Tower Theatre Company : Bloody Poetry

Bloody Poetry

by Howard Brenton

Directed by Adam Taylor

Tuesday 29th May - Saturday 2nd June, 2012

The Tower Theatre performing at the Bridewell Theatre

Photography by Alexander Knapp

Cast
Byron : Ben Hayward
Bysshe : Andy Marchant
Mary : Pam O'Brien
Claire : Emily Ambler
Polidori : Adrian Calvo-Valderrama
Harriet : Emily Carmichael

Production Team
Director : Adam Taylor
Set Design : Celena Bretton
Costume Design : Deb Lonnon
Lighting Design : Laurence Tuerk
Sound Design : Peta Barker
Stage Manager / Assistant Director : Robert Irvine

ASMs : Sara George, Dinah Irvine
Lighting Operator : Natasha Chandra
Sound Operator : Ksenya Gray
Set Construction & Rigging : Michael Bettell, Keith Syrett, Robin Snowdon and members of the cast & crew

This is Andy Marchant's third time working with the Tower Theatre, but his first time as an actor. Previously having directed The Trial and Terrorism, this is Andy's first time acting since 2009 when he was in The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) and Festen, both with SEDOS. His interest in the darker side of people, which led him to Bloody Poetry, has also resulted in directing the hedonistic Alfie (KDC Theatre), the existentialist Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead (Sedos) and The Tragedy of the Prince of Denmark, an adaptation of Hamlet (SEDOD). He is also heavily involved in KDC Theatre, of which he is the Chair and in which he played another tortured writer.

Pam O'Brien has been a Tower member since 2006. Previous productions have included Lock Up Your Daughters, Paradise : A Rock and Roll Fable, Measure for Measure, Twelfth Night, Jekyll and Hyde, Julius Caesar, Dinner and Her Naked Skin. She has also taken part in numerous musicals with other non-professional companies over the years. She sings in the local choir and has a love of anything French.

This is Emily Ambler's third production for the Tower Theatre, having previously appeared in Smells of Wee and Terrorism. Her previous theatre credits include performances for the Maddermarket Theatre Company (The Resistable Rise of Arturo Ui, Antigone) and the Sewel Barn theatre company (Shakers Re-stirred). Her professional engagements include appearances in programmes such as Hollyoaks and Britian's got the Pop Factor, and she has been lucky enough to have trained in workshops with the National Theatre, RADA and the Central School of Speech and Drama.

Adrian Calvo-Valderrama joined the Tower Theatre Company last year and has acted in Her Naked Skin and worked backstage on Damages. He has been performing with amateur and semi-professional companies since he was 10 in productions such as Twelve Angry Men and The Suicide. He trained at the Cours Simon in Paris. His next appearance will be at the Olympic Opening Ceremony!

This is Emily Carmichael's debut with the Tower. A graduate of the London School of Dramatic Art, she has performed with various companies throughout London, such as Network Theatre (A Midsummer Night's Dream and Road), Woodhouse Players (Our Country's Good, What the Butler Saw and Bed, which won First Place at this year's Waltham Forest Festival of Theatre) and earlier this year at the Richmond Shakespeare Society, in Taking Sides. Her next role after Bloody Poetry will be Lady Anne, in the Greek Theatre Players' open-air production of Richard III.

Ben Hayward joined the Tower this year and this is his first outing with the company. Previously Ben performed with the South London Theatre, where he played the unnamed man in Bash (Iphigenia in Orem), and POM in Our Boys. His previous recent theatrical forays have been otherwise university based; highlights include playing Lars in Dinner, Captain Stanhope in Journey's End and Alex in the Footlights new writing prize winning Dad at Cambridge and directing Complicite's Light at Manchester. Ben has worked professionally as a voiceover artist and first appeared at the Bridewell aged 12 in The Jewess of Toledo.

	This is Andy Marchant's third time working with the Tower Theatre, but his first time as an actor. Previously having directed The Trial and Terrorism, this is Andy's first time acting since 2009 when he was in The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) and Festen, both with SEDOS. His interest in the darker side of people, which led him to Bloody Poetry, has also resulted in directing the hedonistic Alfie (KDC Theatre), the existentialist Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead (Sedos) and The Tragedy of the Prince of Denmark, an adaptation of Hamlet (SEDOD). He is also heavily involved in KDC Theatre, of which he is the Chair and in which he played another tortured writer.			Pam O'Brien has been a Tower member since 2006. Previous productions have included Lock Up Your Daughters, Paradise : A Rock and Roll Fable, Measure for Measure, Twelfth Night, Jekyll and Hyde, Julius Caesar, Dinner and Her Naked Skin. She has also taken part in numerous musicals with other non-professional companies over the years. She sings in the local choir and has a love of anything French.
	This is Emily Ambler's third production for the Tower Theatre, having previously appeared in Smells of Wee and Terrorism. Her previous theatre credits include performances for the Maddermarket Theatre Company (The Resistable Rise of Arturo Ui, Antigone) and the Sewel Barn theatre company (Shakers Re-stirred). Her professional engagements include appearances in programmes such as Hollyoaks and Britian's got the Pop Factor, and she has been lucky enough to have trained in workshops with the National Theatre, RADA and the Central School of Speech and Drama.			Adrian Calvo-Valderrama joined the Tower Theatre Company last year and has acted in Her Naked Skin and worked backstage on Damages. He has been performing with amateur and semi-professional companies since he was 10 in productions such as Twelve Angry Men and The Suicide. He trained at the Cours Simon in Paris. His next appearance will be at the Olympic Opening Ceremony!
	This is Emily Carmichael's debut with the Tower. A graduate of the London School of Dramatic Art, she has performed with various companies throughout London, such as Network Theatre (A Midsummer Night's Dream and Road), Woodhouse Players (Our Country's Good, What the Butler Saw and Bed, which won First Place at this year's Waltham Forest Festival of Theatre) and earlier this year at the Richmond Shakespeare Society, in Taking Sides. Her next role after Bloody Poetry will be Lady Anne, in the Greek Theatre Players' open-air production of Richard III.			Ben Hayward joined the Tower this year and this is his first outing with the company. Previously Ben performed with the South London Theatre, where he played the unnamed man in Bash (Iphigenia in Orem), and POM in Our Boys. His previous recent theatrical forays have been otherwise university based; highlights include playing Lars in Dinner, Captain Stanhope in Journey's End and Alex in the Footlights new writing prize winning Dad at Cambridge and directing Complicite's Light at Manchester. Ben has worked professionally as a voiceover artist and first appeared at the Bridewell aged 12 in The Jewess of Toledo.

	Bloody Poetry
	by Howard Brenton Directed by Adam Taylor
	Tuesday 29th May - Saturday 2nd June, 2012	The Tower Theatre performing at the Bridewell Theatre