Tienne Simon as Malachi in 'Dreaming and Drowning' at the Bush Theatre. (Photo by Ellie Kurttz)
“I had that dream again. Drowning and gasping but I’m trying not to think about it.”
Malachi’s been looking forward to a fresh start at uni for months. He’s settling in, he’s got a stack of books to read and he’s met someone new – Kojo, a musician with a megawatt smile, who’s basically perfect.
But something doesn’t feel right. He keeps having the same nightmare – sinking, crushed by the weight of the ocean – and it’s getting worse… A beast grows in the water, hungry, relentless, hunting him but always just out of sight. As the boundaries between nightmare and reality fracture, Malachi must fight harder than ever to stay afloat.
Dreaming and Drowning is an intimate and visceral deep-dive into the boundless mind of a young Black queer man wrestling with anxiety. This electrifying world premiere of the Mustapha Matura Award-winning play is written and directed by Kwame Owusu, performed by Tienne Simon (Grime Kids, BBC).
WINNER Mustapha Matura Award 2022
WINNER RSC 37 Plays Competition
SHORTLISTED Alfred Fagon Award 2022
Looking for show information and content guidance?
Dreaming and Drowning Self-Care Guide and Content Warnings
Aïsha Kent is a Stage Manager and Theatre Maker.
Recent SM credits include: #BlackIs (Company 3); Queer Folio (Theatre 1623); Talawa Firsts 2023. Aïsha is Producer and Performer for Poetry Brothel London, an immersive performance art night.
Aïsha is passionate about creating work championing underrepresented people and communities. She does creative access work with disabled artists, theatre companies and makers, including Access All Areas and Graeae. Trained at Kent Uni and more recently MA in Collaborative Theatre Making at Rose Bruford, winning the Change Maker Award from Bernardine Evaristo for being an exemplar in inclusion and diversity.
Ingrid Mackinnon‘s theatre credits include: Princess Essex (Globe); Dreaming and Drowning (Bush Theatre); The House of Bernarda Alba (National Theatre); Portia Coughlan (Almeida Theatre); Sunset Boulevard (Savoy Theatre); Choir Boy (Bristol Old Vic); Shooting Hedda Gabler (Rose Theatre);The Effect (National) Tina – The Tina Turner Musical (Aldwych Theatre); Regents Park Season Associate: Intimacy Support 2023/2022: La Cage Aux Folles, Robin Hood, The Tempest, Every Leaf A Hallelujah, Once On This Island, Antigone, 101 Dalmatians, Legally Blonde, Carousel, Romeo and Juliet; The Meaning of Zong (Barbican/Bristol Old Vic/UK Tour); Blue (ENO); Further than the Furthest Thing (Young Vic); Trouble in Butetown (Donmar); Es & Flo (Wales Millennium Centre/ Kiln); Phaedra (National); Super High Resolution (Soho Theatre); Enough of Him (National Theatre of Scotland); A Dead Body In Taos (Fuel Theatre); The Darkest Part of The Night, Girl on an Altar (Kiln); Playboy of the West Indies (Birmingham Rep); Moreno (Theatre 503); Red Riding Hood (Stratford East); Antigone (Mercury, Colchester); Liminal – Le Gateau Chocolat (King’s Head); Liar Heretic Thief (Lyric Hammersmith); Reimagining Cacophony (Almeida); First Encounters: The Merchant Of Venice, Kingdom Come (RSC); Josephine (Theatre Royal Bath); Typical (Soho); #WeAreArrested (Arcola/RSC); The Border (Theatre Centre).
Joshua Gadsby is a Lighting Designer and creative collaborator working across theatre, dance and live art. He regularly co-designs set, costume, and lighting with designer Naomi Kuyck-Cohen.
Lighting Designs include: New Beginning (Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch); Mom, How Did You Meet The Beatles (CFT); Who Killed My Father (Tron & UK Tour); The Beauty Queen of Leenane (Theatre by the Lake); Alice in Wonderland (Mercury, Colchester); Gulliver’s Travels (lighting co-design, Unicorn); Robin Hood: Legend Of The Forgotten Forest (Bristol Old Vic); Cat On A Hot Tin Roof (Leicester Curve and ETT Tour); in a word (Young Vic); A Kettle of Fish (Yard); Tyler Sisters, Alligators (Hampstead); Still Ill (New Diorama/Kandinksy); As We Like It, Dragging Words, In Good Company (The Place); RISE: Macro vs. Micro (Old Vic New Voices).
Co-Designs include: The Winston Machine (New Diorama); There Is A Light That Never Goes Out: Scenes From The Luddite Rebellion (Royal Exchange); Trainers (Gate); Dinomania and Trap Street (also Schaubühne, Berlin) both for Kandinsky theatre at the New Diorama.
Kwame Owusu is a director and writer. He was the Resident Assistant Director at the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre, 2021/2022 and is a Young Associate at the Gate Theatre.
His work in theatre as a director includes: The Bacchae (Lyric Hammersmith); Othello (ArtsEd); stoning mary (Arts University Bournemouth); The Wolf from the Door (John Thaw Studio); Rota (Antwerp Mansion); Pomona (Edinburgh Festival Fringe / King’s Arms, Manchester).
Work as a Staff Director includes: Romeo and Julie (National / Sherman Theatre).
Work as an assistant director includes: Closer, Britannicus, Scandaltown, and Running With Lions (all Lyric Hammersmith); Bee (Old Vic); Utopolis (Manchester International Festival).
Writing for audio includes The Factory for English Touring Theatre. Writing for theatre includes HORIZON for the Bush Theatre. He trained at the University of Manchester and Birkbeck, University of London.
Lisa Hood trained in Theatre Arts at Middlesex University
Selected Production management Credits include: Macbeth (ETT, Lyric Hammersmith), Red Speedo (Orange Tree Theatre), Anna Hibiscus’ Song (Utopia Theatre UK Tour), Trials and Passions of Unfamous Women (LIFT Festival, Brixton House), Northanger Abbey (UK Venues), Macbeth – as associate (ETT European Tour), Merchant of Venice 1936 – as associate (West End), Dreaming and Drowning (The Bush), Woodhill (LUNG UK tour), The Flying Dutchman (Opera Up Close UK tour); My Uncle is Not Pablo Escobar (Brixton House); An Octoroon – as Stage Manager (Orange Tree Theatre); Jess and Joe Forever – as Stage Manager (UK Tour)
Sarah Allen is a producer from Somerset currently based in London. Her work frequently focuses on expanding the practice of producing with an emphasis on wellbeing, collaboration, community-building, and access. She also regularly works as an access support worker for artists working in theatre. In 2020 she graduated from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama with an MA Distinction in Creative Producing, and has gone on to specialise in producing and fundraising for first time writers, directors, and performers.
Recent theatre work includes: Vitamin D (national tour); Ladyfriends (Hope Mill, Shakespeare North Playhouse); Fame Whore (King’s Head); All The Happy Things (Theatre503); Drop It R&D (Lighthouse Poole); Acid’s Reign (VAULT Festival 2023); Juniper and Jules (Soho).
Tomás Palmer (he/him) is a Scottish / Brazilian designer who creates work for theatre, new writing, dance, opera, musicals and film. Tomás trained at the Glasgow School of Art and the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. He is one of the 2021 winners of The Linbury Prize for Stage Design and was the production designer on the BAFTA and BIFA Award winning short film Too Rough in 2022.
Theatre Design credits include: Blue Mist (Royal Court); The Bacchae (Lyric Hammersmith); Julius Caesar (co-costume design with Rosanna Vize, RSC); My Uncle Is Not Pablo Escobar (Brixton House); Sanctuary (Access All Areas); Sophocles’ Oedipus / Silent Practice (LAMDA); The Wellspring (co-design with Rosie Elnile, Royal and Derngate); Time Is Running Out (Gate Theatre, Cardiff); Winning (Glasgow School of Art); Autocue (Centre for Contemporary Art Glasgow).
Associate design credits include: The Cherry Orchard (Yard, ETT, Home Manchester); Sound of The Underground (Royal Court).
