Tower Theatre Company : Past Events

Writers' Room - Live

Curated and Directed by Victor Craven

Sunday 6th February, 2022

At the Tower Theatre, Stoke Newington

A rehearsed reading of eleven short plays written by Tower Theatre members who are part of the Tower's online Writers' Room group.

Over the past year, the group had gathered together for monthly Zoom sessions to share experiences as both new and more practised writers. Regular assignments were set to stimulate creativity and to explore playwriting in a challenging and fun way. Writers’ Room Live was a chance to enjoy the varied and high quality output of the group, and a valuable opportunity for the writers to experience their pieces being performed to a live audience.

Creases & Crumbs by Emily Carmichael
"It's not that I don't I appreciate the thought" by Ciara Robley
Talking Point by Sarah Wenban
Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow by Herschel Pant
Abduction by Eddie Coleman
Supper Time by Janey South
Hawk's Night by John McSpadyen
Waltz with Martin Bashir by Matthew Partridge
The Wait by Rachana Reddy
Escape by Julia Collier
St. Peter's Mother by Vivianna Fain Binda

Cast
Rosie Barwick
Simon Christian
Simona Hughes
Helen McGill
Martin South
Simon Vaughan

Production Team
Director, Projection and Sound Design : Victor Craven
Set Design : Jude Chalk
Lighting Design : Stephen Ley

Photography by Matthew Partridge

This is Rosie Barwick's second performance at the Tower Theatre, after appearing as Jamie in Air during last summer's Love [and Survival] in a Time of Covid festival. She completed her Diploma in Acting at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in 2017, and recent theatre credits include Misty (It All Goes Back to the Mushroom, Etcetera Theatre) and Alice (Sticks and Stones, Arthur Cotterell Theatre). She has also appeared in many short films recently including as July in June and July, and Quinn in Queen and Lionheart.

Simon Christian trained at the Guildford School of Acting. His theatre credits include Spring Awakening at Vienna's English Theatre, Cats, Selfies and the Scattered Mind of the Incurable Dreamer at the Space Theatre and Mayakovsky at the Rich Mix. Writing credits include Towers of Eden which premiered at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, as well as Abney Park for the Tower Theatre's festival Love [and Survival] in a times of Covid.

Simona Hughes completed her MFA in Advanced Theatre Practice at Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and graduated (with distinction) in 2019. She has been a Tower Theatre 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 Little Nell, Brontë, Love Love Love, Table and A Passage to India. She has also 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 County Lines, which was recently released on BFI player/Curzon Home cinema.

This is Helen McGill's eleventh show with the Tower, having performed in King Charles III, Di and Viv and Rose, The Importance of Being Earnest, The Priory, Time and The Conways, Marching Song, Chalet Lines and Dumb Show in previous seasons. Helen has also performed with Putney Arts Theatre, where she played the role of Phoebe in Party. Before arriving in London in 2013, she acted with companies in Liverpool where her roles included Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing and Yelena in Uncle Vanya.

Martin South is a London-based actor who has appeared as Professor Ogilvy in War of the WorldsMisanthropos, an adaptation of Timon of Athens. For the Tower Theatre, he has appeared most recently as King Henry VIII in The Court Must Have a Queen, Charles in King Charles III, and O'Brien in 1984. In 2021, he created Remembrance, an immersive audio drama taking place in Abney Park cemetery, which is still available at echoes.xyz.

This is Simon Vaughan's sixth production with the Tower Company after appearing as Norman in the 2020 production of The Norman Conquests closed by Covid, Barry Champlain in Talk Radio, Fluellen/Alice in Henry V and as Thomas Killigrew in Nell Gwynn. Other recent roles include Edward Little in Shoot the Bugger, Charles Dickens in Sikes and Nancy, and numerous online productions during the pandemic.

For the Tower Theatre, Victor Craven has directed The Norman Conquests, Way Upstream, Comic Potential, The Habit of Art, On Religion and Blackbird. Other directing credits include The Disappearance of Doctor Copernicus, What Do You Do With An Idea? and Game Over (London Symphony Orchestra, Barbican Hall); Voyager and How to Build an Orchestra (London Symphony Orchestra, Barbican Hall & Granada Theater, Santa Barbara); How to Build an Orchestra, Leon and the Place Between and Where’s Simon? (London Symphony Orchestra YouTube Channel); A Chip in the Sugar, Her Big Chance, Bed Among the Lentils and A Lady of Letters (Landor Theatre); Lettice and Lovage, Ten Times Table, Relatively Speaking, Confusions, One For the Road, Habeas Corpus and Toad of Toad Hall.

	This is Rosie Barwick's second performance at the Tower Theatre, after appearing as Jamie in Air during last summer's Love [and Survival] in a Time of Covid festival. She completed her Diploma in Acting at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in 2017, and recent theatre credits include Misty (It All Goes Back to the Mushroom, Etcetera Theatre) and Alice (Sticks and Stones, Arthur Cotterell Theatre). She has also appeared in many short films recently including as July in June and July, and Quinn in Queen and Lionheart.			Simon Christian trained at the Guildford School of Acting. His theatre credits include Spring Awakening at Vienna's English Theatre, Cats, Selfies and the Scattered Mind of the Incurable Dreamer at the Space Theatre and Mayakovsky at the Rich Mix. Writing credits include Towers of Eden which premiered at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, as well as Abney Park for the Tower Theatre's festival Love [and Survival] in a times of Covid.
	Simona Hughes completed her MFA in Advanced Theatre Practice at Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and graduated (with distinction) in 2019. She has been a Tower Theatre 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 Little Nell, Brontë, Love Love Love, Table and A Passage to India. She has also 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 County Lines, which was recently released on BFI player/Curzon Home cinema.			This is Helen McGill's eleventh show with the Tower, having performed in King Charles III, Di and Viv and Rose, The Importance of Being Earnest, The Priory, Time and The Conways, Marching Song, Chalet Lines and Dumb Show in previous seasons. Helen has also performed with Putney Arts Theatre, where she played the role of Phoebe in Party. Before arriving in London in 2013, she acted with companies in Liverpool where her roles included Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing and Yelena in Uncle Vanya.
	Martin South is a London-based actor who has appeared as Professor Ogilvy in War of the WorldsMisanthropos, an adaptation of Timon of Athens. For the Tower Theatre, he has appeared most recently as King Henry VIII in The Court Must Have a Queen, Charles in King Charles III, and O'Brien in 1984. In 2021, he created Remembrance, an immersive audio drama taking place in Abney Park cemetery, which is still available at echoes.xyz.			This is Simon Vaughan's sixth production with the Tower Company after appearing as Norman in the 2020 production of The Norman Conquests closed by Covid, Barry Champlain in Talk Radio, Fluellen/Alice in Henry V and as Thomas Killigrew in Nell Gwynn. Other recent roles include Edward Little in Shoot the Bugger, Charles Dickens in Sikes and Nancy, and numerous online productions during the pandemic.
	For the Tower Theatre, Victor Craven has directed The Norman Conquests, Way Upstream, Comic Potential, The Habit of Art, On Religion and Blackbird. Other directing credits include The Disappearance of Doctor Copernicus, What Do You Do With An Idea? and Game Over (London Symphony Orchestra, Barbican Hall); Voyager and How to Build an Orchestra (London Symphony Orchestra, Barbican Hall & Granada Theater, Santa Barbara); How to Build an Orchestra, Leon and the Place Between and Where’s Simon? (London Symphony Orchestra YouTube Channel); A Chip in the Sugar, Her Big Chance, Bed Among the Lentils and A Lady of Letters (Landor Theatre); Lettice and Lovage, Ten Times Table, Relatively Speaking, Confusions, One For the Road, Habeas Corpus and Toad of Toad Hall.

		Writers' Room - Live Curated and Directed by Victor Craven
		Sunday 6th February, 2022 At the Tower Theatre, Stoke Newington