural influencers from around the world promoting freedom and equality. For theatre his credits include ‘Now We Are Here’ (Young Vic), ‘Brown Shakespeare’ (Efua Theodora Sutherland Drama Studio, Legon-Accra), Rizwan (FTII, Pune), ‘Limbo and Cock’ (National Centre of Performing Arts, Mumbai). For television, ‘Rides upon the Storm’, ‘Judwa Raja’ and ‘Na Bole Tum’; and for film, ‘That Transient Interval’, ‘Chai Shai Biscuits’ and ‘Rizwaan’.
Rob Drummer
Rob Drummer joined Boundless Theatre in July 2016 as Artistic Director. He previously worked as co-director on the company’s production of Sense by Anja Hilling at the Academy of Live and Recorded Arts (ALRA), alongside Andrea Ferran. He was a mentor to emerging playwrights from the UK, Germany, Netherlands and Norway on the European Writers’ Lab component of the company’s Theatre Café Festival. Prior to becoming Artistic Director of Boundless Theatre he was Associate Dramaturg at the Bush Theatre where he ran the Literary Department, responsible for all playwriting work including the commissioning and development of new plays for production. He has established ongoing partnerships with Playwrights of New York (PoNY), delivered projects with Kudos Film & Television and established a partnership with Drama Centre London and Oberon Books on the ‘Student Guide To Writing: Playwriting’. Before joining the Bush Drummer was the first Literary Manager for HighTide Festival Theatre where he supported the expansion of the festival, doubling the number of productions and for HighTide he also directed ‘Eisteddfod’, ‘Endless Poem’ and ‘Perish’. As a Dramaturg and Director he has worked with playwrights at theatres including the National Theatre, Hampstead Theatre, Bristol Old Vic, Contact, York Theatre Royal and Theatre503. He was one of the first recipients of an Artists’ International Development Fund from the Arts Council and British Council and spent time working in South Africa with playwrights and theatre makers at the Baxter and Market Theatres.
Father
Father is a music composition and sound-design studio which works on the principle that sound and image should work in tandem. Founded by Joe Farley and Freddie Webb, Father uses a variety of approaches that bridge musicality and sound design for rich, provocative and emotive sonic landscapes.