30 Nov LOOK AHEAD: Tea Set at the White Bear Theatre and the Barons Court Theatre

‘That incident left me cored. No other word describes it. Whatever was left of my essence, gist, kernel, life force, self was gouged out by that boy.’

Playwright – Gina Moxley
Producers – Kibo Productions and Amy Molloy
Director – Sharon Willems
Original Music – Mari Sainio
Costume Design – Natalie Lewis
Lighting Design/Technician – Leonard Bacica
Leading Actress – Amy Molloy

Christmas, 1999. On the verge of the new millennium, a young woman becomes the caretaker of Mrs. A., an elderly woman who is forgotten and isolated from her family. As New Year’s approaches, she makes an unlikely connection with her elderly charge and discovers the secret of her recent trauma, a secret that leaves both of them shaken in the wake of such unthinkable violence.

Tea Set sets out to capture what it is to be lonely, misplaced or to feel a burden to those you love or even society (no matter your age) – and the devastating choices this leads us to.

“Tea Set is a deeply unsettling play about our forgotten elderly living in fear and isolation and the effects this neglect can have on our future generations,” said artistic director Sharon Willems. “It’s a timely work concerned with topics such as violence against our elderly, dying with dignity, and the how the cycle of violence against women is pervasive in our culture. Utterly engrossing and human, the narrator’s story gives us a startling insight on how violence against our vulnerable can completely destroy their mental health. It’s a story that needs to be heard and is too often ignored.”

This is the first time collaboration between actress Amy Molloy and Kibo Production. When Molloy first read the script, so taken that she became the cast member and co-producer for Tea Set: “I related to the piece totally yet it was still mysterious and playful. I lost my paternal Grandmother on Christmas Eve last year. She was like another Mum to me and, I felt, was largely ignored and marginalised by her doctors as her illness progressed. Much like Mrs. A, she was increasingly overlooked by the world around her. l feel very strongly about improving care of the elderly and achieving better approaches to dealing with depression and mental health. As a society we tend to value youth and perfection above all else these days and it has some terrible consequences.”

Dates: 7th-8th December 2014 White Bear Theatre and 19th-25th January 2015 Barons Court Theatre

Tickets: whitebeartheatre.co.uk/teaset-by-gina-moxley

Social media: Follow @KiboProductions