Alexia McIntosh and Kieran Hamilton-Amos to join Corey Campbell in ”Big Aunty”

Alexia McIntosh (Six) and Kieran Hamilton-Amos (Grimeboy) are set to join Belgrade Theatre creative director Corey Campbell (Fighting Irish) in Big Aunty this spring.

Directed and devised by Campbell, the production will also feature a seven-person ensemble choir, comprised of talent from the local community.

The piece reolves around the funeral of “Big Aunty”, who lived as a matriarch and a second mother to children abandoned by their reckless parents, and follows the emotional journeys of the “waifs and strays” she took in.

Campbell commented: “As a devising artist, I often use theatre to help express who I am, but right now I see so many people in the same place as me. A lot of us have experienced loss over the last couple of years – it feels like the whole country is mourning.

“But as the character, Big Aunty, might say: ‘There is no resurrection without death’, and I’m now reaching a place where I can experience some joy through the pain of loved ones lost.

“I hope Big Aunty will offer hope to people who are also on this journey forwards, and that it will give all of us an opportunity to come together and share the experience in the unique way only theatre can provide – to laugh and cry, to heal and forgive. Live, laugh, love.”

Alongside Campbell, the creative team also includes Sarah Githugu as assistant director, Claire Winfield as set designer, Joe Hornsby as lighting designer, Auden Allan as sound designer and Emma Barber as casting director. Joelle Ikwa serves as the community producer and choir leader.

Big Aunty is the Belgrade Theatre’s first in-house production of the spring season and it will run from 24 April to 6 May in the B2 auditorium. A press night is scheduled for 26 April.

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