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Hare & McGuinness Create Links in Almeida Chain

A chain play has been created by six top playwrights connected with the Almeida Theatre as a fundraising event to be performed at the Islington venue later this month. Samuel Adamson, Moira Buffini, David Hare, Charlotte Jones, Frank McGuinness and Roy Williams have all contributed to the piece, which will be staged by Tom Cairns on 23 March 2007, with a cast yet to be announced.

A Chain Play has taken shape over the past few months, with each writer given two weeks to write a 10- to 15-minute scene before handing over to the next writer in the chain.

The idea of a chain play has previously been tested as part of the National Theatre’s 25th anniversary celebrations in 2001, when 25 playwrights – including three of the Almeida participants, Buffini, Jones and McGuinness, along with Sebastian Barry, Simon Block, Nick Dear, Kevin Elyot, Tanika Gupta, Lee Hall, Zinnie Harris, Jonathan Harvey, Terry Johnson, David Lan, Patrick Marber, Stephen Sondheim, Shelagh Stephenson and Colin Teevan – each contributed to a chain play (See News, 22 Oct 2001).

All six writers taking part in the new project have recently had work produced at the Almeida, or are connected with the building. McGuinness' There Came a Gypsy Riding has almost finished its run at the venue, and will be followed by Buffini's Dying for It (See News, 3 Nov 2006). Jones' The Lightning Play and Hare's version of Maxim Gorky’s Enemies played in 2006, while Adamson is currently under commission to the Almeida and Williams is Writer in Residence.

Tickets for A Chain Play cost £150 and can be booked via the theatre.

- by Caroline Ansdell

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