East 15 Acting School

East 15 Acting School’s The Secret History Season at The Queen’s Theatre, Hornchurch, provides a platform for an exciting collaboration between two powerhouses of post-war British theatre that have helped transform the cultural landscape of East London and Essex.

Having committed to extend the experience of the graduate year of the BA Acting course in 2017 and to find them new stages on which to perform, East 15 first chose to commission two new plays from leading writers. They then sought to take this work beyond the confines of their own campus theatres and, having already worked with the venue on successful foyer performances in the past, found a perfect partner for the venture in the Queen’s Theatre.

The two new plays that form the The Secret History Season both explore current issues of sexuality and gender politics, migration and cultural identity through the prism of history.

Playwright Samantha Ellis (Arcola, Birmingham Rep, Hampstead Theatre) tells the extraordinary tale of Don Marco Raphael, the only Jew in England at the time of Henry VIII, picking his way through a murky world of court intrigue, racism, and prejudice. With scintillating wit and piercing compassion, The Only Jew in England brings to life a world of music, glamour, flirtation and gripping political tension.