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Rust

by Kenny Emson
Bush Theatre and HighTide present
Rust

Rule number eleven: We don’t talk about them. Not here. They don’t exist here.

Nadia and Daniel have a secret. In fact they have quite a few. They’ve just signed on the dotted line for a studio flat. Under a pseudonym, naturally – Mr and Mrs White. After years of school pick-ups, TV takeaways, and the day to day drudgery of married life, this is their chance to wipe the slate clean. But as much as they try and redefine the rules, and themselves, the outside world is closing in.

Ultra-contemporary, sexy and funny, Rust pushes the boundaries of trust, love and lust to the limit.

“An understated tragedy, beautifully written and well executed” ★★★★ The Spy in the Stalls
“gives a whole new meaning to the phrase ‘pillow talk'” ★★★★ Broadway World

Terrorism, an earlier version of this play was produced by the Bush Theatre and HighTide in 2016 as part of This Place We Know.

This is a past event
"gives a whole new meaning to the phrase 'pillow talk'"
Broadway World
"An understated tragedy, beautifully written and well executed"
The Spy in the Stalls
"lively and thought-provoking"
The Arts Desk
"Stylish, well-acted"
Time Out

Photo & video

Designer
Sound Designer
David Gregory

David Gregory is Sound Designer for One Cold Dark Night, Terrorism, Nobody’s Listening

David trained at the Central School of Speech of Drama and was nominated for Off West End Sound Designer of the Year, 2010 for The Wages of Thin at the Old Red Lion.Recent sound design credits include: Rise (Old Vic New Voices), Stalking the Bogeyman (Southwark Playhouse), Queens of Syria (Young Vic), Luce (Southwark Playhouse), Romeo and Juliet (Watermill Theatre), Alice in Wonderland (Watermill Theatre),When We Were Women (Orange Tree Theatre), Brenda (HighTide), The Dogs of War (Old Red Lion), These Trees Are Made Of Blood (Southwark Playhouse), The Secret Adversary (Watermill), Contact.com (Park Theatre), But First This (Watermill), Next Fall (Southwark Playhouse), National Youth Theatre Rep Season (NYT), Housed (Old Vic New Voices), Waiting for Godot (Arcola Theatre), Red Forest (Young Vic/Belarus Free Theatre), Eldorado (Arcola Theatre/Mongrel Thumb).

Director
Eleanor Rhode
Eleanor is an Associate Artist for Hightide. Her most recent work includes the critically acclaimed world premiere of BOUDICA by Tristan Bernays for the Globe Theatre, Tristan Bernays’ award-winning musical play TEDDY at Southwark Playhouse and The Vaults, and comedy musical THOR AND LOKI at Edinburgh Fringe and HighTide Festivals. This Christmas, Eleanor will direct WENDY AND PETER PAN at The Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh.
In 2009 she co-founded Snapdragon Productions to bring neglected and unknown works to new audiences. Work for Snapdragon includes the critically acclaimed production of TOAST by Richard Bean (UK Tour and New York), which was nominated for Best Touring Production at the 2016 UK Theatre Awards and the world premiere of TEDDY by Tristan Bernays and Dougal Irvine, which won Best New Musical at the 2016 Off West End Awards.
Other recent work includes: FRANKENSTEIN (Watermill Theatre and Wilton’s Music Hall), TERRORISM (Bush Theatre), BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (Watford Palace Theatre), WHEN WE WERE WOMEN (Orange Tree Theatre), TOAST and THARK (both Park Theatre), GENEROUS, THE DRAWER BOY, and A LIFE (all Finborough Theatre) and the world premiere of the musical FOR ALL THAT for Centerstage Theater, Seattle.
Eleanor trained at Mountview and the National Theatre Studio.
Playwright
Kenny Emson

Kenny Emson is an award-winning playwright and screenwriter. His plays include Quadrophenia (Mercury Theatre), Parkway Dreams (Sir John Mills Theatre) Terrorism (Bush Theatre), This Must be the Place (Vault Festival – co-written with Brad Birch) andPlastic (Old Red Lion). He was co-creator, co-writer and associate producer on the BAFTA Craft, SXSW and Prix Italia nominated The Last Hours of Laura K and adapted Agatha Christie’s The Coming of Mister Quin which was nominated for a BAFTA CYMRU games award. He has written for EastEnders, Doctors, BBC Radio 3 and 4 and has been shortlisted for the Bruntwood, Red Planet and Papatango Prizes as well as winning the Adrienne Benham, Off West End Adopt a Playwright and Mercury/Weinberger Playwriting awards.

 

Associate Director
Natalie Denton
Casting
Sophie Parrott CDG

Theatre credits include: Sweeney Todd; Othello; Paint Your Wagon; Clockwork Orange; The Big I Am; A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Liverpool Everyman); One Night In Miami; Wonderland (remount); Shebeen (Nottingham Playhouse); Songlines (HighTide); An Octoroon (Orange Tree Theatre / National Theatre); Blood Knot; The March On Russia (Orange Tree Theatre); The Crucible; Buggy Baby; This Beautiful Future (Yard Theatre); Big Aftermath of a Small Disclosure; Winter Solstice (Actors Touring Company); The Claim (Shoreditch Town Hall & National Tour); All The President’s Men?; Pomona (additional casting) (National Theatre); Death Of A Salesman (Royal and Derngate / Tour); Wish List; Yen (Royal Court and Royal Exchange Manchester); A Streetcar Named Desire (co-casting director, Royal Exchange Manchester); Bird (Sherman Cymru & Royal Exchange Manchester); Britannia Waves the Rules (Tour); Billy Liar (Royal Exchange Manchester); My Mother Said I Never Should (St James Theatre); The Crocodile (Manchester International Festival).
Casting Director TV credits include: Call The Midwife (Series 9); Doctors (BBC).

Casting Associate and Assistant TV credits include: Howards End; Delicious (two series); Rillington Place; Thirteen; Call the Midwife (five series); Silent Witness (two series); The Game; Esio Trot; Mr Stink; WPC56; The Preston Passion; The Night Watch; Holby City (four series); The Riots: In Their Own Words; Undeniable.
Film credits include: The Secret Agent; Whirlpool; A Street Cat Named Bob (as Casting Associate).

Sophie was recently nominated for ‘Best Casting in a Theatre Production’ at the Casting Directors’ Guild Awards for An Octoroon (Orange Tree Theatre / National Theatre).

Cast

Claire Lams
Claire Lams plays Nadia. Her theatre appearances include: Paradise (Hampstead Theatre); Kiss Me (Hampstead Theatre and Trafalgar Studios); The Lottery of Love (Orange Tree Theatre); The Kings Speech (Chichester and Birmingham Rep); The Little Mermaid (Bristol Old Vic); Routes; Harvest (Royal Court); One Man, Two Guvnors (Broadway, West End and National Theatre); The Spies in Room 502 (Latitude Festival); W11 (Gate Theatre); While You Lie (Traverse Theatre); Educating Rita (Watermill Theatre); Absent Friends (Watford Palace Theatre); The Miracle; DNA; Baby Girl (National Theatre); Faustus (Headlong); Fabulation (The Tricycle Theatre); Presence (Theatre Royal Plymouth); Chimps (Liverpool Everyman); Citizenship (National Theatre Studio); Fields of Gold; Soap (Stephen Joseph Theatre); Coming Around Again; Huddersfield (West Yorkshire Playhouse); The Happiest Days of Your Life (Royal Exchange Theatre); The Dice House (Birmingham Stage Company). Claire’s film and television appearances include Casualty; Call The Midwife; The Wrong Mans; Silent Witness; Doctors; Holby City; Eastenders (BBC); Humans (Kudos); Obsessed (October Films); Random (Hillbilly Television); The Bill (Thames Television); The Brief (Granada Television); Beyond the Blade (The Guardian); Pumpkin Head 4 (Clubdeal PH Film Company); Southwalk The Movie (T-Max Media); Danielle (Independent Film).
Jon Foster
Jon plays Daniel. His theatre appearances include: Dear Elizabeth; The Unknown Island; Idomeneus; Trojan Women; Dream Story; Mud (Gate Theatre); Every Day I Make Greatness Happen (Hampstead Theatre); Othello (The Globe); F*ck The Polar Bears (Bush Theatre); Buckets (Orange Tree); All I Want (UK Tour); Cheese (fanSHEN); A Beginning, A Middle and an End; Tenet (Greyscale); Invisible (Transport Theatre); The Alchemist (Firehouse Creative); A New Way To Please You; His Fall; Speaking Like Magpies; Thomas More (RSC); How To Tell The Monsters From The Misfits (Birmingham REP); Long Time Dead (Paines Plough); After Haggerty (Finborough Theatre); Food (Traverse Theatre); Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (Babayaga Theatre Company); Free From Sorrow (Living Pictures); Romeo and Juliet (Creation Theatre Company); Oliver Twist (Instant Classics); The Melancholy Hussar (Etcetera Theatre); Two Gentlemen of Verona (Pentameters Theatre); Treasure Island (Palace Theatre); The Bear (The Bear). His film and TV credits include: Sanditon (Red Planet Ltd); Prime Suspect 1973 (Noho for ITC); Fortitude (Tiger Aspect); Da Vinci’s Demons (BBC Worldwide and Starz); The Great Fire (Ecosse Films); New Tricks (Wall to Wall Television for the BBC); Rev (Big Talk Productions); Mrs Biggs; Come Rain Come Shine (ITV); Abroad (Abroad Films); Eastenders; Silent Witness; The Last Enemy (BBC); Law and Order (Kudos); The Bill (Thames Television); Clone (Roughcut); The IT Crowd (Talkback); Instinct (Granada); The Rabbi and The Tooth (Zoe Griesdale-Sherry Productions); Alba (Rabblewise Films); Tides (Elation Pictures); Nice Guy (Red Bike Films); Love’s Kitchen (Eyeline Entertainment). Radio includes: The Duchess of Malfi (BBC World Service).

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