Roy Williams

Lumenis Theatre Company in association with Southwark Playhouse presents A Double Bill
Magical Chairs by Mary Mazzilli
There's Only One Wayne Lee by Roy Williams

Directed by Jonathan Man
30th August to 3rd September 2011

CELEBRATING YOUTH and MULTICULTURALISM

A double bill of plays open at Southwark Playhouse for a one-week run on 30 August 2011 before playing at the Beijing International Fringe Festival.

Magical Chairs is an entertainingly absurd short play. Two young lads grappling with growing up and our societal attitudes to youth become two trapped Magicians trying to escape a room filled with chairs. By playing with storytelling the audience is brought to look at universal truths and the consequences of our preconceptions and choices on our youth of today.

By casting British actors of Chinese and African Caribbean descent, Lumenis aims to allude to the global clashes between East and West, old world and new world, head and heart, in a way to deeply appeal and engage with the diverse audiences of London.

There's Only One Wayne Lee is a unique coming of age tale. Wayne, a bookish British Chinese teen unexpectedly befriends Carl, the British African Caribbean school football captain. Set in 1970s Britain, where intolerance was brazen and rife, this is a fresh exploration of what it means to try to fit in and thrive in contemporary Britain, and the hitherto unseen parallels and divergences between the different diaspora communities.

After opening at Southwark Playhouse, this double bill Magical Chairs and There's Only One Wayne Lee will go on to play at the Beijing International Fringe Festival in September 2011. Representing the UK this will be the first ever British production to be presented at this pioneering festival.

Post-show and Q&A session: 31st August, acclaimed theatre critic Aleks Sierz will be talking to writers Roy Williams and Mary Mazzilli, director Jonathan Man and producer David Ahlbrecht about intercultural theatre and new writing.

This project is supported by the National Lottery through Arts Council England and by China-UK Connections Through Cultures, British Council.

Roy Williams - writer

Roy Williams began writing plays in 1990 and is now arguably one of the UK's leading dramatists. In 2000 he was the joint-winner of The George Devine Award and in 2001 he was awarded the Evening Standard Award for Most Promising Playwright. He was awarded the OBE (Order of the British Empire) for Services to Drama in the 2008 Queen Elizabeth Birthday Honours List.

His plays include SUCKER PUNCH (Royal Court Theatre), CATEGORY B (Tricycle Theatre), ANGEL HOUSE (Eclipse Theatre, UK Tour), DAYS OF SIGNIFICANCE (RSC), JOE GUY (Tiata Fahodzi), THERE'S ONLY ONE WAYNE MATTHEWS (Polka Theatre), BABY GIRL (NT Connections), ABSOLUTE BEGINNERS (Lyric Hammersmith), LITTLE SWEET THING (Nottingham Playhouse), SLOW TIME (NT Education), FALLOUT (Royal Court Theatre), SING YER HEART OUT FOR THE LADS (NT), CLUBLAND (Royal Court Theatre), THE GIFT (Birmingham Rep/Tricycle Theatre), LOCAL BOY (Hampstead Theatre), SOULS (Theatre Centre), LIFE OFF (Royal Court) , STARSTRUCK (Tricycle, Winner of John Whiting Award, Alfred Fagon Award & EMMA Award for Best Play), JOSIE'S BOY (Red Ladder Theatre Co) and THE NO-BOYS CRICKET CLUB (Theatre Royal, Stratford East).

His work for television includes Let It Snow (Endor Productions/Sky), Fallout (Company Pictures/ Channel 4, Screen Nation Award for Achievement in Screenwriting), Offside (BBC, Winner of BAFTA Children's Film & TV Award for Best Schools Drama) and Babyfather (BBC).