In Person

Wise Children

08 Oct–10 Nov 2018

What you need to know

Dates

08 Oct–10 Nov 2018

About the show

‘Let’s have all the skeletons out of the closet, today, of all days!’

It’s 23 April, Shakespeare’s birthday.

In Brixton, Nora and Dora Chance – twin chorus girls born and bred south of the river – are celebrating their 75th birthday. Over the river in Chelsea, their father and greatest actor of his generation Melchior Hazard turns 100 on the same day. As does his twin brother Peregrine. If, in fact, he’s still alive. And if, in truth, Melchior is their real father after all…

A big, bawdy tangle of theatrical joy and heartbreak, Wise Children is a celebration of show business, family, forgiveness and hope. Expect show girls and Shakespeare, sex and scandal, music, mischief and mistaken identity.

Emma Rice (Romantics AnonymousTristan & Yseult, The Flying Lovers of Vitebsk and Brief Encounter) brings her unique, exuberantly impish vision to Angela Carter’s great last novel, Wise Children, launching her new theatre company of the same name and its London residency at The Old Vic.

The Cast

Sam Archer

Young Peregrine

Ankur Bahl

Young Melchior

Stu Barker

Musician

Omari Douglas

Showgirl Nora

Mirabelle Gremaud

Young Nora

Alex Heane

Musician

Paul Hunter

Melchior

Melissa James

Showgirl Dora

Bettrys Jones

Young Dora

Patrycja Kujawska

Wheelchair/Lady Atalanta/Blue Eyed Boy

Etta Murfitt

Nora

Katy Owen

Grandma Chance

Mike Shepherd

Peregrine

Gareth Snook

Dora

Creative Team

Angela Carter

Writer

Emma Rice

Director

Vicki Mortimer

Set and Costume Designer

Malcolm Rippeth

Lighting

Simon Baker

Sound and Video Designer

Ian Ross

Composer

Etta Murfitt

Choreography

Beth Carter

Animation

Stuart Mitchell

Animation

Lyndie Wright

Puppetry Designer

Sarah Wright

Puppetry Director

Rachel Bown-Williams

Fights

Ruth Cooper-Brown

Fights