Mr Kolpert
Dates
Saturday 21 August at 7:30pm
(livestreamed performance)
Monday 23 August at 2pm
Monday 23 August at 7:30pm
About the show
We're at Ralf and Sarah's for a night in of games and pizza. Our hosts are a young couple, slightly eccentric. Afraid the evening will be boring, the couple aim to spice things up by claiming that they have the body of Sarah's colleague, Mr Kolpert, in a suitcase. Are they practical jokers or is there something darker going on? A black comedy that becomes almost farcical.
About the director, Belle Bao
Belle Bao is a director and actor, who is originally from Beijing and is now exploring London. She was trained at The Central Academy of Drama in China and, since graduating, has directed and performed in theatre, film and television.
As a freelance director and actor, Belle has worked for a range of companies including National Theatre of China, National Centre for the Performing Arts, Beijing People’s Art Theatre, Juyin Theatre, PengHao Theatre, DrumTower West Theatre, etc. She also worked as a part-time drama teacher in a range of student theatres, from primary school to university. One of those was as a volunteer consultant from 2012 until 2019.
Recent directing credits include: The Last Bonian Shen by Belle Bao (Beijing People’s Art Theatre), Confuciusdevised by Duoyun Student Theatre (Beijing Haidian Culture Center), Teahouse by Lao She (Beijing People's Art Theatre), Gone South by Mu Yuan (The Central Academy of Drama), Is Me Play (TV Series short film).
Belle has won the Future Star award at the STAR POWER CHINA 2019 Film Festival. The short play Depressed which was written, directed and designed by Belle, won Central Academy of Drama’s Best Short Play Award, Best Performance Award and Best Stage Design Award, and was publicly shown at the closing ceremony of Beijing Mental Health Festival.
From 1994 to 1998, David Gieselmann studied Creative Writing for the Stage at the Berlin University of the Arts. His plays have been performed internationally, including in France, Italy, Australia and the USA. Mr Kolpert (‘Herr Kolpert’) was first staged in Britain at the Royal Court Theatre in 2000.
During the one-year postgraduate MA Directing programme, directors build their practice through an intense programme of practical classwork, reflective tutorials and attachments as assistant directors on LAMDA productions, supporting the work of professional directors. Training culminates with each student directing and realising a play of their choice in one of our performance spaces.
Find out more about our MA Directing course.
Contains strobe lighting, strong language, scenes of an adult nature, and scenes of a distressing nature.
Photos: Ali Wright
Creative Team
Director
Belle Bao
Assistant Director
Dwain Brown
Fight Director
Jeremy Barlow
Sound Designer
Tingying Dong
Lighting Designer
Ben Garcia
Movement Director
Adi Gortler
Set & Costume Designer
Emily Nelson
Cast
Edith
Emma Cooney
Sarah
Amy Darton
Pizza Man
James Lyon
Bastian
Daniel Morris
Ralf
Joseph Sefton
Production Team
Production Manager
Tabitha Piggott
Technical Stage Manager
Anna Eagle
Production Sound Engineer & Streaming Supervisor
Nevison Kusokora
Chief LX
Harry Masters
Carpenter & General Technician
Sam Maslin
Charli Stephens-King
Camera Operators
Marie Zschommler
Sophia Markou
Mr Kolpert in rehearsals
Photos: Alex Brenner
