Chipo Chung and Lola Shalam have been tapped to lead Kathryn Hunter’s upcoming London play “Gigi & Dar.”
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Chung (“His Dark Materials”) is set to play Zoz while Shalam (“Macbeth”) plays Dar. Tanvi Virmani (“Life of Pi”) will take on the role of Gigi.
The trio are joined by Roman Asde, making his professional debut as Sim.
The play is set to be staged at the Arcola Theater this October.
Written by Josh Azouz (“The Box”), “Gigi & Dar” a comic tragedy about what people bury in order to survive.
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“A roadblock. Two young women armed with machine guns and Nutella,” reads the logline. “Days away from finishing the army. Gigi has a secret. Dar dreamt she’d be shot today. And there’s a strange vehicle heading their way…Well, that’s okay. Nothing ever happens here. Right?”
Hunter, a director (“Napoleon Disrobed”) and actor who has appeared in the “Harry Potter” films, said: “I knew immediately that I wanted to direct ‘Gigi & Dar.’ It is as if Josh has invented a new genre – Beckett meets ‘Mean Girls,’ where the clowns are armed to the teeth. His characters are meticulously drawn and pull the audience into their lives in very direct ways – at first funny and engaging but ultimately confronting questions of complicity and responsibility.”
Azouz added: “Gigi and Dar are two young women whose universal coming of age concerns collide with being thrust into a conflict not of their choosing. I tell their story, alongside that of Sim and Zoz, asking an audience to consider their own perspectives on the people that make up so many conflicts around the world. The characters are messy and complex. The story wants to entertain, move and unsettle. Rather than a polemic with clear-cut villains, ‘Gigi & Dar’ creates a space within our highly polarised climate, for humour, nuance and compassion.”
“Gigi & Dar” is produced by Arcola Theatre, Frenzy Productions, MMXX Productions and Matthew Schmolle Productions. Design is by Michael Vale, sound design and composition by Jack Baxter, lighting design by Ciarán Cunningham, movement direction by Adi Gortler and casting by Helena Palmer CDG.
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