The Lightning Play - Stagetext (London) December 6, 2006

The Lightning Play

Genre: Drama
Playwright: Charlotte Jones

Anna Mackmin will make her Almeida directorial debut with the world premiere of Charlotte Jones’ The Lightning Play. The Lightning Play will run at the Almeida from 9 November 2006 to 6 January 2007, with press night 17 November. Set and costume designs are by Lez Brotherston, lighting is by Tim Mitchell and video design is by Jon Driscoll. The Lightning Play is sponsored by Law firm Pinsent Masons.

North London at Halloween, Max Villiers, a celebrity ghost writer, and his wife Harriet, a talented shopper, host a party. As Max connects his first plasma TV, the evening is hijacked by interference from the past. There are trick or treaters at the door and strangers on the brand new rug. After studying at Balliol College, Oxford, Charlotte Jones trained as an actor. She worked in theatre and television for six years before turning to writing. Her plays include Humble Boy for the National Theatre which won her the Critics’ Circle award for Best New Play as well as a Drama Desk Nomination for Best New Play for the Manhattan Theatre Club production in New York, In Flame for the Bush Theatre and The Dark for the Donmar Warehouse. She also wrote the book for Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Woman in White. As well as writing many plays for BBC Radio 4, Charlotte Jones’ television work includes Mother’s Ruin and Bessie and the Bell. Her film work includes Ruby on a Tuesday and Dogstar.

Anna Mackmin has recently made her National Theatre directorial debut with Deborah Gearing’s Burn, Mark Ravenhill’s Citizenship and Enda Walsh’s Chatroom. Her previous work includes Mammals for the Bush and on tour in the UK, Breathing Corpses and Food Chain for the Royal Court, The Dark for the Donmar Warehouse, Auntie and Me for Wyndham’s Theatre, In Flame for the Bush and the New Ambassador’s and Cloud Nine, The Crucible and Iphigenia all for Sheffield Crucible where she was an Associate Director with co-responsibility for programming. Anna Mackmin is Associate Director at The Gate.