Sexing the Cherry is a story about storytelling - a tapestry of tales, spun with magical threads. On the banks of the muddy Thames, in seventeenth century London, the gargantuan Dog Woman finds a baby boy, Jordan. Audiences will follow their journeys across space and time and the high seas, in search of identity, dancing princesses and exotic fruit!
Poppy Burton-Morgan’s stage adaptation of Sexing the Cherry is a world premiere and only the second-ever stage adaptation of a Jeanette Winterson novel. Using a multiplicity of story-telling devices - music and song, spoken word, dance and movement, circus and video/animation projection, Metta Theatre will bring this vibrant and surreal tale to life.
Metta have been invited to perform this play as part of the opening weekend of the London Literature Festival at the Southbank Centre. There will be three performances of the play over Friday 1st & Saturday 2nd July. The chance for Metta Theatre to perform again at the Purcell Rooms in the Southbank (after the sell-out success we had there with our previous production Waiting in 2010) is a fantastic opportunity for us and represents a vital step on our journey to expand our young company.
We are working with an incredibly talented group of young creatives to deliver all these storytelling elements: composer Jessica Dannheisser will be devising a musical score, costume designer Kate Lane will be producing eclectic sculptural costumes, aerialist Layla Rosa will be choreographing beautiful aerial work for our characters of Fortunata and the Twelve Dancing Princesses, and Jack Bedeman and Will Reynolds will create and animate an illustrated backdrop to the live action. All of which will create a multi-layered and highly visual theatrical interpretation of this extraordinary novel.
The total cost of getting this show on stage is approx £22,000. We've already raised £12,000 against this target, and are now looking for friends of WeFund to help us raise £2,000 towards our £10,000 shortfall, which we will also be trying to plug via a fundraising event in June, and by approaching several trusts & foundations. We've also sourced in kind support wherever possible and are extremely grateful for the in kind support of Jackson's Lane in particular. Please give generously and help us to make this project a reality!
www.mettatheatre.co.uk
STC Cast:
Dogwoman | TBC
Fortunata | Loren O’Dair
Jordan | Samuel Collings
Tradescant | Tim FitzHigham
Cleaner/Wife/Whore | Gwendolen Chatfield
Johnson/Husband/Monk | John Hinton
STC Creative team:
Director | Poppy Burton-Morgan
Composer | Jessica Dannheisser
Designer | William Reynolds
Aerial Choreographer | Layla Rosa
Costume Designer | Kate Lane
Illustrator | Jack Bedeman
Producer | Leonora Wood
