Oldham Coliseum and Toronto’s Impel present cross-Atlantic live theatre over Zoom

Mina Anwar

Mina Anwar, Darren Jeffries and Canadian actors Blythe Haynes and Ryan G Hinds are set to star in a cross-Atlantic collaboration of Caridad Svich’s An Acorn presented by Oldham Coliseum Theatre and Toronto’s Impel Theatre.

The performance takes place live on Zoom on next Thursday, May 6, followed by a recorded run from May 7 – 17.

An Acorn is a poetic play about facing despair, healing and moving forward.

Originally commissioned in 2017 by American Blues Theatre, the play opens the morning after an unspecified disaster and resonates with the struggles of people in living lockdown during the pandemic.

Directed by Kendra Jones, Anwar (The Thin Blue Line, Everybody’s Talking About Jamie) and Jeffries (Hollyoaks) will receive the script and some specific instructions just an hour before the performance, whilst Canadian actors Haynes (An Atlas, A Necktie & Other Concerns) and Hinds (#KanderAndEbb, We Will Rock You) will be rehearsed.

The two groups of actors have never met before, adding to the sense of chaos and spontaneity.

Over one year on from the beginning of the first lockdown we continue to be isolated and, while vaccine rollouts mean that some semblance of ‘normal’ life will return, the experience of isolation, fear and upheaval will linger with us.

We have learned in this time about our fellow humans, and while there have been moments of hope, the divide between factions feels to have grown into a chasm.

Will we ever reconnect? Or has the awareness of these differences changed us forever?

An Acorn is a live digital performance with an interactive twist, taking place both over Zoom and on social media.

Upon booking, audiences will receive a link to download the show’s accompanying soundscape and instructions on how to curate their space and interact with the piece with pandemic portraits on Instagram at @forest_acorn.

Writer Svich is a playwright, screenwriter, translator, editor, lyricist, essayist, educator and freelance arts journalist.

Her works in English and Spanish have been produced internationally.

Director and Co-Producer Jones trained at RADA, London, and The University of Winnipeg, Canada.

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