SPECIAL OFFER – Book before 9th May and get tickets for any performance for £11! Quote ‘PANDORA11’ when booking. Plus opening week ticket tickets from just £7! (9,10,11,12 May).
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L to R – Susan Aderin, Yetunde Oduwole, Petra Letang, Anna-Maria Nabirye, Bradley John, Ben Onwukwe, Damson Idris and Olatunji Sotimirin. Photos by Ade Omoloja
An unmissable and moving new tragicomedy about families, betrayal, choices and love. Suitable for all the family.
Anna-Maria Nabirye (Toyin) and Bradley John (Timi)
On holiday with her streetwise son in Lagos, a British-Nigerian mother is in turmoil. Should she leave her only child in a strict Lagos boarding school, or return him to the battlefields of inner London?
Anna-Maria Nabirye (left) plays Toyin with Petra Letang as her London best friend, Bev.
… and with her Lagos sister, Sis Ronke (played by Yetunde Oduwole)
Ben Onwukwe (Principal Osun) inspects Bradley John (Timi) and Damson Idris (Tope).
Susan Aderin (Mama), flanked by Anna-Maria Nabirye, Olatunji Sotimirin (Baba) and Yetunde Oduwole (Ronke).
A family spanning three generations and two continents meet in Lagos for the first time in over thirty years. But the joy of reunion also unleashes long-suppressed truths. An exuberant and thought-provoking mix of comedy, tragedy and family drama, Pandora’s Box reveals the heartbreak behind the difficult choices some parents must make – and the price their children pay.
CAST ANNOUNCEMENT
PETRA LETANG Bev
Theatre includes: Baby Girl, The Miracle, The President of an Empty Room (National Theatre); Funny Black Women on the Edge(Hackney Empire); The Weave, Badnuff, Every Coin (Soho Theatre);How Love is Spelt (Bush Theatre); Fallout, Escobar Estate, Breath Boom, Rough Road to Survival, Truth & Reconciliation (Royal Court Theatre); Beautiful Thing (Nottingham Playhouse); Mules(Clean Break Theatre); Generations of the Dead, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone (Young Vic); Local Boy (Hampstead); My Wonderful Day(Stephen Joseph Theatre and 59E59, Off Broadway). Television include: Eastenders, The Bill, The Last Detective, Jonathan Creek, Babyfather, Babyfather 2, Family Affairs. Film includes: Wondrous Oblivion, Betsy & Leonard, The Naked Poet.
Radio includes: The Colour Purple, Romeo and Juliet, The Lamb Show, The English Civil War, Hackers, Madam Butterfly and the Stockwell Diva, Silence of the Stars, Tell Tales.
BEN ONWUKWE Principal Osun
Ben has worked extensively in theatre and television in the UK. His most recent role was playing Barack Obama in Man in the Middle at theatre503 in February 2012.
His theatre credits include: Julian Mitchell’s Family Business (Watford Palace); The Making of Moo (Orange Tree); High Life (Hampstead);Winter’s Tale, Pericles (RSC); Macbeth (Out of Joint); Best Man(Croydon Warehouse); Play without repeats (Orange Tree);Greenland, Emperor (Royal Court); Wedlock of the Gods (Jeanetta Cochrane Theatre);Waking Waterfall (Tiata Fahodzi). His television work includes: Law and Order UK,Coronation Street, Holby City, Doctors, After You’ve Gone, The Bill, London’s Burning(for 10 seasons) and Between the Lines. His film work includes: The Chain and Late Bloomers. Ben has been a stalwart of the BBC Radio Reparatory Company, with credits on countless classic series.He is regularly to be heard on Radio4’s Ladies No1 Detective Agency.
DAMSON IDRIS Tope
Damson Idris is studying Theatre and Film and Television Studies at Brunel University and training at Identity Drama School. He appeared in the University’s 2011 showcase Caucasian Chalk Circle (Antonin Artaud Theatre). He took part in a rehearsed reading of Pandora’s Boxat Goldsmith’s College Pinter Centre in 2011. He also appeared in Edmund Kean Theatre’s production of A Raisin in the Sun and Hope for Haiti, a devised play, in 2010. Other appearances include:Crimewatchand Ashley Walters’ BBC series Jail Tales.Film roles include:Attack the Block, The Brothers and 51 Degrees, and lead roles in various short films such as Tick Tock and Hiding in the Light.
OLATUNJI SOTIMIRIN Baba
Olatunji Sotimirin is a Nigerian artist, actor, musician, entertainer, television, radio presenter and comedian. His experience in the entertainment industry cuts across stage, radio and screen, including lead roles in many productions. As a musician he created Konkere Band, popularising a genre of music, projectingNigerian culture through creativity in lyrical composition and innovative use of African percussive instruments. He studied at the University of Ibadan, where he obtained his Diploma, BA and Masters Degree in Theatre Arts. He is a lecturer in the Department of Creative Arts, University of Lagos, Nigeria, and is currently pursuing a PhD in Drama at Goldsmiths, University of London.
BRADLEY JOHN Timi
Bradley studied at Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts. Credits whilst studying include: Banquo in Macbeth, Les in East, Baygee in Elmina’s Kitchen, Paul Granger III in The Hot l Baltimore and Bad T in Sing Yer Heart Out for the Lads. Bradley also performed in Our Town at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2010. Pandora’s Box is Bradley’s professional stage debut.
YETUNDE ODUWOLE Ronke
Yetunde Oduwole trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama, Stella Adler New York, Goldsmiths College and City Lit. She has worked with TiataFahodzi, Talawa Theatre and performed in several staged readings at the Royal Court. Theatre credits include: Torn(Arcola); AdultoOrgasmo (The Lion and Union Theatre); Hackney Streets (Rosemary Branch); The Harlot, The Coronet, Under the Cranes and various short films. She also had a lead role in the BEFFTA award-winning TV show Meet the Adebanjos.
SUSAN ADERIN Mama-Ronke
Susan trained at The State University of New York, Binghampton. Susan’s theatre appearances include Romeo and Juliet, Peer Gynt(National Theatre);The Beatification of Area Boy (West Yorkshire Playhouse); To Kill a Mocking Bird, (Northbank Productions Tour);The Crucible, Medea (The Royal Exchange); Marching for Fausa(Royal Court Theatre); Flamingo (Gate Theatre); The Gods are Not to Blame (Talawa Theatre Company, UK Tour); Crimes of Passion(Nottingham Playhouse). International theatre roles include Mariya, in King Baabu, a play written and directed by Wole Soyinka, and first performed at the National Theatre, Lagos. Television appearances include:Thief takers,The Last Detective for ITV;Doctors, Casualty, Rapunzel for the BBC and Big Women for Channel 4. Film appearances include The Edge(Granite Productions).
ANNA-MARIA NABIRYE Toyin
Anna-Maria trained at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts & Identity Studios. Theatre credits include: A Drop To Drink (National Theatre Studio/Soho Theatre); Mad Blud: A London Story (Theatre Royal Stratford East); Memory Play & House Boy (TiataFahodzi); Ugly(Redladder); Barabas-The Jew Of Malta (Hall For Cornwall); Fit For Purpose (Pleasance); Handa’s Hen (Little Angel Theatre); Igloo Hullabaloo (Halfmoon Theatre), as well as performing at The National Theatre, Arcola, Riverside Studios & Tristan Bates Theatre. Film credits include Deep Stateand Insurgency. Anna-Maria is due to make her television debut in Series 8 of BBC1’s Waterloo Road.