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Diary of a Madman

Lois Chimimba

“I was born with a bomb in my head. You can’t know what it’s like to constantly fear your own mind”.

Pop Sheeran shoulders the family trade of restoring Scotland’s iconic Forth Rail Bridge with pride. In Pop’s head lurks an illness that has been kept stable by modern medicine, his loving wife, and teenage daughter. But his stability, family and sanity are threatened when he discovers that his bridge has been put up for sale. To make matters worse, a young Englishman arrives at his home catching the eye of his teenage daughter.

Al Smith’s Diary of a Madman is the portrait of a man spiralling towards insanity, when his senses of personal, professional and national identity are all challenged.

Directed by Artistic Director, Christopher Haydon.

Running time: 1 hour 45 minues, no interval

Photo credit: misfitfilms


Liam Brennan nominated for an Offie Award for Best Male Performance

GATE DEBATE: Behind the "madness"

Join us for a discussion exploring the mental health issues raised in the play. Our panel will include Director, Christopher Haydon, Playwright, Al Smith, and Psychiatrist Hugh Grant-Peterkin.

Hugh is a Senior Registrar in adult & older adult psychiatry who has worked as a psychiatrist in south and east London since 2007; during this time he has worked in both in-patient and community setting with people experiencing psychotic symptoms. He has an interest in theatre and the representation of mental distress and has studied devised theatre at LISPA (a Lecoq theatre school) for two years.

For a PDF version of Diary of a Madman free cast and creatives sheet click here.

Check out our trailer for the show!
(Contains some strong language.)

 

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LONDON PREVIEWS:
28th - 30th July, 7:30pm

EDINBURGH RUN:
4th - 28th August, various times.

LONDON RUN:
5th - 24th September. 7:30pm. 3pm Saturday and Wednesday matinees.

Cast & CREATIVES

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Guy Clark
Guy Clark
Diary of a Madman is Guy's professional debut. Guy recently graudated from Cambridge University, and his most recent roles include a one-man performance of Conrad's Heart of Darkness at the 2015 Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
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Deborah Arnott
Deborah Arnott
RECENT THEATRE APPEARANCES
Tracks of The Winter Bear (Traverse Theatre); Caucasian Chalk Circle (The Lyceum Theatre); Mammoth (Kuopio Theatre Finland); Museum of Dreams (TAG/ Citizens Theatre); Mother Courage and her Children, The Cherry Orchard (Benchtours); Hairy Maclary(Nonsenseroom Productions); Molly Whuppie, The Hare and the Tortoise (Wee Stories); Lickety Leap (Lickety Spit); Ecstasy (Ravens Twilight Canada); Pygmalion (Tour de Force); The Scaldie Hoose (Theatre Workshop).
TELEVISION
Taggart (STV); The End of Story, The Sword and The Cross, That Old One (BBC).
AWARDS
Nominated for ‘Best Actress’, The Stage Awards for Acting Excellence, Edinburgh Fringe 2013 (Mammoth.)
Best Ensemble- CAT awards Caucasian Chalk Circle The Lyceum 2015
OTHER CREDITS
Deborah also writes, plays banjo and sings in the band 'Blueflint.' Blueflint recorded their third album Stories from Home with renowned producer Paul Savage (King Creosote, From Scotland with Love) released in April 2015.
 
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Liam Brennan
Liam Brennan
Since graduating from RSAMD in 1987, Liam has worked extensively in theatre in Scotland, England and Ireland.
 
Most recent work includes: The Inspector in An Inspector Calls (nationwide tour); Twelfth Night/Richard III (Broadway, Shakespeare’s Globe, West End).
 
Television credits include: Shetland; A High Road; Strathblair; Bad Boys; Taggart.
 
Film credits include: No Man’s Land; Feet Steps; Crowman; Gas Attack.
 
Liam has recorded numerous dramas and stories for BBC Radio 4. 
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Lois Chimimba
Lois Chimimba
Lois Chimimba trained at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts.  

Recent theatre includes: wonder.land for the National Theatre and the Manchester International Festival. 

Other theatre includes: Pitcairn (Shakespeare's Globe, Chichester and UK tour); Nightingale and Chase (Albany Theatre); A Long and Happy Life (Vibrant Festival); Laridae (White Bear Theatre); Deep (Talawa Theatre). 

Television includes: Radges, Fried, Holby City (all BBC)

Film includes:The Proposal and Earth, Air, Fire, Water 

Radio includes:The Three Musketeers 
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Al Smith – Writer
Theatre includes: Harrogate (HighTide / Royal Court Theatre); Enola; The Bird (Underbelly); Radio (Underbelly / Soho / 59E59NYC); The Astronaut Wives Club (Soho Theatre).  He is currently under commission to the Royal Court Theatre.

Radio includes: LifeLines; Duchamp’s Urinal; Life in the Freezer; The Postman of Good Hope; Radio (BBC Radio 4) and Everyday Time Machines; Everyman (BBC Radio 3). 

Television includes: Shakespeare Live; The Coroner; Father Brown; The Cut; Africa; Holby City; EastEnders (BBC1). 

Awards: BFI / Wellcome Trust Screenwriting Prize, and the Pearson Playwriting Bursary (Finborough).
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Alexandra Faye Braithwaite – Sound Designer
Alexandra Faye Braithwaite trained at LAMDA.

Recent/ Upcoming Designs Include: The Remains Of Maisie Duggan (Abbey Theatre), The Rolling Stone (Orange Tree Theatre), The Tempest (Royal & Derngate), Happy To Help (The Park Theatre), The Future (The Yard), My Beautiful Black Dog (The Southbank Centre), Hamlet is Dead, No Gravity (The Arcola), BUTTER (The Vaults), Juicy & Delicious (Nuffield Theatre), A New Play For The General Election (The Finborough Theatre), The Flannelettes (Kings Head Theatre), Remote (The Drum, Theatre Royal Plymouth), His Dark Materials (The North Wall Arts Centre), The Fastest Clock In The Universe (Old Red Lion Theatre), XY (Theatre 503 & Pleasance, Edinburgh), The Shelter (Riverside Studios), Project Strip (Tara Arts), Lonely Soldiers (Arts Theatre), The Dreamer Examines His Pillow (Old Red Lion Theatre), Faustus (The Old Laundry Theatre), Blackout (Castle Theatre).

As Associate: The Glass Menagerie (Nuffield Theatre), Dracula The Musical (Soho Theatre), Secret Theatre (UK Tour), Glitterland (The Lyric Hammersmith), Jumpers For Goalposts (Watford Palace & Hull Truck).
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George Bach – Associate Lighting Designer
George is a Freelance Lighting Designer and Production Electrician, who trained on the PgDip in Stage Electrics and Lighting Design at RADA.

Previous credits for the Gate: The Christians, Image of an Unknown Young Woman. 

Production Electrician credits include the English Touring Opera Spring & Autumn Seasons 2015 (Hackney Empire) and the Spring 2016 Season as Re-Lighter, Rapunzel (Park Theatre), Islands and Divas (Pleasance Theatre), The Wind In The Willows (UK Tour), Scarlet (Southwark Playhouse), Mad To Go (GBS Theatre, RADA) and Chief Electrician at Pleasance One (Edinburgh 2014 Fringe Festival). 

Recent lighting design credits include Rapunzel (UK Tour), Baby (Robin Howard Dance Theatre, The Place), Storm In A Teacup (Soho Theatre, UK Tour), The Flannelettes (Kings Head Theatre), London Wall, After Columbus (New Diorama Theatre), Resolution (The Space, London), The Dumb Waiter, (Courtyard Theatre, London). 

www.georgebach.com
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Jess Gow – Company Stage Manager
Jess Gow is a freelance stage manager and columnist for ‘The Stage’ newspaper. Productions for the Gate Theatre include ‘Electra’, ‘Dream Story’, ‘Wittenberg’ and ‘The Trojan Women’. Previous work includes ‘The Master Builder’ (Old Vic), ‘The Curious Incident of the Dog in The Night Time (National Theatre), ‘The Night Watch’, ‘Hamlet’, ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’, ‘The Flags’, ‘Pomegranate’ and ‘Hobson’s Choice’ (Manchester Royal Exchange), ‘Water’, ‘Twelfth Night’ (Filter Theatre), ‘The 39 Steps’ (West End), ‘Dial M For Murder’ (Fiery Angel), ‘The Great Game’, ‘Loot’, ‘Radio Golf’, ‘Pornography’ (Tricycle Theatre) and ‘Don Carlos’ (West End). 
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Priya Dosanjh – Assistant Director
Priya is a director and producer with an interest in new writing, devising and multidisciplinary practice. In the past year, she has worked with emerging artists and award-winning writers on productions that have been featured in the Bedlam Festival, The Home Theatre Festival and A Winter Less Ordinary.

In a previous life, Priya graduated with First Class Honours in Law with American Legal Studies, qualified as a barrister in London and went on to work with an international NGO on death penalty and drug-trafficking cases before moving back into the arts. She has recently concluded a 12 month artist development programme with the Birmingham Repertory Theatre. 
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Heather Doole – Production Manager
Heather is a freelance production manager. Pasts show include: Diary of a Madman (Gate Theatre); Carmen (Blackheath Halls); No Villain (Trafalgar Studios and Old Red Lion); Radiant Vermin (59E59, New York, Soho Theatre, London, and Tobacco Factory, Bristol); Iphigenia Quartet (The Gate Theatre); All or Nothing (The Vaults); Firebird (Hampstead Theatre Downstairs & Trafalgar Studios); Giving, The Argument, The Meeting, 36 Phone Calls, Sunspots, Deluge, Deposit, Elephants and State Red (Hampstead Theatre Downstairs); 4000 Days and Grounded (Park Theatre);  Four Minutes Twelve Seconds (Trafalgar Studios); The Session (Soho Theatre); Octagon (Arcola Theatre); And Then Came the Nightjars (Bristol Old Vic Studio and Theatre 503); Valhalla,  Animals & Cinderella and the Beanstalk  (Theatre 503); Women Centre Stage Festival (NT Temporary space). She assisted on Bull (Young Vic).
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The Gate’s work is made possible by public funding from Arts Council England.

Diary of a Madman is part of the Jerwood Young Designers Programme, supported by the Jerwood Charitable Foundation.

The commission of Al Smith’s new play Diary of a Madman was funded with help from the Paul Hamlyn Foundation.

 

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“I was born with a bomb in my head. You can’t know what it’s like to constantly fear your own mind”.

Pop Sheeran shoulders the family trade of restoring Scotland’s iconic Forth Rail Bridge with pride. In Pop’s head lurks an illness that has been kept stable by modern medicine, his loving wife, and teenage daughter. But his stability, family and sanity are threatened when he discovers that his bridge has been put up for sale. To make matters worse, a young Englishman arrives at his home catching the eye of his teenage daughter.

Al Smith’s Diary of a Madman is the portrait of a man spiralling towards insanity, when his senses of personal, professional and national identity are all challenged.

Directed by Artistic Director, Christopher Haydon.

Running time: 1 hour 45 minues, no interval

Photo credit: misfitfilms


Liam Brennan nominated for an Offie Award for Best Male Performance

GATE DEBATE: Behind the “madness”

Join us for a discussion exploring the mental health issues raised in the play. Our panel will include Director, Christopher Haydon, Playwright, Al Smith, and Psychiatrist Hugh Grant-Peterkin.

Hugh is a Senior Registrar in adult & older adult psychiatry who has worked as a psychiatrist in south and east London since 2007; during this time he has worked in both in-patient and community setting with people experiencing psychotic symptoms. He has an interest in theatre and the representation of mental distress and has studied devised theatre at LISPA (a Lecoq theatre school) for two years.

For a PDF version of Diary of a Madman free cast and creatives sheet click here.

Check out our trailer for the show!
(Contains some strong language.)

 

The Gate Theatre Company is a company limited by guarantee registered in England & Wales No. 1495543 – Charity No. 280278