THE TAKEOVER – THE KING’S HEAD ANNOUNCES FIRST GUEST ARTISTIC DIRECTOR SEASON – ISABEL ADOMAKOH YOUNG – 27 MARCH – 16 APRIL

The King’s Head Theatre are thrilled to announce the full programme for SIGHT UNSEEN – a season of work unpacking diversity and unheard voices, curated by Guest Artistic Director Isabel Adomakoh Young as part of The Takeover.

The Takeover sees the iconic Islington pub venue welcoming four guest Artistic Directors, drawn from different theatre backgrounds, curating their own individual programmes. The guest Artistic Directors – Isabel Adomakoh Young, Tom Ratcliffe, Tania Azevedo and David Cumming – are all mid-career LGBTQ+ artists from various disciplines.

For the first season – running from 27 March to 16 April – audiences will be able to enjoy an eclectic mixture of shows at the Islington pub venue, encompassing comedy, drag, drama and satire. Full listings can be found here https://kingsheadtheatre.com/whats-on/sight-unseen

Isabel is a co-creator of Pecs Drag Kings, AIM “Best Independent Festival” Brainchild, and the bestselling Lionboy book trilogy which was adapted and toured by Complicité. Isabel also starred as ‘Juliet’ in Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre’s recent production of Romeo and Juliet where she won a BBTA award for her performance. Isabel performed at Kings Head Theatre in 2022 as part of the 50th birthday celebrations.

Isabel explains, “It’s an honour to be platforming the fantastic work I’ve chosen for Sight Unseen. Over the season, audiences will be wooed by drag kings, exhilarated by new writing, entertained by a trans autobiography and challenged by a chimney. Starting at the Kings Head, we will travel from a doorstep in Dublin to a lecture hall in 1900s Sierra Leone, and from a Muslim auntie’s front room to an underground sex club, via the queue for the Queen’s coffin.
While their subjects may be diverse, what unites these pieces is unique viewpoint, authentic voice and respect for the sanctity of a great night out. These are some of the most exciting artists making shows today – see you at the theatre!”

Starting off the season Unleash the Llama will return to King’s Head Theatre with Five Years with The White Man after their hit shows JEW…ish and Man of 100 Faces. A true story about Black Briton ABC Merriman-Labour, an African satirist and writer who wrote the first ethnographic account of the White Man. Playing alongside this, Mary Lacy Woz Queer explores another queer historical figure, 18th Century shipwright Mary Lacy who defied gender norms to have a career in 1759 Deptford.

In the second week audiences can look forward to Auntie’s House, telling the extraordinary story of a middle-aged Muslim woman from 1950s Notting Hill who opens up her front room as a pop-up gay bar, and Perverts, Alice McKee’s witty one-woman show whose protagonist faces her own internalised lesbophobia, queer shame, exes and almost-threesomes in a sex club.

In the final week Offie-Award nominated Frangipane Productions (The Party, Camden Fringe) brings The Q, a rapid-fire, state-of-the-nation satire set in none other than The Queue (for the lying in state of Queen Elizabeth II) and May Day, a story of friendship, abortion rights and Conor McGregor as Ireland enters its referendum on abortion rights.

Also featured in the season will be the iconic queer Pan-Asian company Bitten Peach with their drag king show, The Last Show Before we Die from the creators of FITTER and HOTTER, Cow, a one-woman show about fatness, transness, hating your body and needing sex, Trash Salad a gender-bending, strip teasing, clowning operatic adventure, Don’t Stand So Close To Me, a two woman show e-erotica, Lolita and facing our fantasies. And 4 duologues from new writing company Any Second Now, It Takes Two.

Senior Producer Sofi Berenger said, “I’m so excited to be kicking off THE TAKEOVER with Isabel’s season. Working alongside Isabel in realising her artistic vision has been an honour and I can’t wait to welcome these artists and shows into the theatre. THE TAKEOVER is all about giving voice to new artists, with interesting stories to tell, and Isabel has truly accomplished this with her season. ”

The guest artistic directors’ seasons will be some of the final seasons ever programmed in the Kings Head Theatre Pub in its current building, London’s oldest pub theatre. More details on the new theatre space to be announced in due course.

The programme has been supported by Arts Council England.
The King’s Head Theatre, 115 Upper Street, London N1 1QN – Box Office 020 7226 8561
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