SINK

WRITER; IN DEVELOPMENT

An exploded-out kitchen sink drama about the end of the world.

VENUES INCLUDE: HOME Manchester (extract reading) 

A love song to teenage pop rock and all of the adolescent hobbies you’ve long since dropped. Featuring drum kits, connection and a little bit of chaos.

Shortlisted for the LET Award 2023.

VENUES INCLUDE: The Lowry & Lighthouse Poole [R&D]



TEAM:
Writer & Performer Jodie Irvine
Composer & Musical Director Stefan Abingdon
Director Charlie Norburn
Dramaturg Clodagh Chapman
Poole R&D Cast Harry Irvine, Jasmine Earl, Marcus Wood & Stanton Wright
Lowry R&D Cast Jack Hart, Radhika Aggarwal & Toby De Salis
Supporters The Lowry, REcreate Agency & Lighthouse Poole

Supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.

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LADYFRIENDS [a period drama]

WRITER & DIRECTOR

Annie and Christabel are dating. Historians dispute this on the grounds of 'inaccuracies' and 'lack of scholastic rigour' and 'the over-interpretation of the fact that women shared bedrooms'.

LADYFRIENDS is a high-octane romp through love letters, third dates, and lesbian period dramas - via the (probably) true stories of Annie Kenney and Christabel Pankhurst. Rammed with live music and film, it digs up real-life queer history to ask the age-old question: "are we dating, or are we just really good friends?”

[think: a lesbian period drama that crumbles into a failure at creating a lesbian period drama that crumbles into an Alanis Morrisette tribute act, sort of.]

Expect confetti, PowerPoints, and power ballads.

VENUES INCLUDE: Camden People’s Theatre, Hope Mill Theatre, Loco Klub Bristol, Gloucester Guildhall, Shakespeare North Playhouse.

REVIEWS:
“Clodagh Chapman opts to tell a plausible love story through moments of gig theatre, film and PowerPoint presentations (yes, really, and it’s utterly brilliant)” - Liam O’Dell

“A glorious collision of off-the-wall humour, quiet intimacy, noisy rebelliousness, and so so much more. A joy.” - Circles & Stalls

“A period drama like no other: drawing on questionable historical data, Powerpoint presentations and guitar solos to weave a forgotten queer love story that would make the BBC blush." - Headfirst

“A charming, stripped-back, playful metadrama” - North West End

“Queer history brought to life with glitterballs, electric guitar, anachronisms and attitude” - Audience feedback

⭑⭑⭑⭑ North West End
⭑⭑⭑⭑⭑ MerseyNewsLive

Headfirst Editor’s Pick [March 2023]
Circles & Stalls Best of Manchester Theatre 2023

Supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England, and by Manchester Pride’s Superbia Queer Arts Grant.

LOB

CO-DIRECTOR

It’s the year 2000 and my grandmother, dreaming of Wimbledon glory, is devastated by my lack of prowess.

Having been obsessed with this memory for twenty years now, with her trusty swingball set, Roma Havers attempts to serve a LOB. Egged on by locker room banter, a Victorian ghost for a doubles partner and a masked ball that just won’t go to plan, this dance and poetry show prioritises explores what it could mean to move as queer bodies in sporting spaces, even if you’ll never reach Centre Court.

VENUES INCLUDE: The MAC Belfast and Contact Theatre



REVIEWS:
“Joyful, communal and tender... and feels unpolished in the best way.” - I Love MCR
“Pairs poetic licence with delightfully offbeat movement to winning effect.” - Circles & Stalls

Manchester Wire’s Picks of October 2022
Circles & Stalls Top Nine Picks of 2022
Contact Theatre’s 50 Most Celebrated

TEAM:
Writer & Performer Roma Havers
Producer Ali Wilson
Co-Directors Christopher Brown & Clodagh Chapman
Movement Director Christopher Brown
Dramaturg Frankie Blaus
Composer Donna Loman
Access Champion Ruth O’Sullivan
Supporters Contact Theatre, HOME Manchester, Outburst Arts, The Proud Trust

Supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.

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butterfly

CO-WRITER, DRAMATURG & ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR

An Elizabethan woman stitches a beard from her pubic hair to marry the woman she loves. A Punjabi-speaking Muslim girl tries to make her parents understand who she is by translating the untranslatable. A drag queen fighting in World War II must literally lip sync for her life.

A show about remembering (and forgetting) everyday LGBTQ+ changemakers.

VENUES INCLUDE: VAULT Festival and Loco Klub Bristol

REVIEWS:
“A brilliant show full of heart – it’s history that is far from dull and has been smacked through a queer kaleidoscope of charm, dark humour and vibrancy” - The Guardian

“A queer anthology which sizzles with an electric energy” - VAULT Emerging Critics

“As hilarious as it is heart-warming” - DIVA Magazine

“A powerful story about LGBT+ lives and love which crosses time.” - Mslexia

⭑⭑⭑⭑ The Crumb
⭑⭑⭑⭑ VAULT Emerging Critics

DIVA Magazine’s Top Eight VAULT Festival Shows [2020]
Thespie’s VAULT Festival Picks [2020]

TEAM:
Writers Clodagh Chapman & Sam Arbor
Director Sam Arbor
Producer Ben Orr
Associate Director & Dramaturg Clodagh Chapman
Additional Material Anna Fenton-Garvey & Anusha Abbas
Musical Director James Christensen
Drag Choreographer Ruth Wormington
Production Manager Grace Hart
Producing Assistant Gabi Spiro
Lighting Designer Ben Orr
Set Designer Polly Wain
Costume Designer Beck Throup
Script Development Billie Collins
Research Assistance Norena Shopland
Production Photographer Harry Plowden
VAULT Cast Anna Fenton-Garvey, Eden Peppercorn, Tom Taplin, Anusha Abbas, Ericka Posadas, Jacob Garvey, Lucy Mackay & Tarun Shah
Loco Klub Cast Anna Fenton-Garvey, Anusha Abbas, Sophie Graham, Elsa Rae-Lewellen, Jonny Fryer, Thi-An Nguyen, Andy Simpson, Anna Fenton-Garvey, Alex Jenn & Rosel Jackson-Stern