No longer booking
  • Venue Arcola Theatre, London
  • Performance dates Booking to 15 July 2023
  • Running time 2 hours (including interval)
  • Age guidelines 15+

Possession is a powerful new play at the Arcola Theatre that interweaves the stories of four mothers across continents and time, through colonial and contemporary Democratic Republic of Congo, and Victorian and present-day London.

Possession is a tale about desire. About owning and being owned. About colonising and being colonised. And ultimately about the power of the spirit to escape oppression.

Possession is playing at the Arcola Theatre in London from 15 June to 15 July 2023.

Kasambayi, recently arrived in the UK from the Democratic Republic of Congo, starts her contractions on the number 38 bus at Clapton Pond, and gives the final push at Victoria. She names her daughter Hope — hope for their new life, hope for their future.

Once Hope is fully grown, her path crosses with Alice, a foreign correspondent with a particular interest in Cobalt – the latest blood mineral being mined in the DRC. But will their budding friendship threaten the safety that Kasambayi has so carefully built for them in London?

Meanwhile Alice Seeley-Harris, a Victorian Missionary’s wife in King Leopold’s Congo has a horrible sense that history is repeating itself.

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Performance Information

Check booking calendar for full details

Stars and Creatives

Who is in the cast of Possession?

Possession stars Sarah Amankwah as Kasambayi, Diany Bandza as Hope, Dorothea Myer-Bennett as Alice Young/Alice Seeley Harris, and Milo Twomey as John Dent/John Harris.

Who are the creative team of Possession?

Written by Sasha Hails, and directed by Oscar Pearce.

The creative team also includes Set Designer: Sarah Beaton; Lighting Designer: Joseph Ed Thomas
Sound Designer: Esther Kehinde Ajayi; Video Designer: Leo Flint; Costume Supervisor: Alexandra Kharibian; and Movement Director: Tian Brown-Simpson.

Important Notes

Content Warning:

Child birth, sexual content, discussions of sexual violence against women, discussions of generational trauma, historical photography of amputated body parts.

Venue Information

Arcola Theatre , 24 Ashwin Street , London, E8 3DL

Nearest Tube or Train: Dalston Kingslan, Dalston Junction

Nearest Buses: 149, 242, 6, 243, 38, 56, 30, 277

Directions

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Frequently Asked Questions

Possession is playing at the Arcola Theatre in London
The running time of Possession is 2 hours (including interval)
The age recommendations for Possession are: 15+
Yes, Possession has matinee performances on the following days: Saturday
No, sorry, Possession has now completed its run and is no longer on sale.

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