Full company and creative team announced for the world premiere of SAFE SPACE By Jamie Bogyo
Published 12:09 on 1 Sep 2025
Safe Space by Jamie Bogyo receives its world premiere at Chichester Festival Theatres Minerva Theatre this autumn, directed by Roy Alexander Weise and running from 11 October 8 November
This whip-smart, hilarious and bracing new play takes us into the volatile quicksand of campus politics in the dying months of Obamas presidency, and asks how and if we can escape the past.
Jamie Bogyo, whose debut play this is, also plays Connor; his acting credits include Christian in the original West End production of Moulin Rouge! The Musical, Nate in The Devil Wears Prada (Dominion Theatre), Operation Epsilon (Southwark Playhouse Elephant), and Alex in Aspects of Love (West End revival).
Bola Akeju (Ted Lasso Apple TV, School Girls; or, The African Mean Girls Play Lyric Hammersmith) plays Stacy; Céline Buckens, who received International Emmy and BAFTA nominations for Showtrial and whose other screen credits include The Ex-Wife, Suspect and The Kollective, plays Annabelle; Ernest Kingsley Jr. (Is God Is Royal Court, Washington Black Hulu) plays Isaiah; and Ivan Oyik (Little Brother Jermyn Street, Ludwig BBC One) plays Omar.
The winds of change are blowing through the elite ivy-league halls of one of Americas most prestigious universities. For students Isaiah, Connor, Annabelle, Omar and Stacy, on the precipice of starting their adult lives, life is no longer about getting through a political science lecture with a hangover and auditioning for the school acapella group. Confronting the injustices of the past is top of the agenda starting with the fact that the college is named after a notorious defender of slavery. And in this pressure cooker environment, everyone has to pick a side.
Beneath the passionate speeches, do old prejudices die hard? What happens to friendship and love amidst frank debate?
Roy Alexander Weise, whose recent productions include The Hot Wing King and Nine Night (National Theatre) and Untitled F*ck M*ss S**gon Play (Royal Exchange/Young Vic/Headlong), directs.
Safe Space is designed by Khadija Raza, with lighting design by Laura Howard; the sound designer and composer is Giles Thomas, musical director and additional arrangements Michael Henry, movement director Mateus Daniel and casting director Isabella Odoffin CDG.
For ages 14+; contains strong language and scenes of an adult nature.
BOOKING INFORMATION
Tickets from £10
cft.org.uk Box Office 01243 781312
Prologue: £5 tickets for 16 30s
9,000 £5 tickets are available for 16 to 30 year-olds across all Festival 2025 productions; sign up for free at cft.org.uk/prologue.
Image credit: Bob King Creative