Oval House Theatre

Oval House Theatre's reputation as 'one of the most important centres for pioneer fringe theatre groups' dates from the 1960s, supporting the experimental theatre companies of the '60s and '70s, the emergence of gay and lesbian and women's theatre in the 1970's and 80's and the development of new Black and Asian writing in the '90s and into the next millenium.

Oval House now programmes work by some of the most innovative, cutting edge theatre practitioners in Britain and beyond.

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Geestor Productions and Oval House Theatre present CATALYSTA By Allistair Bain Directed by Robert Icke Cast - Cedric Duncan, Cornell S John, La Charne Jolley, Carmen Munroe, Lisa Davina Phillip, Angela Wynter. at Oval House Theatre, London 21 October - 8 November 2008 The world premiere of Catalysta opens at Oval House Theatre, London on 21 October .

Catalysta, an intriguing Caribbean pot-boiler from intrepid Grenadian storyteller Allister Bain.

The title role is to be played by Angela Wynter, best-known to many for her character Yolande Trueman in BBC's EastEnders. She will be joined on stage by Carmen Munroe, one of Britain¹s leading Black actresses, and best known perhaps as Shirley, long-suffering wife of demon barber Desmond Ambrose in Channel 4's popular '90s sitcom Desmond's.

Catalysta travels from London to Grenada several months after Hurricane Ivan to visit her elderly sister Eartha and her husband who share their home with their daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter. But the family battles she finds raging when she arrives threaten to wreak more havoc than the hurricane itself, as neither mother can change their patterns of destructive behaviour.

Catalysta starts to tell provocative stories which challenge their set ways: her words run through the house like a healing breeze but will it be enough to stop the storm clouds erupting?

The cast of Catalysta includes Cedric Duncan, Cornell S John, La Charne Jolley, Carmen Munroe, Lisa Davina Phillup and Angela Wynter.


Since the early fifties Carmen Munroe has played an instrumental role in the development of black British theatre and representation on small screen. She has had high profile roles on TV in The Fosters, Mixed Blessings both on ITV and on stage in Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun, Alice Childress's Trouble in Mind and James Baldwin's The Amen Corner. She is however best known for her role as Shirley, the wife of barber Desmond Ambrose in the sitcom Desmond's.

Carmen is one of the founders of Talawa the UK's leading black theatre company, which she established in 1985 together with Mona Hammond, Inigo Espegel and Yvonne Brewster. Angela Wynter is a British actress with a wealth of experience as a performer on stage, screen and radio. She is probably most famous for playing the character of Yolande Trueman in the BBC soap opera EastEnders, a character she has based on her late sister Merlene and played a similar character role as Melba in the sitcom No Problem! Other television series in which she has appeared include: The Bill, Cutting It, Murder Most Horrid and Holby City. She received great acclaim for playing the role of MOUT in Sol B River's powerful monologue 'To Rahtid', directed by Yvonne Brewster at the Young Vic Studio 1996. Angela worked with Sol B. River again in 1998, playing the role of Dorothy in the Windrush themed play '48-98' at the Lyric Studio, Hammersmith. Angela is also an accomplished singer and is part of a female reggae band called Sista.

Writer and actor Allister Bain last appeared in Waking The Dead on BBC TV and on stage in The Free State, directed by Janet Suzman. He started Grenada's first professional folk dance company, Bee Wee Ballet, taught and danced the limbo with Dorothy Dandridge in the film Island in the Sun and after making his mark in the Federal Festival in Trinidad in 1958, he came to England to broaden his experiences and further his career. He has worked consistently on stage, TV and films all over Europe and Africa. Allistair has written monologues and full length plays one of which, Effie May, was staged at Oval House in May 2005.

Dates and Times: 21 October – 8 November Tuesday – Saturday at 7.45pm Saturday matinees – 29 & 1 November at 2pm

Tickets: £12 / £6 concessions PREVIEWS Tues 21 and Weds 22 Oct: all tickets £6 Box Office: 020 7582 7680 Or book online www.ovalhouse.com

SPECIAL LUNCH DEAL Saturday 1st November 12 Noon Storytelling workshop with Allister Bain plus lunch in our Caribbean Kitchen plus matinee performance of Cataysta, all for just £10 (especially suitable for families)

Captioned Performance for people with impaired hearing: Saturday 1 November at 2pm & 7.45pm with Alex Romeo

Audio described performance: Tuesday 4 November with Ruth James and Alison Clarke