Full Cast Announced For The London Première Of Zinnie Harris' MEET ME AT DAWN

Arcola Theatre in association with DOT Theatre today announce the full company for the London première of multi-award-winning writer Zinnie Harris' Meet Me at Dawn. Murat Daltaban directs Jessica Hardwick (Helen) and Marianne Oldham (Robyn). Meet Me at Dawn, which draws on the legend of Orpheus and Eurydice in this gripping tale of devotion and loss, opens on 16 October, with previews from 9 October and runs until 9 November.

"I was near to death but I got this incredible surge, this superhuman surge, and I swam. I swam."

When a boat trip goes horribly wrong, Helen and her girlfriend Robyn find themselves stranded on an island in the middle of the sea. As the night draws in, it becomes clear that the island is not as it first appears. And neither are Helen and Robyn.

Meet Me at Dawn comes to London for the first time in a new production by Murat Daltaban, whose staging of Zinnie Harris' Rhinoceros (after Ionesco) at the Edinburgh Lyceum won widespread acclaim in 2017.

Mehmet Ergen, Artistic Director of Arcola Theatre, said today, "We are thrilled to be working with DOT Theatre on this new staging of Zinnie Harris' Meet Me at Dawn. Zinnie's writing has received immense critical acclaim since her debut - as well as several major awards - and her impact on British theatre has been phenomenal. As one of Turkey's most pioneering directors, Murat has been instrumental in bringing contemporary British writing to an international audience. Arcola Theatre has always endeavoured to make and support work which transcends location and language to tell stories for everyone. We are very excited to work with Zinnie and Murat on bringing their celebrated international partnership to London and I cannot wait to share Meet Me at Dawn with our audience."

Zinnie Harris' credits includes Rhinoceros (after Inesco) (Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh), This Restless House (Citizens Theatre and Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh - Best New Play Critics' Awards for Theatre in Scotland), How To Hold Your Breath - Berwin Lee Award, Nightingale and Chase (Royal Court Theatre), The Wheel (National Theatre of Scotland - Fringe First Award, jointly won an Amnesty International Freedom of Expression Theatre Award and was shortlisted for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize), The Message on the Watch, The Panel (Tricycle Theatre), a new version of A Doll's House (Donmar Warehouse), and her 2000 play Further than the Furthest Thing won the Peggy Ramsay Foundation Award, a Fringe First, and the John Whiting Award. For television, her work includes Legacy, Partners in Crime, and Spooks.

Jessica Hardwick plays Helen. Her theatre work includes Cyrano de Bergerac (National Theatre of Scotland and Citizens Theatre), The Strange Undoing Of Prudencia Hart (National Theatre of Scotland New York Transfer and US Tour), Knives and Hens (Perth Theatre), The Rivals (Bristol Old Vic), Lanark (Edinburgh International Festival and Citizens Theatre), Miss Julie (Citizens Theatre) Crime and Punishment (Citizens Theatre/Liverpool Playhouse/Edinburgh Lyceum), Rhinoceros, The Venetian Twins (Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh), The Fair Intellectual Club, Slope (Citizens Theatre and Traverse), and Three Sisters (Tron Theatre and King's Theatre Edinburgh). For television, her work includes Float; and for film, Snow Angel.

Marianne Oldham plays Robyn. Her theatre work includes hang (Sheffield Theatres), A Monster Calls, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead (The Old Vic), The Argument (Hampstead Theatre), The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (Chichester Festival Theatre), Sons Without Fathers (Arcola Theatre, Belgrade Theatre Coventry), You Can Still Make a Killing (Southwark Playhouse) and The Real Thing (ETT). For television, her work includes A Very English Scandal, The Living and The Dead, Life in Squares, Obsession, The Musketeers and The Crimson Field; and for film, Finding Your Feet, Absolutely Anything, Silent Girl and Titus.

Murat Daltaban directs. As Artistic Director of DOT in Istanbul, his directing credits include The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart, The Human Ear, Meet Me At Dawn, Rhinoceros ( Edinburgh International Festival, Edinburgh Lyceum Theatre - for which he won the 2018 Critics' Awards for Theatre in Scotland Best Director Prize), How To Hold Your Breath, Midwinter, Fight Night, Dalgety, Housekeeping, Fragile, Beautiful Burnout, Mandrel, Pornography, Shopping and f-ing, The Storyteller, Mercury Fur, Bug, and Love and Understanding. His other directing credits Let The Right One In (Zorlu PSM), Festen (Dotkoleksiyonda), Shoot/ Get Treasure/ Repeat (Dotatbilsar), and the forthcoming Incendies, and Mrs Puntila and her Man Matti (Edinburgh Lyceum Theatre, Glasgow Citizens Theatre).