Lumenis Theatre Company in association with Southwark Playhouse presents

A Double Bill
Magical Chairs by Mary Mazzilli
There’s Only One Wayne Lee by Roy Williams

Directed by Jonathan Man

30th August to 3rd September 2011

A double bill of plays open at Southwark Playhouse for a one-week run on 30 August 2011 before playing at the Beijing International Fringe Festival


Magical Chairs is an entertainingly absurd short play. Two young lads grappling with growing up and our societal attitudes to youth become two trapped Magicians trying to escape a room filled with chairs. By playing with storytelling the audience is brought to look at universal truths and the consequences of our preconceptions and choices on our youth of today.

By casting British actors of Chinese and African Caribbean descent, Lumenis aims to allude to the global clashes between East and West, old world and new world, head and heart, in a way to deeply appeal and engage with the diverse audiences of London.

There’s Only One Wayne Lee is a unique coming of age tale. Wayne, a bookish British Chinese teen unexpectedly befriends Carl, the British African Caribbean school football captain. Set in 1970s Britain, where intolerance was brazen and rife, this is a fresh exploration of what it means to try to fit in and thrive in contemporary Britain, and the hitherto unseen parallels and divergences between the different diaspora communities.

After opening at Southwark Playhouse, this double bill Magical Chairs and There’s Only One Wayne Lee will go on to play at the Beijing International Fringe Festival in September 2011. Representing the UK this will be the first ever British production to be presented at this pioneering festival.

Post-show and Q&A session: 31st August, acclaimed theatre critic Aleks Sierz will be talking to writers Roy Williams and Mary Mazzilli, director Jonathan Man and producer David Ahlbrecht about intercultural theatre and new writing.

This project is supported by the National Lottery through Arts Council England and by China-UK Connections Through Cultures, British Council.

About Lumenis Theatre Company

Lumenis Theatre Company was founded in 2006 by a group of international practitioners. Lumenis produces writing that is provocative and controversial, which calls for a fearless company willing to take creative risks. The Creative Director is Mary Mazzilli, the Producer is David Ahlbrecht. For further information go to www.lumenistheatre.co.uk.

This double bill is part of the project London-Beijing Connections, which is an exploration of intercultural theatre, a type of theatre that enables cultural exchanges between communities, in this case local African Caribbean and Chinese communities plus artists in China, in terms of artists involved, public engagement and audiences. This project is supported with a Grant for the arts from the Arts Council England and by the British Council ‘Connections through Culture’ programme.

Lumenis Theatre is the first UK company to be programmed for the Beijing International Fringe Festival, the most influential and dynamic theatre event for emerging talent in China.

About the British Chinese artists
Jonathan Man (Theatre Director and Lumenis Director in Residence)
Jonathan is a British Chinese theatre director, currently researching how theatre can culturally connect China and the West. He is the winner of the Better Bankside Shakespeare Award 2009, where his production of Midsummer Night’s Dream at Southwark Playhouse played to sell out audiences.
Jonathan has a keen interest in culture and people of all backgrounds and persuasions. He has worked in many settings from community theatre, new writing, children’s theatre to national touring, as well as running Yellow Earth, the UK’s leading British Chinese & East Asian theatre company, as co-artistic director for two years. His practice embraces innovation and interculturalism. His directing credits include – for Polka Theatre: Monkey! (based on the Chinese novel Journey to the West). Contact Theatre: Diabolic Kyogen, a British-Japanese comedy double bill; There’s Only One Wayne Matthews, a new Roy Williams’ play. Trafalgar Studios: After Jane Eyre: Prism, for the Shared Experience Youth Theatre & Soho Theatre. The Young Vic: Voyage of the Three Star Gods, an African-Chinese community music project. For BBC Radio 3: The Inventor of Fireworks.

Chris Chan - Wayne Lee, Magician Incompetent
Chris is a British Chinese actor, trained with the National Youth Theatre and received a scholarship to study acting with producer-director Michael Armstrong and his Academy. He has built quite a diverse career as a performing artist.

Theatre credits include Ariel in Return to the Forbidden Planet, Mark/Don/Kafka in All in the Timing and Bernie in Fast Food for Thought. His television work includes Coming of Age, Chamone: A Tribute to Michael Jackson and the second lead role for the pilot episode of Bankers, a new sitcom directed by Charles Garland.

A songwriter, pianist and conductor with a First Class degree from Oxford University, Chris served as organ scholar and music director for Merton Chapel Choir, Oxford String Ensemble, Voxabilis Concert Choir and Young Voices Childrens’ Choir - conducting tracks for the BBC, Channel 4, and Sony BMG.

Chris has also worked as a voice-over artist and presenter for Nokia, a writer and comedy performer with the 999 Theatre Company at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, freelanced as a close-up magician and won silver medals in competitive Ballroom/ Latin dancing.

Venue
Main House, Southwark Playhouse
Shipwright Yard
Corner of Bermondsey St. and Tooley St.
London SE1 2TF

Nearest Tube: London Bridge
Performances
30 August – 3 September 2011
Tuesday to Saturday at 7.45pm
Saturday matinee at 3.15pm
Box Office
Online
www.southwarkplayhouse.co.uk
24 HOURS/NO BOOKING FEES
By Telephone
020 7407 0234
NO BOOKING FEES
Ticket Prices
All tickets £10
Concessions
Disabled people can bring one companion free of charge.
There are no other concessions




Lumenis Theatre Double Bill Press Release