Jermyn Street Theatre’s Footprints Festival returns for a third year, bringing six new plays to London’s West End – and we’ll be there to review them all.
It kicks off with The Good John Proctor by Talene Monahon; the play is set in the year before the events of Arthur Miller’s classic play about the Salem Witch Trials, The Crucible. It stars Sabrina Wu, Anna Fordham, Amber Sylvia Edwards and Lydia Larson with direction by 2023 Carne Deputy Director Anna Ryder.
Running in repertory with The Good John Proctor is Jaisal Marmion’s debut work Boy In Da Korma directed by Ben Grant, the story of a half-Indian, half-Irish boy on the rural south-west coast of Ireland who believes he is Tupac reincarnated. Alongside Boy In The Korma, audiences can also catch The Pursuit of Joy written by Safaa Benson-Effiom and directed by Brigitte Adela.
Opening in on 23 January and running through to 6 February is the winning entry of the Woven Voices Prize for Playwriting 2023. Spanning five decades, The E.U. Killed My Dad, written by Aaron Kilercioglu and directed by Georgina Green, is a tensely gripping thriller that tells the story of a family reunion which fast becomes an exhilarating whodunnit.
As February gets underway Flora Wilson Brown’s multi-period climate crisis play – A Beautiful Future Is Coming opens as a Co-Production with DONOTALIGHT. The play spans 250 years of climate crisis and features direction from Harry Tennison.
Rounding of Footprints Festival is Two Rounds, written by Oscar-nominee Cristina Comencini and translated and directed by Aida Rocci. A Jermyn Street Theatre and Aslant Theatre Co-Production, this award-winning Italian comedy offers a delicate reflection on being a woman across generations, beginning in 1960s Italy.
Track our full coverage of the festival below:
Footprints Festival Opening Interview
Interview with Jermyn Street Theatre’s Executive Director David Doyle
“I can’t think of a better way to start our big birthday year!”
The Good John Proctor
Interview: The Good John Proctor Director Anna Ryder
“We have a brilliant cast who have brought great empathy and humour to the world of 17th Century, New England girlhood.”
Review: The Good John Proctor – Jermyn Street Theatre, London
“It’s excellently directed, acted and designed but ultimately it’s style over substance, with Monahon struggling to make sense of the play’s themes”
The Pursuit of Joy
Review: The Pursuit of Joy – Jermyn Street Theatre, London
“This is an enjoyable and life-affirming story of three strangers who find themselves, and each other”
Boy in Da Korma
Interview: Jaisal Marmion on Boy in Da Korma
“I’ve tried to draw on aspects of my own life and family history”
Review: The Boy in da Korma, Jermyn Street Theatre
“With real heart and a message of hope, this is a wonderful story, brilliantly told.”
A Beautiful Future is Coming
Review: The Beautiful Future is Coming – Jermyn Street Theatre
“The writing expertly holds the audience captive by only ever giving us the exact amount of context necessary to keep us interested and guessing, thinking that we can predict what will happen next before pulling the rug out from under us”
Two Rounds
Interview: Aida Rocci on Two Rounds
“I think that what really attracts me to the play is the characters – how well-written and interesting they are. They feel like real women, with all their nuance and contradictions and complexities.”
Review: Two Rounds at Jermyn Street Theatre
“They are somewhat archetypes, but in a way that is useful for the themes addressed, and performed with such truthful vulnerability by the actors that they were brought to natural life.”
