Theatre News

New Inua Ellams play to premiere at Kiln Theatre

The production will open in April

Inua Ellams' The Half God of Rainfall will premiere at Kiln Theatre
Inua Ellams' The Half God of Rainfall will premiere at Kiln Theatre
© Dan Wooller for WhatsOnStage

A new play from Inua Ellams has been announced as part of Kiln Theatre's inaugural season.

The Half God of Rainfall, a Kiln co-production with Fuel and Birmingham Rep, will run at the Kilburn venue from 26 April to 17 May and is described as a contemporary saga.

Weaving poetry with storytelling, The Half God of Rainfall takes place in a tiny village in Southern Nigeria and follows Modupe, a beauty who draws the unwanted attention of the Greek and Yoruba Gods, and her son Demi, a half Nigerian-mortal, half Olympian-child.

Poet and playwright Ellams' work includes Barber Shop Chronicles, which played the National Theatre last year, and An Evening With an Immigrant, which played the Soho Theatre in 2015.

The production joins the previously announced season at Kiln Theatre – formerly the Tricycle. The rest of the season includes Alexis Zegerman's Holy Sh!t, opening this week; Stephen Sharkey's musical adaptation of Zadie Smith's White Teeth; Ishy Din's Approaching Empty; Florian Zeller's The Son; Samuel Adamson's Wife; a new revival of Sheldon Epps' Blues in the Night; and the world premiere of Anupama Chandrasekhar's When the Crows Visit.