Wise Children
08 Oct–10 Nov 2018
What you need to know
Dates
08 Oct–10 Nov 2018About 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 Anonymous, Tristan & 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