Casting is announced for the World Premiere of Kevin Armento’s thrilling political drama Devil With The Blue Dress at Bunk Theatre in March 2018.
Devil With The Blue Dress by Kevin Armento interrogates America’s biggest political sex scandal of all time: The Monica Lewinsky Scandal. The production unfolds across two timelines – in 1995 when the affair took place and in 1998 when it burst into public view and almost took down the Clinton presidency. In Armento’s dramatisation of this shocking scandal, we are taken along the corridors of power and through the closed doors behind which the abuse of that power took place.
Slyly exhuming the little blue dress that launched the biggest media circus of a generation, the five women who were at the centre of this infamous scandal collide on stage: A First Lady, a secretary, a daughter, a confidant, and an intern. A theatrical battle emerges over how it all went down, who were the heroes and villains, and why, twenty years later, we’re only beginning to grapple with one of the most challenging questions in American political history: How do we respond to women seeking power, and the men who abuse that power?
Devil With The Blue Dress will star Emma Handy (Handbagged, Tricyle Theatre; Miss Julie, Chichester Festival Theatre; Flare Path, Theatre Royal Haymarket), Dawn Hope (Follies, National Theatre; The Scottsboro Boys, Young Vic Theatre and Garrick Theatre; Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill, New Players Theatre and National Tour), Daniella Isaacs (Hear Me Raw, Soho Theatre, Arcola Theatre, Underbelly Edinburgh; Fleabag, BBC/Amazon; Mush and Me, The Bush, Holden Street Theatre Award winner at Adelaide Fringe, Underbelly – Ideas Tap Underbelly Award winner), Flora Montgomery (Gaslight, Royal Alexandra Toronto; Arcadia, English Touring Theatre; Quirk, BBC1) and Kristy Philipps (Hush, Paines Plough; Clean Break, ITV1; Vera, ITV).
Kevin Armento comments, England boasts such a rich tradition of political theatre and I’m thrilled to share this American story in that context at one of London’s most exciting new venues. This scandal was an even crazier spectacle than people remember and some of the most surprising details have been forgotten by history – in no small part because of who got to write that history. As both our countries pass through this major moment of cultural reckoning regarding abuses of power and the gender norms those abuses have enforced, it’s a story that merits new interrogation. The Bunker has been a fantastic partner in helping shape the play and setting a vision for how this unique spin on a political drama might unfold on stage.
Devil With The Blue Dress is directed by Joshua McTagart, designed by Basia Binkowska , lighting design by Jess Bernberg, sound design by Anna Clock and produced by The Bunker Theatre, Seaview Productions and Desara Bosnja.
Devil With The Blue Dress plays at the Bunker Theatre from 28 March – 28 April 2018.
