The world premiere of Jab opens at the Finborough Theatre for a four week limited season on Tuesday, 20 February 2024 (Press Nights: Thursday, 22 February 2024 and Friday, 23 February 2024 at 7.30pm).
Anne is tired. Tired of menopause. Tired of working in a dying NHS. And tired of her lazy sexist Daily Mail reading husband Don. But theyโve been together twenty nine years. They know each other inside out. Theyโve survived so much.
Then COVID plunges the country into lockdown, forcing them to isolate together. After all, the home is a place of safetyโฆ isnโt it?
As the world falls apart outside, Anne and Donโs marriage slowly falls apart inside. But soon there will be a solution. Won’t there?
Inspired by true events, Jab is a coruscating new black comedy, exploring power, gender, domestic violence, conspiracy theories, ignorance, and the limits of love.
Kacey Ainsworth and Liam Tobin star in this stunning new British play, directed by Scott Le Crass, recently nominated for Best Creative West End Debut at The Stage Awards for his production of Rose, starring Maureen Lipman.
Playwright James McDermott productions include Time and Tide, nominated for an OffWestEnd Award for Best New Play and long-listed for the Bruntwood Prize (Park Theatre and East of England Tour) and Rubber Ring (Pleasance London and UK Tour). Both plays are published by Samuel French. Their other plays include Acidโs Reign (Vault Festival) and The Birds and The Bees (New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich, and East of England Tour). Jamesโs poetry collections include Wild Life (Nine Arches Press), Erased (Polari Press) and Manatomy which was long-listed for Polariโs First Book Prize (Burning Eye Books). James has written plays for BBC Radio 4, and is one of the writers on EastEnders. They teach scriptwriting for the National Theatre and Arvon, and also lecture in creative writing at the University of East Anglia.
Director Scott Le Crass directed the revival of Martin Sherman’s Rose, starring Maureen Lipman, which was streamed online in 2020, screened on Sky Arts in 2021, and in 2022 it was presented onstage at Hope Mill Theatre, Manchester, and Park Theatre where it won an OffWestEnd Award for Best Solo Performance. In 2023, Rose transferred to the West End, and Scott has been shortlisted for Best Creative West End Debut at The Stage Awards. He was nominated for both OffWestEnd and Broadway World Awards for Best Director for Rose. Scott is just about to direct Toxic by Nathaniel Hall at HOME, Manchester.
The cast is:
Kacey Ainsworth | Anne
Theatre includes Leaves of Glass (Park Theatre), Lava (Soho Theatre), Mam Iโm Ere (Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool), Sweeney Todd (Everyman Theatre, Liverpool), Holes (Nottingham Playhouse), Feed the Beast (Birmingham Rep, New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich and Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough), Calendar Girls (UK Tour), Steel Magnolias (UK Tour), Carrieโs War (Apollo Theatre), Sleep With Me (National Theatre), Serving It Up (Bush Theatre) and Pale Horse and Attempts on Her Life (Royal Court Theatre).
Film includes Lynne and Lucy, Mother, We the Kings, Hip Hip Hooray, Girl From Rio and Topsy Turvy.
Television includes Grantchester, Sliced, Moving On, The Worst Witch, Call the Midwife, Casualty, The Wright Way, Midsomer Murders, The Moonstone, Rock Chips, Holby Blue, Hotel Babylon, EastEnders, The Beggar Bride and The Accused.
Radio includes Torchwood and Doctor Who.
Liam Tobin | Don
Theatre includes Sweeney Todd (Everyman Theatre, Liverpool), Lights On Lights Off (Shakespeare North Playhouse), The Scousetrap, Mam Iโm โEre! (Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool), HomeBaked (Red Ladder and Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool), Miracle On 34th Street (Liverpool Playhouse), Paint Your Wagon, A Clockwork Orange, The Big I Am, Fiddler On The Roof, Conquest of the South Pole, The Sum, Romeo and Juliet (Liverpool Everyman Rep Company), Benny (Gilded Balloon at the Edinburgh Fringe), The Hobbit (Dukes Theatre, Lancaster), Hamlet (Theatr Clwyd), Clybourne Park, When the Rain Stops Falling (Unity Theatre, Liverpool and Said & Done), A View From The Bridge (Liverpool Playhouse), One Flew Over The Cuckooโs Nest, Brief Encounter, Nevilleโs Island, Dead Funny (Torch Theatre, Milford Haven), A Midsummer Nightโs Dream and She Stoops To Conquer (Torch Theatre, Milford Haven, and Mappa Mundi), Cider With Rosie and The Merchant of Venice (Theatre Royal Bury St. Edmunds), Hoof! (Hothouse Theatre, Los Angeles), Gods Official (West Yorkshire Playhouse) and Pygmalion (European Tour for the American Drama Group),
Film includes Alโs Lads.
Television includes Then and Now, Hollyoaks, Emmerdale, Coronation Street, The Royal, Heartbeat, The Cops, Seeing Red and The Second Coming.
