Deadline have released the first image from the upcoming film, THE ALMOND AND THE SEAHORSE, written by Kaite O’Reilly and Celyn Jones, who also stars alongside Rebel Wilson and Charlotte Gainsbourg. The film is an adaptation of O’Reilly’s play of the same name, which won the Susan Smith Blackburn Award. It tells the story of an archaeologist and an architect who navigate life after a traumatic brain injury.

THE ALMOND AND THE SEAHORSE is directed by Jones and Tom Stern and is being produced by Jones’s production company, Mad as Birds. The film is currently in post-production.

Praise for the stage version of THE ALMOND AND THE SEAHORSE

‘Unmissable drama...Throughout Kaite O’Reilly’s tremendous new play...extraordinary scenarios are tenderly drawn and powerfully realised...’ - Elisabeth Mahoney, The Guardian

‘This is a powerful drama, beautifully written…Compelling and emotionally charged...Bold and effecting...’ -Allison Vale, The British Theatre Guide

‘Kaite O’Reilly’s powerful new play... Superb...impressively researched ... [with] graveyard humour, poetic flights of fancy...’ - Jon Holliday, The Stage

About Kate O’Reilly

Kate O’Reilly is an award-winning playwright and a significant figure in the disability movement whose pioneering theatre-work has consistently addressed themes of disability and used disabled performers. She has won many awards for her work, including the Peggy Ramsay Award, Manchester Theatre Awards best play of the year, Theatre-Wales Award and the Ted Hughes Award for new works in Poetry for PERSIANS for National Theatre Wales. Widely published and produced, she works internationally.

Follow Kaite on twitter here and on her website

Buy THE ALMOND AND THE SEAHORSE and other plays here

Principal photography has begun on THE ALMOND AND THE SEAHORSE, the film adaptation of Kaite O’Reilly’s stage play.

What happens when you're ambushed by time? An archaeologist and an architect fight to re-imagine a future after traumatic brain injury leaves them adrift from the people they love.

THE ALMOND AND THE SEAHORSE will star Rebel Wilson and Charlotte Gainsbourg, and the directors are Celyn Jones and Tom Stern.

The film is produced by Mad As Birds, headed up by Andy Evans and Sean Marley with Alex Ashworth, and filming is taking place in Liverpool and North Wales.

THE ALMOND AND THE SEAHORSE was debuted in 2008 as a stage play, at Sherman Cymru Theatre, Cardiff, to stellar reviews. The playtext was published by Sherman Cymru.

Praise for THE ALMOND AND THE SEAHORSE:

"Unmissable drama ... Throughout Kaite O’Reilly’s tremendous new play ... extraordinary scenarios are tenderly drawn and powerfully realised in Phillip Zarrilli's beautifully judged production." 5 stars ***** (The Guardian, 2008)

“This is a powerful drama, beautifully written…Compelling and emotionally charged ... Bold and effecting ...” (British Theatre Guide, 2008)

“Kaite O’Reilly’s powerful new play ... Superb ... impressively researched ... [with] graveyard humour, poetic flights of fancy ...” (The Stage, 2008)

“Dense and multi-layered, ...Like…[Rothko or Satie]… Kaite O’Reilly has complete mastery over a territory that is distinctively her own…. What marks out Kaite O’Reilly’s writing is the skill with which she sets up deep echoes and resonances so that her play vaults beyond its subject...” (Theatre Wales, 2008)

“... this intelligent work ... flashes of brilliance. A fascinating work, totally engaging ...” (Western Mail, 2008)