Inis Nua Theatre, Radiant Vermin, Theatre

Inis Nua Theatre Company opens their 2016-2017 season at the Louis Bluver Theater at The Drake (302 South Hicks Street) with Radiant Vermin by Philip Ridley, with previews starting October 19 and opening set for October 21. From England, this Philadelphia premiere mixes “be careful what you wish for” with a strong dose of unnervingly wicked humor.

Ollie and Jill get a free house through a “government program”. No strings attached! That’s when the hairs on the back of your neck will stand up and rightly so. Their home improvements will encourage others to move to the dodgy area and build a new community. The young married couple have a well-educated sense of compassion, justice, and right and wrong…until they realize what they must do to get their dream home just right! This greedy couple feels so deserving that they don’t see the moral high ground sliding right out from under them. A dark and shockingly funny satire, Radiant Vermin could be hazardous to moral absolutists and government conspiracy theorists.

The tight housing market in London and other parts of England is certainly mirrored in many parts of this country, and it provides the jumping off point for Radiant Vermin. Homelessness and blight is the other side of the housing equation. If the materialistic fire can be ignited under young aspiring homeowners, both of these problems can be solved with a macabre twist! Who needs a conscience when you have Miele kitchen appliances? With a nod to Jonathon Swift’s 1729 essay “A Modest Proposal”, Ridley sells us a provocative, brutal and funny gem.

Radiant Vermin was nominated for two Off West End Awards. Internationally acclaimed playwright, author and screenwriter Philip Ridley has won numerous awards, including the Critics' Circle and the Evening Standard Theatre Awards for Most Promising Playwright.

The Philadelphia premiere of Radiant Vermin is directed by Claire Moyer and stars Eleni Delopoulos, Adam Hammet and Emilie Krause.

“Like a Brothers Grimm story, it is executed with its own consistent fantasy logic, deployed to remind us of the dangers of getting what we wish for”.—New York Times

Radiant Vermin opens on Friday, October 21 at 8:00pm, with previews on Wednesday, October 19 and Thursday, October 20 at 7:00pm. Radiant Vermin runs for a total of 16 performances, through November 6, 2016. All shows are at the Louis Bluver Theater at The Drake, 302 South Hicks Street. South Hicks Street is along the east side of The Drake apartment building at 1512 Spruce Street.

Tickets are on sale for $25-$35 by calling (215) 454-9776 or visiting inisnuatheatre.org. To join the conversation, please like Inis Nua Theatre Company on Facebook and follow @InisNua Theatre on Twitter.

Inis Nua Theatre, Theatre, Radiant Vermin

SEASON INFORMATION

Philadelphia’s Inis Nua Theatre Company announces its 2016-2017 season. As the only US theatre company to concentrate solely on new work from Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales, our mission is to celebrate these cultures’ great traditions of storytelling through the prism of contemporary themes and settings.

For the new year, three new voices from across the pond have demanded our attention with stories of modern life, love and identity. In addition, because of an opportunity to collaborate with Drexel University, we can add a fourth play to our already packed season and bring back our 2011 hit Dublin by Lamplight. Our collaboration with Drexel’s Mandell Professionals in Residence Program (MPiRP) is training a new generation in the performance style of one of our most popular plays.

All these new plays prove that the tradition of storytelling is alive and well in the contemporary playwrights we present from Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales—their stories blend iconic themes with the concerns and settings of today. That’s what we love to bring you. That’s our mission. That’s what inspires us to “tell the story”!

After Radiant Vermin, the balance of the season includes:

An Inis Nua Revival from Ireland:
Dublin by Lamplight
Michael West
November 9-20

Drexel University’s Mandell Professionals in Residence Project (MPiRP) and Inis Nua Theatre Company present Dublin by Lamplight by Michael West. Come back to Dublin, 1904, as the Irish National Theatre of Ireland is ready to burst into life in a city teeming with poverty and political unrest. Using commedia dell’arte stylings and Storytellers theatre, this glorious play was a breakout hit for Inis Nua in 2011. Directed by Tom Reing in the Mandell Theater at 3201 Chestnut Street. The Mandell Professionals in Residence Project (MPiRP) is supported in part by a grant from the Samuel P. Mandell Foundation.

“West's script brilliantly mixes fact and fiction, poetry and politics.”—The Guardian

An American Premiere from Ireland:
Leper + Chip
By Lee Coffey
February 15-March 5
“Two star crossed lovers who knew each other but a day.” Boy (Leper) meets Girl (Chip) during a fight at a party. He’s out to get even the next day, but antagonism turns to love. Frantic and funny, Leper + Chip is a gritty, inner city Dublin odyssey of two lovers trying to get out. Directed by Tom Reing in the Louis Bluver Theater at The Drake.

“Leper + Chip will hold you by the throat and squeeze the tears from your eyes. … The script itself is a knockout; funny yet heartbreaking and shockingly intelligent…"—Broadway Baby

An American Premiere from Scotland:
Swallow
Stef Smith
April 26-May 14
Anna feels a bit of herself fall away every day. Rebecca teeters on the edge after a breakup, wondering who she is on her own. Sam wants to step forward to meet the future. These three strangers’ fragile connections with each other might lead to a shift in their world. Stepping or falling, sometimes there is no difference. Directed by Claire Moyer in the Proscenium Theater at The Drake.

“…a piece which is so beautifully measured, so transporting, that it takes us inside these characters’ experience of measuring up to what society expects from them in captivating, universal and often emotionally battering detail.—The Independent

Tickets and subscriptions are available for Vermin, Leper and Swallow at http://inisnuatheatre.org. For further information, phone (215) 454-9776.