Darragh
O’Leary
CHOREOGRAPHER
MOVEMENT DIRECTOR
THE KEY WORKERS CYCLE
ALMEIDA THEATRE
CREATIVE DIRECTORS: DANI PARR & STEPHANIE BAIN
MOVEMENT DIRECTOR: DARRAGH O’LEARY
DESIGN CONSULTANT: KATE BUNCE
COSTUME DESIGN: MAARIYAH SHARJIL
SOUND DESIGN: MWEN
COMPOSER & MUSICAL DIRECTOR: ZARA NUNN
LIGHTING DESIGN: FRASER CRAIG
Photography: Ali Wright
PART 1
Assembly: The Teachers Play
Writer: Sonali Bhattacharyya
Director: Kate Golledge
The Full Works: The Funeral Directors Play
Writer: Josh Elliot
Driector: Emily Ling Williams
Face the Music: The Social Care Workers Play
Writer: Francesca Beard
Director: Emma Baggott
PART 2
Waste: The Refuse Collectors' Play
Writer: Danusia Samal
Director: Rikki Henry
Smiles Behind The Masks: The Midwives' Play
Writer: Nessah Muthy
Driector: Anna Marsland
The Essence Of The Job Is Speed: The Delivery Drivers' Play
Writer: Annie Jenkins
Director: Jack Nurse
PART 3
More Than We Can Bear: The Women's Centre Play
Writer: Eno Mfon
Director: Eva Sampson
Next Please!: The Supermarket Workers' Play
Writer: Yomi Sode
Driector: Rachael Nanyonjo
Stand Clear: The TFL Workers' Play
Writer: Molly Taylor
Director: Jenny Sealey and Kate Lovell
"A laudable enterprise and one worth supporting. I salute it for giving a voice and a platform to those we sentimentalise but too easily forget." (Evening Standard)
"Deftly choreographed......thoughtfully enabled campfire theatre, a precious, collaborative improvisation to keep the darkness at bay and remind us who we are." (The Guardian)
"The plays have a cumulative power. Not only do they give key workers the spotlight, they act as a valuable reminder of just how hard those early days of the pandemic were for so many – the inequality, the isolation, the rules that so many of those in power blithely ignored – and as a portrait of the people who hold society together.." (The Stage)
"A life-affirming, entertaining and affecting one-day wonder. A rare energy was palpable too; it felt radical to see this arty bastion teeming with those seldom seen on stage or in the stalls." (The Telegraph)
"They are moving, courageous and memorable – emphasising the importance of kindness, dreaming, dancing and the mutual care that helps us survive." (The Observer)