About Goldfish

“How far would you go to believe a lie if it was the only thing keeping your child alive?”

Alaska, 1899. The Klondike Gold Rush is bleeding to a cold, desperate halt.

Enter Jefferson "Soapy" Smith, real-life legendary conman, ruling the underworld, Soapy is now a down-on-his-luck gangster with only one thing left to care for, his desperately ill ten-year-old son, William.

When a young girl is pulled alive from a raging river clutching a salmon, a wild rumour grips the frozen camp. They say the fish can talk. For Soapy, this is the ultimate gamble. Is it his grandest con yet? Mass hysteria in a town starved of hope? Or is this silent, swimming creature a genuine miracle sent to save his dying son?

When a sharp-tongued biological scientist, Dr. Kathleen Mole, arrives to dissect the truth, she brings with her a ghost from Soapy’s past that threatens to shatter his carefully constructed world.

Produced by Yawning Dog Productions and written by Nina Beck, GOLDFISH is a haunting, darkly humorous, and deeply moving contemporary fable about fake news, broken families, and the currency of hope.

Director, Guy McNair-Wilson utilizes a cinematic aesthetic. Set around a shifting wooden table lost in haze and shadows, the production features mesmerizing movement style by 2023 BBC Young Dancer finalist Lauren Scott (Sadlers Wells Breakin Convention), a rich visual landscape by award-winning lighting designer Rachel Fox, and a haunting score by Olivier-nominated composer Simon Slater.

Direct from highly acclaimed development runs at the MAST Mayflower Theatre and Chichester Festival NEST, GOLDFISH is a visual tour de force that will stay with you long after the final, breath-catching silence.

Starring Irish actor/comedian, Ben Keenan (Netflix’s Run Away, Eastenders), alongside Ingrid Werner (Rivals, Disney’s Disenchanted), Sam Newman (Nuremberg, Casualty), Gus Flind-Henry, Alastair Braidwood, Anthony Evans-Pughe and Sylvia Young Agency performers Dougie South, and Teddy Russell.

Image gallery

Cast

Writer: Nina Beck
Director: Guy McNair-Wilson
Movement Director: Lauren Scott
Lighting Director: Rachel Fox
Composer: Simon Slater