It’s summer and teenage runaways Dakota and Bede are hiding out in an abandoned quarry, buried deep in the belly of England. It’s a magical, frightening place, where youth tangles with death and dreams are forgotten. A razor-edged playground in which our tearaways can escape their past and imagine impossible futures.
In this riotous punk-play of pop culture, games and reddit folklore, the stakes keep rising. Gun to your head… what could go wrong?
Gun to your Head is the highly-anticipated full-length stage premiere by writer Simon Jaggers, ‘‘a visionary from England’s wastelands. A poet finding beauty in the broken. Gun to your Head is a celebration of a play. Like a Disco Pigs for England’s ghost hours. It’s so beautiful it’s actually ludicrous.’ (Simon Stephens, playwright)
Simon is a playwright from London. His plays have been performed at Theatre503, Soho Theatre, Bread & Roses, The Bunker and Southwark Playhouse. He has been personally mentored by award winning playwrights Simon Stephens and David Eldridge. Last year he won a place on The London Library Emerging Writers Programme 21/22 and this year his play Manifest Release Machine was longlisted for the Bruntwood Prize. He is also a songwriter/performer and spent his youth playing in punk bands supporting the likes of The Strokes, Babyshambles and Violent Femmes, and deejaying hip hop on pirate radio. Gun to your Head will be his full-length stage premier.
Press & Reviews
‘Simon Jaggers is a visionary from England’s wastelands. A poet finding beauty in the broken. Gun To Your Head is a celebration of a play. Like a Disco Pigs for England’s ghost hours. It’s so beautiful it’s actually ludicrous.’ - Simon Stephens, playwright
‘Simon Jaggers writes with precision, wit and humanity. He’s a playwright of real promise.’ - David Eldridge, Playwright and Screenwriter.
‘Gun to your Head is a kind of Thelma and Louise for Generation Z, it genuinely feels like it might be that rarest of things: a classic in the making.’ - Simon Usher & Colin Ellwood, Joint Artistic Directors at Presence Theatre
Listed as one of The Independent’s 13 “unmissable gems” of VAULT Festival 2023. Don’t miss this “electric two-hander … we’re expecting great things.”
Cast & Creative Team Shakira Riddell Morales
Dakota, Actor
‘Fangirls The Musical: Workshop’ (Sonia Friedman Productions); Daize in ‘The Silence And The Noise’ (Papatango Theatre Company); Lubna in ‘Fireworks’ (The Royal Court Theatre); Young Eponine and Young Cosette in ‘Les Misérables’ (West End); Performed alongside Cush Jumbo (The Evening Standard Awards); Soloist, Alfie Boe Bring Him Home (The Royal Festival Hall).
Abdul Jalloh
Bede, Actor
Wuthering Heights (Sarah Goodal); Hedda Gabler (Neil Duggan); Love Lies & Taxidermy (Simon Stephens); Deep Cuts (Catherine Palmer); Zion (Suzan Mclean); ‘Casualty’ (BBC One) (Abdul’s episode won the Rose D’Or for Best Soap or Telenova); ‘The Dog Ate My Homework’ (CBBC); Shadow (NFTS), ‘If I Die Today’ (Candle And Bell), ‘The Lies of our Confines’ (Solaris 2) and ‘Natural Reward’ (COAS).
Writer: SIMON JAGGERS
(Theatre503, Soho Theatre, Bread & Roses, The Bunker and Southwark Playhouse)
Director: GIACOMO ESPOSITO
(Bread and Roses Theatre, Directors Cut, Southwark Playhouse, Hen & Chickens Theatre, The Guardian)
Producer/Dramaturg: ROSA TORR
(National Centre for Writing, BBC, Soho Theatre, Battersea Arts Centre, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, TARA Arts, Smock Alley, Waterstones, First Light Festival, The Garage)
Light and Sound Design: SHANE GILL
(Galway International Arts Festival, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, New Theatre, Theatre Upstairs, Reality: Check Productions, Corps Ensemble, VAULT Festival)
Intimacy Coordinator: Abbie Grundy
(Goldsmiths, New Works Playhouse, Broadway World)