PRODUCTION IMAGES RELEASED FOR POLKA PLAYWRITING AWARD WINNING SHOWDWEEB-A-MANIA
- ely01123
- Oct 10
- 2 min read
RUNNING IN POLKA’S ADVENTURE THEATRE FROM SATURDAY 4 OCTOBER UNTIL SUNDAY 9 NOVEMBER 2025
WITH A PRESS PERFORMANCE FRIDAY 10 OCTOBER 6PM
Polka Theatre’s Artistic Director and Joint Chief Executive Helen Matravers, Executive Director and Joint Chief Executive Lynette Shanbury, and the whole team are pleased to announce the cast and creative team for Dweeb-A-Mania – the winner of the inaugural Polka Playwriting Award, which champions playwriting and the creation of new work for young audiences aged 7-13 years. The show will run in Polka’s Adventure Theatre from Saturday 4 October until Sunday 9 November.
Kemi and Norah are mega-nerds through and through. They think they know a lot about... everything! But when popular boy Bentley refuses to invite them to his wrestling-themed party, they discover, to their horror, that he thinks they are dweebs! It turns out that they have a lot to learn – especially about wrestling. Together, they secretly launch a plan to become champion wrestlers, crash Bentley’s party, and prove to everyone that they are, in fact, extremely cool.
Dweeb-A-Mania is a punchy, powerful new comedy which celebrates being exactly who you want to be. Get ready for flying kicks, body slams and a mind-blowing number of barbecued chickens!
The cast for Dweeb-A-Mania will be Amy Blake (‘Brassic’, Sky TV) and Chidera Ikechukwu ('Waterloo Road’, BBC) as best friends ‘Norah’ and ‘Kemi’, with Grace Carroll as ‘Lily’, and Wesley Ruthven as ‘Bentley’, both making their professional stage debut.
Written by Sarah Middleton, the show is directed by Hannah Stone (‘Ruby’s Worry’, Mishmash Theatre), with Katie Lias (‘Handbagged’, National Theatre and Queens Theatre Hornchurch UK Tour) as Set and Costume Designer, movement direction from DK Fashola (‘Pig Heart Boy’, Unicorn Theatre) and fight direction from Nora Iso-Kungas. Alongside them are Ellie Isherwood as Composer and Sound Designer and Jane Lalljee (‘Tidy’, Theatr Iolo) as Lighting Designer.
Dweeb-A-Mania has been brought to life through The Polka Playwriting Award where the play was chosen from over 80 submissions. The award is generously funded by The Garek Trust, supported by Cockayne and London Community Foundation and the Award Partner is Methuen Drama, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing PLC.
