THEATRE CAFE Partners: A co-production with the Caird Company Supported by: Arts Council England, Awards for All, the Austrian Cultural Forum, the Czech Centre, the Finnish Institute in London, the Embassy of Sweden, Goethe Institut London, the Royal Netherlands Embassy London, and the Hungarian Cultural Institute Plays & Writers: I love this country by Peter Turrini (Austria) The Letter by Aleksander Miljkovic (Croatia) Encroachment by Iva Volanková (Czech Republic) Mobile Horror by Juha Jokela (Finland) The Heart of a Boxer by Lutz Hübner from Germany Mother Africa by Ad de Bont from Holland Truckstop by Lot Vekemans from Holland Mausoleum by Lajos Parti-Nagy from Hungary The Wild Children of the Blue Planet by Andri Snćr Magnason (Iceland) Rambo 7 by Jon Atli Jónasson from Iceland The Dreamed Life of Nora Schahrazade by Mia Törnqvist (Sweden) Time of Darkness by Henning Mankell (Sweden) Directed by John Retallack and John Caird Cast: Gordon Case, Nicholas boulton, Gerrard McArthur, Christopher Staines, Emmanuel Ighodaro, Janet Suzman, Lou Gish, Sophie Duval, Celia Meiras, Evelyn Duah Dates: 27 April - 8 May, Arcola Theatre Company of Angels joined forces with Caird Company to present some of the most extraordinary new plays for young audiences from across Europe in a unique format to UK audiences. Twelve carefully chosen plays reflecting the diversity of writers from across the continent were brought together in a completely new type of environment. Designer Liz Cooke transformed the Arcola Theatre into a ‘theatre café’ setting where the audience could relax in the surroundings and yet feel completely involved in the highly rehearsed, staged readings of these exciting new pieces. The aim was to capture the moment when a performance is more than a dull reading, but hasn't yet crystallized in what often becomes the automatism of a full production; a moment which is magic, exciting, risky and essentially theatrical. The two-week programme of plays, each with a schools performance in the daytime, and an evening performance for the general public, was accompanied by a number of music performances, shows, discussions and interviews in collaboration with various Embassies and European Cultural Institutes.