Cuckoo

A new Unicorn play about young people for an adult audience.

Nathan Curry directs Suhalya El-Bushra's insightful new play; a razor-sharp study of an unlikely friendship between Nadine and Jenny, two teenage girls from very different backgrounds, and Jenny's mother Erica. The play explores the consequences that occur when the lines of responsibility get blurred.

Cuckoo is the Unicorn's second production for adults following the success of the award-winning and critically acclaimed Monkey Bars in 2012 and is part of a new programme of work that explores what it means to be a young person today.

Erica is bored. She used to go on research trips to the Congo, now all she has is Woman's Hour, Waitrose and wearisome dinner parties. Then one morning she discovers her daughter's new and only friend sitting in the kitchen and life gets interesting. But how far will she go to protect a child that's not hers, and what will she have to sacrifice?

Suhayla El-Bushra's debut play Pigeons opened as part of the Royal Court's Open Court Season. Her previous work for stage includes the Bush Theatre's 66 Books programme of plays. Suhayla worked as a teacher and a youth worker and spent part of her childhood in Khartoum, Sudan. Her other writing credits include for television Hollyoaks and Doctors. Suhayla has developed an original screenplay Left Luggage as part of the Guiding Lights scheme where her mentor was Christopher Hampton.

Sarah Malin plays Erica and she is joined by Eden Howard as Jenny and Kate Lassman-Long as Nadine. Eden Howard and Kate Lassman-Long are both part of the Unicorn Young Company and are making their professional stage debuts.