To mark the 110th anniversary of the birth of American singer and songwriter Sister Rosetta Tharpe, the Rose Theatre, Chichester Festival Theatre and ETT today announce the full cast and creative team for the UK premiere of George Brant’s (Grounded) critically-acclaimed Marie and Rosetta, the roof-raising play with music telling the true story of Tharpe and her protégé Marie Knight. Directed by Monique Touko (The Boy at the Back of the Class; School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play), this production featuring gospel and blues hits is an electrifying portrait of the godmother of rock ’n’ roll.
As previously announced, celebrating her professional play debut as Rosetta Tharpe, is multi award-winning singer and actress Beverley Knight, whose many West End performances include Memphis, The Drifters Girl, Sylvia (for which she won an Olivier Award) and Sister Act.
Joining Beverley Knight is Ntombizodwa Ndlovu, an up-and-coming talent making her London stage debut as Marie Knight, Rosetta’s protege and musical partner. Her recent theatre credits include, Cat On a Hot Tin Roof, The Space Between Us, Mixtape, Nothing, and The Mountain Top (Royal Exchange Theatre).
The creative team joining Touko includes Lily Arnold (Set Designer), Jodie-Simone Howe (Costume Designer), Kloé Dean (Movement Director), Liam Godwin (Music Supervisor, Arranger & Orchestrator), Matt Haskins (Lighting Designer), Tony Gayle (Sound Designer), Bethan Clark (Intimacy Director), Joel Trill (Voice & Dialect Coach), Jacob Sparrow (Casting Director), Jordi M. Carter (Associate Director), and Teresa Nagel (Associate Lighting Designer).
Marie and Rosetta runs at the Rose Theatre in Kingston 2 – 24 May (Press Performance: Friday 9 May ) before transferring to the Wolverhampton Grand Theatre 27 – 31 May and Chichester Festival Theatre 25 June – 26 July (Press Performance: Wednesday 2 July).
Monique Touko, Director, said: “With this UK premiere, I am incredibly grateful to work alongside such a talented, reflective, and passionate creative team whose skill and dedication will bring this story to life in the most profound way. We have found our Marie in Ntombizodwa Ndlovu, and alongside Beverley Knight, we aim to create a space where Marie and Rosetta’s powerful bond and transformative influence can resonate with UK audiences. From the performances to the design, and the injection of live music, every element of this production works in harmony to highlight the immense cultural significance of these trailblazing women.”
Christopher Haydon, Artistic Director of Rose Theatre, said: ”Rosetta Tharpe and Marie Knight’s story is a powerful, essential and thrilling tale of creativity and triumph in the face of adversity. To truly honour the work of such remarkable artists, we need the most exceptional cast and creative team. Monique Touko has assembled just such a group of artists. Their talent and passion will create something extraordinary, a production that will soar with passion, style and integrity. I cannot wait to share it with our audience.”
Justin Audibert, Artistic Director of Chichester Festival Theatre, said: “It’s thrilling that Monique Touko has recruited a bright young star, Ntombizodwa Ndlovu, to play opposite the magnificent Beverley Knight as Rosetta. Together with her excellent creative team, I know they will give us a revelatory, memorable and exhilarating experience. It’s no surprise to us that our audiences have rushed to snap up tickets to see this remarkable play in the intimate environment of the Minerva Theatre, and we can’t wait to see it, both here in Chichester, in Kingston and in Wolverhampton.”
Richard Twyman, Artistic Director & CEO, and Sophie Scull, Executive Producer of ETT said: “Marie and Rosetta is a beautiful and brilliant play, based on extraordinary women. Monique Touko has brought together a truly world-class cast and creative team to realise this poignant story, that I know will resonate powerfully today. We cannot wait for audiences in Kingston, Chichester and Wolverhampton to experience the production and be carried away by this magical celebration of music and theatre.”
Marie and Rosetta is a co-production between Rose Theatre, Chichester Festival Theatre and ETT.
CAST BIOGRAPHIES
Beverley Knight
Rosetta Tharpe
Queen of British Soul Beverley Knight has been one of the UK’s most consistently outstanding artists for over 3 decades. She can truly do it all; an Olivier award-winning star of the West End stage, astounding singer with a prolific music career and much-loved TV & broadcast talent, she finds herself recently 50 and bigger than ever.
Beverley was awarded an MBE in 2007 for services to British music and charity, has won an Olivier Award (and twice nominated for Best Actress), won three MOBO Awards, been nominated for Best Female at the Brit Awards 3 times and Best Album at the prestigious Mercury Music Prize. Last year she also won the Outstanding Contribution to Diversity Award at the European Diversity Awards and was honoured at the Ethnicity Awards for her continued efforts in the field.
Her outstanding live performances have gained her a legion of famous fans, she has collaborated on stage and on record with the likes of Prince, Jamiroquai, Bocelli, Take That, Tom Jones, Chaka Khan & Marvin Gaye. Her most recent ‘50’ headline tour last year marked the release of her ninth studio album and was her biggest ever tour of the UK, including a sold-out Royal Albert Hall.
In recent years, Wolverhampton born Knight has forged a formidable parallel career in theatre. Her West End debut was the starring role in The Bodyguard followed by leading the Tony winning Memphis The Musical. At the request of Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber, she joined the cast of Cats, playing the iconic role of Grizabella. 2021 saw Beverley lead The Drifters Girl (Olivier nominated Best New Musical) as the formidable manager of soul group The Drifters. Her role as Emmeline Pankhurst in the Old Vic’s production of Sylvia in 2023, garnered her both huge acclaim and her first Olivier Award win. Showing her versatility and comedic skill, Beverley starred as Deloris Van Cartier opposite Jennifer Saunders in the revival of Sister Act in Hammersmith Apollo’s highest grossing show ever in the venue, returning to the role opposite Ruth Jones at the Dominion last summer.
Her broadcasting work includes presenting 5 series of her own radio 2 show ‘Beverley’s Gospel Nights’, a panel judge in ITV’s talent series Starstruck and two series of the BBC1 show Just the Two of Us. She also appeared in the all-star cast of Amazon’s new live action movie Cinderella (2021) with Camilla Cabello in the title role.
A true British treasure, Beverley is a Patron for Terrence Higgins Trust, an ambassador for Plan UK, a founding member of The Circle plus long-time supporter of many charities.
Ntombizodwa Ndlovu
Marie Knight
Ntombizodwa Ndlovu graduated from the Manchester School of Theatre in 2021. In her third year she was a recipient of the Open Door Elevate Programme Award.
Theatre credits include: Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, The Space Between Us, Mixtape, Nothing, The Mountaintop (Royal Exchange Theatre); and A Time For Giving (Manchester International Festival).
Television & Radio Credits include: Banana; and You, Me & Her.
CREATIVE BIOGRAPHIES
George Brant
Writer
George Brant is an award-winning writer for theatre, opera, and film. He is the author of over forty plays, including Grounded (stage play and opera version with music by Jeanine Tesori), Elephant’s Graveyard, Into the Breeches!, The Land of Oz (music by Nathan Motta), The Mourners’ Bench, The Prince of Providence, Tender Age, and Three Voyages of the Lobotomobile. His scripts have been translated into 17 languages and performed in 26 countries by such companies as Public Theater, Metropolitan Opera, Atlantic Theater Company, the Kennedy Center, Page 73, Gate Theatre (London), Traverse Theatre, and Festival d’Avignon.
Brant’s accolades include a Lucille Lortel Award, the Smith Prize, a Scotsman Fringe First Award, an Off-West End Theatre Award, and the Keene Prize for Literature. He has been awarded fellowships from the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, MacDowell Colony, New Harmony Project, Hermitage Artist’s Retreat, and the Michener Center for Writers.
Brant has been commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera, Trinity Repertory Company, Dobama Theatre, the National Theatre of Genoa and Cleveland Play House. He is published by Concord Theatricals, Oberon Books and Smith & Kraus.
Brant is currently developing Rust: A Story of Steel and Grit (based on the book by Eliese Colette Goldbach) for Dobama Theatre, a solo play about Buffalo Bill for the National Theatre of Genoa and the opera Mothers of Kherson (music by Maxim Kolomiiets) for the Metropolitan Opera House.
Monique Touko
Director
Monique Touko is a London based multidisciplinary artist- director, dramaturg and producer.
Directing Credits: G by Tife Kusuro (Royal Court, Jerwood Theatre Upstairs); UK Premiere of Wedding Band: A Love Hate Story in Black and White– by Alice Childress (Lyric Hammersmith); The Boy at the Back of the Class, based on the novel by Onjali Q. Raúf, adapted by Nick Ahad (Rose Theatre and Children’s Theatre Partnership – national tour); UK Premiere of School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play by Jocelyn Bioh (Lyric Hammersmith); We Need New Names, based on the Novel by NoViolet Bulawayo, adapted by Mufaro Makubika (National Tour); Gone Too Far! By Bola Agbaje (Theatre Royal Stratford East); The Clinic by Dipo Baruwa-Etti (Almeida Theatre); Fair Play by Ella Road ( Bush Theatre), and Malindadzimu by Mufuro Makubika (Hampstead Theatre).
She is the recipient of the 2022 Stage Debut Award for Best Director.
Her directing training includes Regional Theatre Young Directors Scheme at Royal Exchange Manchester. At the Young Vic, her training has involved the Intro to Directing course led by Sacha Weres, Boris Karloff Trainee Assistant Directors Programme and the Jerwood Assistant Director Scheme. In 2022, Monique was selected to take part in the National Theatre’s annual Directing Course.
Her assisting credits include: Wishlist by Katherine Soper, directed by Matthew Xia (Royal Exchange Manchester and Royal Court); HighTides’ touring production of Kanye The First by Sam Steiner, directed by Andrew Twyman; Yellowman by Dael Orlandersmith, directed by Nancy Medina (Young Vic); China Plate’s On the Exhale by Martin Zimmerman, directed by Christopher Haydon (Traverse Theatre); Cock by Mike Bartlett, directed by Kate Hewitt (Chichester Festival Theatre); Shakespeare’s Richard II directed Lynette Linton and Adjoa Andoh (Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre); Ibsen’s Rosmersholm adapted by Duncan Macmillan, directed by Ian Rickson (Duke of York Theatre); and Lorca’s Blood Wedding adapted by Marina Carr, directed by Yael Farber (Young Vic).
Monique’s skill set includes: New Writing, International Work, Facilitation, Devising, Script Reading, Drama School Shows and Projects, Training Actors and Working with Young People.
She is also part of The Ubunifu Space- A definitive guide to music and culture from the youth of Africa and the diaspora – the Ubunifu way. Monique is project manager for the Space and regular member of the UK reaction team on the youtube channel which has a global following of 320K+ subscribers and over 50 million views.
Lily Arnold
Set Designer
Theatre credits include: The Boy at the Back of the Class and Leopards (Rose Theatre); Hey Christmas Tree! (Chichester Festival Theatre); The Importance of Being Earnest (Leeds Playhouse, Rose Theatre and ETT); Capulets and Montagues, What Dreams May (English Touring Opera); Toto Kerblammo, Jeramee, Hartleby & Ooglemore (Unicorn Theatre); God of Carnage, A Doll’s House (Lyric Hammersmith Theatre); Room (Abbey, Dublin / Stratford East, Toronto); The Girl on the Train,); Pah-La (Royal Court); Things of Dry Hours (Young Vic); Snow in Midsummer (RSC); Jack and the Beanstalk (Stratford East); I Cinna (The Poet), Forget Me Not (Bush Theatre), and many more.
Jodie-Simone Howe
Costume Designer
Jodie-Simone Howe is a Costume Designer based in London, UK. As a designer, having previously worked with the likes of Letitia Wright, Aneil Karia and Dipo Baruwa-Etti on personal projects, she has designed the first and second series of International Emmy nominated Dreaming Whilst Black for the BBC and A24 created by BAFTA award winning Adjani Salmon; she has also designed Mr Loverman for Fable Pictures and BBC One, based on Bernardine Evaristo’s best-selling novel and starring Lennie James.
In theatre, she has designed the opening show for the new Sadlers Wells East Theatre, Our Mighty Groove, choreographed by Vicki Igbokwe of Uchenna Dance. Alongside this, she is the Founding Director of The Black Costume Network who are leading the way in diversifying the Costume industry in the UK and beyond. In 2021 Jodie-Simone won a Costume Design Recognition Award at the BBTAs.
Kloé Dean
Movement Director
Kloé Dean, Choreographer and Movement Director, is a visionary storyteller, skilfully bringing narratives to life through movement, on stages and screens worldwide, with unparalleled impact.
Music Artists credits include:Little Simz, Nao, SAULT, Anne-Marie, Cleo Sol, Little Mix, Wizkid, Ghetts, Kojey Radical, Ezra Collective, Nathan Dawe, Hot Chip, and Lost Girl.
TV, Film and live show credits include: Amazon Prime: Paris Has Fallen (Amazon Prime); Jimmy Choo; Yazoo; Nike; Marks & Spencer’s; ASDA GEORGE; Star Alliance; RAPHA; Netflix; SKY; The Brit Awards; The MOBO Awards; Capital Radio Summer Time Ball; Capital Radio Jingle Bell Ball; BBC Radio 1 Big Weekender, Hits Live; and Glastonbury Festival.
Theatre credits include: The Koala Who Could (Rose Theatre / Nicoll Entertainment / Lowry / Northern Stage / Unicorn Theatre / MAST Mayflower Studios); Our Mighty Groove (Sadlers Wells East); (G)ully (Royal Court); Everything I Own (Brixton House); Floella Benjamins Coming To England (UK Tour); The Boy At The Back Of The Class (Rose Theatre / Children’s Theatre Partnership / National Tour); Gone Too Far (Stratford East); Tambo and Bones (Stratford East / UK Tour); Tapped (Theatre 503); Scar Test (LAMDA); Hungry (Soho Theatre); Dorian (Reading Rep Theatre); Really Big and Really Loud (Paines Plough Roundabout); Black Love, May Queen (Paines Plough Roundabout); and Breakin Convention (Sadlers Wells).
Awards and Nominations include: Dance Awards Choreographer of the Year 2022 & 2023; GUAP award nomination for best Choreographer 2023; Black British Theatre Award nomination for Best Movement Director – Tambo & Bones 2023; MOBO award nomination for best Music Video: Woman – Little Simz feat.Cleo Sol 2021; and UKMVA nomination for best choreography in a video – Introvert – Little Simz 2021.
Liam Godwin
Music Supervisor, Arranger and Orchestrator
Liam Godwin is a Musical Director, Musical Supervisor and composer working across international and UK theatre and the wider music industry.
Theatre credits include: Play On! (Talawa Theatre Company / Lyric Hammersmith Theatre); The Big Life (Stratford East); West End Musical Christmas 2023 (The Adelphi Theatre); West End Musical Christmas 2022 (The Lyric Theatre); Bat Boy (The London Palladium); Musical Con 2023 (The Excel Centre London); Rock Follies (Chichester Festival Theatre); Misty (The Shed, New York); Get Up Stand Up! The Bob Marley Musical (The Lyric Theatre); Andrew Lloyd Webber Tribute Concert (The Other Palace Theatre).
Music credits include: Keys 1 for Gareth Malone Tour; Pianist for Mel C, Bill Kenwright CBE Memorial (Liverpool Cathedral); Keyboard for BBC’s Big Night of Musicals 2022 ( AO Arena, Manchester); Vocalist for The BRIT Awards 2020 (The O2 Arena); and Choir MD/Vocal Arranger/Singer for The BRIT Awards Diamond Dinner 2019 (The Intercontinental Hotel).
Liam graduated from The BRIT School for Performing Arts and Technology, studying Musical Theatre. Additionally, he has a Bachelor of Music Degree with Honours in Popular Music Performance – Specialising in Vocals.
Matt Haskins
Lighting Designer
Matt is London-based and works internationally. Theatre Work includes: A Tupperware of Ashes (National Theatre); The Empress (RSC); Peter Pan Goes Wrong (West End & Broadway); Jesus Christ Superstar, Miss Saigon (Folketeateret Oslo); The Clinic (Almeida); Wedding Band: A Love/Hate Story in Black and White, School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play (Lyric Hammersmith Theatre); A Thousand Splendid Suns, The Lovely Bones (Birmingham Rep); Hobson’s Choice (Royal Exchange); Girls and Boys (Nottingham Playhouse); The Girls of Slender Means (Edinburgh Lyceum); Wish You Were Here (Gate Theatre); Folk (Hampstead Theatre); The Double Act (Arcola); Northanger Abbey (Orange Tree); Fair Play (Bush Theatre); and Hakawatis (Shakespeare’s Globe).
Opera work includes: Sukanya, Glare, The Virtues of Things (Royal Opera); La Bohème (Opera Montpellier); La Cenerentola, Don Pasquale(Irish National Opera); Don Giovanni, La Traviata (Opera North); Anna Bolena, Maria Stuarda (WNO).
Matt was the associate for The Master and Margarita (Complicité) and concert LD for the iconic Grace Jones (Royal Albert Hall).
Tony Gayle
Sound Designer
Theatre credits include: My Neighbour Totoro (West End / RSC / Barbican Theatre), Wild Rose (Royal Lyceum Theatre); The Lonely Londoners (Kiln Theatre); Becoming Nancy (Birmingham Rep.); Play On! (Talawa Theatre Co.); Shifters (West End / Bush Theatre); Next To Normal (West End / Donmar Warehouse); FANGIRLS (Lyric Hammersmith Theatre); Two Strangers (Carry A Cake Across New York) (West End / Kiln Theatre); The Purists (Kiln Theatre); GATSBY (American Repertory Theatre); High Times & Dirty Monsters (Liverpool Playhouse); Sizwi Banze Is Dead (Mayflower); Beneatha’s Place (Young Vic); School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play (Lyric Hammersmith Theatre); Greatest Days (UK Tour); Disney’s AIDA – (Holland); Pygmalion, Sylvia, The 47th (Old Vic); Newsies (Troubadour Theatre); Kinky Boots (New Wolsey Theatre); Playboy of the West,Indies (Birmingham Rep); Legally Blonde (Regent’s Park Theatre); Running With Lions, A Place For We (Talawa / Lyric Hammersmith); Spring Awakening, And Breathe… (Almeida Theatre); Get Up, Stand Up! The Bob Marley Musical (Lyric Theatre, London); The Wiz (Hope Mill Theatre); Blue/Orange (Theatre Royal Bath); Gin Craze! (Royal & Derngate); The Living Newspaper, Shoe Lady (Royal Court); Poet In da Corner (Royal Court & UK Tour) Beautiful – The Carole King Musical (UK Tour); Salad Days (UK Tour); American Idiot (UK Tour); Songs For Nobodies ( Wilton’s Music Hall / West End); Floyd Collins (Wilton’s Music Hall); The Wild Party (The Other Palace), and Lazarus (King’s Cross).
Awards: Olivier Award & WhatsOnStage Award for Best Sound Design 2023 – My Neighbour Totoro, Black British Theatre Awards (BBTA) Light & Sound Recognition Award – 2019 & 2021.
Tony is a Wise Children Trustee, Stage Sight Co-Director.
Bethan Clarke
Intimacy Director
Bethan Clark is a Fight and Intimacy Director and certified teacher with the British Academy of Dramatic Combat.
Credits include: Inside No. 9: Stage/Fright (Wyndham’s Theatre, West End); A Streetcar Named Desire (Sheffield Theatres); Princess Essex (Shakespeare’s Globe); The Hot Wing King (National Theatre); Romeo and Juliet (RSC); Cowbois (RSC & Royal Court); Cinderella, Coram Boy, (Chichester Festival Theatre), Our Country’s Good, Wedding Band: A Love/Hate Story in Black and White, God of Carnage (Lyric Hammersmith Theatre); Brassed Off, A Little Princess (Theatre by the Lake); Twelfth Night (Shakespeare North Playhouse); Wendy: A Peter Pan Story (Theatre Royal Bath/The Egg); Romeo and Juliet (Royal Exchange Manchester); The Swell (Orange Tree Theatre); The Odyssey Episode 5 – The Underworld (NT Public Acts); Dixon and Daughters (National Theatre/Clean Break), Sovereign, Hello and Goodbye, A View from the Bridge, Everything is Possible: The York Suffragettes (York Theatre Royal); The Lavender Hill Mob (UK tour); The Prince (Southwark Playhouse); HEX (as Fight Consultant, National Theatre); The Witness (Avant Cymru); Snowflakes (Dissident Theatre/Park 90); By Their Fruits, My Brother’s Keeper (Theatre 503); As You Like It (Northern Broadsides); The Bolds, Marvin’s Binoculars (The Unicorn); The Last Ship (Northern Stage & US tour); Macbeth (Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch/Derby Playhouse); Our Lady of Kibeho (Royal & Derngate / Stratford East); The Effect (English Theatre Frankfurt); My Beautiful Laundrette (Leicester Curve); Lord of the Flies (Theatr Clwyd / Sherman Theatre); As You Like It (NT Public Acts / Queens Theatre Hornchurch); Othello (Liverpool Everyman); Thick As Thieves (Clean Break / Theatr Clwyd); Kes (Leeds Playhouse); Mold Riots (Theatre Clwyd); The Hired Man (Queen’s Hornchurch / Hull Truck / Oldham Coliseum).
Joel Trill
Voice & Dialect Coach
Having worked as an actor, Joel trained as a voice coach at The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, on the course he now quests lectures on, MAVs. While training, he was awarded the VASTA Diversity Scholarship.
For the past 6 years, Joel has been running accent workshops with Diaspora Accents for Actors (DAFA). These workshops focus on accents ranging from the Caribbean, to North, East, West and Southern African regions. Joel has also coached on a variety of urban and multi-ethnic British and American accents.
As a voice and dialogue coach he has worked on a range of professional and stage and screen productions, including: Wedding Band: A Love/Hate Story in Black and White (Lyric Hammersmith Theatre); Corum Boy (Chichester Festival Theatre); Shifters (The Bush Theatre); Beautiful Thing (Leeds Playhouse / HOME, Manchester); Tambo & Bones (Stratford East); A Strange Loop (Barbican); Patriots (Noël Coward Theatre); House of Ife (Bush Theatre); The 47th, A Number, and Bagdad Cafe (The Old Vic); All My Sons and Love Letters (Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch); Statements After an Arrest Under the Immorality Act (Orange Tree Theatre); and J’Ouvert (Harold Pinter Theatre).
TV credits include: Here We Go Again, Mr Loverman, Call the Midwife and Murder is Easy (BBC); The Crown and Queen Charlotte (Netflix); The Ballad of Renegade Nell (Disney+); The White Lotus (HBO); Riches and The Confessions of Frannie Langton (ITV); Gangs of London (Sky); and Citadel (Amazon Prime).
Film credits include: Borges & Me Drift; My Name is Leon, Empire, The Ancestors, and Queen & Slim.
Jacob Sparrow
Casting Director
Theatre credits include: Hadestown (Lyric Theatre); Backstairs Billy (Duke of York’s); The Confessions (Europe / National Theatre); Orlando (Garrick Theatre); Oklahoma! (Young Vic, Wyndham’s Theatre); As You Like It (Soho Place); The Hot Wing King (Dorfman Theatre); Little Shop of Horrors, The Crucible, Anna Karenina, Much Ado About Nothing (Sheffield Crucible); Girl in the Machine (Young Vic); Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (2021 tour); Jitney (Old Vic/Headlong/Leeds Playhouse); The Good Person of Szechwan (ETT); Village Idiot (Nottingham Playhouse); You Bury Me (Bristol Old Vic); Black Love (Kiln Theatre); Hedwig and the Angry Inch (Leeds/Home Manchester); Burn It Down, The Big Life ( Stratford East); Noughts and Crosses, Once On This Island, Carousel, Our Town (Regents Park Open Air Theatre); LOVE, Faith, Hope and Charity (Dorfman/European tours); City of Angels (Garrick); Hadestown, Pericles, Follies, Amadeus (all Olivier Theatre); LOVE (Dorfman/International Tour/Film).
Jordi M. Carter
Associate Director
Jordi M. Carter is a Caribbean-British theatre director and artist from South London, whose practice explores cultural expression, mindfulness, and wellbeing. He is currently the Lambeth Baylis Trustee at The Old Vic, served as the inaugural Co-Artistic Director/CEO of Boundless Theatre (2023) and was formerly Young Associate (Taking Part & Creators Program) at the Young Vic (2021/22).
He trained as a Director on the Young Vic’s Fresh Direction (2022/23) and the US-based Black Acting Methods Studio (2023/24) programmes, is an alumnus of New Diorama’s The Knot (2023), and was a recipient of Arts Council England’s Developing Your Creative Practice Grant (2023).
Theatre credits include: Animal Farm (Stratford East / Leeds Playhouse); And (Theatre503); His Name (Contact Manchester); Aromatherapy (Talawa); The Government Inspector (Lyric Hammersmith Theatre/ UAL); We Need New Names (UK Tour); Saturn Returns (Southbank Centre/Northern School of Contemporary Dance); Of The Cut (Young Vic); and Love Reign (Young Vic).
Jordi is currently a Lambeth Baylis Trustee (Board of the Old Vic Theatre Trust).
Teresa Nagel
Associate Lighting Designer
Teresa is predominantly working as Associate Lighting Designer, Lighting Designer and Production Electrician in the UK as well as Europe.
Her recent work includes: Les Misérables (The Arena Spectacular); Oliver! (Chichester Festival Theatre / Gielgud Theatre); Phantom of the Opera (His Majesty’s Theatre); Figaro, Don Giovanni, Così fan tutte (Teatro Comunale Bologna). She has been working with Matt Haskins (Lighting Designer) for many years and very much enjoys any chance of a collaboration.
MARIE AND ROSETTA
Rose Theatre 2 – 24 May
Rose Theatre Press Night: Friday 9 May, 7.30pm
Wolverhampton Grand Theatre 27 – 31 May
Chichester Festival Theatre 25 June – 26 July
Chichester Festival Theatre Press Night: Wednesday 2 July, 7pm
A Rose Theatre, Chichester Festival Theatre and ETT production.
A play with music by George Brant
Directed by Monique Touko
God don’t want the Devil to have all the good music right?
Sister Rosetta Tharpe, the roof-raising ‘godmother of rock ‘n’ roll’, influenced countless musicians from Elvis to Johnny Cash. This sparkling, intimate portrait of Rosetta and her beloved singing partner, Marie Knight, restores these forgotten musical heroines to the spotlight as one of the most remarkable and revolutionary duos in music history.
Mississippi, 1946. Sister Rosetta has changed the face of gospel music with her exuberant, electric guitar-playing style. Shunned by straitlaced church folk for performing in nightclubs and glorying in rhythm and blues, she’s persuaded the saintly young singer Marie to join her on a tour of the segregated southern States. But first she has to convert Marie’s pure Sunday sound into something that has just a little more swing…
Featuring a wealth of joyous rock and gospel hits including Didn’t It Rain and Peace in the Valley, the show will feature live musicians accompanying Olivier Award-winning West End star Beverley Knight (Memphis, The Drifters Girl, Sylvia, Sister Act) as Rosetta Tharpe.
George Brant is an award-winning American playwright whose work includes Grounded (Fringe First and Off-West End Awards).
Monique Touko, winner of the 2022 Stage Debut Award for Best Director, whose acclaimed productions include The Boy at the Back of the Class, School Girls; Or, the African Mean Girls Play, Wedding Band and G, directs this UK premiere.
Marie and Rosetta is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals Ltd. on behalf of Samuel French Ltd. www.concordtheatricals.co.uk.
[ENDS]
