JESSICA ARTHUR
Director
The Wolves
A soccer team of teenagers – they’re close, they look out for each other. In an age where people are being driven to increasing isolation, these young women find strength and meaning in each other. As long as they play together, the violence, distrust and confusion off the field can be resisted. But this is just the warm up. The real game is about to come crashing into their lives.
A beautiful, sophisticated play from New York, The Wolves presents a season in the lives of these young women. We see their anxieties, hear their secrets, watch them resolve their petty squabbles and deeper divisions. Life isn’t a game – but each player realises she’s part of a team, and never truly alone.
This production burst into life at the Old Fitz in 2018. Seeing these nine young women at play – joyful, wild, dangerous – was exhilarating. Watching them grow up before your eyes was moving. We can’t wait to unleash their optimism and free-spiritedness on the Belvoir stage.
Finalist 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Drama
Writer: Sarah DeLappe
Director: Jessica Arthur
Designer: Maya Keys
Lighting: Veronique Bennett
Composition and Sound: Clemence Williams
Soccer Coach: Mandela Mathia
Cast: Emma Harvie, Chika Ikogwe, Brenna Harding, Sarah Meacham, Sofia Nolan, Michelle Ny, Cece Peters, Nikita Waldron, Nadia Zwecker
Photographer: Brett Boardman
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"The impact of the play is enhanced Arthur’s replete vision for cohering the audience engagement as the individuals emerge from the pack. The actors excel at giving the young women separate lives off field via otherness or individual friendships within the group, and they interpret the age of the girls with endearing, chatty, engaged in their own way, verisimilitude." ★★★★ Judith Greenaway, Arts Hub
"Sensitively and agilely directed by Jessica Arthur...You can’t help but be moved." ★★★★ Justine Nguyen, Limelight
"The dazzling choreography of the athletic interchanges and intertwined dialogue is seamless and brilliantly executed by the cast and director Jessica Arthur." ★★★★ Diana Simmons, Stage Noise