The Keyworkers Cycle - Almeida Theatre

Almeida Theatre worked in partnership with All Change, Clean Break and Graeae to produce The Keyworkers Cycle - nine short plays celebrating the humour, hope and stories of those who keep our lives running.

Associate Artist, Francesca Beard worked in collaboration with our Well Versed company of older people and social care professionals from our partners - The Mildmays (Notting Hill Genesis), St. Luke’s Centre and Alsen & New Park Day Centres to capture stories and to write Face the Music: The Social Care Workers’ Play.

This is the story of those who care and those who need care
Told together by those who need care and those who care
We will all care for someone
We will all need someone to care for us
And the moral of the story is . . .

Face the Music was directed by Emma Baggott and performed by a company made up of Well Versed members, our social care partners and two professional actors - Phoebe Naughton and Saroja-Lily Ratnavel at Almeida Theatre - 7.30pm Wed 9 and 12.30pm Sat 12 Mar 2022 alongside Assembly: The Teacher’s Play by Sonali Bhattacharyya and The Full Works: The Funeral Directors’ Play by Josh Elliot - Part 1 of 3 sets of 3 plays, which also include: The Delivery Drivers’ Play by Annie Jenkins; The Women’s Centre Workers’ Play by Eno Mfon; The Midwives’ Play by Nessah Muthy; The Refuse Collectors’ Play by Danusia Samal; The Supermarket Workers’ Play by Yomi Ṣode; andThe TFL Workers’ Play by Molly Taylor.

Evening Standard ***
The Stage ****
The Observer ****

“In Face the Music: The Social Care Workers’ Play, an astonishing lineup of older actors (from the company Well-Versed, part of the community arts organisation All Change) brings the house down – the oldest actor, the phenomenal Eula Harrison, is 96. They are moving, courageous and memorable – emphasising the importance of kindness, dreaming, dancing and the mutual care that helps us survive. Towards the end, Daphne Chamberlain tells us charmingly how she thinks of the ocean to cheer herself up and asserts that whenever she brings it vividly to mind, it is every bit as real as north London’s Balls Pond Road.” - Kate Kellaway, The Observer 13 March 2022

The Keyworkers Cycle -
If the Tube ground to a halt . . .
If the supermarket shelves emptied . . .
If your bins overflowed . . .
Would it feel like something, or someone, was missing?
A chorus of delivery drivers singing through the night, a support worker haunted by visions of the women who depend on her, a funeral director showing off his dab hand with a pair of clippers.
In an echo of the Medieval Mystery Plays – which brought together communities of craftsmen and merchants to act out the stories of famous miracles – The Key Workers Cycle presents a cycle of nine short plays celebrating the humour, the hope and the stories of those who keep our daily lives running. Performed by a company of professional actors, local community participants and key workers, The Key Workers Cycle places Islington’s community at its heart.

Photo - Ali Wright

Face the Music : The Social Care Workers’ Play cast and team - Photo by Lauren Matthews