Venue

Riverside Studios, Hammersmith

RUNNING TIME

1 hour and 30 minutes with no interval.

AGE SUITABILITY

Suitable for ages 14+.

TICKETS: £20 (£18 concs.)

£10 for under 18s, available by phone and counter only.

Box Office: 020 8237 1111
Reception: 020 8237 1000

House of Corrections

Written by Bola Agbaje

Directed by Moji Kareem

A new comedy drama, which packs a serious thought-provoking punch

Riverside Studios Hammersmith 31^st Oct 2012 – 4^th `Nov 2012

To coincide with Black History Month ODT Events in partnership with 2Far Media present a new comedy drama play, House of Corrections, by award-winning playwright Bola Agbaje exploring the impact a son’s incarceration has on a family.

There’s only a week left till Rasheed’s 50th birthday and his son has just been sentenced to thirteen years in prison. Rasheed decides it’s time to put his house in order. However, is he piecing his family together or pushing them further apart?

The challenges faced by Africans and, in particular, young black African men are critically relevant in today’s society with the increasing number of black people being sent to prison. The Deputy Prime Minister has openly raised concerns that  “Hundreds more young black men are in jail than at top universities”  To put this into even wider context a major commission found that five times more black people than white people per head of population in England and Wales are imprisoned and this number is rapidly increasing.

Although the play has been written to provide an entertaining and engrossing story, it is also aimed at breaking the silence and secrecy of their families when young black men experience custody. As in her other plays, the route playwright Bola Agbaje takes to achieve her powerful and dramatic impact is by using an engaging plot revealing the warm humanity of her brilliantly-drawn characters. And then writes with her characteristically sharp ear for authentic dialogue to challenge prevailing attitudes, provoke discussions and break down stigma and discrimination.

So come along, celebrate Black History Month at Riverside Studios, located in Hammersmith, West London, have your own ideas and prejudices challenged while enjoying an hour and a half of top-class entertainment, and begin the discussion that will shape communities.

Bola Agbaje – Playwright

Bola Agbaje graduated from the young writers programme at the Royal Court in 2007.  Her first play GONE TOO FAR! was selected to be performed as part of the Young Writer Festival and was performed at the Royal Court Theatre (Upstairs) in February 2007.  In 2008 the play won the Laurence Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliated Theatre,  The play was revived in 2008 and returned for a run in the main Downstairs space at the Court, as well as at the Hackney Empire and Albany Theatre.  Bola was also nominated for the Evening Standard Most Promising Playwright of the Year in 2008.  Her last play, BELONG, played a sell-out run at the Royal Court in Spring 2012 in a co-production with Tiata Fahodzi.

Bola’s writing has been presented by the Royal Court Theatre, ATC, Tiata Fahodzi, Hampstead Theatre, Soho Theatre, Young Vic, Talawa and Cardboard Citizens plus many more

Bola’s screenplay adaptation of GONE TOO FAR! is now in production with Poisson Rouge Pictures and the BFI.

Moji Kareem – Director

Moji is a freelance theatre director and the Artistic director of Utopia Theatre.

Previous theatre directing work includes: Pandora’s Box (Arcola Theatre, London) Wake Me When It’s Time (York Theatre Royal, York), The Maids (York St John theatre Studio York), The Shepherds Chameleon (York St John Theatre Studio, York)

The Duchess of Malfi (York St John theatre Studio, York)

She is a visual and aural driven Theatre director who fuses sound, image, text and movement to create extraordinarily evocative images on stage. She has a First Class degree in Theatre: Performance from York St John University. She won the York Theatre Royal graduate prize for her directing of Eugene Ionesco’s The Shepherd’s Chameleon, which included a period of internship at York Theatre Royal.

Author: Chief Editor

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