My activities in and around The University of East Anglia during my time on the wonderful Scriptwriting and Performance BA... includes performing poetry at Latitude, performing in plays at the studio, at the Edinburgh Fringe, and touring South Italy with a production of Romeo and Juliet.... Being Publicity Officer for The Drama Society at UEA, writing short plays for my course, Drama Soc and The Minotaur Theatre Company and lots of other fun stuff!
This last semester at uni I have been involved in the mammoth task of adapting Sir Philip Sidney's 'The Old Arcadia' (an Elizabethan novel) into an Elizabethan play to rival even The Bard. My role is this module - Third Year Production - has been as both an Adapter/Editor (working tirelessly with a small group of writers to turn the prose into dialogue, and on endless drafts and redrafts of Arcadia) and also as an actor, tackling the role of Philanax
Wagstaff by Oriel Theatre Co. Directed by Gwen Hanauer, starring Me, Milli Bahtia and Jonathan Moss
This Summer at the Fringe I had the privilege of performing in 'Kaffa!' with The Porcelain Cat Theatre Company (made up of students from UEA) Kaffa! was a devised absurdist comedy set in a fictitious coffee shop, performed in the intimate Space Cabaret Bar “Chris White’s main character was the barista, Ginger - so bashful he is mute, his blushing and grimacing demonstrated the pain of social interaction. He was totally convincing in all of his roles, from a stereotypical coffee shop writer, to a painfully bored ‘youth of today.’” Reviews: http://www.broadwaybaby.com/listing.php?id=21275 http://edfringereview.com/r/UfL04wAwRlSUs1bFXDx6yg
One of the posters I designed and created for The UEA Drama Society (Punk Rock by Simon Stephens)
I played Bill, the protagonist, in Bloodfeather, a new play by fellow student Gemma Aked Priestly
An image of Louisa Smith in my short play Talking Beds, from Spotlight (a night of short plays which I helped to organise earlier this year.) My play was described in a Tab review as; "A series of monologues, linked by Britney Spears ‘Toxic’, regaled tales of sex, death and abortion. Susannah Martin was particularly fantastic, as was the writing – her monologue was strangely poetic and ever-so-slightly creepy (yes, technical term), but above all she demanded the audiences attention with ease. Louisa Smith and Naomi Richardson also gave brutally honest and gripping performances." http://norwich.tab.co.uk/2013/03/08/review-spotlight/
A photo of one of the 'Shakespeare' workshops I helped to run last year, along with the cast and crew of By Any Other Name's Romeo and Juliet. During the week of workshops at Teatro Delle Forche we worked with a large group of young people to help them improve their English and understanding of Shakespeare, whilst also performing at the theatre in the evenings to various school groups. At the end of the week, the kids in our workshop group performed a short piece to their parents and us at the theatre.
A still from my short black comedy 'There's No Smoke,' starring Michael Clarke and Jesselyn Verity, performed for a charity fundraiser at The UEA Drama Studio (2011)
Since the start of uni I have written of reviews for the student news site, The Tab (Norwich) in and around Norwich. I find it's a good way to do some educational critical analysis (and get a free ticket.) http://norwich.tab.co.uk/2013/08/01/review-the-librarians-26-july-uea-drama-studio/ http://norwich.tab.co.uk/2012/04/11/company-along-the-mile-sewell-barn/ http://norwich.tab.co.uk/2013/01/28/review-shackled/ http://norwich.tab.co.uk/2012/03/30/review-the-birthday-party/
Last year I was publicity officer for the Uiversity of East Anglia's Drama Society. This is a poster I created for our first ever 'Spotlight,' a night of short plays, which included my play 'Talking Beds'
Since coming to UEA I have discovered the wonders of Performance Poetry, and have been performing at various events for the last 3 years, including Creative Writing Soc gigs, Drama Department fundraisers, poetry slams and for UEA Live in the city.... (The turtleneck's chiefly ironic. But it does like damn good.)
This Easter my friend Gwen and I took part in a Jailbreak challenge to raise money for Cancer Research UK. Donning our style 'Suitcase Theatre' we hitchhiked from Norwich to Edinburgh and back, performing Shakespeare on the way... on Liverpudlian trains, Yorkshire pubs and Glasgow cafes. We traveled by bus, car, coach and even a horse box - all for free - and made over £1,000 for charity!
In 2012 I played Gremio in Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew, directed by Gwen Hanauer “The stand-out performances from the supporting cast were Gremio, who was at all times hilarious, over the top and yet believable as Bianca’s decrepit suitor...” http://norwich.tab.co.uk/2012/11/01/the-shrew-gets-reviewed-and-tamed/
Last summer I traveled to Locorotondo with 'By Any Other Name Theatre Company' to perform Romeo and Juliet We were also invited back in December by Teatro de la Forcha to perform again and run a series of Shakespeare workshops with Italian children in Massafra. Link to By Any Other Name's website: http://www.i-m.co/byanyothername/byanyothername/
A pic from my short play 'Polyphagous.' performed as part of Minotaur Theatre Company's 2012 Shorts Festival, starring Jonathan Moss and Molly McGeachin
The first play I was ever in!
During my time on the committee last year I helped to create and organise a new slot called Spotlight – A Night of New Shorts Plays, written and performed by members of the society at The LCR, UEA. As somebody who both helped to organise the event, and write and direct my own short play which featured that year, the new committee invited me back this year in the role of ‘Spotlight Officer,’ in charge of the overall smooth running of Spotlight 2014
As ‘Spotlight Officer’ I was responsible for facilitating the technical requirements of all six shorts, for running the publicity campaign, operating under a strict budget, and helping each director to source props and costume for their show.
Earlier this year I acted in the role of 'Laughing Boy' a mute little boy, in Minotaur Theatre Company's Creative Writing Slot Competition winner - fuck, what a mouthful - 'Ingerland.' Written by fellow coursemate Jerusha Green. UEA Drama Studio
This July I won a creative brief on Ideastap which gave me the opportunity to perform some poetry at Latitude Festival with Writers Center Norwich
In May this year I co-wrote and co-directed The Snow Queen with Milli Bhatia... a children's play based on Hans Christian Anderson's classic, for Minotaur Theatre Company, performed at the Garage Theatre in Norwich.
http://norwich.tab.co.uk/2014/05/23/review-the-snow-queen/
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