Theatre News

London Road author Alecky Blythe returns to acting with Killing

31 August 2012

Actor turned award-winning playwright Alecky Blythe, whose verbatim drama credits include London Road, will return to the boards herself this autumn for the first time in three years. Blythe features in the world premiere of Nicholas Pierpan‘s new play, You Can Still Make a Killing, which is directed by Matthew Dunster and runs for four weeks from 12 October to 3 November 2012 (previews from 10 October) at Southwark Playhouse.

As a playwright, Blythe has won multiple awards for her verbatim “recorded delivery” dramas, Come Out Eli, The Girlfriend Experience, Do We Look Like Refugees, Cruising and, most notably, London Road, in which she teamed up with composer Adam Cork and applied her trademark technique to a musical to multi award-winning effect.

Speaking to Whatsonstage.com, Blythe said: “It was never my intention to give up the acting. It’s just that, as my plays developed over the years, I started to cast them more to type, and I wasn’t right for any of the parts. I also found that not performing in them really did allow me to put all my energy into the writing.

“However, this year I decided I wanted to get back in the room as an actor once again so when Matthew contacted me about You Can Still Make a Killing, it seemed like the perfect opportunity. I was excited about the challenge of working with a text for a change, instead of audio, and believe that it will inform me on all sorts of levels, including my own writing. Matthew directed me the last time I performed which was in my show Cruising at the Bush so I know I’m in safe hands.”

Set in a world “where capitalism has become its own worst enemy”, You Can Still Make a Killing is concerned with one man’s search for an alternative – unsure if he is a victim of the banking crisis or one its unwitting perpetrators. The cast also features Kellie Bright and Robert Gwilym, along with Marianne Oldham and Tim Delap.

Killing author Nicholas Pierpan’s previous credits include The Maddening Rain, which was also directed by Matthew Dunster, premiered at the Old Red Lion in 2010 to critical acclaim and was seen in New York as part of the 2011 Brits Off Broadway Festival.