Southwark Playhouse is delighted to announce the full cast for new play ‘FOREVERLAND’ written by upcoming playwright Emma Hemingford (‘Flinch’) and directed by Frederick Wienand (‘Pauline’ by Sophie Bentinck) which will premiere at Southwark Playhouse Borough (The Little) for a three-week run, from 2nd – 19th October 2024.

Emma McDonald (Lead in AMCs utopian drama ‘Moonhaven’; ‘The Serpent Queen’ Amazon Prime; ‘7 Keys’ nominated for Best Actress Total Film; ‘Macbeth’ / ‘Midsummer Night’s Dream’ at the Watermill theatre, Wilton’s Music Hall and UK Tour) will play Alice opposite Christopher York’s (Macbeth in The Faction’s touring production, Star War series ‘Andor’ and ‘Final Fantasy XVI’) Jay.

Una Byrne (Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf (Sonia Friedman Productions/West End), Move Over Mrs Markham (The Mill at Sonning) will play Annie and Valerie Antwi (‘Harry Potter and the Cursed Child’ and ‘Quiz (UK Tour)’ completes the four hander as Dr Lane.

‘Foreverland’ is a gripping drama tackling the future of biotechnology and what it might mean to ‘cure’ death, and truly live forever. Grounded in the inter-generational story of one family’s love and loss, the play raises the universal questions; what makes a good life? How far would we go to be with our loved ones? How do the decisions of one generation affect the lives of the next?

A collage of human organs

Description automatically generated ‘Foreverland’ imagines a near future in which immortality has become possible for the privileged elite, adding a new and intriguing layer to the concept of the ‘haves and the have nots’. This dystopian projection is far closer to our lived reality than we may realise: a recent boom of Silicon-Valley investment in longevity medicine has caused leading scientists to predict that the first generation of people to live for hundreds of years, or even thousands, has already been born[1].

In the past, the world has welcomed medical advancements that extended the human life-span; but is there a line that should never be crossed? ‘Foreverland’ asks; what would vastly extended human life-spans mean for social change, or for interpersonal relationships?

Tackling a fascinating subject, and one which is both appealing and terrifying in equal measure, ‘Foreverland’ challenges audiences to open up ideological conversations around the issue, borne of witnessing the characters’ intimate dialogues, as their lives look set to be transformed.

More than an exploration of the future of biotech, the play is also a timeless parable with an intimate focus on one family. ‘Foreverland ‘invites audiences to reflect on the deeply ingrained desire for control over our bodies, our lives, and our deaths.