​Debt. Debt. Debt. Debt. Debt.

Unable to escape this cycle, Emma hides the choice she has made, even when joined by friends on the night of her birthday celebration. If you're stuck in that cycle; how desperate will your actions become?
 
Bearded Dog Theatre’s thought-provoking new play A SINGULAR CHOICE by Niall Kiely, is currently playing this week at The Bread & Roses Theatre. Bearded Dog Theatre’s Co-founders Anson Williams (Executive Producer) and Niall Kiely (Artistic Director) discussed with Roman Berry (The Bread & Roses Theatre Production & Marketing Manager), their theatre highlights so far, ON THE state of British Fringe Theatre and their new piece A SINGULAR CHOICE!
 
What inspired you to establish Bearded Dog Theatre? And how did you come up with the theatre company name? 
 
Anson:I think we wanted to see more theatre talking about unspoken subjects. We both love all kinds of theatre but our favourite shows tend to be powerful shows with strong messages. We’ve also chosen to focus mainly on storytelling, and allowing these unspoken subjects to show people that there is someone listening and their stories are being told and heard! 
 
Niall:Our name came from my childhood dog Caffrey who was a Bearded Collie. We decided on Bearded Dog because dog’s are man’s best friend and we tell them everything honestly, something that we wish to do with the theatre we create.
 
What sort of issues/ theatre does Bearded Dog Theatre focus on or passionate about? (is it concentrating on new writing, classics or musicals? 
 
Anson: Unspoken topics; something that others are too scared to talk about. Our previous show was about male rape and I challenge you to name another show that exclusively deals with this topic. We want people to feel they have a voice and someone is willing to share their stories. I’d love to attempt this idea in Musical Theatre one day, but that is very much on the back burner (haha.).
 
Niall: I feel as if we’re drawn to new writing because it deals with topics not discussed whereas older plays will have already allowed the discussion of the themes they explore. I’d be interested in doing a classical in a way that isn’t commonly done and can offer new insight.
 
What was the inspiration in developing and writing A Singular Choice? Why this story?
 
Niall:Although I’m now a graduate I began writing it as a student because I was shocked to hear that this was happening to people of my own age and how easily it could occur. Everyone jokes that student life is tough but sometimes I don’t people realise how hard it can be in this climate. I wanted to shine a light on this crisis in a way that makes people question why we’ve ended up with a society where this is increasingly taking place but do it in a way that is relatable. 

After a sold out run of UNFOLDED last spring, Some People Productions are back with another exciting line up of new writing, this autumn. Unfolded is a collection of thought provoking shorts that try to reflect the world today. Six writers and six stories, comments on the current social and political global landscape. 

London-based theatre company, Some People Productions, specialises in work with a socio-political focus. Eleanor Ross, founder of the company and curator for Unfolded believes that “theatre...has a duty to tell stories that aren’t being shared, for people who don’t have a platform to tell them.” 

Here’s journalist and playwright, Eleanor Ross, talking about the inspiration behind the upcoming new writing season of UNFOLDED. It will take centre stage for a limited time at The Bread & Roses Theatre on September 9 & 10, 7.30 pm. 

Setting: One sunny Sunday afternoon
Location: A Café in Chelsea
The Bread & Roses Theatre Production and Marketing Manager, Roman Berry, sat down over coffee, with producers Joshua King (who also plays Richard II) and Christian Warwicker and had a candid chat about their theatrical debut RICHARD II, Open The Vault Productions and all things Theatre. Here’s what these passionate emerging theatre makers have to say:
 
What led you to establishing Open The Vault Productions?
 
Joshua: I’ve learnt from Drama School that if you make your own work then you’ll have more success.
 
Christian: And we we’re sitting together at the flat one day during our final year of Drama School and we thought let’s do it, let’s create our own company. So, we started Open The Vault Productions.
 
Who are the key people behind Open The Vault Productions and it’s ethos?
 
Joshua: It’s me and Christian who are co-founder and producers of Open The Vault Productions. We settled on the name Open The Vault ‘Productions’…
 
Christian: …rather than ‘theatre’ because we wanted to grow and expand. We had a short film to begin with, titled Everyone Welcome, we filmed it on one day. We enjoyed the process so much and thought let’s keep going and on to the next one.
 
Joshua: We really believe of what’s right for the production and invest on people who are right for the production
 
Christian: …as opposed to getting collaborators for aesthetic purposes. It’s not about gender, race, or certain aesthetic. 
 
Joshua: Especially, working with people who are brilliant and passionate at what they do. There’s a saying from Guillermo Del Toro, about having the right person, for the right role no matter who they are or what they are. What’s really important is what they bring to the project. That’s really exciting.
 
Christian: But it’s also about collaboration. It’s collaborative and having different ideas that we haven’t thought of, is important. It’s better to have different ideas.
 
Why did you choose Shakespeare’s Richard II?
 
Joshua: We love Shakespeare and so we started talking about what play we wanted to do, but I’ve always had Richard II in the back of my mind and I asked Chris to read it and the rest is history. 
 
Christian: So, we thought of Richard II as our first theatrical venture. We picked one of the lesser of Shakespeare’s plays, because we can adapt it and be creative with it, do what we want out of it, in terms of making it relatable and contemporary, it’s perfect.
 
Joshua: I also really love Richard’s character. Such a well-rounded character. The way we also adapted it is that everyone has something to do. Our Director Joshua Jewkes, describes it as Games of Thrones, meets Thick Of It.
 
Christian: We approached Joshua Jewkes to be the Director for Richard II. We knew him from our Drama school, through conversation we had a lot in common. When Joshua (King) and I were talking about who should be directing and we  just thought he was the great fit. We’ve seen him direct at Drama School and really enjoyed his work.
What attracted you to The Bread and Roses Theatre to debut this production?
 
Joshua: We first applied for Camden Fringe but we somehow didn't get our venue and dates, so we thought we could do it at the same time. 
 
Christian: So, we knew about Bread and Roses Theatre, having seen performances over time, that it’s always been a great theatre to try out new work, so we approached Rebecca Pryle (The Bread & Roses Theatre Executive Manager) and the rest is history.

An exciting new play is taking centre stage this week at The Bread & Roses Theatre. It runs from August 7 – 11, 7.30 pm. Presented by MATIPO, an emerging theatre company, made up of an ensemble of passionate theatre makers, FLEECED is written & directed by company Co-Founder Georgia Hardcastle. 
 
Stories emerge and overlap in this energetic dark comedy. Generations battle in a tug of war. Somewhere, a girl chooses between being a name or a number. Avatars strive towards the end of their video game. A boy struggles to get served at an off licence. Reflecting and exploring our own identities and how we construct them, as part of a flock that feel FLEECED.
 
Roman Berry (Production and Marketing Manager) had a candid interview with Co-Founders, Artistic Directors and siblings, Georgia Hardcastle and Sally Hardcastle.

What led you to establishing Matipo and how did the name evolve?
 S - Well, we've always planned things together, haven't we?
G - We've always been big planners! And it was once we looked towards going into theatre in sort of separate ways that those plans became for the future instead of just for fun. 
S - the reason we've actually formed Matipo as a company now, is that we've had the opportunity to produce Fleeced.
G - Yes, this is our first official collaboration. And the name...
S - The name Matipo comes from the road we were born on in Te Atatu, New Zealand - it's where our placentas are buried! 
G - It felt right to name our production company after where we're from.
S - Because that's where any of our work ultimately comes from as well.
 
Who are the people behind Matipo?
S - It's us!
G - Yes, we're a team of two sisters.

As siblings and co founders, how do you differentiate roles in the company? 
S - I come to projects from a design angle, and Georgia is more the writing/directing side of things.
G - Plus we share producing responsibilities for now.
 
As it is your debut production, what sort of issues is covered in FLEECED & what theatre does Matipo focus on or is passionate about?
G - This show deals with identity, and that's something that will certainly continue to be a focus of our work.
S - Well I think Fleeced is a pretty fair representation of Georgia's writing style... our focus is on new writing.
G - Yes, I think it's always got to have a slightly angry impetus about it! Certainly, everything we have in the pipeline deals with things I can get passionate enough about to pursue in writing. ​

New Dreams Theatre returns to The Bread & Roses Theatre this Sunday 4thof August till Monday 5thof August, with TIME FOR SOMETHING NEW III. Now in its third edition, it promises to be another great line-up of new writing.

New Dreams Theatre Artistic Directors, Kevin Russell and Paul Vates have been working together, collaborating on many productions with the company since its inception. Roman Berry (Production & Marketing Manager) caught up with Kevin Russel and asked him about the company and all things theatre. 
 
Who are the people involved with New Dreams Theatre and how did this New Writing Event come about? 
 
Paul Vates and I, basically began it and built up its reputation and then this year we invited the wonderful Stephanie Perry and Julia Florimo to the team. We've worked with other shows before. Their experience in the theatre is quite vast, creating a lot of opportunities for the future of the company, that’s why we started TIME FOR SOMETHING NEW.
 
What have been some of the highlights in the development of New Dreams Theatres’ TIME FOR SOMETHING NEW?
 
TIME FOR SOMETHING NEW has been a great progression, because it’s something we had never done before, presenting completely new writing. Up until now, we had presented either contemporary classics, like Memory of Water, Diary of Anne Frank and Ibsen’s A Doll’s House. 
 
What are the dominant stories & themes on the third instalment?
 
We have fantastic plays coming on our third outing. We have a brilliant one act play called Bandit by William Patterson - probably nearest to Harold Pinter in style you will find today! It is very funny and very disturbing at times. You never quite know what is happening.
 
The second half several shorter plays or various themes. Including being homeless and having to live off benefits at a bed and breakfast.

In International theatre speak, summer season is extra special, as the most renowned theatre festival in the world, The Edinburgh Fringe 2018, takes flight! Oh wait, but that’s in Scotland, right? 
 
Well, don’t worry theatre family, throughout this week until 30thof July, a taste of this colourful festival comes to The Bread & Roses Theatre, in the heart of Clapham. There’s a lot of productions trying out their exciting work to London audiences prior to heading to the fringe theatre mecca, so hurry on down south and be the first to experience some of these wonderful offerings. We’ve got your pre-ED Fringe inspiration, from Irish Coffee, dinner conversations, slice of New York City, stories of survival, spirituality, politics and LOVE! AND lots of COMEDY. 
 
Roman Berry, our Production & Marketing Manager, also asked each company or performer, how to creatively describe their show if they could fuse two classic films and here are some of their response. We definitely have some blockbusters here. So, feast your senses and join us next week for a great line up of exciting shows!

​In International theatre speak, summer season is extra special, as the most renowned theatre festival in the world, The Edinburgh Fringe 2018, takes flight! Oh wait, but that’s in Scotland, right? 
 
Well, don’t worry theatre family, next week 23 - 30 July, a taste of this colourful festival comes to The Bread & Roses Theatre, in the heart of Clapham. There’s a lot of productions trying out their exciting work to London audiences prior to heading to the fringe theatre mecca, so hurry on down south and be the first to experience some of these wonderful offerings. We’ve got your pre-Ed Fringe inspiration, from Irish Coffee, dinner conversations, slice of New York City, stories of survival, spirituality, politics and LOVE! AND lots of COMEDY. 
 
Roman Berry, our Production & Marketing Manager, also asked each company or performer, how to creatively describe their show if they could fuse two classic films and here are some of their responses. We definitely have some blockbusters here. So, feast your senses and join us next week for a great line up of exciting shows!

Lorraine Mullaney’s MARTIN LINGUS, performed by West End actor Clive Marlowe, is about to make its appearance at The Bread & Roses Theatre, and we can’t wait to find out more about this Shortlisted Best New Play at Brighton Fringe 2018. It will be shown on three consecutive Sundays from 8th, 15thand 22ndof July, 7.00 pm.
 
Su Gilroy, who collaborates regularly with many visiting and in-house productions at The Bread & Roses Theatre, directs this one-man dark comedy, which explores love, inner demons and period house features. 
 
Roman Berry, Production & Marketing Manager at The Bread & Roses Theatre spoke with her about the collaborative process on this piece, its challenges and significance of telling Martin Lingus’ story.
 
How did the collaboration come about in Lorraine Mullaney’s ‘Martin Lingus’ and who are the people involved? 
 
Lorraine is a Brighton-based writer who I worked with in 2014 on her play ‘Unclouded Moon’ at the Brighton Fringe Festival (which was also shortlisted for the Best New Play Award). The following year she produced a show called ‘Sex in Shorts’ which was made up of six 10-minute plays by three writers, including herself, and I directed all of them. One of Lorraine’s was a monologue called ‘A Lady with a House’ which was very well received, and which she then re-wrote as an hour-long show, bringing in more characters. We asked some actors to read it as part of the process, and one of them was Clive Marlowe, an actor I’ve worked with several times. He really liked the script and was very interested in doing it as a one-man show, so Lorraine adapted it again to the version we’re presenting at The Bread & Roses Theatre.
 
What’s challenging about bringing ‘Martin Lingus’ and the script to life? 
 
The most challenging aspect is that Clive not only has to play all the characters, but he also has to do it without the help of any costumes, props or anything else – it’s just him and the words. We had to make sure we could differentiate the various characters vocally and physically, so we spent quite a lot of time working on them individually, even though their dialogue actually weaves in and out a lot of the time, sometimes changing between characters line by line, which is also challenging.