Tower Theatre Company : When You Go to Ireland

When You Go to Ireland

by Kate Roche

Directed by Simona Hughes

Tuesday 12 - Saturday 16 December, 2023

At the Tower Theatre, Stoke Newington

Part of Writers' Room : Home - four short plays on the theme of 'Home', the others being An IQ Test for my Birthday by Melanie Bell, Difficult to Describe, Understand or Measure by Sibila Diaz-Plaja and Homemakers by Janet South.

Photography by Jason Harris

Cast List

Evelyn : Rosanna Preston
Tessa : Kate Pemberton
Irvine : Joshua Picton

Production Team

Director : Simona Hughes
Assistant Director : Özlem Taş

For Writers' Room : Home

Artistic Team Lead : Landé Belo
Producer : Nichola Vasey
Set Design : Angelika Michitsch
Costume Design : Lucy Moss & Rachel Bothamley
Lighting Design : Robin Snowdon
Sound Design : Colin Guthrie

Stage Manager : Jacqui Dickson
ASMs : Lorelle Hirth, Olga Walkowska
Lighting Operator : Laurence Tuerk or Robin Snowdon
Sound Operator : Peta Barker
Set Design Assistant : Millie Weston
Set Construction and Get-In : Max Batty, Keith Syrett, Gary O’Keefe, Olga Walkowska, Stephanie Grundy, Seun Debiyi, Alex Burton, Izzy Cooper, Valentina Payne, Isabelle Leong

This is Rosanna Preston's seventh role at the Tower Theatre and she has also directed and narrated Tower productions. Elsewhere Rosanna has performed and directed at Theatro Technis, White Bear, Baron's Court, The Pleasance, Watford Fringe Festival and others. Recently she has been an undercover actor for Kit Green's 1133 and facilitated We're Going on a Bear Hunt at Kew Gardens. Rosanna's films include the Jamie T music video Between the Rocks and the TV series Psyched (in production).

Kate Pemberton is an actor and comedian who has been training and performing internationally since 2017. She recently moved to London from Copenhagen, where she performed with groups including "The Fallen Sundays" musical improv troupe, the "Let Her Speak" comedy collective and Copenhagen Theatre Circle. Her theatre credits include Chekhov's Dreamers, Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery and The Seasons: A Bloody Musical. She enjoys creating and playing with characters for the stage and the internet, and her play-writing includes Lipstick Pens and . Most recently, she played Valery in Seagulls at the Tower and started further training with "All In Actors". She is thrilled to be a part of Home.

This is Joshua Picton's first performance for the Tower Theatre Company. He trained at East 15 Acting School in their BA Acting course and has performed in local and regional theatres all over the country on national tours. He's also performed at the Vaults and and the Edinburgh fringe festival whilst doing some work in the world of audio books. A lot of Joshua's work consists of running theatre workshops for many different community groups so he's very excited to perform for the Tower, a company which puts community at the heart of their work.

Simona Hughes completed her MFA in Advanced Theatre Practice at Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and graduated (with distinction) in 2019. She is one of the Artistic Directors at the Tower Theatre and has been a company member for 20 years, during which time she has served on the Management Committee and both acted and directed. Directing credits at Tower include Coram Boy, A Passage to India, Table, Love Love Love, Brontë and, most recently, Labour of Love. Elsewhere she has directed (short pieces) at Theatre 503, Vault Festival, The Bread and Roses and The Pit (Barbican) and has written and directed her own play About 500, which was staged at The Union, The Omnibus and The King’s Head and was nominated for 3 awards. Simona is particularly interested in using movement and in deep exploration of text/subtext and character in her work. Her original training was in psychotherapy and this has definitely influenced the way she explores the layers of meaning and motivation in drama.

Kate Roche is delighted that When You Go To Ireland - a play about family, emigration, and how we talk about death - is being put on at the Tower Theatre. Kate won Second Place in the Alpine Fellowship Theatre Prize 2023 for The Yo-yo Path to the Yo-yo Pool. Her first play, A Make Believe Summer, was performed at the Tower last year. For the Tower, Kate played Joanne in Baby Dolls and Clary in Distant Early Warning. This year she was Assistant Director and Lighting Operator on Play and All That Fall and Lighting Operator on A Doll's House.

	This is Rosanna Preston's seventh role at the Tower Theatre and she has also directed and narrated Tower productions. Elsewhere Rosanna has performed and directed at Theatro Technis, White Bear, Baron's Court, The Pleasance, Watford Fringe Festival and others. Recently she has been an undercover actor for Kit Green's 1133 and facilitated We're Going on a Bear Hunt at Kew Gardens. Rosanna's films include the Jamie T music video Between the Rocks and the TV series Psyched (in production).			Kate Pemberton is an actor and comedian who has been training and performing internationally since 2017. She recently moved to London from Copenhagen, where she performed with groups including "The Fallen Sundays" musical improv troupe, the "Let Her Speak" comedy collective and Copenhagen Theatre Circle. Her theatre credits include Chekhov's Dreamers, Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery and The Seasons: A Bloody Musical. She enjoys creating and playing with characters for the stage and the internet, and her play-writing includes Lipstick Pens and . Most recently, she played Valery in Seagulls at the Tower and started further training with "All In Actors". She is thrilled to be a part of Home.
	This is Joshua Picton's first performance for the Tower Theatre Company. He trained at East 15 Acting School in their BA Acting course and has performed in local and regional theatres all over the country on national tours. He's also performed at the Vaults and and the Edinburgh fringe festival whilst doing some work in the world of audio books. A lot of Joshua's work consists of running theatre workshops for many different community groups so he's very excited to perform for the Tower, a company which puts community at the heart of their work.			Simona Hughes completed her MFA in Advanced Theatre Practice at Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and graduated (with distinction) in 2019. She is one of the Artistic Directors at the Tower Theatre and has been a company member for 20 years, during which time she has served on the Management Committee and both acted and directed. Directing credits at Tower include Coram Boy, A Passage to India, Table, Love Love Love, Brontë and, most recently, Labour of Love. Elsewhere she has directed (short pieces) at Theatre 503, Vault Festival, The Bread and Roses and The Pit (Barbican) and has written and directed her own play About 500, which was staged at The Union, The Omnibus and The King’s Head and was nominated for 3 awards. Simona is particularly interested in using movement and in deep exploration of text/subtext and character in her work. Her original training was in psychotherapy and this has definitely influenced the way she explores the layers of meaning and motivation in drama.
	Kate Roche is delighted that When You Go To Ireland - a play about family, emigration, and how we talk about death - is being put on at the Tower Theatre. Kate won Second Place in the Alpine Fellowship Theatre Prize 2023 for The Yo-yo Path to the Yo-yo Pool. Her first play, A Make Believe Summer, was performed at the Tower last year. For the Tower, Kate played Joanne in Baby Dolls and Clary in Distant Early Warning. This year she was Assistant Director and Lighting Operator on Play and All That Fall and Lighting Operator on A Doll's House.

		When You Go to Ireland by Kate Roche Directed by Simona Hughes
		Tuesday 12 - Saturday 16 December, 2023 At the Tower Theatre, Stoke Newington