World premiere of Timberlake Wertenbaker's new play, a comedy about animals and voices from the natural world demanding an end to ecological destruction.
The Animals Come to the Table opens at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse on 11 December, running through to 24 January. It's the world premiere of a new play by Timberlake Wertenbaker, written specifically for the candlelit space of the Playhouse.
The premise is a strange one: when the lights go out, a negotiator and an interpreter are summoned to a secret emergency meeting, only to find a chicken, a rat, a snow leopard and an army of voices from the natural world demanding an end to exploitation and ecological destruction. It's billed as funny, furious and unsettling, blending comedy, politics, philosophy and mischief in what's described as an audacious experiment in stepping into someone else's shoes.
It's directed by Anthony Lau, with Annette Badland as Bea, Rosalind Ford as Ensemble/Cover, Olivier Huband as Pan, Lydia Larson as Maude, Simon Manyonda as Tony and Alex Young as Anna. Music is by Asaf Zohar. Wertenbaker is well known for Jefferson's Garden, The Love of the Nightingale and Little Brother, which are studied and performed worldwide.
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Performances run Monday to Saturday evenings at 7:30pm, with no Sunday shows. Gallery seating is £89 to £29, which includes a £3 order transaction fee and a £1 restoration levy per ticket; standing is £10 to £5. If you're around later in the run, there's a related Globe Talk panel discussion and Q&A on 22 January.
