Avoidance - the new play by Mike Heath

May 5, 2017
2 min read

The end of this month (May 2017) sees Agrippa Productions bring award-winning playwright Mike Heath's newest play Avoidance to the stage for the first time.

Mike and I go WAY back... we met for the first time in the late nineties when we both worked on the research team for a dance music radio station called Galaxy 102 in Manchester, so after all this time it's safe to say that we get on pretty well. Which is handy because this will be the third play that we've both worked on together.

Mike is a seasoned Playwright, with sixteen stage plays under his belt including this one, as well as being an experienced Director, and it's both of these talents that he brings to the party this time.

Yes Mike not only wrote Avoidance but he's directing it too and this can mean just one thing - it's going to be exactly how he imagined it when he sat down to put pen to paper (or is that fingers to keys?) Something that eludes and frustrates many writers.

About the play

Avoidance is a witty drama which explores the nature of grief, the bonds that tie families together and the power of the human mind to heal, in more ways than one.

Here's a bit about Avoidance:

Tom has been dead for 15 years. At least, that’s what his sister, Michelle, thinks. Their mother has since passed away, leaving her and husband Damian, trapped in a house haunted by memories.

Damian is desperate for them to make a fresh start away from the family home and when Tom appears on the doorstep, hope rears its head for Michelle and presents an opportunity for him.

The cast

Auditions were held in the middle of April and whilst it's always incredibly difficult to choose who you want to take on roles, we finally agreed on a brilliant cast.

The team is made up of award winning actress and stand up comedienne Joanne Dakin whose credits span stage and screen and include Corrie, Emmerdale and Two Pints of Lager; Ant Bacon who you may recognise from Last Tango in Halifax, Ordinary Lies and Coronation Street as well as theatre and radio appearances going back ten years; and Greg Kelly whose recent work Chippy Tea has been selected for the BAFTA festival this year, and has appeared in Hollyoaks and Waterloo Road.

So with this formidable team rehearsals are well under way and the play is really coming to life. I can't wait for it to hit the stage and I know I'm biased here but I would highly recommend you come along to see Avoidance. It's thought provoking, absorbing, brilliantly performed and more important than all of that it's really entertaining.

So come along to the Kings Arms Theatre for a great night out and see what all the fuss is about. In the meantime keep up to date on the official Twitter account @AvoidancePLAY and as we are still seeking funding for the production, if you can spare a few quid, please consider donating to our crowd funder.