THE LONG SONG A new adaptation by Suhayla El-Bushra Based on the novel by Andrea Levy
KATHY BOURNE AND DANIEL EVANS PHOTOGRAPH BY SEAMUS RYAN
WELCOME
Welcome to this world premiere stage adaptation of Andrea Levy’s great novel, The Long Song. Like South Pacific before it, this production of The Long Song was originally scheduled for 2020; and also like South Pacific, the events of the past 16 months have brought its themes into even greater relief. It is doubly sad, therefore, that Andrea Levy is no longer with us to witness the birth of Suhayla El-Bushra’s stage play; but we are grateful for the unstinting support of her husband Bill Mayblin and agent Rochelle Stevens. The director Charlotte Gwinner and her team have worked tirelessly to bring this vital, ebullient and timely story to the stage, and we are delighted that many of them are making their Chichester debuts. The production process has involved immense dedication and care, and
we record our thanks to the superb cast and company for their unstinting and generous work. We’re also grateful to all those who supported them, including Inc Arts. Suhayla El-Bushra is a local playwright which lends extra pleasure to welcoming her Chichester debut. Don’t miss the opportunity to hear her discussing Andrea Levy’s legacy with Kate Mosse and other distinguished guests in our event ‘Women Writing Women’ on 16 October. There is just one more play to come in Festival 2021: our revival of David Storey’s modern classic Home – a deeply humane study of hearts, minds and England; after which we’ll greet the first of our Winter visiting productions, the National Theatre/Birmingham Rep anniversary revival of Ayub Khan Din’s comic drama East Is East. We hope you enjoy today’s performance and look forward to seeing you again soon.
Executive Director Kathy Bourne
cft.org.uk
Artistic Director Daniel Evans
M I N E R VA T H E AT R E
HOME By David Storey Josh Roche directs a major revival of David Storey’s award-winning classic: a heartrendingly funny, haunting and deeply humane study of hearts, minds and England.
8 October – 6 November #Home
cft.org.uk
WINTER 2021 - 22
EAST IS EAST By Ayub Khan Din Direct from its London run, the smash hit modern classic of comedy drama celebrates its 25th anniversary in a new co-production from Birmingham Rep and the National Theatre.
3 – 6 November #EastIsEast
cft.org.uk
CFT BUDD Recently, Chichester Festival Theatre mounted its first-ever Dementia Friendly performance. A South Pacific matinee featured adjustments to sound and light levels, a live introduction to the plot, and a relaxed approach to audience movement. And on hand were a team of CFT Buddies, to offer support where needed. Since its inception in 2017, CFT’s volunteer companion scheme has significantly grown and evolved. While Buddies continue to be available free of charge to accompany individuals to attend any performance or event at the Theatre, thanks to ongoing support from Rathbones Investment Management its remit has expanded well beyond that original concept.
Louise Rigglesford, Senior Community and Outreach Manager, explains: ‘Throughout lockdown, anyone who had used the scheme, or members of our community groups who were at risk of isolation, were offered a weekly phone call from one of our Buddies to help keep their spirits up. We also signposted them towards support services where necessary, such as help with their shopping or medication. ‘Since we’ve come out of lockdown, in 2021 we’ve further expanded the remit of the Buddies scheme through a growing connection with Chichester District Council’s Social Prescribing Team. If someone goes to their GP presenting symptoms that are best dealt with creatively rather than medically –
DIES loneliness, for example – they’ll be referred to the Social Prescribing Team, who have a network of community and wellbeing groups to help combat the issues they’re experiencing. ‘In addition to coming to see a show or getting a phone call, we’ve added two extra options. People can be referred to us for monthly tea and coffee visits, to have some social interaction and friendly contact. Whereas previously Buddies were only available to take people to see a show at CFT, we’re now offering activities anywhere across the district from Petworth and Pulborough down to Selsey. ‘That might be one of our own events or workshops; or if there’s something at
a local cultural organisation or a community centre, for example, the Buddies will support the individual going there as well, at least initially – to make sure that crossing that threshold isn’t a barrier.’ Victoria Homer, Client Service Executive and Regional Marketing Co-Ordinator for Rathbones Investment Management, cites the company’s sponsorship of CFT Buddies as the highlight of their six-year partnership with the Theatre and one way in which they are giving back to the community. ‘CFT is our local theatre which is attended by our staff and clients, some of whom would like to make use of this scheme; others may require the Buddies scheme in the future.’ Not simply financial partners, Rathbones are actively involved too; Victoria is one of the Rathbones staff who are themselves being trained as volunteer Buddies. ‘Our whole remit is about getting people to engage with the arts,’ says Louise. ‘The social prescribing movement equally values the importance of arts and creativity within wellbeing and people living fulfilled lives. So for me it’s a natural fit. It’s about connecting our volunteers with people in need through shared interests. This is a place for everyone – yes, we put on fantastic shows, but this organisation does so much more.’
If you know someone who might benefit from the CFT Buddies scheme, visit cft.org.uk/buddies
FOOD AND DRINK Enjoy delicious food and drink at our welcoming café and restaurant. Whether you’re having a meal before the show, simply relaxing with a coffee or powering up using our free Wi-Fi, we can’t wait to welcome you.
DINE BEFORE THE SHOW
GREAT COFFEE IN A GREAT LOCATION
Enjoy a contemporary British menu featuring local and seasonal ingredients, a selection of excellent wines and top-notch service in our stylish and award-winning restaurant The Brasserie – the closest restaurant to the Theatre.
A great spot for barista coffee, freshly made sandwiches, delicious cakes and a range of drinks. Our newly revamped Café on the Park is now open with extra outdoor seating overlooking Oaklands Park and new family friendly areas in our spacious foyer.
And if you’re planning festive family dining, look no further than The Brasserie this Christmas.
Open Monday to Friday from 10am and from 9am on Saturday so ParkRunners can stop by for much needed refreshment.
Visit cft.org.uk/eat for opening times, reservations, menus and more.
THE LONG SONG A new adaptation by Suhayla El-Bushra Based on the novel by Andrea Levy
THE WRITING OF
THE LONG SONG By Andrea Levy At a conference in London, several years ago, the topic for discussion was the legacy of slavery. A young woman stood up to ask a heartfelt question of the panel: How could she be proud of her Jamaican roots, she wanted to know, when her ancestors had been slaves? I cannot recall the panel’s response to the woman’s question but, as I sat silently in the audience, I do remember my own. Of Jamaican heritage myself, I wondered why anyone would feel any ambivalence or shame at having a slave ancestry? Had she never felt the sentiments once expressed to me by a Jamaican acquaintance of mine? ‘If our ancestors survived the slave ships they were strong. If they survived the plantations they were clever.’ It is a rich and proud heritage. It was at that moment that I felt something stirring in me. Could a novelist persuade this young woman to have pride in her slave ancestors through telling her a story? That was where the idea for The Long Song started.
My mum would sooner say her family were slave owners than that they were once slaves. There was one big problem though – the last thing I wanted to do was to write a novel about slavery in Jamaica. Why? Because how could anyone write about slavery without it turning into a harrowing tale of violence and misery? And if I was to write a convincing story I would have to spend a great deal of time ANDREA LEVY IMAGE COURTESY OF BILL MAYBLIN
researching eighteenth- and early nineteenthcentury Jamaica – a truly horrible part of our history. More than that, I would have to immerse myself in the weird world of European racism. Was this to be my reading matter for the next few years? I wasn’t sure I would be able to stomach it. Yet writing about the experience of slavery was a natural progression for me. Small Island, my last novel, was the story of Jamaican immigrants to England in the early years after World War Two. Before that I had written three other novels that dealt in some way or another with the experience of black people in Britain. How could I not write about where and why the relationship with Jamaica and the Caribbean began? It made sense. I had to do it. My family background was my first source of inspiration, but not in the way that you might think. When I was growing up, my parents, who were from Jamaica, were at pains to distance themselves from every aspect of their slave ancestry. My mum would sooner say her family were slave owners than that they were once slaves. My parents couldn’t – or wouldn’t – tell me much about the history of where they came from. But if they didn’t add any more in words, everything about them, the way they looked, their names, even the silences and the things they didn’t say, hinted to me that Jamaican society was in fact a very densely woven affair with a rich history. A history which includes not only the slave population from West Africa, but people coming from all over the world – as white owners of plantations or their employees, indentured labourers from India, workers from China, Jews from North Africa and Portugal. Clearly this all created a society that was considerably more complex than I had appreciated.
The Long Song is set in the time of slavery, but it is really a story about a person’s life, a lost voice from history that needed to be heard. Slavery in Jamaica was so inhumane that it is hard to think of it as a society. But as soon as I began to reflect upon the plain historical facts, I realised that slavery was a massive social system – a society in the true sense – that endured for three hundred years. Three hundred years! There are very few surviving documents and artefacts that I could find where enslaved people speak of and for themselves. This is where I believe that fiction comes in to its own. Writing fiction is a way of putting back the voices that were left out. Not just the wails of anguish and victimhood that we are used to, although that is very much part of the story, but the chatter and clatter of people building their lives, families and communities, ducking, diving and conducting the businesses of life SUGAR CANE HARVEST, WEST INDIES, 1823 IMAGE COURTESY OF SLAVERY IMAGES
in appallingly difficult circumstances. Now THERE is a story. I was beginning to get excited about this new book of mine – this long song of a tale. I researched as widely as I could. I visited Jamaica and spent days staying on an old sugar plantation. I tried to imagine myself – literally myself, because it could have been me... hey, it could have been you – living through that time and place. I began to piece together a largely unrecorded domestic history. Though there are very few black people’s accounts, there are many narratives from the time, written by white people from different viewpoints concerning how life was lived by blacks, as well as factual records of circumstances, that were very useful if you were prepared to read between their lines. Having found my story, I now had to think about how I wanted to tell it in a book which will, inevitably, be thought of as a ‘historical novel’. Many such novels start from the history, and place their characters as witnesses or participants in the events, often dramatic ones, that we know about from our history books. But what I wanted to explore isn’t in our history books. I was trying to breathe back the life of ordinary people into the skeleton of recorded events. And that requires imagination as well as research.
These are people who, from their tiny islands, have made a mark on the world. Slowly I began to realise that I was not in fact writing a novel about slavery. The Long Song is set in the time of slavery, and the years immediately after, but it is really a story about a person’s life, a lost voice from history that needed to be heard. The black peoples of the Caribbean are not the only lost voices of course. Many white men and women’s stories are ill-served by history too. But the truth is that the story of the Caribbean cannot ultimately be divided into ‘black’ and ‘white’ or African and European, just as slavery cannot be filleted out of three hundred years of British history. Those island societies would not exist as they do today were it not for Britain, and Britain would certainly not exist as it is today were it not for those islands. So what do I have to say to the young woman at the conference who was shamed by her slave ancestry? I would ask her to just look at what these people created: a vibrant
GARRY HYNESVILLAGE, JAMAICA, 1843 PLANTATION IMAGE COURTESY OF SLAVERY BARRY CRONIN IMAGES
language that infuses our own modern speech; a rich fusion of oral stories; complex festivals of dance and costume that echo today on our own streets; a musical tradition that has spread across the globe; religious innovation; fabulous cuisine; world-class sporting prowess; a strong literary canon. I could go on. These are people who, from their tiny islands, have made a mark on the world. I would tell the young woman that our slave ancestors were much more than a mute and wretched mass of victims and we do them a great disservice if we think of them as such. These were people who needed strength, talent, guile and humour just to survive. But they did more than survive, they built a culture that has come all the way down through the years to us. Their lives are part of British history. If history has kept them silent then we must conjure their voices ourselves and listen to their stories. Stories through which we can remember them, marvel at what they endured, what they achieved, and what they have bequeathed to us all. The Long Song is my tribute to them and, I hope, an inspirational story not only for their descendants, but for us all. This is an edited version of an essay in Andrea Levy’s The Long Song, published by Headline.
EMPIRE WINDRUSH ON ARRIVAL AT THE PORT OF TILBURY, 22 JUNE 1948 IMAGE COURTESY OF CONTRABAND COLLECTION/ALAMY
REMEMBERING ANDREA LEVY The author’s husband, Bill Mayblin, recalls her path to becoming a writer and belief in the power of literary fiction to educate and entertain.
The opening sentence of Andrea’s novel The Long Song is in the voice of Thomas Kinsman who is introducing the reader to his mother, July. ‘The book you are now holding in your hand was born of a craving’ he declares. ‘My mama had a story – a story that lay so fat within her breast that she felt impelled, by some force that was mightier than her own will, to relay this tale to me.’
Andrea grew up knowing herself not to be white – and therefore vulnerable to racism – but also not to be ‘typically’ black.
I have always felt that if you substitute ‘Andrea Levy’ for ‘my mama’ we have a pretty accurate description here of Andrea’s own literary career. The Long Song was the last of the five novels she wrote, but it was the culmination of a story – a big fat story – that was the impelling force for each and every one of them. It is the story of Britain and the Caribbean, the relationship between these two places, and the human legacy that it has left us with today. Andrea’s parents were part of what we now call the Windrush generation. In fact, her father Winston Levy actually came over to Britain as a passenger on the Empire Windrush in 1948. They were light-skinned Jamaicans, what in the Caribbean would be called the ‘coloured’ middle-class. Once here in England their reaction to the hostile environment they found was to keep their heads down, to downplay their Caribbean roots and to try to get themselves and their children to ‘fit in’ as much as possible. So, Andrea grew up knowing herself not to be white – and therefore vulnerable to racism – but also not to be ‘typically’ black. No tales of back home, no celebration of Caribbean culture, food or music. Her schools were overwhelmingly white, her friends were white. ‘Am I a proper black person?’ she asked herself. It took her a long time to realise that there is no such thing as a typical black person. All black Britons are part of the black British experience, her story was as valid and insightful as anyone else’s. I met Andrea when she was in her mid 20s, a good while before she ever dreamed of becoming a writer. But the groundwork for that transition (it was never really a dream) was
ANDREA LEVY AND HER PARENTS AT BREAN SANDS, SOMERSET IN THE EARLY 1970s IMAGE COURTESY OF BILL MAYBLIN
already being laid. She was reading voraciously, fiction and non-fiction, and particularly African American writers. But there was a big gap – a silence it seemed to her – in the books that she could find. In the early 1980s books that reflected her own experience of growing up black and British were very thin on the ground. This mattered to her because she was struggling to understand her place in Britain, the country she was born in, whose culture she knew, understood and enjoyed as the native that she was, and yet a country that had always made her feel as though she didn’t quite belong.
She was excited by the immense power of literary fiction to educate as well as to entertain. But the crucial step to becoming a writer herself, rather than just a reader, was a parttime course she embarked upon in much the same way that many of us do. It could easily have been yoga or printmaking but, out of curiosity (and the fact that all she needed was a pen and a note book), she enrolled on a oneafternoon-a-week creative writing course. She soon found to her surprise that not only could she write in an honest and direct way that engaged her fellow students – to be enthralled, to laugh and even to cry – but also that she had a story to tell. It was the story that was missing from the bookshelves. Her story. ‘Every light in the house burnin’!’ was a frequent exclamation of her cost-conscious dad on coming home from work on winter evenings. It became the title of her first novel, a fictionalised memoir of her growing up in Highbury in the 1960s. When she completed the novel, the search for an agent and then for a publisher was a long and dispiriting one. A simple algorithm seemed to be in play – this is a niche market: only black people will be interested in this type of book (or film or play). It’s a mindset that Andrea’s
subsequent career has disproved in a spectacular way, but one that still lingers among many of our cultural gatekeepers. Eventually Headline published the novel and have been her loyal publisher ever since.
The story of The Long Song was not unique, it was a familiar pattern true to that time and that place. There followed two more novels, Never Far from Nowhere and Fruit of the Lemon, which Andrea often described as a ‘baton race’, each one loosely autobiographical but passing the story on into the 1970s and then the 1980s, exploring the contemporary black British experience and beginning to be increasingly interested in the historical roots of Britain’s links with the Caribbean and the wider politics of empire. As a writer she was gaining confidence and getting more ambitious. She was excited by the immense power of literary fiction to educate as well as to entertain. With Small Island she went back in time to her parents’ story, and indeed to my parents’ story for it was her rounded, nuanced Englishness, white as well as black, (or perhaps I should say London-ness for she so loved the city of her birth) that made her want to write a story not only of the people who came but of the people, for better or worse, who received them. It was her breakthrough novel and it gave her a power and a readership that she relished. With Andrea there was never a ‘What shall I write about next?’ question. She just followed her nose deeper into that same story ‘fat within her breast’. Slavery was not a subject choice she relished but it was, after all, the origin story of the British Caribbean and one that the British had skilfully managed to forget. It was the logical conclusion to her story arc. It took her six years to research and write The Long Song and it took its toll on her. ANDREA LEVY AND BILL MAYBLIN IMAGE COURTESY OF BILL MAYBLIN
Halfway through she was diagnosed with cancer and her first thought was ‘Will I be able to finish my book?’. She did, and she lived to see it published and to make the impact that it did. It was shortlisted for the Booker Prize, and should have won! But as her husband and soul mate, I would say that. Back in 2010 when the book came out, journalists interviewing Andrea would admit that they never realised that the British were involved in slavery in the Caribbean. Much has changed in the last decade and such an admission would be more difficult to imagine now, one would hope. But we also know how much still needs to be done to write the true history and fill in the silences of Britain’s ‘Island story’. Andrea Levy’s body of work has been, and still is, a massive contribution to this task. Several years after the book was published Andrea and her family made a breakthrough in discovering the history of her own ancestry in Jamaica around the exact time that her novel covers. The reality bears some uncanny similarities with the story she had imagined. But in a sense, this is merely a validation of her research. The story of The Long Song was not unique, it was a familiar pattern true to that time and that place. Andrea had simply unearthed it and breathed life back into it.
THE JOURNEY TO Director Charlotte Gwinner, writer Suhayla El-Bushra and composer, arranger and musical director Michael Henry tell us about bringing Andrea Levy’s award-winning novel to the stage.
it’s very human, very personal. As somebody who’s half Sudanese, half English I’m really interested in the point at which people, thrown together by their political circumstances, connect and collide.
CG I was captivated by The Long Song when I first read it, a long time ago. I’m often drawn to material that unearths an important history that isn’t part of the mainstream and in this case a very specific history which is Jamaica. It felt absolutely important that we recognise the shared history of our relationship with Jamaica; we talk a lot about the moment of Windrush, but never about how we got to Windrush. But also, very particularly, the novel told that story through the perspective of ordinary people, not through heroes. I wanted to bring it to the stage because the characters were so strong and so vivid.
CG I had the fortune of meeting Andrea in 2018 and she very generously supported the idea of a production. We were hoping that she would be with us for the full duration of the process but very sadly she passed away. And then of course we had Covid. So it’s been a long journey to The Long Song. But when we first spoke to Andrea, she said ‘oh, it will take you 10 years’. And the irony is, it’s sort of taken half of that time.
SE-B it’s such an important book in terms of our cultural heritage. It’s about the oppressors and the oppressed, the relationship between the plantation owners and the enslaved, and
SE-B Sadly, I came on board just before Andrea died but I met and talked to her husband Bill Mayblin and her agent and close friend Rochelle Stevens, so they were really helpful. I did feel
CHARLOTTE GWINNER
How have you approached the process of taking the story from page to stage, and creating that world?
O THE LONG SONG quite reverential to the book at first, and was very careful with it. I didn’t want to mess too much with the story or the characters. The structure and plotting of the book, the dialogue and the characterisation, already work brilliantly; the challenge was in making something in the form of a novel work as a piece of theatre. In this instance, it was more about choosing what to prioritise and what to shed, but all the elements were there in the book. I didn’t really have to add anything. For me, the book is about history and storytelling, whose version of events get remembered and written down, and whose get passed on orally. The narrator, Old July, is always giving different versions of events, so the slippery nature of the truth is something I’ve tried to put into the play. CG People working on the show have worked really hard to make the process about the shared history that we have to carry. It’s been about understanding the sensitivities but also creating a show that can carry the full weight of our shared history of Jamaica alongside MICHAEL HENRY
those sensitivities. We have had lots of differing cultural perspectives in the rehearsal room to make sure that we can draw from as many specific experiences as possible. MH Both my parents were Jamaican so doing the research for this was a real eye-opener. It’s not detached history; this is what happened to my predecessors. One of the fun things is having an unreliable narrator 50 years further on from when everything happened, because a lot of musical styles changed within that time. So you could actually say she’s remembering something with a little flavour of some slightly anachronistic music. It’s a very positive challenge to stay historically accurate but also throw in other references. The Long Song is being staged at a significant point of change in how Britain discusses the wide-reaching impact of slavery and empire. Has the enforced delay due to the pandemic and everything that’s happened in the past year impacted your approach?
CG Definitely. I feel extremely privileged because my role in this has changed from urgently wanting to present our shared history in terms of Britain’s connection to Jamaica and the legacy of slavery, and moved into something that really speaks to now in a way that shows the impact of slavery on Britain today. It’s a huge privilege but also a great responsibility. All cast and company members have been part of that dialogue and coming together to tell this important story feels like an act of bravery and truth, in its own right. Additionally, a deeper awareness of the sensitivities of this subject matter has not only been vital but invigorated and heightened the creative process for all. How were decisions made about the unflinching portrayal of life as an enslaved person? CG We have chosen to think a lot about the systemic racism and brutality. We have an intimacy team working on the process, one male, one female, so we can enable the cast
to feel safe. But while we’ve handled those moments with extreme caution and really thought carefully about whether they’re needed, we’ve then had to put them back into the play and see them as part of the general fabric of this society and I think that’s what’s been harder: staging a fight or intimacy moment but then threading it into the scene and making it feel like it’s normal, when it feels so unnormal to us. What is the role of music in this period, and how does it resonate today? MH Music and rhythms play such an important part in that history. Even though songs may have seemed quite simple, like games or gossip, they were a conduit or hidden language by which oppressed people could communicate with each other how to survive the really brutal process they were undergoing. A lot of the music that came with people who’d been displaced would have been banned by the people who were forcing them into labour;
CAROL WALTON PÉROLA CONGO EWA DINA CHRIS MACHARI MOHAMMED MANSARAY ANDREW BRIDGMONT
so they would try and keep that heritage alive – certain social ceremonies or rituals away from work where they could communicate through forms such as Kumina or Jonkonnu. You’d also have needed something simple, chants or loopable dopamine triggers if you like, to help you get through the back-breaking, mortally wounding work. The growth of African music in terms of its global influence is very much attached to the displaced and diasporic movement from Central and Western Africa through the slave trade. It’s so ingrained it’s probably hard for people to recognise where those influences are today, but it pervades Western music – American styles like blues, gospel, jazz and Latin American music in particular. How do you hope this production will honour Andrea Levy’s legacy? SE-B Andrea as a writer is a figure who has been very important to me, and I know how much she means to other people. The story that
she tells in The Long Song has come through many different filters – through her lens and now through my lens. I hope I’m passing on the spirit of the book; the fact that this story is now evolving through another medium feels quite fitting. CG We have held onto those words of Andrea Levy that this is a play not about slavery but set in the time of slavery. It’s not that Andrea didn’t go deep or have an anti-racist stance – it’s clearly coming from that position – but she chose to write this story in a non-binary way, and to show characters who are complex and flawed and human, because humanity was more important to her than ideas. That’s been our approach the whole way through: how do we get over our judgement and our disgust at the actions of some of the characters and just play the truth of those human beings? That leading note from our brilliant novelist has been at the heart of what we’re trying to achieve.
WORLD PREMIERE
THE LONG SONG A new adaptation by Suhayla El-Bushra Based on the novel by Andrea Levy CAST (in order of appearance) Old July Thomas Kinsman / Nimrod Sarah / Miss Clara Ezra / Byron Cornet / Musician Dublin / Godfrey Miss Bessie / Molly Kitty Miss Rose Tam Dewar / Charles Wyndham Caroline Mortimer John Howarth / Baptist Minister July Elizabeth Wyndham Robert Goodwin
Llewella Gideon Syrus Lowe Cecilia Appiah Mohammed Mansaray Chris Machari Trevor Laird Pérola Congo Rebecca Omogbehin Carol Walton Ben Adams Olivia Poulet Andrew Bridgmont Tara Tijani Miranda Foster Leonard Buckley
The play is set in 19th century Jamaica, from around 1815. There will be one interval of twenty minutes.
World Premiere performance of this adaptation of The Long Song at Chichester Festival Theatre, 1 October 2021.
Charlotte Gwinner Frankie Bradshaw Mark Doubleday Michael Henry Helen Skiera Dick Straker Angela Gasparetto Kev McCurdy Susanna Peretz Charlotte Sutton
Director Designer Lighting Designer Composer, Arranger and Musical Director Sound Designer Video Designer Movement Director and Co-Intimacy Director Fight Director and Co-Intimacy Director Wigs, Hair and Make-Up Designer Casting Director
Diaspora Accents for Actors – Hazel Holder and Joel Trill Sandra Falase Loz Tait Charlotte King Ewa Dina Emma Davidson Jadarose Brown-senior
Voice and Dialect Coaches Associate Designer Costume Supervisor Props Supervisor Assistant Director Assistant Costume Supervisor Assistant Wigs, Hair and Make-Up
Ben Arkell Kate Bosomworth Louise Charity Eleanor Butcher Georgina Pead
Production Manager Company Stage Manager Deputy Stage Manager Assistant Stage Manager Assistant Stage Manager
Musicians: Tom Clare (Percussion), Laurence Corn (Guitar/Tenor Ukulele), Michael Henry (Wooden Flute and Additional Vocals). Production credits: Field Chorus costumes made by Jamie Attle, Attle Costumiers; Costume makers Colette Tulley, Emma Davidson, Josie Thomas, Masie Wilkins, Brooke Bowden, Jessica Griffiths; Breakdown Artist Helen Flower; Modelmaker Alice Simonato; Jonkonnu Prop Maker Damon Nomad; Prop Maker Marie Rose; Portrait Graphics Artist Irina Kuksova; Set constructed by Set Up Scenery Ltd; Sugar Cane constructed and painted by Richard Nutbourne Scenic Studio; Production Carpenter Steve Bush; Automation Engineering by Adder Engineering; Automation Control by Absolute Motion Control; Production AV Technician Dan Bond; AV Programmer Llyr Parri; AV equipment provided by Stage Sound Services; Lighting hires Encore Lighting; Transport by Paul Mathew Transport; Rehearsal room Lyric Hammersmith Theatre. With thanks to Inc Arts, Chanua, and Carol Russell; special thanks to Beverley Bogle for sharing her knowledge and experience of the quadrille, Jonkonnu and Jamaican culture and history.
Rehearsal and production photographs by Manuel Harlan Programme Associate Fiona Richards Programme design by Davina Chung Supported by The Long Song Commissioning and Patrons Circles: Philip Berry, Patrick and Maggie Burgess, Michael Coates, Rosie and Charlie Drayson, Veronica J Dukes, Steve and Sheila Evans, Themy Hamilton, Catherine and Charles Hindson, Colin and Gay Kaye, Dr and Mrs Nick Lutte, Peter and Nita Mitchell-Heggs, Sayers/Strange Family, Howard M Thompson, Bryan Warnett of St James Place, Ernest Yelf, and all those who wish to remain anonymous.
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BIOGRAPHIES
BEN ADAMS Tam Dewar / Charles Wyndham Theatre includes Dad in Not Now Bernard, Suitor/Menelaus in My Father Odysseus, King Aegeus/Minotaur in Minotaur (Unicorn Theatre); Baby Show (Theatr Iolo/Unicorn Theatre); Sneddon in The Life of Stuff (Theatre503); Robert Fortune in The Seed: The Lost Fortune (Goat & Monkey); Joe in Men Should Weep (National Theatre); Fleshcreep in Jack and the Beanstalk (Motherwell Theatre); Sean Connor in Kiss Me Quick, Lost for Words, Danny Wallace in War Stories and Jay Connor in Addicted to Love (Outside Edge); Silly Billy in Mother Goose (Hurricane Productions); Sam in Bad
Girl/Alcohol (North Bridge Productions); Topcliffe/Shakespeare in Jack Drum’s Entertainment (Union Theatre). Television includes The Bisexual, Silent Witness, Atlantis, The Honourable Woman, Musketeers, Airforce One is Down, Waking the Dead, Londoners, Merlin, The Sunday Night Project, The Friday Night Project, Switch, Terri McIntyre, River City, The Real Sex in the City. Films include Aiyaary, Knights of the Round Table: King Arthur, Dead Cool, Temptation, The Spoiler, Pubmonkey, White Admiral, Solid Air and the shorts Tale of a Tinkerer, Pulse, Angie, Management, BWD: Light & Dark, A Woman’s Past, Mistaken ID, Moon People, The Deacon
MOHAMMED MANSARAY PÉROLA CONGO ANGELA GASPARETTO CHRIS MACHARI EWA DINA
Brodie Story. Trained at Mountview. CECILIA APPIAH Miss Clara / Sarah Theatre includes H in Half Full (Richard Burton Company/Royal Court); credits while training include Connie in Dance Nation, Elma Duckworth in Bus Stop, Jessica in The Merchant of Venice, Lady Percy in Henry IV (Richard Burton Theatre Company/RWCMD); Laura in Boys (Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts). Television includes The Chelsea Detective, Toast of Tinseltown, Casualty.
Radio includes The Margins, The Devils, Wasteland, Sneakernomics, Faith Hope and Glory, The Sorrows of Young Werther, Lanny, The Sleeper and the Spindle, Peking Noir, Christmas by the Lake, Clash, Life is a Radio in the Dark, The Son, Torchwood: Cuckoo, Death Knock, And Other Stories Parts 1&2, Fusion Confidential, Lifelines. Films include Dr Strange (in the Multiverse of Madness). Trained at Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama.
BEN ADAMS CECILIAH APPIAH ANDREW BRIDGMONT LEONARD BUCKLEY
ANDREW BRIDGMONT John Howarth / Baptist Minister Theatre includes Earl of Bridgewater in Comus, Antigonus/Gentleman in A Winter’s Tale, Lyssippus in The Maid’s Tragedy (Shakespeare’s Globe); Horseman/Jussap’s Mother/Bandit in The Caucasian Chalk Circle (Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh); Wilke in Democracy (Old Vic Theatre, Sheffield Crucible); Songman in War Horse (National Theatre); Paolo Levi in The Mozart Question (Scamp/Bristol Old Vic); Vega/ Cornelius/Pope in Faustus (Headlong Theatre); The Bursar in Life of Galileo, Wilfred (Birmingham Rep); Harthouse in Hard Times, Crucifer of Blood, Stanton in Dangerous Corner (Watermill Theatre); Gerald in An Inspector Calls (Garrick Theatre); Balthazar/Friar/Sexton in Much Ado About Nothing (Sondheim Theatre); A Clockwork Orange, Hamlet, Cymbeline (Royal Shakespeare Company). Television includes The Larkins, The Windsors, Granchester, The Royals, Howards End, The Halcyon, Houdini and Doyle, Penny Dreadful, Frankenstein Chronicles, Skins, Party Animals, Family Man, Holby City, Hustle II, EastEnders, Murphy’s Law, M.I.T., Single, Casualty, The Bill. Films include Kingsman: The Great Game, The Theory of Everything, Kingsman: The Secret Service. LEONARD BUCKLEY Robert Goodwin Theatre includes Robert in Outlying Islands (Sugarglass Theatre); David in The David Fragments: After Bertolt Brecht (Samuel Beckett Theatre/Greenwood Theatre); Sir Archy MacSarcasm/Composer in Love à la Mode After Macklin, Martin in Gays Against the Free State! (Smock Alley Theatre); G.I. Joe/Composer in God’s Ear (Samuel Beckett Theatre). Theatre while training includes Jack Worthing in The Importance of Being Earnest, Rulon Stacey/ Roger Schmidt/Dennis Shepherd/Various in The Laramie Project, Oliver/Corin/Composer in As You Like It, Ivanov in Ivanov (RADA). Television includes The Great (Series 2). Radio includes Touchdown. Film includes Belfast. Trained at RADA.
PÉROLA CONGO Miss Bessie / Molly Theatre includes Squeak/Olivia in The Color Purple at Home (Curve Theatre Leicester); Therese in Our Lady of Kibeho (Theatre Royal Stratford East); Ikette in the original cast of Tina The Musical (Aldwych Theatre); Warrior Ancestor in The Addams Family (UK tour and Mediacorp Singapore); Isabella in Pinocchio (Stephen Joseph Theatre); Queequeg in Moby Dick (Union Theatre); Bet in Oliver! (Grange Park Opera). Television includes The Olivier Awards 2016 and 2019, Britain’s Got Talent, Tonight at the London Palladium, D-Day 70 Years On. Radio includes Friday Night is Music Night: We Can Be Heroes, Friday Night is Music Night: D-Day 70 Years On. Trained at ArtsEd. MIRANDA FOSTER Elizabeth Wyndham Theatre includes Carrie Pooter in Mr and Mrs Nobody, The Odyssey, Shakespeare’s Sonnets, The Countess/The Queen/The Widow in All’s Well That Ends Well, Laura/Piggie/Stella/ Barbara/Emily/Dame Rosie in Tonight at 8.30 (Jermyn Street Theatre); Kathy/Theresa May in The Special Relationship, Anne in Shraddha (Soho Theatre); Vanessa/The Moms in Dance Nation (Almeida); Hazel in Years of Sunlight, Tracee in Shadow Language (Theatre503); Gertrude in Hamlet (world tour), Mrs God in God of Soho, Lady Capulet in Romeo and Juliet, The Bible (all Shakespeare’s Globe); Annette in God of Carnage (Nuffield Southampton); Harry in Springs Eternal, Lauren in Greenwash, Ariadne in Summer Again, Lady Sarah Cottesham in The Marrying of Anne Leete, Frances Lambert in King Cromwell (Orange Tree); Dottie/Mrs Greenleaf in The Talented Mr Ripley (Northampton); Queenie in Born in the Gardens (Theatre Royal Bath and Rose Theatre Kingston); Helene in Festen (UK tour); Todd in The Gingerbread Lady (Theatre Royal Bath/ tour); Beth in The Lucky Ones (Hampstead Theatre); Ros in Love You Too (Bush); Evelyn in Pera Palas (Gate Theatre); Didi in The People Downstairs (Young Vic); Gilgamesh, Schism in England, King Lear, Antony and Cleopatra, Neaptide, The Women, The Futurists, Pravda,
The Government Inspector, Animal Farm, The Spanish Tragedy (National Theatre). Television includes Sticks and Stones, Shakespeare Uncovered, The Bill, The Trial of Jemma Lang, Rosemary and Thyme, Dream Team, Where the Heart Is, Brotherly Love, The Knock, Casualty, Sharman, The Turnaround. Films include the short Eve. Trained at Webber Douglas. LLEWELLA GIDEON Old July Theatre includes Sister Moore in The Amen Corner (Bristol Old Vic); Mrs Aphrodite in The Big Life (Theatre Royal Stratford East); Faith, Hope and Charity (Théâtre Odéon Paris/Vienna WienFestwochen); Queen in Septimus Bean and the Amazing Machine (Unicorn Theatre); Mrs Banks in Play Mas (Orange Tree Theatre); Grace Bothvay in The Vote (Donmar Warehouse); Joyce in Birthday (Jerwood Theatre Downstairs at The Royal Court); The Best of the Little Big Woman, The Little Big Woman, The Little Big Woman Show (Dual Impact); Mum/Grandmother in Family Man, Nurse in The Sunshine Boys (B&S Productions). Television includes Small Axe: Mangrove, The Real McCoy (also as writer), Absolutely Fabulous, Nighty Night, Big Train, Murder Most Horrid, Alex Rider, Game Face, Millie InBetween, Still Open All Hours, Birthday, The Vote, Sir Lenny Henry’s Comedy of Colour, Big School, Giggle Biz, Trigonometry, Delivery Man, PsychoBitches, The Old Shop of Stuff, Hotel Trubble, The Lenny Henry Show, Doctors, Holby, Casualty. Radio and narration includes Bob the Builder, CBeebies Storytime, Between the Lines, Beauty of Britain. The Little Big Woman Radio Show series 1 – 3, Lenny Henry Up Next, Emerald Green, The Mayor of Balham, JoJo and GranGran. Films include Paddington, A Street Cat Named Bob, Black Sea, Second Coming, Manderlay, Nativity, Absolutely Fabulous – The Movie, Harry Hill – The Movie. As a writer, Afternoon Play: Fruit Salad, The Little Big Woman Book. In 2020 Llewella received a Bachelor of Arts in Film and Media from University College, London.
TREVOR LAIRD Dublin Hilton / Godfrey Theatre includes Mr Philip/Kenneth in Small Island, Lloyd Boateng in One Man Two Guvnors, Rennie in England People Very Nice, Val in A Statement of Regret, Wiseman in Mysteries (National Theatre); Matthew in Black Men Walking (Royal Exchange Theatre); Polonius in Hamlet (Tara Arts Theatre); James in Welcome Home Mr Fox (Donmar Warehouse); Sarge/ Manny in Kingston 14 (Stratford East); Conrad in Much Ado About Nothing (Old Vic); Squid in Sucker Punch, Young Writers Festival (Royal Court); Foxes, Sunsets and Glories, Revenger’s Tragedy, Safe in Our Hands (West Yorkshire Playhouse); Master Harold and the Boys (Liverpool Everyman); You Don’t Kiss (Stratford Circus); Death of a Salesman (Leicester Haymarket); An Enchanted Land (Riverside Studios); Welcome Home Jacko, Mama Dragon (Black Theatre Co-op); Strange Fruit (Sheffield Crucible); One Man Show – Twilight Zone, Moon on a Rainbow Shawl (Almeida Theatre); Colors, You Can’t Take It With You (Abbey Theatre Dublin); The Shoemaker’s Holiday (Leeds Playhouse); A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Twelfth Night (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre); Othello (Tivoli Theatre Dublin/Japan tour). Television includes Small Axe, No Offence, The Job Lot, Death in Paradise, Toast, Holby City, Waking the Dead, Trinity, Doctor Who, Crown Court, The Eagle, Peep Show, Murder Room, The Last Detective, William and Mary, NCS Manhunt, Casualty, The Murder of Stephen Lawrence, Undercover Heart. Films include Love Honour and Obey, Secrets and Lies, Babylon, Quadrophenia, Water, My Ticket for the Titanic, Slipstream, The Flying Devils, Billy the Kid and the Green Baize Vampire, Smack and Thistle, Hope and Glory, The Long Good Friday. SYRUS LOWE Thomas Kinsman / Nimrod Theatre includes Tristan in The Inheritance (Young Vic/Noël Coward Theatre); Jacob in La Cage aux Folles (Playhouse Theatre); Bluebard/ Courcelles in Saint Joan (Donmar Warehouse); Sainsbury’s Boy/Young Man/Dr Tim Marcus in Earthquakes in London (Headlong/National Theatre); Bedford in Henry V (Regent’s Park
PÉROLA CONGO MIRANDA FOSTER LLEWELLA GIDEON
Open Air Theatre); Reverend Parris in The Crucible (The Yard Theatre); Jacob in La Cage aux Folles (Park Theatre); Ross in Macbeth (Liverpool Everyman); Walking the Tightrope: The Tension Between Art and Politics (Offstage Theatre/Underbelly Edinburgh); Samuel in Fast Cuts and Snapshots (Fuel Theatre/A Play A Pie and a Pint); The Velveteen Rabbit (Unicorn Theatre); Barry Obama in The President and the Pakistani (Waterloo East Theatre); Paul in 66 Books – The Middle Man (Bush Theatre); Jack in Fragile – Theatre Uncut (Southwark Playhouse); Darren in The Charming Man (Theatre503); Samson in Painting a Wall (Finborough Theatre); Baron in Overspill (Soho Theatre/Churchill Theatre Bromley); Jamal/ Babal/Joshua in Testing the Echo (Out of Joint); Jimmy/One Eyed Jack in The Sky’s the Limit (Old Vic). Television includes Avenue 5, Home, Sherlock: A Study in Pink, Go Jetters, Holby City, The Living and the Dead, The Five, Critical, DCI Banks, Talking to the Dead, Doctors, Ashes to Ashes, The Bill: Wall of Silence. Films include Bring Back The Cat and Jimi: TREVOR LAIRD SYRUS LOWE
The Last 24 Hours. Trained at RADA. CHRIS MACHARI Cornet Jump / Musician Theatre includes Blaise Compaore in Sankara the Play (Cockpit Theatre); Doctor Buchanan in Beetles from the West (Hope Theatre); Leonardo in Blood Wedding (Bread & Roses Theatre); Robert Johnson in Phoenix (Phoenix Artists Club); Henri in Icarus in Love (Bike Shed Theatre Exeter); Diomedes in Troilus and Cressida and Senator in Coriolanus (Tristan Bates Theatre); The Moon in References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot (Courtyard Theatre); Abbe de Coulmier in Quills (Second Skin Theatre). Television includes It’s a Sin, Coronation Street. Radio includes Worlds: 2021 One Voice Award nomination for Best UK Male Performance in a Radio Drama. Films include Agent from Abuja, Misrule, Watchman, Mona and the short The Life of a Priest. Trained at The Actors Temple.
www.chrismachari.com Instagram @chrismachari
MOHAMMED MANSARAY Byron / Ezra Theatre includes: Samuel in Barbershop Chronicles (Fuel/National Theatre, UK and New York tour); Aide Williams in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (Sheffield Crucible); Othello in Othello, Priest in Jekyll & Hyde, Richard Dalloway in Mrs Dalloway and Boy in The Fall (National Youth Theatre); Warehouse Kid in Oliver! (Theatre Royal Drury Lane); Young Sunny in Daddy Cool (Shaftesbury Theatre/UK and international tour); BOYS - National Mime Festival (Southbank Centre). Television includes Tracey Beaker Returns, Law & Order UK, The Bill. Films include My Brother the Devil and the short Skateboards & Spandex. Trained with the National Youth Theatre REP company.
CHRIS MACHARI MOHAMMED MANSARAY
REBECCA OMOGBEHIN Kitty Theatre includes Shenzi in The Lion King (Disney Theatrical Productions/UK tour); Technician in Network (National Theatre); Tired Lady in The Scar Test (Untold Arts/Soho Theatre); Sophie in Counting Stars (Stone Crabs); Oni in Amongst the Reeds and Jemima in House (Clean Break); Robyn in Night Call (Theatre Renegade/Southwark Playhouse); Esmerelda/Emma/Jodie in Soho Young Playwrights Project (Soho Theatre); Chinedu/ Obaze/Hunter’s Wife in How Nigeria Became: A Story and a Spear That Didn’t Work and Girl in Seasaw (Unicorn Theatre); Bounty in Crowning Glory (Theatre Royal Stratford East). Television includes Adult Material, Casualty. Voiceover includes Queen of Hearts in Rhyme Time Town (DreamWorks Animation/ Netflix). Films include the shorts A Response to Your Message, Boyfriend Tactic, The Beholder, Those Who Can’t Teach. Trained at Mountview.
REBECCA OMOGBEHIN OLIVIA POULET TARA TIJANI
Outnumbered, Whatever Love Means, Friends and Crocodiles, Love Soup, The Rotters Club, Inspector Lynley, Silent Witness, Teachers, The Bill, Acorn Antiques. Radio includes #Blessed, Tracks, Two on a Tower, Goodbye, Sex Latte Paperclips. Films include In the Loop, Blinded by the Light, Mad to Be Normal, Day of the Flowers, Heroes and Villains, Killing Me Softly and the short Stalking Ben Chadz. TARA TIJANI July Theatre whilst training includes Mum/Paris in Gone Too Far, Activist 3 in Jackal Run, title role in Medea, Hermia in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Anne in Richard III, title role in Mary Jane, Masha in Three Sisters, Shaun in False Flag (GSMD); Beauty or Beast? A Series of Interviews (Young Vic); Writers of the Unexplored (Royal Court Theatre); Funke in Bitches (National Youth Theatre). Trained at Guildhall School of Music and Drama (graduated 2021). OLIVIA POULET Caroline Mortimer Previously at Chichester Chloe in Fred’s Diner (Theatre on the Fly), Dul Gret/Angie/Jeanine in Top Girls (Minerva Theatre and West End). Theatre includes Anna in What’s in a Name (Birmingham Rep); Julia/Leah in Product (Arcola); Barbara/Vicky/Doris in Tonight at 8.30 (ETT/Nuffield Theatre); Adult Supervision (Park Theatre); Sissi in Captain of Kopenick (National Theatre); Lyn in Shivered (Southwark Playhouse); Miss Cox/Reigate’s Mum/Miss Fergusson in A Voyage Round My Father and Sally Steadman in Map of the Heart (Salisbury Playhouse); Fiasco (Soho Theatre); The Queef of Terence, Bird Flu Diaries (also co-writer, Pleasance Edinburgh); Jenny Hill in Major Barbara (Royal Exchange Manchester); The Lesson (King’s Head Islington); The School for Scandal (Derby Playhouse); Age Sex Location (Lyric Hammersmith). Television includes Back, Holby City, Doc Martin, Trollied, Fresh Meat, The Musketeers, The Thick of It, Without You, Sherlock: The Blind Baker, Margaret, Secret Diary of a Call Girl, CAROL WALTON
CAROL WALTON Miss Rose Theatre includes Politician/Grenfell Resident in Babylon Beyond Borders (Bush Theatre); Puppeteer/Dancer in The Boy the Piano and the Beach (Slot Machine Theatre); Mrs Burke in Bank On it (Theatre-Rites/Barbican); Spring in The Selfish Giant (Polka Theatre); Mrs Sorter in Finders Keepers (Theatre-Rites); The Lion King (Disney); Princess Safia in The Princess and the Mouse (Stephen Joseph Theatre); Mum/ Teacher in Stepping on the Cracks, Imelda Baglady in Whose Shoes? (West Yorkshire Playhouse); Crystal in Hunky Dory (Oily Cart Theatre Company). Television includes Holby City, Bloods, Silent Eye: The Sleep House, Save Me, EastEnders, Stella. Radio includes Conception, Watch with Baby (Ritzy Cinema). Films include County Lines, David Brent: Life on the Road, Love Type D and the shorts Steal Suffering, Next Time, The Curse of Shallot, A Stitch in Time, Look at What the Cat Dragged In, Diagnosis, The Stepney Line Dancer, The Last Birthday, Needlewood Antiques, Vegetaria.
C R E AT I V E T E A M
OLIVIA POULET CHARLOTTE GWINNER
FRANKIE BRADSHAW Designer Theatre designs include Piaf, Skellig (Nottingham Playhouse); Assembly (Donmar Warehouse); Sweat (West End/Donmar Warehouse); Hamlet (National Theatre Primary Schools tour); Two Trains Running (Royal & Derngate/ETT); Cinderella (Lyric Hammersmith); A Christmas Carol (Theatr Clwyd); Napoli Brooklyn (UK tour/Park Theatre); Trying It On (UK tour/RSC/Royal Court); Kiss Me Kate, Jerusalem, Nesting, Robin Hood (Watermill Theatre); Cookies (Theatre Royal Haymarket); On The Exhale (Traverse); This Is (ArtsEd); Hansel (Salisbury Playhouse); Brink (Royal Exchange Manchester). Opera designs includes Macbeth, Idomeneo and Elizabetta (English Touring Opera). Frankie won The Stage Debut Award for Best Creative West End Debut alongside director Lynette Linton for Sweat (Gielgud Theatre, 2019). She was a Linbury Prize Finalist (2015) and a Jerwood Young Designer (2017), and won the Off West End Award for Best Set Design for Adding Machine (Finborough Theatre, 2016). www.frankiebradshawdesign.com Diaspora Accents for Actors HAZEL HOLDER & JOEL TRILL Voice and Dialect Coaches Diaspora Accent For Actors – Hazel Holder and Joel Trill – specialise in accents from the African Diaspora. Hazel Holder’s theatre work includes Caroline or Change (and Hampstead Theatre) and generations (Chichester Festival Theatre); Rockets and Blue Lights, Under Milk Wood, Death of England: Delroy, Death of England, Small Island, Nine Night, Barber Shop Chronicles, Angels in America, Les Blancs, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (National Theatre); 2:22, Constellations, Uncle Vanya, Death of a Salesman, Caroline, Or Change, Dreamgirls (Resident Director), Tina: The Tina Turner Musical, The Goat, or Who is Sylvia? (West End); Death of a Black Man (Hampstead); Changing Destiny, Fairview, The Convert, Death of a Salesman, The Mountaintop, The Emperor (all Young Vic). Film and television includes Small Axe, The Power, Death on the Nile, The Silent Twins.
Joel Trill’s recent theatre includes Rockets and Blue Lights (Royal Exchange); Trojan Horse (Battersea Arts Centre); A Taste of Honey (Trafalgar Studios); Master Harold & The Boys (National Theatre); Two Trains Running (Royal & Derngate); Red Dust Road (National Theatre of Scotland); Strange Fruit (Bush Theatre); J’Ouvert (Theatre 503); Glass Menagerie (Arcola Theatre); The Half God of Rainfall (Kiln Theatre); One Love (Birmingham Rep); Princess and the Hustler (Bristol Old Vic); The Dark (Tobacco Factory, Bristol); Macbeth (Bord Gáis Energy); Yellowman (Young Vic); Assata Taught Me (Gate Theatre); A Bitter Herb (Gielgud Theatre). Film and Television includes Mama Ks Team 4, There’s Something About Movies, Ancestors, Queen & Slim. www.diasporaaccentsforactors.com EWA DINA Assistant Director Credits as Assistant Director include... and breathe (Almeida Theatre), Sunnymead Court (The Actors Centre); as Director The Kola Nut Does Not Speak English (Vaults Festival), Omish (Courtyard Theatre), Route (Tristan Bates Theatre, Bread & Roses Theatre, The Hope Theatre). As Actor-Mover Regi in How We Love (Arcola Theatre: Today I’m Wiser Festival and Vaults Festival); Assistant in BAFTA Craft Awards 2021; McMurphy in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (English Theatre Frankfurt); Sister in Custody (Prime Theatre & The Art Machine UK tour); Auntie Mi in Run It Back (Talawa Theatre). She was Curator for the Pleasance Fringe Future’s Festival Week One: The Future is Noir. Ewa is a director, facilitator, actor, voiceover artist and poet. She is currently Associate Director at Nouveau Riche and one of five members of Theatre Peckham’s resident company, No-Table. As a facilitator, Ewa regularly works for Company Three and has worked with The Kiln Theatre, Central School of Speech and Drama, The Pleasance, The Damilola Taylor Centre and has co-created and facilitated a workshop on music, movement, and storytelling for Talawa. Trained at Rose Bruford (BA Acting course, graduated 2019).
MARK DOUBLEDAY Lighting Designer Previously at Chichester Macbeth (Festival Theatre). Recent theatre includes While the Sun Shines, Candida, Humble Boy, Poison, The Lottery of Love, The Philanderer, French Without Tears, Widowers’ Houses (Orange Tree); The Secret Garden, Ballyturk, The Lonesome West, Three Sisters (Tron Theatre); Arabian Nights, Wendy and Peter Pan, Waiting for Godot, Time and the Conways (Royal Lyceum Edinburgh); Waiting for Godot, The Distance, Democracy, The Daughter-in-Law, The Winter’s Tale, Wonderful Tennessee (Sheffield Theatres); Silver Lining (English Touring Theatre); The Welcoming Party (Manchester International Festival); Two Way Mirror (Keswick); The Iris Murders (Hebrides Ensemble); Laurence After Arabia (Hampstead Theatre); Democracy (Old Vic); Elling (Trafalgar Studios); Woman in Mind, A Christmas Carol (Birmingham Rep); The Glass Menagerie (Dundee Rep); Peter Pan (Bristol Old Vic); The Importance of Being Earnest (Nottingham Playhouse); Educating Rita, EWA DINA
A View From the Bridge (Liverpool Playhouse); Little Platoons, The Knowledge (Bush Theatre). Opera and dance includes Don Giovanni (The Nederlandse Reisopera); Ten Sorry Tales, Stepmother/Stepfather (DanceEast/UK tour); Suor Angelica, Il tabbarro (Opera North); Tenebre (Deutsche Oper am Rhien); Le Nozze di Figaro, Tannhäuser (Los Angeles Opera); Hansel and Gretel (Scottish Opera); Tannhäuser (Teatro Real Madrid); The Pirates of Penzance, Iolanthe, Mikado (Gielgud Theatre); Die Schuldigkeit des Ersten Gebots (Wilton’s Music Hall); Lysistrata (New York City Opera/Houston Grand Opera); Die Fledermaus, Orlando Finto Pazzo, Shorts, Six-Pack, Family Matters (Tête à Tête); Le Nozze di Figaro (Opera Zuid Netherlands); Manon, Die Fledermaus (English Touring Opera); Ariadne auf Naxos, Albert Herring (Aldeburgh); La Fanciulla del West, Norma (Opera Holland Park); Nitro (Royal Opera Linbury Theatre). Trained at LAMDA. www.markdoubleday.net
SUHAYLA EL-BUSHRA Writer Suhayla El-Bushra writes for stage and screen. She was writer in residence at the National Theatre Studio from April 2015 to August 2016, during which time her adaptation of Nikolai Erdman’s The Suicide was staged in the Lyttelton Theatre. Other stage work includes Pigeons (Royal Court 2013 and tour), Cuckoo (Unicorn Theatre, 2014) The Kilburn Passion (Tricycle, 2014), Arabian Nights (Royal Lyceum, Edinburgh, 2017), and Waking/Walking, one of three plays in the NW Trilogy (Kiln Theatre, 2021). For the screen, her credits include Channel 4’s Ackley Bridge, and Becoming Elizabeth (The Forge/Starz Channel). She has written a short film for Film4 and is developing a feature with the BFI and Neon Films, as well as several original ideas and scripts for film and TV.
SUHAYLA EL-BUSHRA ANGELA GASPARETTO
SANDRA FALASE Asssociate Designer Theatre includes J’Ouvert (Theatre503 & Sonia Friedman Productions); This is Black (Bunker Theatre); Romeo and Juliet (Orange Tree Theatre); Living Newspaper (Royal Court). As Associate/Assistant Designer, theatre includes A Small Place (Gate) as the 2018 recipient of the first design bursary awarded by MGCFutures. Television includes Brain in Gear. Film includes Signs. Sandra has worked on various exhibitions for the ICA, TATE and Afropunk 2018. ANGELA GASPARETTO Movement Director and Co-Intimacy Director Previously at Chichester Macbeth (Festival Theatre). Theatre includes Girl on the Train (English Theatre Frankfurt); Love & Information (LAMDA); Earthquakes in London (Guildhall School of Music & Drama); The Tyler Sisters (Hampstead Theatre); One Under (UK tour, Graeae & Theatre Royal Plymouth); Blood Knot (Orange Tree
Theatre); Eden (Hampstead Theatre); The Tempest (Royal Exchange Young Company); Frankenstein (Royal Exchange); Bunny (White Bear & Tristan Bates); Redefining Juliet (Barbican/BBC Four); It Is So Ordered (The Pleasance); Snowflakes (Oxford Playhouse); Wish List (Royal Exchange & Royal Court); Sizwe Banzi is Dead (Young Vic); A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Almeida Festival & Edinburgh Fringe); Faith, Hope & Charity (Southwark Playhouse); Monteverdi’s Flying Circus (national tour); Emma Thompson Presents: Fair Trade (Latitude, Rich Mix & Edinburgh Fringe); Machinal, They Shoot Horses Don’t They? (Edinburgh Fringe); Circus Solos (Circus Space). As Movement Director/co-Devisor Home Sweet Home (Nearly There Yet Theatre); as Director/ co-Devisor Jon Udry Punches Gravity in the Face (The Church, Circomedia), Life on Wheels (Jacksons Lane); Resident Movement Director for Pied Piper Theatre Company. Video: Movement Director for Love is Easy (music video, McFly). Trained at Royal Central School of Speech and Drama (MA Movement Studies), Dance Research Studio (Speaking-Dancer), TooBa Physical Theatre Centre (Diploma in Performance). www.angelagasparetto.com CHARLOTTE GWINNER Director Charlotte was Interim Head of Artistic Programme at Clean Break from 2017-19 and Associate Director at Sheffield Theatres from 2014-16 where she directed five shows across the main house and studio including Waiting for Godot; Sarah Kane Season: 4:48 Psychosis and Crave; Benefactors and The Distance (in coproduction with The Orange Tree). In 2013 she won a Quercus Award, a partnership between the NT and Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse, and spent a year as Associate Director at the Everyman & Playhouse where she directed A View from the Bridge on the Playhouse stage. She was previously Associate Director at the Bush Theatre where she directed Our New Girl, Little Dolls, The Knowledge and 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover. Other directing credits include Anhedonia
and Bytes (Royal Court Theatre); Taking Part (Criterion Theatre); The Uncertainty Files (Paines Plough); Knives and Hens (The Ustinov, Theatre Royal Bath); Men Should Weep (Oxford Stage Company/The Citizens Theatre); Riders to the Sea, The Shadow of the Glen, The Tinker’s Wedding and Everything Must Go (Southwark Playhouse); The Blood of Others (Arcola Theatre); The Country of the Blind (Gate Theatre). Charlotte was Artistic Director and Founder of ANGLE Theatre, producing and directing three new plays for its inaugural season TriANGLE09 at Hackney Empire, which won a Peter Brook Award, and producing a second season at the Bush as it moved into its new home. MICHAEL HENRY Composer / Arranger / Musical Director Michael is a composer, vocalist and BBTA award-nominated musical director who has undertaken the dual role of composer and musical director on numerous projects including Mr Burns and They Drink It in the Congo (Almeida Theatre); Boi Boi Is Dead (Leeds Playhouse/Watford Palace Theatre/Tiata Fahodzi); Barber Shop Chronicles (National Theatre); The Bloomsbury Songbook (Bloomsbury Festival); and the online theatrical anthology On Hostile Ground (Royal & Derngate Theatre). He has also been a vocalist, composer and MD with a cappella groups Flying Pickets and The Shout. Other compositions include the opera Circus Tricks (Tête A Tête), Rocket Symphony, a piece for 500 voices and fireworks co-composed with Orlando Gough (Linz European Capital of Culture 2009), Stand (BBC Proms) and the clarinet quartets Birdwatching. Composition awards include the Stanford, Horowitz and Cornelius Cardew prizes. He has acted as musical director/performer in numerous productions including The Amen Corner, Emperor and Galilean and Death and the King’s Horseman (National Theatre); FEAST (Young Vic); May Contain Food (Protein Dance Company); and The Pet Shop Boys’ debut international tour in 1989. Other work as musical director includes An Octoroon, Three Sisters and FELA! (National Theatre); Our Lady of Kibeho (Royal & Derngate/
Theatre Royal Stratford East); Sylvia (Old Vic); The Brothers Size (Young Vic). He studied clarinet and composition at the Royal College of Music. ANDREA LEVY Writer Andrea Levy was an internationally bestselling author. Her five novels and two short story collections reflected the experiences of Black Britons and explored the intimate history between Britain and the Caribbean. Levy was born in 1956 in London. Her father was one of the many Jamaicans to arrive in England after sailing on the Empire Windrush in 1948. Levy’s mother soon joined him. After earning a degree in textile design and working in graphics, Levy began writing in her mid-thirties and attended writing workshops at City Lit. In her first three novels – Every Light in the House Burnin’ (1994), Never Far From Nowhere (1996) and Fruit of the Lemon (1999) – she explored the problems faced by Black British-born children of Jamaican emigrants. MICHAEL HENRY
In Small Island (2004), she examined the experiences of those of her father’s generation who returned to Britain after serving in the RAF during the Second World War, as well as the experiences of women whose voices have often been excluded from migration narratives. Alongside these voices, Levy interweaved the perspectives of the English people whom those from the Caribbean came to live amongst. The novel won the 2004 Orange Prize for Fiction and the Whitbread Book of the Year Award. A year later in 2005, the novel was awarded the ‘best of the best’ Orange Prize and the Commonwealth Writer’s Prize; it has been adapted for television and the stage. Her last novel, The Long Song (2010), was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2010 and was the winner of the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction in 2011. She published two further works, Uriah’s War (2014) and Six Stories and an Essay (2014). Andrea Levy was elected as a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2005. She was a recipient of an Arts Council Writers Award, a judge for the Saga Prize and Orange Prize and
a fellow of the Open University. In 2012 she became an honorary fellow of Queen Mary University London and in 2016 was awarded a City Lit Lifetime Fellowship. Andrea Levy died in February 2019 at the age of 62. KEV McCURDY Fight Director and Co-Intimacy Director Previously at Chichester The Beauty Queen of Leenane (Minerva Theatre), Love’s Labour’s Lost and Much Ado About Nothing (Festival Theatre). Theatre includes Les Misérables (Sondheim Theatre and UK tour); Miss Saigon (Prince Edward, UK and European tour); The Whip, Antony and Cleopatra (RSC); King Lear, Frankenstein, Hamlet (Royal Exchange Manchester); An Octoroon, Macbeth, Les Blancs, Pericles, Mosquitoes, Barbershop Chronicles (National Theatre); Othello, Eyam, Love’s Labour’s Lost, The Taming of the Shrew, Henry IV Part I (Shakespeare’s Globe); The Crucible, Sylvia (Old Vic); West Side Story (Curve); Glory (The Dukes Lancaster/UK tour); Only Fools and Horses (Theatre Royal LLEWELLA GIDEON
Haymarket); Romeo and Juliet, The Conquest of the South Pole, Fiddler on the Roof, The Big I Am, Our Lady of Blundellsands (Everyman Liverpool); The Comedy About a Bank Robbery, Groan Ups (Mischief Theatre); As You Like It (Theatre By The Lake); Hamlet (Almeida); Fairview, Things of Dry Hours (Young Vic); Glengarry Glen Ross (Ambassadors); White Noise, Holy Shit (Kiln); All About Eve (Noël Coward Theatre); American Nightmare, Hela (The Other Room). Television includes EastEnders, The A List, Hetty Feather, Hollyoaks, Pobol Y Cwm, Keeping Faith, Craith/Hidden, 4Stories, 15 Days, The Story of Tracy Beaker. Films include Lady of Heaven, Season of the Witch, John Carter of Mars, Journey’s End, Kenya, Canaries, Carmilla. Kev is Fight Instructor at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. He is also the Co-Founder, Chairman, Fight Examiner and Senior Stage Combat Tutor of the Academy of Performance Combat (APC).
SUSANNA PERETZ Wigs, Hair and Make-Up Designer Previously at Chichester Plenty (Festival Theatre), Hedda Tesman (Minerva Theatre). Theatre includes Noises Off (Garrick Theatre); The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, A Very Very Very Dark Matter, Julius Caesar (Bridge Theatre); Death of a Salesman, Wings (Young Vic); Ghost Stories, Bugsy Malone, Tipping the Velvet, City of Glass, Jubilee (Lyric Hammersmith); Peter Pan (Regent’s Park); The Last Ship (UK tour); Pity, Prudes, Gun Dog, Girls and Boys, Road, How To Hold Your Breath, Linda, Birdland, Hangmen (also West End) (Royal Court); Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, Don Juan in Soho, The Exorcist (West End); Machinal, The Game, Mr Burns, Medea, The Treatment, Carmen Disruption, Mary Stuart (also West End), Oresteia (also Trafalgar Studios), Hamlet (also West End), The Duchess of Malfi (Almeida); Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead (Old Vic); The Grinning Man (Bristol Old Vic/Trafalgar Studios); The Humans (BAM, NY); The Way of the World, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie,
Teddy Ferrara (Donmar Warehouse); Witness for the Prosecution (London Court House). Opera includes A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Aldeburgh Festival); Alice in Wonderland, Where the Wild Things Are, Dark Mirror, Curlew River (Barbican/US tour); The Illuminated Heart (Lincoln Centre, NY); Greek (Scottish Opera). Film and TV includes Hamlet, Prisoners of Paradise, The Show, Electric Dreams, In The Dark Half, His Heavy Heart, Jimmy’s End, Showpieces and Skeletons (BAFTA nominee and Michael Powell Award-winner). Other work includes collaborations with Alan Moore on his comic book series Providence and the multimedia project As Big As the Sky with Ai Weiwei. www.susannaperetzfx.com HELEN SKIERA Sound Designer Theatre in progress includes Little Red Riding Hood (Stratford East); The Lantern Room (Raucous); The Lockdown Touch Diaries (May Productions). Previous work: The Effect (Boulevard Theatre); The Lovely Bones
LOUISE CHARITY CHARLOTTE GWINNER OLIVIA POULET TARA TIJANI
(Birmingham Rep/UK tour); Out of Water (Orange Tree); Betrayal, The Magna Carta Plays (Salisbury Playhouse); A Christmas Carol (Bristol Old Vic); Silence (Mercury Theatre Colchester); Here I Belong (Pentabus); This is Not for You (Graeae Theatre); Instructions for Correct Assembly, Bodies (Royal Court Theatre); Split/Mixed (Maliza Productions/Tamasha/ Summerhall Edinburgh); Good Dog, I Know All the Secrets in My World, The Epic Adventure of Nhamo the Manyika Warrior, The Legend of Hamba (Tiata Fahodzi); The Encounter (Complicité); The Dog the Night and the Knife, Miss Julie (Arcola Theatre); The Boy Who Climbed Out of His Face (Shunt); Last Words
You’ll Hear (Almeida); Advice for the Young at Heart (Theatre Centre). Theatre as Associate: Touching The Void (West End); Barbershop Chronicles (National Theatre); Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (Young Vic/West End); Adler and Gibb (Royal Court); I’d Rather Goya Robbed Me of My Sleep Than Some Other Arsehole (The Gate); The Here and This Now (Theatre Royal Plymouth). Audio drama and online games: Blis-ta (Clean Break); A Walk In The Park, National Elf Service, Bad Altitude (Fast Familiar); Imber: You Walk Through (Salisbury Playhouse). www.helenskiera.com
MOHAMMED MANSARAY PÉROLA CONGO LOUISE CHARITY LLEWELLA GIDEON SYRUS LOWE CAROL WALTON CHRIS MACHARI
DICK STRAKER Video Designer Previously at Chichester A Marvellous Year for Plums (co-design with Ian William Galloway, Festival Theatre). Theatre includes A Monster Calls (UK tour/ Bristol Old Vic/The Old Vic); The Tale of the Little Robot Boy (Schauspielhaus Bochum); Peter Gynt (National Theatre/Edinburgh International Festival); Don Juan in Soho (Wyndham’s); Hairspray (UK tour); Cymbeline (RSC/Barbican); Before I Leave (National Theatre Wales); Only the Brave (Wales Millennium Centre/Soho); The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe (Sherman Cymru); Love’s Sacrifice (RSC Swan Theatre);
The Infidel, Crowning Glory (Theatre Royal Stratford East); The Saints (Nuffield Theatre); The Body of an American, The Prophet (Gate Theatre); Café Kafka/The Commission (ROH); Roots (Donmar Warehouse); Paper Dolls, Seize the Day (Tricycle); Miss Saigon (Japan); Antigone, His Dark Materials, Henry V, The Permanent Way, The Duchess of Malfi, The Powerbook, The Coast of Utopia, South Pacific (National Theatre); Going Dark (Fuel Theatre/ tour/Young Vic); The King and I (Curve Theatre Leicester); Orpheus and Eurydice (Old Vic Tunnels/NYT); Fat Girl Gets a Haircut and Other Stories (The Roundhouse); Tiger Country (Hampstead Theatre); Desire Under the Elms
(New Vic Staffordshire); Tales of Ballycumber (Abbey Theatre Dublin); The Mountaintop (Trafalgar Studios); The Guardians (High Tide); Rushes (Royal Ballet); Orlando (Sadler’s Wells); Sugar Mummies, Hitchcock Blonde (Royal Court); Julius Caesar (Barbican/tour); Richard II (Old Vic); The Woman in White (Palace Theatre London/Marquis Theatre NY); Jumpers (National Theatre/Piccadilly Theatre/Brooks Atkinson NY). Opera includes Aida (Opera North); Greek (Scottish Opera); Carmen, Fortunio, Tristan and Isolde (Grange Park Opera); Notorious (Gothenburg Opera); Eugene Onegin (English Touring Opera); The Ring Cycle (ROH). CHARLOTTE SUTTON CDG Casting Director Previously at Chichester South Pacific, Crave, Sing Yer Heart Out for the Lads (CDG Casting Award nomination), Oklahoma!, Plenty, Shadowlands, Flowers for Mrs Harris, Me and My Girl, The Chalk Garden, Present Laughter, The Norman Conquests, Fiddler on the Roof, Sweet Bird of Youth, Forty Years On, Mack and Mabel (Festival Theatre); The Flock, The Butterfly Lion, 8 Hotels, The Deep Blue Sea, This Is My Family, The Watsons, Cock, Copenhagen, The Meeting, random/generations, Quiz, The Stepmother, The House They Grew Up In, Caroline, Or Change (also Hampstead and
West End; CDG Casting Award nomination), Strife (Minerva Theatre). Theatre credits Fairview (CDG Casting Award nomination), Death of a Salesman (CDG Casting Award Nomination), The Convert, Wild East, Winter, trade and Dutchman (Young Vic); Company (Gielgud; CDG Casting Award nomination); Long Day’s Journey into Night (Wyndham’s, BAM & LA); Humble Boy, Sheppey and German Skerries (Orange Tree Theatre); Nell Gwynn (ETT and Globe); The Pitchfork Disney and Killer (Shoreditch Town Hall); My Brilliant Friend (Rose Theatre Kingston); Annie Get Your Gun, Flowers for Mrs Harris, Lady Chatterley’s Lover, Waiting for Godot and Queen Coal (Sheffield Crucible); Henry V and Twelfth Night Re-Imagined (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre); Hedda Gabler and Little Shop of Horrors (Salisbury Playhouse); Insignificance, Much Ado About Nothing and Jumpy (Theatr Clwyd); wonder.land, The Elephantom, Emil and the Detectives and The Light Princess (National Theatre); One Man, Two Guvnors (Theatre Royal Haymarket and international tour); Desire Under the Elms (Lyric Hammersmith); Bunny (Underbelly Edinburgh Festival, Soho and 59E59 New York).
CAROL WALTON MOHAMMED MANSARAY ANGELA GASPARETTO PÉROLA CONGO CHRIS MACHARI EWA DINA
EVENTS
THE LONG SONG PRE-SHOW TALK
about the legacy of internationallyacclaimed novelist and Women’s Prize for Fiction winner, Andrea Levy. Visit website for confirmed speakers. Hosted by Kate Mosse. Tickets £5
Wednesday 6 October, 5.45pm Director Charlotte Gwinner in conversation with Kate Mosse. FREE but booking is essential
POST-SHOW TALK
Friday 15 October Stay after the performance to ask questions, meet company members and discover more about the play. FREE
WOMEN WRITING WOMEN
Saturday 16 October, 10.30am Minerva Theatre A panel of distinguished women including Suhayla El-Bushra spark conversation
SCHOOLS THEATRE DAYS: THE LONG SONG
Wednesday 13 October, 10.45am Thursday 21 October, 10.45am for KS4/5 Festival Theatre Learn about the story, staging and characters in a semi-practical 90-minute workshop before seeing the matinee performance of The Long Song. Tickets £13.50 (includes matinee ticket)
JANUKA (an acronym for Jamaican Nurses in the United Kingdom and their Associates) is a small self-funded community group based in South East London. We dance and teach Jamaican quadrille to entertain, educate, empower and inspire positive awareness of our Jamaican cultural heritage. We share our ancestors' passionate love of music and dance and celebrate their triumph over oppression. For further information about joining our group or becoming a friend
of JANUKA, contact Beverley Bogle, Group Coordinator via the website: www.januka.co.uk cft.org.uk/events
S TA F F
TRUSTEES Sir William Castell Mr Alan Brodie Ms Judy Fowler Ms Victoria Illingworth Ms Georgina Liley Rear Admiral John Lippiett CB CBE Mr Harry Matovu QC Mr Mike McCart Ms Holly Mirams Mr Nick Pasricha Mr Philip Shepherd Ms Stephanie Street Ms Tina Webster Mrs Susan Wells ASSOCIATES Kate Bassett Anna Ledwich Charlotte Sutton CDG
Chairman
Julie Field Rosie Hiles
Literary Associate Writer-in-Residence Casting Associate
Development Officer (Corporate & Trusts) Friends Administrator Senior Development Manager (Corporate & Trusts)
Joanna Walker Director of Development Carolyn Warne Senior Development Manager (Individuals) Megan Wilson
Events Officer
DIRECTORS Kathy Bourne Daniel Evans Patricia Key Georgina Rae Julia Smith
Executive Director Artistic Director PA to the Directors Head of Planning & Projects Board Support
FINANCE Alison Baker Payroll & Pensions Officer Krissie Harte Finance Officer Katie Palmer Assistant Management Accountant
Amanda Trodd Protozoon Ltd HR Emily Oliver Jenefer Pullinger Gillian Watkins
Finance Director & Company Secretary Management Accountant IT Consultants
Accommodation Co-ordinator HR Officer HR Officer
LEAP Anastasia Alexandru Youth & Outreach Trainee Elspeth Barron LEAP Officer Isabelle Elston Community & Outreach Trainee Lauren Grant Hannah Hogg Richard Knowles Poppy Marples
Director of LEAP Education Apprentice
Carole Alexandre Distribution Officer Josh Allan Box Office Assistant Caroline Aston Audience Insight Manager Becky Batten Head of Marketing (Maternity Leave) Laura Bern Marketing Manager Jenny Bettger Box Office Supervisor Jessica Blake-Lobb Marketing Manager (Corporate)
Karen Taylor Development Officer (Individuals)
Simon Parsonage
Senior Community & Outreach Manager
Dale Rooks Riley Stroud
MARKETING, COMMUNICATIONS, DIGITAL & SALES
BUILDING & SITE SERVICES Chris Edwards Maintenance Engineer Lez Gardiner Duty Engineer Daren Rowland Facilities Manager Graeme Smith Duty Engineer DEVELOPMENT Jessey Butcher
Louise Rigglesford
Deputy Director of LEAP Youth & Outreach Officer Education Projects Manager Senior Youth & Outreach Officer
Helen Campbell Lydia Cassidy
Deputy Box Office Manager Director of Marketing & Communications
Lorna Holmes Box Office Assistant Helena Jacques-Morton Senior Marketing Officer James Mitchell Box Office Assistant (Casual) James Morgan Box Office Manager Lucinda Morrison Head of Press Kirsty Peterson Box Office Assistant Catherine Rankin Box Office Assistant (Casual) Jennifer Thompson Social Media & Digital Marketing Officer Emilie Trodd Box Office Assistant (Casual) Anne-Marie Varberg Box Office Assistant Joshua Vine Box Office Supervisor Julia Walter Creative Digital Producer Claire Walters Box Office Assistant Vanessa Walters Head of Marketing (Maternity Cover) Joanna Wiege Jane Wolf
Box Office Administrator Box Office Assistant
PRODUCTION Amelia Ferrand-Rook Claire Rundle Nicky Wingfield Jeremy Woodhouse
Producer Production Administrator Production Administrator Producer
TECHNICAL Dan Armstrong Transport & Logistics Jake Barinov Stage Crew Steph Bartle Deputy Head of Lighting Ben Coates Stage Crew Leoni Commosioung Stage Technician Adrien Corcilius Video & AV Technician Lewis Ellingford Stage Technician Sam Garner-Gibbons Technical Director Jack Goodland Stage Crew Maura (Fuzz) Guthrie Sound Technician Lucy Guyver Production Manager Apprentice Katie Hennessy Props Store Co-ordinator Jack Hobbins Stage Crew Mike Keniger Head of Sound Andrew Leighton Senior Lighting Technician Zoe Lyndon-Smith Technical Theatre Apprentice Karl Meier Head of Stage Charlotte Neville Head of Props Workshop Ryan Pantling Sound Technician Tom Robinson Senior Stage & Construction Technician Neil Rose Ernesto Ruiz Joe Samuels James Sharples
Deputy Head of Sound Stage Crew Lighting Technician Senior Stage Crew & Rigger
cft.org.uk/aboutus
Graham Taylor Dominic Turner Emily Williamson
Head of Lighting Stage Crew Technical Theatre Apprentice
THEATRE MANAGEMENT Janet Bakose Theatre Manager Gill Dixon Front of House Duty Manager Ben Geering House Manager Karen Hamilton Front of House Duty Manager Will McGovern Assistant House Manager Sharon Meier PA to Theatre Manager Joshua Vine Front of House Duty Manager Gabriele Williams Deputy House Manager Caper & Berry Catering Proclean Cleaning Ltd Cleaning Contractor Vespasian Security Security WARDROBE & WIGS Isabelle Brook Brooke Bowden Jessica Griffiths Fran Horler Dee Howland Abbie Johns Kirsty Lloyd Kendal Love Stacie Smith Emily Souch Loz Tait Colette Tulley Maisie Wilkins
Dresser Wardrobe Assistant Wardrobe Manager Wardrobe Manager Deputy Wigs Dresser Deputy Wigs Wigs Manager Assistant Wigs Dresser Head of Wardrobe & Wigs Wardrobe Maintenance Dresser
Stage Door: Bob Bentley, Janet Bounds, Judith Bruce-Hay, Sarah Hammett, Caroline Hanton, Keiko Iwamoto, Chris Monkton Ushers: Miranda Allemand, Maria Antoniou, Jacob Atkins, Carolyn Atkinson, Brian Baker, Bob Bentley, Gloria Boakes, Dennis Brombley, Judith Bruce-Hay, Julia Butterworth, Louisa Chandler, Helen Chown, Jo Clark, Gaye Douglas, Stella Dubock, Amanda Duckworth, Clair Edgell, George Edwards, Lexi Finch, Suzanne Ford, Jessica Frewin-Smith, Nigel Fullbrook, Barry Gamlin, Charlie Gardiner, Anna Grindel, Caroline Hanton, Justine Hargraves, Joseph Harrington (Trainee), Gillian Hawkins, Joanne Heather, Daniel Hill, Keiko Iwamoto, Flynn Jeffery, Joan Jenkins, Pippa Johnson, Ryan Jones, Jan Jordan, Jon Joshua, Sally Kingsbury, Alexandra Langrish, Valerie Leggate, Maille Lyster, Judith Marsden, Samantha Marshall, Emily McAlpine, Janette McAlpine, Fiona Methven, Chris Monkton, Susan Mulkern, Isabel Owen, Martyn Pedersen, Susy Peel, Kirsty Peterson, Helen Pinn, Barbara Pope, Fleur Sarkissian, Lorraine Stapley, Sophie Stirzaker, Angela Stodd, Kerry Strong, Christine Tippen, Charlotte Tregear, Andy Trust (Trainee), Joshua Vine, Rosemary Wheeler, Jonathan Wilson (Trainee), James Wisker, Donna Wood, Kim Wylam, Jane Yeates We acknowledge the work of those who give so generously of their time as our Volunteer Audio Description Team: Tony Clark, Robert Dunn, Geraldine Firmston, Suzanne France, Sue Hyland, David Phizackerley, Christopher Todd
ACCESS AND CAR PARKING
Wheelchair users Wheelchair spaces are available on two levels in the Festival Theatre, with accessible lifts either side of the auditorium. Two wheelchair spaces are available in the Minerva Theatre. Hearing impaired Free Sennheiser listening units are available for all performances or switch your hearing aid to ‘T’ to use the induction loop in both theatres. Signed performances are British Sign Language interpreted for people who are D/deaf or hard of hearing. Stagetext Captioned performances display text on a screen for D/deaf or hearing impaired patrons. Audio-described performances offer live narration over discreet headphones for people who are blind or visually impaired. Touch Tours enable blind or visually impaired people to explore the set before audio described performances. Free but booking is essential. Dementia-Friendly Theatre All Box Office and Front of House staff have attended a Dementia Friends Information Session, and can be identified by the blue pin on their uniform.
Assistance dogs are welcome; please let us know when booking as space is limited. Parking for disabled patrons Blue Badge holders can park anywhere in Northgate Car Park free of charge. There are 9 non-reservable spaces close to the Theatre entrance. Car Parking Northgate Car Park is an 836-space pay and display car park (free after 8pm). On matinee days it can be very busy; please consider alternative car parks in Chichester. chichester.gov.uk/mipermit If you have access requirements or want to book tickets with an access discount, please join the Access List. For more information and to register, visit cft.org.uk/access, call the Box Office on 01243 781312 or email access@cft.org.uk
Large-print version of this programme available on request from the House Manager or access@cft.org.uk Large-print and audio CD versions of the Festival 2021 brochure are available on request from access@cft.org.uk For more access information, call 01243 781312 or visit cft.org.uk/access
cft.org.uk/visitus
PLAY YOUR PART IN OUR FUTURE If you have enjoyed your visit to Chichester Festival Theatre, please consider supporting us. Leaving a gift in your Will, no matter how small, helps CFT inspire communities for generations to come. To find out more about remembering CFT in your Will, please visit cft.org.uk/legacies or call 01243 812911
Th ank yo u
We strongly advise you seek professional advice when drafting a new Will or updating an existing one. This ensures you receive confidential guidance and your Will is tailored to your particular circumstances Registered Charity No 1088552
SUPPORT US
BE PART OF YOUR THEATRE Community is central to everything we do at Chichester Festival Theatre and has been from the very beginning. Throughout 2020, whilst our doors were closed, we kept connected with our audiences, supporters and vulnerable members of our community – ensuring people continued to experience the joy of creativity and live performance. Chichester Festival Theatre is a registered charity and every penny generated by our supporters goes towards creating exceptional work on stage and involving over 60,000 people each year in our award-winning Learning, Education and Participation programme. Whether it’s working with local groups and communities to share the joy of live art or collaborating with
a new generation of theatremakers and emerging artists to create diverse, ground-breaking work, there is something for everyone; and our work feels more vital now than ever. There are a variety of ways for you to be a part of your Theatre and its future. Whether you are looking for priority booking, want to support our education and community work or to follow our latest production from page to stage, there is a place for you at CFT. We would not be here without the support of our community. Please join us, and be part of something amazing. Visit cft.org.uk/support-us to find out how you can be more involved.
‘There are some wonderful benefits for being a member. The Supporters’ events are marvellous: exclusive dinners with the cast, platform events. They last all season long. Even the pandemic didn’t stop CFT! When the theatre re-opens I am really looking forward to South Pacific, it’s my favourite musical and I can’t wait to see it.’ Gary Fairhall, Festival Player
cft.org.uk/support-us
S U P P O R T E R S 2021
INDIVIDUAL SUPPORT BENEFACTORS Deborah Alun-Jones Robin and Joan Alvarez David and Elizabeth Benson Philip Berry George W. Cameron OBE and Madeleine Cameron Sir William and Lady Castell John and Pat Clayton John and Susan Coldstream Clive and Frances Coward Yvonne and John Dean Jim Douglas George and Natasha Duffield Mrs Veronica J Dukes Melanie Edge Sir Vernon and Lady Ellis Val and Richard Evans Simon and Luci Eyers Angela and Uri Greenwood Sir Michael and Lady Heller Liz Juniper The family of Patricia Kemp Roger Keyworth Jonathan and Clare Lubran Selina and David Marks Mrs Sheila Meadows Jerome and Elizabeth O’Hea Philip and Gail Owen Graham and Sybil Papworth Nick and Jo Pasricha Mrs Denise Patterson Stuart and Carolyn Popham Jans Ondaatje Rolls Dame Patricia Routledge DBE David and Sophie Shalit Simon and Melanie Shaw Greg and Katherine Slay Christine and Dave Smithers David and Alexandra Soskin Alan and Jackie Stannah Oliver Stocken CBE Howard Thompson Peter and Wendy Usborne The Webster Family Community Fund TRUSTS AND FOUNDATIONS Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation The Arthur Williams Charitable Trust Artswork The Arts Society, Chichester The Bateman Family Charitable Trust The Bondi Foundation The Chartered Accountants’ Livery Charity Chichester District Council Elizabeth, Lady Cowdray’s Charity Trust The G D Charitable Trust The Noël Coward Foundation Theatres Trust Wickens Family Foundation
FESTIVAL PLAYERS John and Joan Adams Dr Cheryl Adams CBE Judy Addison Smith Paul Arman The Earl and Countess of Balfour Matthew Bannister Mr James and Lady Emma Barnard (The Barness Charity Trust) Mrs Margaret Baumber Franciska and Geoffrey Bayliss Lucy Berry Julian and Elizabeth Bishop Martin Blackburn Sarah and Tony Bolton Janet Bounds Pat Bowman Lucy and Simon Brett Nick and Carol Brigstocke Adam and Sarah Broke Therese Brook Peter and Pamela Bulfield Jean Campbell Julie Campbell Ian and Jan Carroll Sir Bryan and Lady Carsberg Sally Chittleburgh David and Claire Chitty Denise Clatworthy David and Julie Coldwell Mr & Mrs Barry Colgate Mr Charles Collingwood and Miss Judy Bennett Michael and Jill Cook Freda Cooper Brian and Claire Cox Susan Cressey Jonathan and Sue Cunnison Rowena and Andrew Daniels Jennie Davies The de Laszlo Foundation Yvonne and John Dean Clive and Kate Dilloway Peter and Ruth Doust Peter and Jill Drummond Peter Edgeler and Angela Hirst Glyn Edmunds Anthony and Penny Elphick Sheila Evans Gary Fairhall Lady Finch Colin and Carole Fisher Beryl Fleming Karin and Jorge Florencio Jane Fogg Robert and Pip Foster Jenifer and John Fox Debbie and Neil Franks Terry Frost Mr Nigel Fullbrook George Galazka Alan and Pat Galer Robert and Pirjo Gardiner Wendy and John Gehr
Marion Gibbs CBE Stephen J Gill Olwen Gillmore Mr and Mrs Paul Goswell Robin and Rosemary Gourlay R and R Green Reverend David Guest Ros and Alan Haigh Dr Stuart Hall Dennis and Joan Harrison Roger and Tina Harrison David Harrison Robert and Suzette Hayes Hania and Paul Hinton Christopher Hoare Pauline and Ian Howat Barbara Howden Richards Richard and Kate Howlett John B Hulbert Mike Imms Mrs Raymonde Jay Melanie J Johnson Robert Kaltenborn Nina Kaye and Timothy Nathan Rodney Kempster Nigel Kennedy OBE Anna Christine Kennett Geoffrey King James and Clare Kirkman Frank and Freda Letch Mrs Jane Lewis John and Jenny Lippiett Amanda Lunt Jim and Marilyn Lush Dr and Mrs Nick Lutte Nigel and Julia Maile Sarah Mansell and Tim Bouquet Jeremy and Caroline Marriage Sue Marsh Adrian Marsh and Maggie Stoker Charles and Elisabeth Martin Trevor & Lynne Matthews John and Sally-Ann McCormack Tim McDonald Jill and Douglas McGregor James and Anne McMeehan Roberts Andrew McVittie Mrs Michael Melluish Celia Merrick Diana Midmer Jenifer and John Mitchell David and Di Mitchell Gerald Monaghan Nick & Pat Moore Sue and Peter Morgan Roger and Jackie Morris Mrs Mary Newby Patricia Newton Bob and Maureen Niddrie Lady Nixon Pamela and Bruce Noble Eileen Norris Jacquie Ogilvie Margaret and Martin Overington
Mr and Mrs Gordon Owen Graham and Sybil Papworth Richard Parkinson and Hamilton McBrien Alex and Sheila Paterson Simon and Margaret Payton Terry and John Pearson Stephen & Annie Pegler Jean Plowright The Sidlesham Theatre Group Brian & Margaret Raincock John Rank David Rees The Rees Family Tom Reid and Lindy Ambrose Adam Rice John and Betsy Rimmer Robin Roads Philip Robinson Nigel and Viv Robson Ken and Ros Rokison Graham and Maureen Russell Clare Scherer and Jamie O'Meara Mr Christopher Sedgwick John and Tita Shakeshaft Mrs Dale Sheppard-Floyd Jackie and Alan Sherling David and Linda Skuse Monique and David Smith Simon Smith Mr and Mrs Brian Smouha David & Unni Spiller Mel and Marilyn Stein Elizabeth Stern Barbara Stewart Peter Stoakley Anne Subba-Row Professor and Mrs Warwick Targett Harry and Shane Thuillier Mr Robert Timms Miss Melanie Tipples Alan and Helen Todd Peter and Sioned Vos David Wagstaff and Mark Dunne Ian and Alison Warren Brett Weaver and Linda Smith Chris and Dorothy Weller Bowen and Rennie Wells Judith Williams Angela Williams Lulu Williams Nick and Tarnia Williams David and Vivienne Woolf Angela Wormald And all those who wish to remain anonymous
‘Chichester Festival Theatre enriches lives with its work both on and off stage. It is a privilege to be connected in a small way with this inspirational and generous-hearted institution, especially at such a challenging time for everyone in the Arts.’ John and Susan Coldstream, Benefactors and Festival Players
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S U P P O R T E R S 2021
PRINCIPAL PARTNERS Platinum Partner Prof E.F Juniper and Mrs Jilly Styles
Gold Level
HOLIDAY LETS
Silver Level
CORPORATE PARTNERS Addison Law Behrens Sharp Chichester College
Criterion Ices FBG Investment J Leon Group
Joanna Williams Jones Avens Oldham Seals Group
The Bell Inn William Liley Financial Services Ltd
Please get in touch for more information: cft.org.uk/support-us | development.team@cft.org.uk | call 01243 812911