NEW ARTWORK RELEASED FOR 'CLARKSTON' STARRING JOE LOCKE AS VENUE AND DATES ANNOUNCED

New artwork has today been released for the UK premiere of Clarkston by critically acclaimed writer Samuel D. Hunter (Oscar-winning and BAFTA nominated film The Whale) as venue and dates are also confirmed.   Joe Locke (Emmy Award-nominated Heartstopper; Marvel’s Agatha All Along;  Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Broadway) will make his West End debut in the production starring opposite Ruaridh Mollica (BIFA nominated for Sebastian; The Franchise, HBO) with Sophie Melville (The Way, BBC; Cowbois, RSC/ Royal Court; Evening Standard Award nominated for Iphigenia in Splott, Lyric Hammersmith). Drama Desk and Obie award-winner Jack Serio (Grangeville, Signature Theatre) will direct.

Clarkston will have a strictly limited run at Trafalgar Theatre from 17 September for 9 weeks only.  Tickets are now on sale to priority bookers at www.ClarkstonPlay.co.uk and will go on public sale from Tuesday 22 July at 10am.
 

The creative team will also include set and costume designer Milla Clarke, lighting designer Stacey Derosier, sound designer George Dennis, casting director Stuart Burt and dramaturg John Baker. Wessex Grove is executive producer and general management.   

“You have this idea in your head of the person you could be”

On a journey West to rediscover himself, Jake unexpectedly meets Chris – a kindred soul hiding in a night shift at a Costco in a rural American town. As their bond deepens, so does their sense of adventure. Maybe they could finally give life new meaning by chasing something more – like the intrepid explorers Lewis and Clark before them.

Clarkston is a modern frontier story that blazes a trail through friendship, acceptance, love and the hope of new discoveries.

Joe Locke shot to fame with his breakthrough performance in Netflix’s chart topping and Emmy Award-nominated LGBTQ+ teen drama series Heartstopper for which he was nominated for Outstanding Lead Performance at the Children's and Family Emmy Awards in 2022.  He went on to star in all three seasons of the popular show and is currently in production for the new Heartstopper feature film where he will reprise his role and, alongside co-star Kit Connor, serve as an executive producer. Last year, Joe had a leading role in Disney+/Marvel’s WandaVision spinoff series Agatha All Along alongside Kathryn Hahn, Aubrey Plaza and Patti LuPone. The series was released to critical acclaim, becoming one of Marvel Television’s most successful shows with Joe receiving a nomination for a Film Independent Spirit Award for his performance.  On stage, he won the Best Professional Debut Award at the WhatsOnStage Awards in 2023 for his performance in The Trials (Donmar Warehouse) and made his Broadway debut last year in the Tony Award-nominated Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street performing alongside Aaron Tveit and Sutton Foster.

Samuel D. Hunter’s full-length plays include The Whale (Drama Desk Award, Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Play, GLAAD Media Award, Drama League and Outer Critics Circle nominations for Best Play), A Case for the Existence of God (New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award for Best Play, Hull-Warriner Award), Little Bear Ridge Road (Jeff Award, Best New Work), Grangeville (Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle nomination for Best Play), A Bright New Boise (Obie Award, Drama Desk nomination for Best Play), Greater Clements (Drama Desk nomination for Best Play, Outer Critics Circle Honoree), The Few, A Great Wilderness, Rest, Pocatello, The Healing, and The Harvest, among others. The film version of The Whale, directed by Darren Aronofsky and starring Brendan Fraser, was nominated for the 2023 BAFTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay and received two Oscars, including Best Actor. Other awards include a 2014 MacArthur “Genius Grant” Fellowship and an honorary doctorate from the University of Idaho.

Ruaridh Mollica is a Screen International Rising Star Scotland 2024 and was shortlisted for the BIFA 2024 Breakthrough Performance.  His film credits include indie feature Sebastian (which had its worldwide premiere at Sundance Festival and the LFF) and BAFTA Scotland and BIFA award winning short film Too Rough (which premiered at the SXSW film festival).  On television he has had regular roles in HBO's The Franchise and Netflix dramas Witness Number 3 and Red Rose. He will also feature in the second series of A Thousand Blows for Disney.

Sophie Melville’s recent credits include James Graham series The Way (directed by Michael Sheen for BBC One) and the acclaimed play Cowbois (RSC/Royal Court).  Her breakthrough stage performance was Iphigenia in Splott (Lyric Hammersmith) for which she won The Stage Award for Acting Excellence and was nominated for Evening Standard and Drama Desk Awards.  Other theatre includes Apex Predator (Hampstead Theatre), Girl in the Machine (Young Vic), The Merchant of Venice (Shakespeare's Globe), Mum (Soho Theatre), Sorter (Swansea Grand), Wolfie (Theatre503), The Divide (Old Vic) and No One Will Tell Me How to Start a Revolution (Hampstead Theatre).  Sophie’s television credits also include The Pact, The Missing and Call the Midwife (all BBC).

Jack Serio is a Drama Desk and Obie award-winning New York theatre director. His recent credits include the world premieres of Bubba Weiler's Well, I'll Let You Go (Irondale), Samuel D. Hunter’s Grangeville (Signature Theatre) and Ken Urban's Danger and Opportunity (East Village Basement).  He directed a critically acclaimed production of Uncle Vanya staged in a Flatiron loft which garnered three Drama Desk nominations including Best Revival. Other credits include the U.S. premiere of Ruby Thomas's The Animal Kingdom (The Connelly Theater Upstairs), Joey Merlo's On Set with Theda Bara (The Brick), and the U.S. premiere of Rita Kalenejais's This Beautiful Future (The Cherry Lane Theater).

The producing team will also include Craig Balsam, Patrick Catullo and Daniel Neale.

Joe Locke is repped by Markham, Froggatt & Irwin and Prosper PR in the UK and CAA and Sloane, Offer, Weber & Dern in the US.