A Portable Grace
An adaptation of Roger Robinson’s A Portable Paradise
Written by Dzifa Benson
Directed by Adeola Yemitan
Wednesday 21st August, 7.30pm,
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Please note, this is a staged extract
Content Information:
Extended scene about the Grenfell Tower tragedy including reciting the names of the victims, themes of loss of children, graphic references, references to blood, implication of intention of sexual assault
Writer Dzifa Benson will adapt Roger Robinson’s TS Eliot Poetry Prize winning collection of poems A Portable Paradise. The play, which explores what it means to care, reunites Benson with Director Adeola Yemitan, who appeared in her 2021 adaptation of Othello. Benson is an award-winning multi-disciplinary artist who as a poet has been awarded a Jerwood Foundation Fellowship and shortlisted for the inaugural James Berry Prize in 2020 and the Bridport Poetry Prize in 2023. Her work as a dramatist includes a critically acclaimed adaptation of Othello for NYT starring Francesca Amewudah-Rivers in the title role and Locked Down/Locked In, which was awarded Best Original Script at Athens International Monthly Art Film Festival.
We are proud to acknowledge the support of our principal supporter Arts Council England and Christina Smith Foundation for the Alan Macdonald Bursaries for their support of StoryFest.
Cast
Destiny Viva
Olamide Ajisafe
Annie Apakoh
Andrew Greaves
Holly Gifford
Anya Hunt-Byer
Jack Matthew
Rhys Quilley
Yolanda Quartey
Danial Romain
Anushka Samarasinghe
Pronouns - she / her
she / her
Pronouns: He / Him
Pronouns: she / they
Pronouns: she / they
Pronouns: he / him
Pronouns: he/him
Pronouns: she / her
Pronouns: he/him
Pronouns: she / her
Team
Writer - Dzifa Benson
Director - Adeola Yemitan
Lighting Designer - Nell Golledge
Sound Designer - Bili Keogh
Wardrobe Manager - Sophie Andrews
Consultant Production Manager - Sean Laing
Stage Managers - Lauren Lambert Moore, Daniel Roach Williams, Elise Frost, Charlotte Antingham
Assistant Stage Manager - Evie Collins
Wellbeing Workers - Jay Mailer, Jess Kambitsis, Stefan Livingston
Graphic Design - October Associates
Promotional Video - Amal Saleh
For National Youth Theatre
Artistic Director and CEO - Paul Roseby
Producers - Peter Huntley & Callum Runciman for Smart Entertainment
Assistant Producer - Cherrelle Glave
Production and Casting Coordinator - Erin Thorpe
Head of Communications and Digital - Joe Duggan
Marketing Manager - Chenika Neunie
Marketing and Membership Coordinator - Marvel Kalu
Head of Operations - Paul Callaghan
Venue Operations Assistant Manager - Nick Smith
Supported by the wider NYT Team
With thanks to Rosie Townshend