Cleansed
By Sarah Kane, Directed by Rebecca Frecknall
Event details
Wed 22 Jul – Sat 29 Aug 2026
Recommended for ages 16+. Read more about our production guidance and warnings>
I love you now.
I’m with you now.
I’ll do my best, moment to moment, not to betray you. Now.
That’s it. No more. Don’t make me lie to you.
Two lovers and two siblings.
How far are they prepared to go to prove their devotion? And will their love survive when subjected to the most extreme violence?
Sarah Kane was one of the most original and controversial voices in British playwriting history. Rebecca Frecknall (A Streetcar Named Desire; Cabaret) directs Kane’s masterpiece which explores the brutality of desire and asks what happens to love when there’s nothing else worth living for?
Please note, this play includes:
Torture, murder and violence, including sexual violence
Depictions of sex and nudity
Drug abuse
Depictions of suicide
Homophobic language
Misogynistic language
Blood
On sale to:
To access priority booking, become a member today>
Content Warnings Recommended for ages 16+. Read more about our production guidance and warnings>
Introducing the 2025-26 Season
Stay up to date
Be the first to know when tickets go on sale for Cleansed, plus get casting updates and behind the scenes content.
cast & Creatives
-
Cast
Leo Bill
Leo Bill
Leo Bill
For the Almeida: The Duchess of Malfi; The Tragedy of King Richard the Second.
Theatre includes: Mephisto [A Rhapsody]; Dear Elizabeth (Gate Theatre); Curtains (Rose Theatre Kingston); A Midsummer Night’s Dream; The Glass Menagerie (Young Vic); Hamlet; School for Scandal (Barbican); Light Shining in Buckinghamshire; A Woman Killed with Kindness (National Theatre); Secret Theatre (Lyric Hammersmith); The Silence of the Sea (Donmar Warehouse); Posh (Royal Court/ West End).
Film includes: Flux Gourmet; Cruella; Rare Beasts; Peterloo; In Fabric; Alice through the Looking Glass; Mr Turner; A Long Way Down; The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo; Kinky Boots; Vera Drake; 28 Days Later; Gosford Park.
Television includes: Funny Woman; Becoming Elizabeth; War of the Worlds; The Long Song; Strike; Taboo; The White Queen; Pramface; The Borgias; Words of Captain Scott; Doctor Who; Home Time; Ashes to Ashes; Lead Balloon; Sense and Sensibility; Jekyll; Bash; A Very Social Secretary; Silent Witness; Messiah III; Beethoven’s Eroica; Canterbury Tales; Spooks; Midsomer Murders; Surrealismo; Attachments II; Crime and Punishment.
Pearl Chanda
Pearl Chanda
Pearl Chanda
For the Almeida: Three Sisters; Ink (also West End).
Theatre includes: The Harmony Test; Sea Creatures; Godchild (Hampstead Theatre); The House of Bernada Alba (National Theatre); The White Factory (Marylebone Theatre); The Taxidermist’s Daughter (Chichester Festival Theatre); One for Sorrow (Royal Court); Julie (Northern Stage); The Glass Menagerie (Nuffield Southampton Theatres); The Angry Brigade (Bush Theatre); Crave; 4.48 Psychosis (Sheffield Theatres); Two Gentlemen of Verona (RSC); The Seagull (Headlong).
Film includes: See How They Run; Marionette; The Final Haunting; Mr. Turner.
Television includes: Mary & George; War of the Worlds; I May Destroy You; McDonald and Dodds; Motherland; Endeavour; Arthur and George; Holby City.
Luke Cinque-White
Luke Cinque-White
Luke Cinque-White
Luke trained at The Royal Ballet School.
Theatre includes: Billy Elliot (UK tour); Cats (London Palladium/ Blackpool Opera House); An American In Paris (Royal Variety Performance); We’re Few and Far Between (White Bear Theatre).
Film includes: Garfield; Matilda; Snow White; Land Mine.
Television includes: The Crown; Adult Material.
Lizzy Connolly
Jack Riddiford
Jack Riddiford
Jack Riddiford
For the Almeida: Romeo and Juliet; The Duchess of Malfi.
Theatre includes: Stereophonic; Jerusalem; The Inheritance (West End); The Caretaker (Chichester Festival Theatre); A View From the Bridge; Macbeth; Hot Air (Tobacco Factory Theatres); Junkyard (Bristol Old Vic); In Case of Emergency (Southbank Centre).
Film includes: The Old Wretched Hag; Finding Emily; Guns Akimbo; Dunkirk; Journey’s End.
Television includes: We Are Lady Parts; Deceit; McDonald & Dodds; Doc Martin; Poldark.
Parth Thakerar
Stuart Thompson
Stuart Thompson
Stuart Thompson
In 2022, Stuart won The Jack Tinker Award for Most Promising Newcomer at the Critics’ Circle Theatre Awards.
For the Almeida: Romans: A Novel; Spring Awakening.
Theatre includes: Radiant Boy (Southwark Playhouse); Three Sisters; Ghosts (Shakespeare’s Globe); The Narcissist (Chichester Festival Theatre); Living Newspaper (Royal Court); Did I Wake You? (Young Vic); A Taste of Honey (National Theatre).
Television includes: SAS Rogue Heroes; Starstruck; The Witcher; Unprecedented: Viral.
-
Creatives
Sarah Kane
Writer
Rebecca FrecknallRebecca Frecknall
Director
Rebecca Frecknall
Rebecca is a multi-Olivier Award-winning director, who has directed in the UK and internationally. She is Associate Director at the Almeida Theatre and was previously on the Almeida’s Resident Director scheme supported by the Eranda Rothschild Foundation.
For the Almeida: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof; Romeo and Juliet; A Streetcar Named Desire (also West End/ BAM, New York, Olivier Award Winner for Best Revival and Olivier Award nomination for Best Director); Nine Lessons and Carols: stories for a long winter; The Duchess of Malfi; Three Sisters; Summer and Smoke (also West End, Olivier Award for Best Revival and Olivier Award nomination for Best Director).
Theatre includes: Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club (West End/ Broadway, seven Olivier Awards including Best Director and Best Musical Revival, nine Tony Award nominations including Best Revival of a Musical and Critics’ Circle Award for Best Director); Julie (ITA); The House of Bernarda Alba (National Theatre); Sanctuary City (New York Theatre Workshop, Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Director of a Play); Julie (Northern Stage).
Madeleine GirlingMadeleine Girling
Set Designer
Madeleine Girling
Theatre includes: Amélie the Musical (West End/ The Other Palace/ Watermill Theatre/ UK tour, Olivier Award nomination for Best New Musical); The Windsors: Endgame; The Importance of Being Earnest (West End); The Winter’s Tale; Always Orange; Fall of the Kingdom, Rise of the Foot Soldier; Revolt, She SaidThe Ant and the Cicada (RSC); Valued Friends (Rose Theatre Kingston); Embrace (Birmingham Royal Ballet/ Sadler’s Wells); CinderELLA: A New Musical (Nuffield Southampton Theatres); The Taming of the Shrew (Sherman Theatre/ Tron Theatre); Blue Door (Theatre Royal Bath); The Weir (ETT); Steel (Sheffield Theatres); Julie (Northern Stage); The Double Dealer; Little Light (Orange Tree Theatre); Kindertransport; A Skull in Connemara; Time and the Conways (Nottingham Playhouse); The Open House (Theatre Royal Bath/ Print Room); The Shape of the Pain (China Plate Theatre); Go Between (Young Vic); Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (Shanghai Dramatic Arts Centre); Right Now (Theatre Royal Bath/ Bush Theatre/ Traverse Theatre); The Harvest (Theatre Royal Bath/ Soho Theatre); The Chronicles of Kalki (Gate Theatre).
Awards include Broadway World UK Award for Best Set Design of a New Production of a Play or Musical (Amélie the Musical).
Debbie DuruDebbie Duru
Costume Designer
Debbie Duru
Debbie Duru is a designer for performance spaces.
Theatre includes:
As Costume Designer: Alice in Wonderland (Brixton House, Offie Nomination for Costume Design).
As Set & Costume Designer: Run Rebel (Pilot Theatre/ Mercury Theatre); Ravenscourt (Hampstead Theatre); The White Card (Northern Stage); Two Billion Beats (Orange Tree Theatre); The Song Project (Royal Court); . . .cake
(Theatre Peckham); Dagny Wants to Dance (Bureau of Silly Ideas); Josephine (Theatre Royal Bath).As Associate Set Designer: Mandela (Young Vic); Get Up Stand Up! The Bob Marley Musical (West End); Dick Whittington (National Theatre).
Lee CurranLee Curran
Lighting Designer
Lee Curran
For the Almeida: Romans, a novel; Cat on a Hot Tin Roof; Roots; Look Back in Anger; King Lear; Romeo and Juliet; A Streetcar Named Desire (also West End/ BAM, New York); Summer and Smoke (also West End); Dance Nation.
Theatre includes: Constellations (West End/ Broadway/ Royal Court); Jesus Christ Superstar (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre/ US tour/ Barbican); Next to Normal (West End/ Donmar Warehouse); Player Kings (West End/ UK tour); Henry V; Berberian Sound Studio (Donmar Warehouse); The House of Bernarda Alba; The Welkin; Mr Gum and the Dancing Bear – The Musical!; Protest Song (National Theatre); Britannicus (Lyric Hammersmith); Titus Andronicus; Julius Caesar (RSC); The Song Project; Gundog; X; Linda (Royal Court); The Glass Menagerie; West Side Story (Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester); The Two Character Play (Hampstead Theatre); This Bitter Earth (Soho Theatre); Harm (Bush Theatre); BURGERZ (Hackney Showroom).
Opera includes: Orphée et Eurydice (Royal Opera House); Aida; Fidelio; Nothing (Royal Danish Opera); Tosca (Opera North/ Opera Australia).
Dance includes: Cycles, Blak Whyte Gray (Boy Blue); The Limit (Royal Opera House); We Are As Gods (James Cousins Company); Enowate (Dickson Mbi); Sun; Political Mother; In Your Rooms; Uprising (Hofesh Shechter Company); Untouchable (Royal Ballet); Grey Matter; Tomorrow (Rambert).
George DennisGeorge Dennis
Sound Designer
George Dennis
For the Almeida: The Duchess of Malfi; Three Sisters.
Theatre includes: The Homecoming (Olivier Award nomination for Best Sound Design); The Seagull; Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons; The Importance of Being Earnest; Pinter at the Pinter (West End); Nine Night (West End/ National Theatre); Sweat (West End/ Donmar Warehouse); English (Kiln Theatre/ RSC); Love’s Labour’s Lost; Venice Preserved (RSC); The Effect (National Theatre/ The Shed, New York); Blues for an Alabama Sky; An Octoroon (National Theatre); The Homecoming; Further than the Furthest Thing; The Mountaintop (Young Vic); Clyde’s (Donmar Warehouse); Mom, How Did You Meet The Beatles; Sing Yer Heart Out For The Lads; The Deep Blue Sea; The Norman Conquests (Chichester Festival Theatre); Glee & Me (Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester); Straight Line Crazy (Bridge Theatre/ The Shed, New York); The Southbury Child; Two Ladies (Bridge Theatre); Talent; Frost/Nixon; Tribes (Sheffield Theatres); Hedda Tesman; Spring Awakening (Headlong); Much Ado About Nothing; Imogen; The Taming of the Shrew (Shakespeare’s Globe); Harrogate; Fireworks; Liberian Girl (Royal Court); Julie (Internationaal Theater Amsterdam).
Angus MacRaeAngus MacRae
Composer
Angus MacRae
Angus recently composed the 75-minute original prologue for the West End and Broadway productions of Cabaret. He has released several albums, including Vivarium, MMXIX and Cry Wolf.
For the Almeida: A Streetcar Named Desire (also West End); Three Sisters; Summer and Smoke (also West End).
Theatre includes: Coriolanus (National Theatre); Cabaret (West End/ Broadway); Swive (Shakespeare’s Globe); The Mountaintop (New Vic Theatre); Kite (Soho Theatre); The Father (West End); I am A Camera (Southwark Playhouse); Dream of Perfect Sleep (Finborough Theatre).
Film includes: When I’m Done Dying; Fighting For A City; Little; The Snail Man; Confection; Lost Boy; The Listener; Interlude.
Television includes: Gypsy’s Revenge; The Trials.
Dance includes: exisTence (Hessische Staatsballett); 공·空·Zero: Restriction, Body and Time (ARKO Arts Theatre, Seoul); Out Late (UK tour); What the Moon Saw; From Above (2Faced Dance Company/ International tour); Vestige (The Place); Traces Imprinted (Ballet Cymru).
Ingrid MackinnonIngrid Mackinnon
Intimacy Director
Ingrid Mackinnon
Ingrid Mackinnon is a London-based movement director, choreographer and intimacy director.
Theatre includes:
As Movement Director and Choreographer: Choir Boy (Bristol Old Vic); Shooting Hedda Gabler (Rose Theatre Kingston); That Face (Orange Tree Theatre); Every Leaf A Hallelujah (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre); Romeo and Juliet (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, Black British Theatre Award for Best Choreographer); The Meaning of Zong (Barbican/ Bristol Old Vic/ UK tour); Blue (ENO); Further than the Furthest Thing (Young Vic); Trouble in Butetown (Donmar Warehouse); Enough of Him (National Theatre of Scotland); A Dead Body In Taos (Fuel); The Darkest Part of the Night; Girl on an Altar (Kiln Theatre); Playboy of the West Indies (Birmingham Rep); Moreno (Theatre503); Red Riding Hood (Theatre Royal Stratford East).
As Intimacy Director or Support: Choir Boy (Bristol Old Vic); Shooting Hedda Gabler (Rose Theatre Kingston); Sunset Boulevard; Tina – The Tina Turner Musical (West End); That Face (Orange Tree Theatre); The Effect; Phaedra (National Theatre); La Cage aux Folles; Robin Hood; The Tempest; Every Leaf A Hallelujah; Once on This Island; Antigone; 101 Dalmatians; Legally Blonde; Carousel (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre).
Julia Horan CDGJulia Horan CDG
Casting Director
Julia Horan CDG
For the Almeida: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof; King Lear; Romeo and Juliet; A Streetcar Named Desire (also West End); The Clinic; The Tragedy of Macbeth; The Duchess of Malfi; The Doctor (also West End); Three Sisters; The Wild Duck; Machinal; The Writer; Summer and Smoke (also West End); The Twilight Zone (also West End); The Treatment; Hamlet (also West End/ Park Avenue Armory, New York); Mary Stuart (also West End/ Park Avenue Armory, New York); Oil; Uncle Vanya; Medea; Oresteia (also West End); Game; Mr Burns; Chimerica (also West End).
Theatre includes: Oedipus; Player Kings; Opening Night; A Little Life; The Shark is Broken; All About Eve (West End); Kyoto (RSC); Two Strangers (Carry A Cake Across New York) (Kiln Theatre/ West End); The Wife of Willesden (Kiln Theatre/ BAM, New York); Pass Over (Kiln Theatre); Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (West End/ Broadway); The Inheritance; A View from the Bridge (Young Vic/ West End/ Broadway); The Jungle (Young Vic/ West End/ St. Ann’s Warehouse, New York/ Curran Theater, San Francisco); Yerma (Young Vic/ Park Avenue Armory, New York).
Film includes: Hamlet; Why It’s Kicking Off Everywhere; The Exception; Departure.
Television includes: Together (BAFTA for Best Single Drama); The Trial; A Murder in the Family.
Chris Fisher
Illusions
Sam Lyon-BehanSam Lyon-Behan
Fight Director
Sam Lyon-Behan
For the Almeida:
As Fight Director: A Moon for the Misbegotten; 1536 (also West End); Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.
As Associate Fight Director: The House of Shades; Hamlet (also Park Avenue Armory, New York).
Theatre includes:
As Fight Director: Macbeth; Deep Azure (Shakespeare’s Globe); Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812; Fear of 13 (Donmar Warehouse); The Other Place; Coriolanus (National Theatre); The Spy Who Came In from The Cold (Soho Place); Paranormal Activity (West End); 101 Dalmatians; Tambo & Bones (UK tour); Gunpowder Plot (Tower of London); Candida (Orange Tree Theatre).
As Associate Fight Director: Stranger Things: The First Shadow; Les Misérables; Sister Act; The Phantom of the Opera (West End); Till the Stars Come Down (National Theatre); Heathers (The Other Palace Theatre); Edward II; Love’s Labour’s Lost (Shakespeare’s Globe); The Merry Wives of Windsor (RSC).
Film includes:
As performer: Bugonia; Bad Day at the Office; In the Grey; The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare; Jackdaw; The Marvels.
Television includes:
As performer: Vikings: Bloodaxe; MobLand; Black Doves; Red Eye; Masters of the Air.
As Fight Coordinator: London Kills; The Pact; Pobol y Cwm; Hidden/Craith.
Games include:
As performer: Norse; The Elder Scrolls Online.
Olivia WardOlivia Ward
Costume Supervisor
Olivia Ward
For the Almeida:
As Costume Supervisor: “Daddy” A Melodrama; The Wave (Young Company); (This Isn’t) A True Story (Young Company).
Theatre includes:
As Costume Supervisor: The Collaboration; The Second Woman; Nachtland; Beneatha’s Place (Young Vic); Kabul Goes Pop (Brixton House); We Started to Sing (Arcola Theatre); Othello (Shakespeare’s Globe); Hamlet (RSC); John Gabriel Borkman (Bridge Theatre); The Trials (Donmar Warehouse).
As Assistant Supervisor: Plenty (Chichester Festival Theatre); Hamlet (Young Vic); Ballet Shoes (National Theatre); Shucked (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre).
As Associate Costume Designer: Macbeth (Wessex Grove); A Face in The Crowd (Young Vic).
Roberta Zuric
Associate Director
Access Performances
Audio Described Sat 8 Aug, 2pm (Touch Tour 12pm)
Captioned Mon 10 Aug, 7.30pm
Relaxed Environment Wed 12 Aug, 2pm & 7.30pm
For full information about how to book for our access performances please visit our Access For All page.
Concessions
All concession tickets are limited and subject to availability. Proof of eligibility is required. Concessions in the final week of performances are only valid on access performances or for Deaf and disabled bookings. More info
Deaf and disabled patrons and a companion can buy discounted tickets by calling the Box Office on 020 7359 4404 or email boxoffice@almeida.co.uk.
£5 tickets will be available to those aged 25 and under for performances from Wed 22 – Tue 28 Jul. Enter code 25UNDER when selecting your seats. £5 tickets go on sale Mon 29 Jun at 5pm.
If you are aged 30 or under, over 65 or are unemployed you can book tickets at a discounted rate. Not applicable on Thu, Fri, or Sat.
A limited number of discounted tickets are available for school bookings. These range from £15 (restricted view) to £35 on Mon, Tue and Wed performances only, excluding the final week. For more information or to book, please call the Box Office on 020 7359 4404 or email boxoffice@almeida.co.uk.
Become a member
Join today to gain access to priority booking before tickets go on sale to the general public.
TALKS AND EVENTS
Talkback
After performances on 6 and 25 Aug
A post-show talk with members of the company. Free to same-day ticket holders.
Almeida For Free
Thu 13 Aug 7.30pm
A free performance and festival of events exclusively for those aged 25 and under. Sign up to our emails for Tickets & Events for 16-25s to be notified when tickets are available.
Production Supporters
Cleansed is generously supported by Dianne Roberts.