Theatre

RECENT WORK

 

Fragmental (as writer/performer) A spoken word theatre show exploring the experience of living with a schizophrenia spectrum disorder and how an obsession with gothic horror helped me to find my way through trauma.

Rehearsal images from development in isolation during lockdown, 2020. Director: Flavia D’Avila. Mentor: Jenny Lindsay. Generously supported by Creative Scotland and Playwrights Studio Scotland.

 

The Den (as director)

A micro-opera created in lockdown with an international cast as part of Opera Harmony.

Video from OperaVision.eu and Opera Harmony. Composed and edited by Christopher Schlechte-Bond, libretto by Fiona Williams, sung by Jennifer Clarke and Brittany Hewitt.

 

Cavalleria Rusticana (as director)

Mascagni’s famous story of love, betrayal and fatal consequences.

 

Photos from Edinburgh Studio Opera, Assembly Roxy, 2020, by kind permission of Sartorial Pictures. Conductor: Will Conway.

 

Screech (as writer)

 

A work in development combining pop music, baroque arias, my own experience of reproductive healthcare and a feminist reclamation of Machiavelli’s La Mandragola. Part of the triptych I’m working on as Fronteiras Theatre Lab’s inaugural Eme-Bal resident writer.

Photos from Stellar Quines’ Make Do & Mend, Traverse, 2020, by kind permission of Chris Scott.

 

Canto X (as dramaturg)

 

A work in progress inspired by Dante’s encounter with the Epicureans in the sixth circle of Hell, exploring loss, mortality and decomposition. Part of the triptych I’m working on as Fronteiras Theatre Lab’s inaugural Eme-Bal resident writer.

Photos from Rising Voices @ Manipulate, Summerhall, 2020, by kind permission of Chris Scott. Director: Flavia D’Avila. Associate Academic Consultant: Mark Bolsover. Cast: Adam Tompa, Dave Robb, James Slimings.

 

The Remarkable Deliverances of Alice Thornton (as dramaturg)

 

Yorkshire, 1668. Mrs Alice Thornton – widow, mother, and daughter of the late Lord Deputy of Ireland – finds herself the subject of a most dreadful scandal which threatens to destroy her reputation. Tonight, she begs your presence at a defence of her life, including twenty miraculous deliverances from death.

Photo from Being Human Festival, Scottish Storytelling Centre, 2019, by kind permission of Jane Hobson. Director: Flavia D’Avila. Writer/actor: Debbie Cannon.

 

This Script (as director)

Written and performed by Jenny Lindsay, winner of the John Byrne Award for Critical Thinking. Poster image by Ryan McGoverne.

 

Volante (as writer)

 

A rococopunk dance party about self-reinvention, joy after loss, and queer survival in an unforgiving world. Part of the triptych I’m working on as Fronteiras Theatre Lab’s inaugural Eme-Bal resident writer. Recipient of a Tom McGrath Small Grant Award. 

 

Photo from Edinburgh Multilingual Stories Festival, Assembly Roxy, 2018. Director: Flavia D’Avila. Cast: Jusztina Hermann & Andrew Simpson.

 

Heaven Burns (as writer and director)

 

Winner of the Assembly Roxy Theatre Award 2018. Near Inverness, 1662. Runaway housewife Isobel works for charismatic witchpricker John Dixon. She worships him – but when a ragged stranger appears claiming that Dixon is not the man he seems, Isobel’s faith is tested to its limits.

Photos from Assembly Roxy, Edinburgh Fringe 2018, by kind permission of Chris Scott. Director Jen McGregor. Cast: Susanna Mulvihill, Marion Geoffray and Andrew Findlater. Movement direction by Flavia D’Avila.

 

Old Bones (as writer)

 

James Napier has a story to tell – a story spanning many centuries. It’s his own story, or so he’d have you believe. But is this man who claims to have diced with the Devil truly immortal, or is he just a piss artist? Roll the dice and find out… if you dare.

 

Photo from Prague Fringe, 2018. Directed and performed by Daniel Hird.

 

Unlockable (as writer and director)

 

A pixellated adventure through memory and psychosis, Unlockable marks the beginning of Jen’s exploration of mental health issues through video games and theatre. Development of the script and ideas began at part of the inaugural BOP Artists residency, hosted by Birds of Paradise and the National Theatre of Scotland. Featuring Michael Cooke and Kirsty Eila McIntyre.

 

 

Green Knight (as dramaturg)

 

A monstrous green knight interrupts the Christmas feast at King Arthur’s court to issue an unwinnable challenge. A year later, one of Arthur’s knights sets out to take up the challenge and finds himself tested not only by the monster, but also by a young wife with her own game to play. In this one-woman show, the story of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is retold by the woman at its heart, seizing, for the first time, the chance to offer her take on the age of Camelot and the game of love.

Photo from Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Royal Scots Club, 2017, by Paul McGuigan. Director: Flavia D’Avila. Writer/actor: Debbie Cannon.

 

Vox: Coriolanus Reimagined (as writer)

 

Written for Charioteer Theatre and the Piccolo Theatre of Milan. The story of the fall of a hero in the midst of a media circus.

Photos from Piccolo Teatro, Milan, by kind permission of Trish Hamilton Photography. Director: Laura Pasetti. Cast: Daniel Hird, Michael Cooke, Renee Williams, Stefano Giuzzi. Full credits here.

 

Comfort & Joy (as writer)

Formerly music hall stars, Rosemary and Violet have experienced a steep decline in their fortunes since the death of their overbearing mother. Rosemary slaves to keep a roof over their heads and look after blind Violet. Old secrets and fear of the workhouse dog their every step… until finally Rosemary decides that she must take drastic action to protect her sister. A Christmas tragedy.

Photos from TREND Festival. Director: Marcela Serli. Cast: Elisabetta Scarano and Bianca Pugno Vanoni.

Creepie Stool (as writer and director)

24 July, 1637. Edinburgh. Jenny Geddes flings a stool at a minister and starts a riot in St Giles, a three-day brawl in the city centre and, indirectly, the Covenanters’ War. While Calvinists and Catholics clash violently on the city’s streets, Jenny’s employer demands an explanation – leading to unwelcome discoveries behind closed doors. A story of secrets, lies, inept leadership, early Scottish sectarianism and the uncontrollable consequences of a single act of defiance. Inspired by a true story.

Photo from St Giles Cathedral, by kind permission of Susie Cavill. Director: Jen McGregor. Cast: Angela Milton, Debbie Cannon, Belle Jones.

 

Lost Love (as writer)

Joanna is running late. She’s on her way to meet her boyfriend’s parents, but between bad weather, Highland roads and Christmas traffic, the journey is not going well. To speed things up she switches on her new SatNav… which immediately falls in love with her. Desperate to keep her to itself, the SatNav leads her further and further off-course, far beyond the reach of traffic lights and phone signal…

Photo from TALOS: London’s Science Fiction Theatre Festival. Director: Justin Murray. Cast: Elizabeth Buckingham and Joshua Jacob.