Arsema Thomas and Freddy Carter to star in Poor Clare at Orange Tree Theatre this summer.
Fantastic new rehearsal images have been released for Chiara Atik's Poor Clare, starring Arsema Thomas and Freddy Carter, at Orange Tree Theatre. Opening on 16 July, previews from12 July, and runs until 9 August 2025. See the website for more rehearsal images.
I’m still going to like, do charity, probably even more than I do now.
Clare has it all. She's a super-rich noblewoman living her best life in medieval Assisi, trying out hairstyles, and sharing the latest gossip with her sister and maids.
Everything is on track for her to marry some super-rich nobleman and live super-richly ever after. But on the streets of Assisi, she meets Francis, who’s sharing some of the wildest ideas Clare has ever heard. And when she listens to what he has to say, her eyes are opened to a whole new way of living.
Chiara Atik’s Poor Clare won the 2022 American Theatre Critics Association’s New Play Award, the LA Drama Critics Circle winner for Best New Play, and a Susan Smith Blackburn Award finalist. Blanche McIntyre is a regular director at the National Theatre, RSC, and Shakespeare’s Globe, and a past winner of a Critics’ Circle Award and UK Theatre Award.
Blanche McIntyre said, “Chiara Atik’s Poor Clare is a sharp, funny, and moving play that speaks powerfully to the world we live in today. I’m thrilled with the ensemble we’re bringing together, and especially excited to welcome Arsema Thomas as she makes her stage debut, alongside the superb Freddy Carter. I can’t wait to see how this cast brings such a vibrant and thought-provoking text to life on stage.”