Award-winning playwright Fiona Doyle’s play Abigail has been chosen to close The Bunker’s inaugural season. Abigail will play from 10 January – 4 February 2017.
Originally written in 2013, Abigal was long-listed for the Bruntwood Prize, this production will be directed by Joshua McTaggart. This production will star Tia Bannon (The Winter’s Tale and Pericles at The Globe) and Mark Rose (King Lear at The Old Vic, Hangmen at Royal Court).
In a snow-covered Berlin, a young woman meets a middle-aged man and they fall in love. As the year progresses, they fall apart. Told across a fractured timeline where the past and present collide, Abigail explores the fragility of love and the desperate measures we all go to in order to keep control in an unpredictable world. How far would you go to take control? Would you lie? Would you fight? Would you scream and shout or shut down and cry? In a world where so many things are out of our control, what happens when the one thing you think you need is the one thing you cannot have?
The ethos of The Bunker is about nurturing a performance environment where audiences stay after the show to enjoy events, discussions and drinks in the auditorium. Alongside Abigail, The Bunker will be bringing together an array of artists to explore the question ‘How would you take control?’ with new work-in-progress showings, poetry evenings, music nights and dance response pieces including the brilliant Pint-Sized plays, the lyrical poet Bridget Minnamore, and performances from Shay Barclay Dance.
Artistic Director Joshua McTaggart says, When I first read Abigail, I was blown away by its beauty and poetic lyricism. There is a darkness to Fiona’s story that allows us to shine a light on some of the more sinister aspects of love and relationships. It is a privilege to be reunited with Fiona once again as we both shared our professional debuts together. In the two months since we opened, The Bunker has become a place for artists to experiment and audiences to explore and I cannot wait to continue this ethos with the world we create for Abigail.
