Article Source: Traverse Theatre
Last Updated: 14 March 2018 12:14
The centrepiece of the Traverse Theatre’s Spring/Summer 2018 season, produced in association with the National Theatre of Scotland, Gut is the world premiere production of Frances Poet’s debut full-length original play. Set to start rehearsals at the end of March, the Traverse is excited to reveal the four actors who will make up the cast.
A taut, ‘stop you in your tracks’ psychological thriller exploring our instincts when it comes to who we can trust with our children, Gut centres on parents Maddy and Rory (played by Kirsty Stuart and Peter Collins respectively), who are devoted to keeping their three-year-old son happy and safe. But when an everyday visit to a supermarket café with his Granny, Morvern (Lorraine McIntosh), involving a helpful stranger (George Anton), turns into a far more troubling incident, their trust even in those closest to them is shattered.
Fear and doubt consume the new parents, until they reach a savage breaking point. A tense and emotionally provocative work, Gut ultimately explores the idea that if we as parents succumb to our anxieties, we could become a more significant and tangible threat to our children than the faceless strangers of our nightmares.
Written by award-winning playwright Frances Poet (Adam) and shortlisted for the 2015 Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting, Gut will be directed by Traverse Associate Director Zinnie Harris (Critics’ Awards for Theatre in Scotland’s ‘Best Director’ 2016-17).
Get an exclusive first look at the trailer: here
Frances Poet, playwright, says:
‘One of the most enjoyable things about developing Gut so far has been the conversations it has provoked from the various creatives involved. The questions the play asks about parenting seem to divide people and everybody has their own child-rearing anecdotes to share, whether as children or parents. It’s going to be thrilling to get into the rehearsal room to dissect the themes more thoroughly and to hone this thriller into a really exciting and stimulating piece of theatre. Then I’ll be positioning myself in the bar after the show hoping to catch more of these conversations, debates and anecdotes, this time from the audience.’
Zinnie Harris, director, says:
‘I am delighted to be working with the Traverse to bring Gut to the stage. Frances Poet has written a wonderful play, about modern parenting and how we view risk. I'm hoping it will provoke debate for the audience, particularly when we are constantly reminded of danger to children in the media. The play is complicated, thorny and theatrical like all the best plays and it’s such a treat for me to be working on it with Frances and this wonderful cast.’
Tuesday 24 April-Saturday 12 May (previews 20 & 21 April; press night 24 April)
Post-show discussion with Frances Poet, Zinnie Harris and Vivian Cree: 3 May (7:30pm)
Cast Biographies:
George Anton
George trained at the Drama Centre, London. Theatre credits include: This Restless House (Glasgow Citizens’/EIF); The Duchess of Malfi (Cheek By Jowl); Life Is A Dream (EIF/BAM); Hamlet (EIF/Birmingham Rep); Paul Bright's Confessions of a Justified Sinner (EIF/Untitled Projects/NTS); and Titus Andronicus (Dundee Rep). TV credits include: Marcella (ITV); Law & Order:UK (ITV); The Loch (ITV); and Stuart: A Life Backwards (BBC). Film credits include: Calibre; Churchill; The Sweeney; K-19: The Widowmaker; and Field of Vision.
Peter Collins
Film and TV includes:Outlander (Starz); The Secret Agent (World Productions);
Eve (Leopard Productions/CBBC); Scot Squad (Comedy Unit/BBC); Grease Monkeys (BBC); Casualty (BBC); Mile High (Hewland International); Peak Practice (ITV); The Hunt (Carlton); and Always and Everyone (Granada). Theatre includes: Richard III (Perth Theatre); Oresteia: This Restless House (Glasgow Citizens'/National Theatre of Scotland/Edinburgh International Festival); Cinderella; Hansel and Gretel (both Glasgow Citizens'); The Story of the Little Gentleman; White; The Ballad of Pondlife McGurk (all Catherine Wheels); Tin Forest (National Theatre of Scotland); Horizontal Collaboration (Fire Exit TC); Macbeth (Theatre Babel); Thebans (Theatre Babel); Medea (Theatre Babel); King Lear (Theatre Babel); Taming of the Shrew (Royal Exchange); First Cut (Red Cut); How the Other Half Loves (Bolton Octagon); Ticket To Write/Northern Exposure (Paines Plough); Much Ado About Nothing (Manchester Exchange); The Tempest (Compass Theatre Company); Crows (National Theatre); The Caucasian Chalk Circle (National Theatre); Julius Caesar (Theatre Babel); Temptations and Betrayals (Bristol New Vic Studio); Grimm Tales (Leicester Haymarket); Hamlet (Theatre Babel); Romeo and Juliet (Theatre Babel); Secrets Under The Skirt (Dog Theatre); Macbeth (National Youth Theatre); Julius Caesar (National Youth Theatre); Maggie May (National Youth Theatre); and Marat/Sade by Peter Weiss
(National Youth Theatre).
Lorraine McIntosh
Lorraine’s first foray into professional acting was in 1998, in Ken Loach’s award-winning film My Name is Joe. Prior to this, she concentrated on a successful musical career as vocalist with Deacon Blue, whose credits include two number one albums and seventeen top 20 singles. She continues to record and tour with the band, having released their most recent album ‘Believers’ in September 2016, which entered the UK charts at number 12. Theatre work includes: Still Game at The Hydro (Phil McIntyre Entertainment); Beowulf, God of Carnage, (Tron Theatre); Mum’s The Word (Robert C Kelly Productions); Let the Right One In, Men Should Weep and Beautiful Burnout (National Theatre of Scotland); and Sixteen (The Arches). TV work includes: Long Night at Blackstone, (Hopscotch Productions for BBC); Scot Squad (BBC); Happy Holidays (Effingee Productions); West End Girls (Solus Productions); Hope Springs (Shed Productions); West Skerra Light (Hopscotch Productions for BBC); River City and Life Support (BBC); and Psychos (Channel 4). Film work includes: Spores (Hopscotch Productions); Wilbur (Dogma/Sigma Films); and Aberdeen (Freeway Films). Radio work includes: In Search of Highland Mary and Dan 50 (BBC Radio Scotland).
Kirsty Stuart
Kirsty trained at Drama Centre London. Theatre credits include: Oresteia: This Restless House (Citizens/NTS); Fever Dream: Southside (Citizens Theatre); Crude/Spring Awakening (Grid Iron); The Infamous Brothers Davenport (Vox Motus/Lyceum); The Girl in the Machine (Traverse Breakfast Plays); Flo/Thoughts Spoken Aloud From Above/Tristan Nightaway (A Play, A Pie and A Pint); Uncanny Valley (Ayr Gaiety/Edinburgh Science Festival); Molly Whuppie/Licketyleap (Licketyspit); The Silence of Bees (The Arches); The Hunted (Visible Fictions); Romeo & Juliet (Open Book); I Was a Beautiful Day (Finborough/Tron Theatre); Fast Labour (West Yorkshire Playhouse/Hampstead). TV and Film credits include: Outlander (Sony/Starz); River City (BBC Scotland); Lip Service (Kudos); Closing the Ring (Sir Richard Attenborough); Doctors/Sea of Souls (BBC).
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