5 star, award-winning Fringe hit SAP announces Soho Theatre run and UK Tour
From 16th March 2023
Following a critically acclaimed run at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the award-winning SAP returns for an extensive UK Tour, including runs at London’s Soho Theatre, Birmingham Rep, The Marlowe Theatre in Canterbury, and Theatre by the Lake in Keswick, with further venues to be announced.
From Atticist and Ellie Keel Productions, this hit play is a queer urban fable about bisexuality and what we allow people to believe, in a world where The Song of Achilles meets Killing Eve. Drawing inspiration from the myth of ‘Daphne and Apollo’, SAP is a contemporary, fast-paced thriller about passion, power, and photosynthesis.
When a woman tells a lie to her girlfriend, a seed is planted that starts to grow in the darkness. Now roots are cracking up through the pavement and branches are coming in at the windows, and – as she starts to see things that no one else can – she becomes the focus of some seriously unwanted attention.
SAP is the transfixing debut play from Rafaella Marcus, directed by Offie-nominated Jessica Lazar (Anna Bella Eema, Arcola Theatre; Outlying Islands, King’s Head Theatre). It became an audience favourite and met with an outstanding critical response at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, gaining an astonishing 21 four-and five-star reviews. Described by the Guardian as a glorious tapestry of a play, SAP was the recipient of numerous prestigious awards, including The Stage Edinburgh Award (for Jessica Clark), the Summerhall Lustrum Award and the Soho Playhouse Medal of Excellence, and was nominated for an OffFest Award.
Writer Rafaella Marcus comments, Seeing the reception to SAP's Edinburgh run was one of the most moving experiences of my life, and I’m thrilled that we now get to bring the show to audiences across the UK. The opportunity to tour and share ideas nationally is an essential part of our cultural lives and I’m grateful to every venue that has opened their space to this strange, mythic play. I can’t wait to share the extraordinary talent of our cast and creative team in new theatres, with new people, and I hope anyone who needs to sit with the play’s story of liberation, power, and transformation will be able to do so.
Director Jessica Lazar says, When Rafaella showed me the first pages of what would become SAP, I fell in love at first sight. Edinburgh Fringe had the same reaction, and I am delighted we can share it again in 2023. SAP is so good you that won’t believe it’s Rafaella’s debut play.
Rafaella Marcus is a 2021 MGCFutures bursary winner and JMK Award Finalist, whose work focuses on bringing marginalised voices to the stage, especially women. SAP is produced by 11-time Offie-nominated Atticist, whose previous production Life According to Saki won the Carol Tamber Best of Edinburgh Award, and by Ellie Keel, the Founder Director of the Women's Prize for Playwriting, who this year was shortlisted as Producer of the Year in the Stage Awards, and has added SAP to her roster of hit shows including Collapsible by Margaret Perry, HOTTER and FITTER by Mary Higgins and Ell Potter, and Reasons You Should(n't) Love Me by Amy Trigg. The production is designed by by Rūta Irbīte with lighting design by David Doyle, Composition and Sound Design by Tom Foskett-Barnes, and Movement Direction by Jennifer Fletcher.
Past praise for SAP:
★★★★★ Three Weeks
★★★★★ Theatre Reviews
★★★★★ Broadway Baby
A glorious tapestry of a play. (★★★★ The Guardian)
Marcus’ play takes an ancient story and makes it box fresh. (★★★★ Lyn Gardner, The Stage)
It's exceptionally rare to encounter something that blends genres so skilfully – and enjoyably – as this. (★★★★ The Scotsman)
An extraordinary, mythical, intricate piece of new theatre. (★★★★ Broadway World)
Rafaella Marcus’ spellbinding debut play. (★★★★★ The Queer Review)