NEWS: Nottingham’s Aisling Loftus cast in Dennis Kelly’s volatile Girls & Boys

Nottingham-born Aisling Loftus is well-known for her wide range of roles on stage, television and in film. This year, she featured in James Graham’s Sherwood Series 2 for the BBC, and previously appeared at Nottingham Playhouse in Touched by Stephen Lowe, alongside Vicky McClure, fellow Television Workshop alumni. Aisling was also a part of the NT Connections drama programme at Nottingham Playhouse in her youth.

Nottingham Playhouse are presenting the UK regional premiere of BAFTA, Tony, Emmy and Olivier award-winning Dennis Kelly’s (Matilda the Musical, DNA and Channel 4’s Utopia) Girls & Boys. It’s a tour-de-force one-woman show full of savage humour and raw intensity, performed in 90 minutes in a non-stop powerhouse performance.

Directed by Anna Ledwich (Anthropology, Hampstead Theatre; Photograph 51, Ensemble Theatre Sydney), Girls & Boys showcases Kelly’s signature writing style, blending biting comedy with unflinching examinations of human nature.

The Designer is Janet Bird, Lighting Designer is Matt Haskins, Sound Designer is Harry Blake, Movement Director is Chi-San Howard, Voice and Dialect Coach is Joel Trill and Casting Director is Arthur Carrington.

Aisling Loftus commented:

 “I’m over the moon to be working with Anna on this and to be doing it in Nottingham is very exciting (and scary). It’s a funny, dark, unforgettable play. I can’t wait to get started.”

 Director Anna Ledwich said:

 “Girls & Boys manages to be that rare beast: a funny, provocative, shocking and moving play. It lures you in, charms you, and then pulls the rug out from under you.

 “It is a magnificent tour-de-force for an outstanding actress and Aisling Loftus has the wit, steel, vulnerability and power that will make this play sing. I can’t wait to unpack the play’s mysteries with her.”

 Artistic Director of Nottingham Playhouse, Adam Penford, said:

“What an honour to be producing the regional premiere of Dennis Kelly’s Girls & Boys. Dennis is one of the UK’s best writers and this play goes off like a rocket. It’s very timely, and sadly has become even more so since it first premiered in London in 2018. So far, only Carey Mulligan has performed this immense role and we’re thrilled to have Nottingham’s own Aisling Loftus take on the challenge.”

Girls & Boys starts as a typical love story – boy meets girl and sparks fly. An intense, passionate relationship begins. In time they settle down, have children and live ordinary, chaotic lives. But beneath the veneer of normality, a disturbing undercurrent is growing. Their seemingly perfect world unravels, revealing shocking truths about family, violence and what really goes on behind closed doors.

Girls & Boys will be produced to Theatre Green Book standards, a set of standards for creating productions sustainably, including that 50% of materials should have had a previous life and 65% of materials should be reused or recycled afterwards.