Theatre Renegade Announce One Off Gala To Commemorate the Orlando Attakcs

In the wake of the deadliest incident of violence ever committed against LGBTQ people in America, the attack on the Pulse Nightclub and murder of 49 people, Theatre Renegade are to presenta one-off gala, Response To… The Orlando Attack.

Response To… The Orlando Attack, this Saturday evening at St James Studio, against the backdrop of London’s Pride celebrations,will be a mixture of new pieces written in direct response to the tragedy, performances of well-known texts and musical performances, all selected to honour and commemorate the victims at Pulse nightclub.

Ryan Forde Iosco, Artistic Director of Theatre Renegade, said: “As we all struggle to understand the unspeakable horror, we are coming together as an artistic community to raise our voices; in memory, in protest, in solidarity. As a company we feel incredibly angered, frustrated and saddened by the attack that took place on June 12th to the LGBTQ community in Orlando. I couldn’t simply stand by and let this pass without doing something when so many of us feel affected by this tragedy.”

All profits from the evening will be donated to Stonewall, in aid of their work supporting LGBTQ communities.

Performers confirmed so far include:

Alice Fearn, soon to be alternate Elphaba in Wicked whose West End credits include: Les Miserables, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, The Woman in White, Shrek; Mathew White, Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies (West End and Broadway) and 55 Days (Hampstead Theatre); Ryan Forde Iosco, Pina Bausch’s Viktor (Sadler’s Wells), Antigone and Lorca is Dead (The Lowry), The Translators (Soho Theatre) and San Domino (Arcola Theatre); Lily de la Haye, Parade (LondonTheatre Workshop) and Legally Blonde (Upstairs at the Gatehouse); Leo Wan, Twelfth Night (Orange Tree Theatre), Jekyll and Hyde (Southwark Playouse) and Henry V (Trafalgar Studios); Janine Harouni, 1984 (Almeida and West End) and The Iliad (Almeida); Abubakar Salim, The Winter’s Tale (Cheek By Jowl), Teddy Ferrara (Donmar Warehouse) and Black Mirror (Netflix).

Among the writers taking apart are: Camilla Whitehill (Bush Theatre Emerging Writers Group and award-winning writer of Where Do Little Birds Go); Tristan Bernays (Bush Theatre Emerging Writers Group award-winning writer of Teddy); Christopher Adams (writer for Link Up, Royal Court Theatre). Directors: Lucy Atkinson, Les Enfant Terribles’ Alice’s Adventures Underground and Jekyll and Hyde; Josh Roche, Farinelli and the King, Doctor Scroggy’s War, Eternal Love and Taming of the Shrew (all for Shakespeare’s Globe), Death of a Salesman, Doctor Faustus and The Alchemist (all RSC) and Winky (Soho Theatre and Underbelly); Eleanor Rhode, When We Were Women (Orange Tree Theatre), Teddy (Southwark Playhouse) and Toast (Park Theatre, UK Tour and 59E59)

“The play does a rare thing – it captures the messy emotional battlefield of young lives played out on social media. Refreshing with lashes of lively, spiky wit.” The Evening Standard on multi Offie-nominated Scarlet, at Southwark Playhouse

“The work is brutal, but utterly watchable. This is one of the tightest pieces of theatre currently on the stage.” British Theatre on multi Offie-nominated Scarlet, at Southwark Playhouse

“Smart, engaging new play about slut-shaming and social media.” The Stage on multi Offie-nominated Scarlet, at Southwark Playhouse