Black Battles

with Dogs

By Bernard-Marie KoltèsTranslated by David Bradby and Maria M. Delgado

Independent Productions in association with Southwark Playhouse presents

11th April to 5th May 2012

Photography - Oliver Zeldin, Marie Eisindick, Mark BromleyProgramme design - Mark Bromley www.markbromley.net

Black Battles with Dogs is not about Africa, it is not about the blacks – I am not an African playwright - it is not about neocolonialism, nor about the racial question. It doesn’t express any opinion. It is simply about a place in the world. There are places in the world that are a metaphors, of life or of an aspect of life, such as the rivers flowing into the jungle, in Conrad ... I spent a month in Africa on a construction site, visiting friends. Imagine, in the middle of the bush, a little encampment of five or six houses surrounded by barbed wire, with watch towers towering above; and inside, about ten whites living, more or less terrified of the outside, with black guards, armed, all around. It was soon after the Nigerian-Biafran War, and riot groups were going around the region. The guards, at night, in order not to fall asleep, were calling each other by making very strange sounds with their throats ... and this sound went around and around. That is what made me want to write this play, the cries of the guards. And in this enclosure, small middle-class dramas were taking place, as they could happen in the 16th arrondissement of Paris: the site manager sleeping with the foreman’s wife, things like that ...

Perhaps my play is a bit about France and the whites: something seen from afar, displaced, sometimes becomes clearer. Most of all, it is about three human beings isolated in a corner of the world, which is foreign to them, surrounded by enigmatic guards. I believed – and I still believe – that telling the story of the cry of these guards heard in the depths of Africa by these people, the anxiety and solitude that it evokes.

Koltès has written a story about the walls between people, and the barriers we erect around ourselves. It feels possible, watching this play today, to imagine the walls around the camp as the walls of Europe or of Britain, shutting the world out; the sacred security that we put up around our individual selves, that we value more than anything in a world full of what we perceive as danger.

That perceived danger, in the form of Alboury, a man willing to die for the dignity of his people, ‘the little people’, cannot fail to make us think of people all over the world willing to die for dignity today. However, Koltès’ play is about us, here in Europe today, and about our fears, desires and longing to be held in the warm embrace of someone who understands us.

- Bernard-Marie Koltès

Cast

(in order of appearance)

Horn - Paul HamiltonAlboury - Osi Okerafor

Cal - Joseph ArkleyLeonie - Rebecca Smith-Williams

Creative Team

Director - Alexander ZeldinAssociate / Movement Director - Marcin Rudy

Co-Designer - Chloe LamfordCo-Designer - Katie Bellman

Lighting Designer - Marc WilliamsSound Designer – Sebastian WillanVoice Coach - Barbara Houseman

Assistant Director - Tanja PagnucoDesign Assistant - Sarah Booth

Producer - Leo Wood for Independent ProductionsAssistant Producer - Alyson McKechnie for Independent Productions

Stage Manager - Katy Munroe-FarlieAssistant Stage Manager - Chris Smith

BSL Interpreter - Martin Roberts

Joseph Arkley - Cal

Joseph finished working with the RSC’s long ensemble last year – culminating in a summer residency at the Park Avenue Armory, New York. His credits with the company include: Romeo & Juliet, Julius Caesar, Little Eagles and Mojo. Other Theatre includes: The Glass Menagerie (Edinburgh Lyceum), Stoopud Fucken Animals (Traverse) and Cotton Wool (Theatre 503). Film credits include Pelican Blood. Radio credits include The Go-between and The Voysey Inheritance (BBC Radio 4). He trained at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (Formerly RSAMD).

Rebecca Smith-Williams - Leonie

Rebecca graduated from RADA in 2009. Theatre credits include: After Troy (Oxford Playhouse/Shaw Theatre), Humbug (Theatre Clwyd), Mary Mother of Frankenstein (National Theatre Belgium), As You like It, Merlin And The Woods Of Time (Chester Grosvenor Park Theatre) and The Fool (Cock Tavern). Her credits whilst training include: Three Sisters, The Wake, The Seagull, Come Back to The Five and Dime Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean and Boxergirl. Radio includes: Blue Moon Over Poplar and The Diary of Samuel Pepys.

Paul Hamilton - Horn

Paul was part of the RSC ensemble from 2009 - 2011. Theatre credits include: Elizabeth (Kabosh Theatre), Peri Banez (Young Vic), The Story of Yours (New End), Of Mice and Men, A View from the Bridge (Harrogate), A Streetcar Named Desire (Royal Lyceum), The Crucible, Mensch Meier, Blood Wedding, Under Milk Wood (Haymarket, Leicester), The Southwark Mysteries (Globe), Three Lives of Lucie Cabrol (Theatre de Complicité), Out of a House Walked a Man (National Theatre), The Tale of Yvaine (Royal Festival Hall), Gormenghast (David Glass Ensemble), Crimes of Passion (Playhouse Nottingham), Northern Trawl (Hull Truck). Television Credits: 55 Degrees North, Heartbeat, The Long Film, Emmerdale, Badger, Henry IV Parts I and II, Pie in the Sky, Never the Sinner. Film Credits: The Gathering, Bridget Jones’s Diary, A Dinner of Herbs.

Osi Okerafor - Alboury

Theatre credits include: Eurydice (Young Vic), Welcome Home Jacko (National Theatre Studio), Othello (Royal Shakespeare Company), Nobody Knows (Shaw Theatre, Drum Theatre), Romeo and Juliet (Broadway Theatre Carford), Santé (St Lukes/Alderburgh Festival). Television credits include Twenty Twelve (BBC), Blood and Oil (BBC Films/Tiger Aspect Productions), Torchwood (BBC Wales). Radio includes Pink Mist (BBC Radio 4) by Owen Sheers, The Chosen One (BBC Radio 4). In 2003 Osi won the BBC Television Acting Talent Search. He trained with Ivana Chubbuck at Chubbuck Studios, Los Angeles and at Identity Drama School, London.

Alexander Zeldin - Director

Theatre credits include The Constant Prince (Arcola Theatre, Oxford Playhouse and tour of Egypt), Macbeth (Miryang International Festival, South Korea), Romeo and Juliet (Napoli Teatro Festival Italy), The Storm (National Theatre Studio). Opera includes Gianni Shicchi, Spanish Hour and Powder her Face (Mariinsky Theatre, St Petersburg). In 2011-12 Alexander was nominated for the Rolex Mentor Protege Award for young theatre artists.

Marcin Rudy - Associate / Movement Director

Is a movement director, actor and teacher. Since 2000 he has been collaborating with the multi-award winning physical theatre company Song of the Goat Theatre (Poland) as a performer/deviser. He has performed in 22 countries on 5 continents, at venues including Barbican, Sydney Opera House, Taipei National Theatre, La MaMa New York. His work as a movement director includes various major shows in Italy and UK.

IDIOTS COMPANY was founded by Alexander Zeldin and Marcin Rudy in 2011, with the aim of developing an ensemble of young actors dedicated to creating devised projects. Their first production was Doing the Idiots, a response to Lars Von Trier’s film. Their second production was Touchme, a co-production between the Rustaveli Theatre and National Theatre Studio supported by the British Council Georgia. Future projects include a new music theatre piece on composer Olivier Messaien, a new show on youth unemployment and a full version of Doing the Idiots.

Chloe Lamford - Co-Designer

Chloe Lamford trained in Theatre Design at Wimbledon School of Art. Chloe’s designs for theatre include: Knives in Hens (National Theatre Scotland), Salt, Root and Roe (Donmar/Trafalgar Season), Disco Pigs (Young Vic), The Gate Keeper (Manchester Royal Exchange), On The Record (Arcola Theatre), Rhetoric (Greyscale at the Almeida), Ghost Story (Sky Arts Live Drama season) written and directed by Mark Ravenhill, My Romantic History (Sheffield Crucible, Bush Theatre), Joseph K. (Gate Theatre), Songs From A Hotel Bedroom (Linbury Studio ROH + Tour), Sus (Young Vic), The Kreutzer Sonata (Gate Theatre), Everything Must Go! (Soho Theatre), The Mother Ship, How To Tell The Monsters From The Misfits (Birmingham Rep), The Country (Salisbury Playhouse), Antigone at Hell’s Mouth (Kneehigh Theatre and NYT), Small Miracle (Tricycle Theatre and Mercury Theatre, Colchester), The Shy Gas Man (Southwark Playhouse).

Katie Bellman - Co-Designer

Katie Bellman trained in theatre design at the Motley School of Theatre Design. Her credits include as Designer: On the Threshing Floor (Heat and Light) (Hampstead), 99% (BADA) (Oval House), Stewart Lee: Carpet Remnant World (Leicester Square Theatre and UK Tour), Our Country’s Good (LAMDA), Two Rooms (LAMDA), Cleaning Up (Oval House), Quartet (Coming Up Later Festival, Old Vic Tunnels), The Coronation of Poppea (King’s Head Theatre), A Woman of No Importance (Greenwich Playhouse), Palace Balls (Jermyn Street Theatre), I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change (Edinburgh Festival). As

Assistant Designer, credits include Britannicus (Wilton’s Music Hall), On the Record (Arcola), Hayfever (Rose Theatre, Kingston) and Suffocation (Oval House Theatre).

Marc Williams - Lighting Designer

Marc trained at LIPA graduating in performance design. He currently heads up the Olivier Lighting team at the National Theatre. Most recently designing Blackberry Trout Face for 20 stories High (national Tour) Design Credits for National Theatre: Associate Lighting Designer for Mother Courage and her Children (2009), Hamlet (2010), Fela! (2011). For the Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse: Cruel Sea (2007) Flint St Nativity, Communities on the Edge (2008) and Endz (2011). Marc also designed Tmesis Theatre’s The Dreadful Hours (2010).

Sebastian Willan - Sound Designer

Recent projects include Anansi: An African Fairy Tale, East End Tales and Henry V, (Southwark Playhouse), Knuckleball and Stay with Me Till Dawn, a double billproduction and Shakespeare Inc performed (The Rosemary Branch Theatre), Salome (The Roundhouse) and Julius Caesar (The Blue Elephant Theatre). Sebastian Willan has also worked as a sound engineer at the Royal Festival Hall and The Royal Opera House.

Barbara Houseman - Voice Coach

Production Voice Coach includes: The Duchess of Malfi (Old Vic), The Ladykillers (Gielgud), Britannicus (Wilton’s Music Hall), The Playboy of the Western World (Old Vic), Government Inspector (Young Vic), All’s Well That Ends Well (Shakespeare’s Globe), Design for Living (Old Vic), Pericles, Beggars Opera, Lord of the Flies, Macbeth, Comedy of Errors (The Crucible Theatre, Sheffield), The Importance of Being Earnest, Tempest, Much Ado About Nothing (Open Air Theatre, Regent’s Park), The Play What I Wrote (Wyndhams), Further than the Furthest Things (Tricycle), Mnemonic – Complicite. Personal Voice Coach includes: Jude Law Hamlet (Wyndhams), Anna Christie (Donmar), Daniel Radcliffe Equus (West End and Broadway). Associate Director: A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Ragtime (Regent’s Park ’12) Romeo and Juliet (Naples Festival ’10), Comedy of Errors, More Grimm Tales (Young Vic), Voice and Text Coach: RSC ’91-’97 includes: Macbeth – Derek Jacobi; Hamlet – Kenneth Branagh; Richard III – Simon Russell Beale; A Midsummer Nights’ Dream – Alex Jennings.

Tanja Pagnuco - Assistant Director

Tanja is currently International Literary Associate at the King’s Head Theatre and Associate Director at StoneCrabs, focusing on bringing new international plays to London. Directing credits include: Hinterlands (a reading, Soho Theatre Studio), Fit for Purpose (Pleasance, Edinburgh Festival), Its Raining in Barcelona (Cock Tavern Theatre), Bar-mitzvah Boy (Oval House), Memory by Esteve Soler (Bell Pub), Gerbils in a Glass Cage (Soho Theatre Studio

and Tara Arts and scratch production, The Space), Contractions (The Albany). Assistant Directing credit: I never get dressed till after dark on Sundays (Cock Tavern).

Sarah Booth - Design Assistant

Sarah studied Drama at the University of Exeter and went on to train as a Theatre Designer on the Motley Theatre Design Course in 2011. She is currently designing Benjamin Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream with Southgate Opera’s Young Singers. Previous design credits include: Set and Costume Designer - Dracula (Broadway Theatre, Catford), Love and War, (All Star productions), Ye Olde Rose and Crown, L’Enfant et les Sortileges + O’ Saci, (St Paul’s Church, Covent Garden). Assistant Designer - 66 Books (Bush Theatre). Set designer - Pictures of you, Short Film, Wind in the Willows (St Paul’s Church, Covent Garden).

Katy Munroe-Farlie - Stage Manager

Katy graduated from the University of Hull. Her recent productions include Shivered (Southwark Playhouse), Herding Cats (Hampstead Theatre), Bunny (Soho Theatre), and Mr Happiness and The Water Engine (The Old Vic Tunnels). She was also the resident Production Manager for The New End Theatre, Hampstead.

Chris Smith - Assistant Stage Manager

Chris is currently in his final year at LAMDA, where he is studying Stage Management and Technical Theatre. While at LAMDA, he has covered such roles as Stage Manager for Julius Caesar at Wilton’s Music Hall, Technical Stage Manager for The Trestle at Pope Lick Creek at LAMDA’s Linbury Studio and Assistant Stage Manager for Touched at the Tricycle Theatre. Other theatre credits include; 2nd Assistant Stage Manager for a production of Hair performed as part of a week long drama festival in Ljubljana, Slovenia, Stage Manager for Mr & Miss Peterborough 2011 and Deputy Stage Manager for Footloose at the Key Theatre, Peterborough.

INDEPENDENT PRODUCTIONS is a new theatre production company run by Leo Wood. Black Battles with Dogs is their first production and marks the start of an ongoing relationship with director Alexander Zeldin. Other projects in development include The Bear, an Improbable Associate Artist project with Angela Clerkin; Old Earth with Jericho at Spitalfields Music Festival; and a production of Revenger’s Tragedy with Suba Das at Hoxton Hall.

Leo Wood - Producer

Previous producing credits include: Do We Look Like Refugees?! By Alecky Blythe, which won a Fringe First in 2010 and which then went on tour in Spring 2011 for the National Theatre Studio. Other projects and clients to date include Metta Theatre, V22, Palfest, the Africa in Motion Film Festival and Metal.

Alyson McKechnie – Assistant Producer

Alyson is currently studying a MA in Creative Producing at Birbeck University. She previously studied at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (formally RSAMD). She has worked for production companies, Walk The Plank, Iron Oxide, Bright Night International and Minor Entertainment. She has also produced her own work and as a performer her credits include both solo and collaborative devised pieces.

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‘Southwark Playhouse’s brand is as quirky as it is classy’ - The Stage

Southwark Playhouse Theatre Company was founded in 1993 by Juliet Alderdice, Tom Wilson and Mehmet Ergen. They identified the need for a high quality accessible theatre which would provide opportunities for the best emerging companies and practitioners, and also act as a major resource for the local community. They leased a disused workshop in a then comparatively neglected part of Southwark and turned it into a flexible theatre space.

The theatre quickly put down strong roots in Southwark, developing an innovative, free at source, education programme. It has worked closely with teachers, Southwark Borough Council, businesses and government agencies to improve educational achievement and raise aspirations. This programme is in great demand and attracts substantial funding each year.

Over the past fifteen years the theatre has established itself as one of London’s leading studio theatres, representing high quality work by new and emerging theatre practitioners.

In 2007 it moved to its current premises in vaults beneath Platform 1 of London Bridge Station where it is home to a 150-seat studio theatre and a brand new secondary performance space, The Vault, which now serves as a platform for developing and nurturing cutting edge theatre.

Under successive talented artistic directors, Mehmet Ergen (now Artistic Director of the Arcola Theatre), Erica Whyman (now Artistic Director of the Northern Stage Company), Thea Sharrock (recently directed After the Dance at the National Theatre and Cause Célèbre at the Old Vic), Gareth Machin (now Artistic Director of Salisbury Playhouse) and Ellie Jones, Southwark Playhouse has become an indispensable part of theatre in London.

2011 marked the start of Chris Smyrnios’ tenure as Artistic Director and an exciting programme of work that included Philip Ridley’s first world premiere in three years, Tender Napalm, major revivals of Stephen Sondheim’s Company and Hannah Cowley’s The Belle’s Stratagem and the critically acclaimed Parade and Bound, both of which received five star reviews in the Evening Standard. The year culminated with Southwark Playhouse being the recipient of the Peter Brook Empty Space Award 2011 with Fiona Mountford praising the ‘high-energy, life-giving spirit’ of the theatre.

2012 is Southwark Playhouse’s last year in its current home before it relocates to a temporary premise to make way for the redevelopment of London Bridge Station.

For more information about our forthcoming season and to book tickets visit www.southwarkplayhouse.co.uk. You can also support us online by joining our Facebook and Twitter pages.

Southwark Playhouse Patrons:

Sir Michael CainePeter Gill OBE Simon Hughes MPAndy Serkis

Board of Trustees:

Sarah Hickson Kathleen MilesKathryn SerkisAdam ValkinGlenn WellmanTim Wood

Artistic Director Chris SmyrniosGeneral Manager Alys MayerPress and Marketing Manager Susie SafaviTechnical Manager Richard SearyFront of House and Bar Manager Mark BromleySchools Programme Manager Stewart MeltonYoung Company Co-Ordinator Paul EdwardsAssociate Director David MercataliAssociate Producer Jethro Compton

With many thanks to the following people for their generous support:

Madeleine HodgkinRudolf Simone Pont

Arts Council England

And the production team would also like to thank:

Purni Morell and the team at Unicorn TheatreHilary Best and the team at Workspace Group

Marie EisendickOliver Zeldin

Jeremy GoldsteinIrina Brown

Anoushka HoggNational Theatre Studio