Directors' Showcase 2024
We are thrilled to announce the programme for the Mountview Directors’ Showcase 2024.
The Directors’ Showcase is a vibrant theatre festival celebrating the work of this year’s cohort of Mountview MA Theatre Directors. The 2024 showcase features fresh takes on theatrical classics, new writing, contemporary works and more. It generates provocative, engaging and entertaining theatre from our up-and-coming directing talent and is a highly anticipated event in the Mountview calendar.
Endgame
30 May | Written by Samuel Beckett | Directed by Rosie Martin
A pinnacle of Beckett’s characteristic, raw minimalism, Endgame is a pure and devastating distillation of the human essence in the face of approaching death. Set in a barren, post-apocalyptic world, the play revolves around four characters: Hamm, a blind authoritarian confined to a wheelchair; Clov, their resentful servant who cannot sit down; and Nagg and Nell, Hamm’s elderly parents who reside in trash cans.
Find out more and book here.
Echo in the Woods
1 Jun | Written by Tania Khan (after Anton Chekhov) | Directed by Tania Khan
A new version of Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya. Echo in the Woods explores humanity’s relationship with the natural world and the fallout this estrangement has on our closest human relationships.
Find out more and book here.
Hansel and Gretel: A Nightmare
4 Jun | Written and directed by Eilidh Evans
Hansel and Gretel have never known a day without sun, until winter arrives and the world starves. Full of sorrow and strife, children left out in a storm, and something sweet that’s too good to be true, this adaptation delves deeper into the classic fairytale, exploring darker social lessons for our contemporary world.
Find out more and book here.
Softboy
6 Jun | Written by Aisling Towl | Directed by Lilly Butcher
Softboy examines the mainstreaming of incel culture and the impact this has on the lives of young people. At a London secondary school, Nadine and Kay muddle through their first queer relationship, whilst Jared and Amber try to navigate the end of theirs. At a prestigious New York university, Rebecca attempts to separate the personal, the professional and the political as the pressure mounts around her.
Find out more and book here.
Juniper and Jules
8 Jun | Written by Stephanie Martin | Directed by Craig Legg
Jules has just discovered she likes girls. Juniper has always known. A queer rom-com exploring polyamory, shifting sexualities and modern love, by award-winning playwright Stephanie Martin. Follow two women redefining romance and exploring what it means not just to survive without a template, but how we can carve our own.
Find out more and book here.
Ivories
11 Jun | Written by Riley Elton McCarthy | Directed by Elliot Aitken
Back ‘home’ to help his sick grandmother, Sloane sinks into the play they’re desperate to finish. His husband and best friend are desperate to help, but as tension bleeds into the walls, the Neighbour watches and waits. A basement holds more than just memories… This production of Ivories makes the haunted house a site of visceral trans horror.
Find out more and book here.
Killing Biff and Chip
13 Jun | Written by Claire Marie Perry | Directed by Fiona Winning
Do you know how difficult it is to care about a lesson on reusable plastic when there’s a serial attacker living on your doorstep? Killing Biff and Chip is a heart-breaking and humorous tale from the real-life experiences of women and young girls affected by the UK’s outmoded education system.
Find out more and book here.
Hunting Cockroaches
15 Jun | Written by Janusz Glowacki | Directed by Anna Galek
A surreal comedy set in Manhattan’s Lower East Side, which focusses on a Polish immigrant couple’s difficulties in reconciling their past with their present. Anka, a well-known actress in Warsaw, can’t get work because of her accent; Jan, a writer, is struggling with writer’s block. Hunting Cockroaches explores struggles of the individual in a repressive state, and the manipulations of political and social power.
Find out more and book here.
A Band on Ilmoor’s Fields
18 Jun | Written by Daniel Orejon | Directed by Anna Wellman
One big sister. One little brother. One tentative phone call after twelve years of grief and miscommunication. One shared love left to help them connect – making music. One chance to repair their relationship before it’s gone for good.
Find out more and book here.
The Directors’ Showcase will run from the 30 May – 18 June in Mountview’s Backstage Theatre. Book your tickets now via our website or call our Box Office on 020 8881 2201.
