The musical will run at the King’s Head Theatre from the 17th to the 21st June.
It has been announced that Olivier Award nominee Jo Foster (Into The Woods, The Bridge Theatre, Why Am I So Single?, Garrick Theatre) is set to lead the cast of new LGBTQIA+ musical May Day in a workshop performance at King’s Head Theatre this June.
Alongside Foster will be Tylan Grant known for the role of Phoenix Hathaway on Channel 4’s Hollyoaks as Rae’s love interest Billy. The cast is completed byGracie McGonigal (Bridgerton, Netflix, Into The Woods, The Bridge Theatre), Joni Ayton-Kent (If/Then, Savoy Theatre, Carousel, Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre) and Dillon Scott-Lewis (People, Places and Things, National Theatre, & Juliet, Shaftesbury Theatre).
May Day was conceived and directed by Millie Foy and Molly Stacey with book by non-binary writing duo Pound Puppy, Barney Doran and Anna Fenton-Garvey (10 Things to Tell Yourself in the Line to Gay Club, Almeida Theatre) and music and lyrics by Sam Woof (Artistic Director, GOYA Theatre Company, Four Felons and a Funeral, touring 2023 – 2024).
Rae, a water sprite turned human, is thrown onto the Heath and into an angry world they don’t understand. As fires rage and protests erupt, they have one mission: extinguish the flames and restore balance. The fate of the world rests in their newly found hands. No time for distractions.
Then Rae meets Billy. He wants to burn it all to the ground. Sparks fly. Everything changes.
Set in the supercharged waters of the Hampstead Ponds, this bold new musical asks: is everyone safe in the water? Will queerness save us? And can we enjoy an oasis if the rest of the world is on fire?
Co-Director Millie Foy said, “May Day takes the very real location of the Hampstead Heath ponds and uses it to tell a completely fantastical story about a genderless water sprite, navigating the rules of our world and getting into trouble. The hope is to explore what we have in common – a desire to feel good, to rest, to feel protected from violence – as a way of unpacking the intergenerational conflict between feminists about who was allowed in single-sex spaces. May Day is our way of thinking through the policing of safe spaces and how that intersects specifically with gender. The show uses myth and magical realism to question how sanctuary is contingent on exclusivity – when that works and why it sometimes doesn’t. Hopefully we do that with a lot of compassion and with our empathy extended in all directions.”
To book tickets visit: https://kingsheadtheatre.com/whats-on/may-day-1s1r