Arcola Theatre and Jump Spark announce full cast for HUNGER

A young man moves to the big city with dreams of becoming a writer. But in this unforgiving metropolis, friends are scarce and jobs are even scarcer. Once hunger rocks the core of his reality, how can his youthful spirit – and his sanity – survive?

In this fast-paced new adaptation, Amanda LomasexplodesKnut Hamsun’s tale about a mind on the margins and, more than a century since the original novel captured the brutality of urban isolation, asks how much has changed.

Directed by the winner of the Peter Hall Emerging Artist Fellowship Award at Rose Theatre Kingston, Fay Lomas, Hungerbursts onto the stage in a timely, world premiere production.

Hunger is the penultimate production in Arcola's Autumn season, which celebrates original plays and adaptations by female writers.

Amanda Lomas’previous theatre credits include Your Way or Mine, Girl Meets Boy (Theatre503) and In Defence of Laughter (Leatherhead Theatre). She graduated from Cambridge University with an M.A in Modern Languages and an M.Phil in Linguistics.

Knut Hamsun (1859-1952) won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1920. His novels include Fra det moderne Amerikas Aandsliv (The Intellectual Life of Modern America), Pan, Markens Grøde (Growth of the Soil), Livets Spil (Game of Life), Aftenrøde (Sunset), Under Høststjernen (Under the Autumn Star), Benoni, En Vandrer Spiller med Sordin (A Wanderer Plays on Muted Springs), Børn av Tiden (Children of the Age), Segelfoss By (Segelfoss Town), Landstrykere (Vagabonds), August, Men Livet lever (The Road Leads On) and Ringen sluttet (The Ring is Closed). His 1890 novel Sult (Hunger) is regarded as the first genuinely modern novel in Norwegian Literature.

Archie Backhouse plays Hans.His theatre credits includeThe Listening Room (UK tour), There Is A Field (Theatre503), and The Gap in the Light (New Diorama Theatre). Credits for television includes Save Me.

Katie Eldred plays Ylayali.Her theatre credits include The Rubenstein’s Kiss (Southwark Playhouse).

Kwami Odoom plays The Young Man.His theatre credits include The Half God of Rainfall (Kiln Theatre/Birmingham Repertory Theatre), BOYS (The Vaults), A Christmas Carol (RSC), Queen Margaret (Royal Exchange Theatre), and Barber Shop Chronicles (National Theatre). His credits for television include The Athena.

Jessica Tomlinson plays Landlady.Her theatre credits include Chummy (White Bear Theatre), Blood Wedding, Eighth Continent (Tristan Bates Theatre), Best of Both (Pleasance Theatre), Threeway (Theatre503), and A Great British Company (The Vaults).

Fay Lomas is Rose Theatre Kingston’s inaugural Peter Hall Emerging Artists Fellow. Her directing credits include the forthcoming Out of the Dark (Rose Theatre Kingston), The Crucible (Royal & Derngate Northampton Community Company), The Winter’s Tale (St Peter’s Church, Northampton), Bérénice (The Space) and Blood Wedding (The Bread and Roses). In addition, she has directed new, short plays at Arcola Theatre, Theatre503 and Southwark Playhouse. As an assistant director her credits include The Model Apartment (Ustinov Studio), Macbeth (National Theatre/UK tour), Trouble in Mind (Print Room), Death of a Salesman (Royal & Derngate Northampton/UK tour), Great Expectations (Royal & Derngate Northampton), Annie Get Your Gun (Sheffield Theatres) and Half Life (Theatre Royal Bath).