Produced by Absolutely Cultured in partnership with Arts Council England and British Council
28 - 31 March 2019
On 28 March, Absolutely Cultured, IETM and partners Arts Council England and the British Council welcomed the international performing arts community to Hull as it hosts IETM Hull 2019.
The exciting programme of talks, discussions, workshops and performances explored the subject of inclusion, showcasing the diverse practice of local, regional and national artists and celebrating international collaboration and cooperation. This timely programme gave the national and international arts community an insight into what is special about the contemporary performing arts sector across Hull, the north of England and wider UK.
IETM is a membership organisation for contemporary performing arts, with more than 500 members from over 50 countries. With a mission to advocate for the value of the arts and culture in a changing world, IETM holds two plenary meetings each year in different European cities. Hull was the first UK city to host a plenary since 2010.
Keynote speakers included Sade Brown, an award-winning social entrepreneur and founder of Sour Lemons, which addresses the lack of diversity in leadership within the creative, cultural and social sectors, and British theatre-maker and comedian Jess Thom, founder of Touretteshero.
The artistic programme showcased award-winning local artists including the latest play by Middle Child, Us Against Whatever, while Silent Uproar performed its 2017 hit play, A Super Happy Story About Feeling Super Sad. Internationally renowned Candoco Dance Company, a company of disabled and non-disabled dancers performed for the first time in the city, offering audiences a profound and boundary-pushing experience in its latest double bill, Face In by Yasmeen Godder and Let’s Talk About Dis by Hetain Patel. No Kids was the latest energetic, hilarious, moving and thought-provoking play from the multi-award-winning Bristol-based company, Ad Infinitum, while in Fat Blokes, Scottee uncovered why fat men are never sexy but are always funny in a hilarious dance show of sorts.
For more information about IETM, visit ITEM’s website.
With the support of Creative Europe, Flanders State of the Art, Hull City Council, Visit Britain
I produced IETM Plenary Meeting Hull on behalf of Absolutely Cultured .
Executive Producer
March 2020 to present
I joined FutureEverything in March 2020 as Producer, becoming Executive Producer in November 2021 and continue to co-lead the organisation.
FutureEverything exists at the convergence of art, technology and society. As an arts organisation with a year-round programme of cultural activity, we’ve helped shape digital culture locally, nationally and internationally for over 25 years.
We bring audiences together to discover and share new ideas that dare to imagine better futures through a bold programme of public art commissions, cross-sector collaborations, and digital debates & knowledge exchange forums.
Our mission is to push creative boundaries across multiple disciplines, ask challenging questions, and connect wide-ranging audiences with current and future global issues.
Our vision is to spearhead positive societal change and pioneer critical cultural connections using art as a transformative tool.
We deliver projects in the UK and across the globe, across three programme strands, with high profile partners including arts organisations, academic institutions, tech industry, business, governmental organisations and others, working with AI, ethics, environment, placemaking and more.
Our three programme strands are:
Public Artwork
We curate, commission and produce art in response to critical social issues, delivering a cultural programme of accessible art installations and exhibitions in the public realm.
Cross-Sector Collaborations
We bring together people, from the cultural sector, industry and academia, with bold ideas for identifying opportunities to understand complex issues and challenges towards co-created solutions.
Digital Debates & Knowledge Exchange
We create shared spaces, in-person and online, for debate facilitating alternative views towards current and future concerns and ambitions.
During my time at FutureEverything we have delivered a diverse range of artworks, exhibitions, and events including:
A Royal Exchange Theatre production
23 - 25 February 2018
Created by Andrew Barry and TripleDotMakers.
WHERE WERE YOU WHEN...?
A group of people aged 60-85 stand in the space. Between them, they have years of experience. Together they are navigating a constantly changing world. From big political events to personal intimate moments, the Elders ask - what can history teach us about who we are and where we are going?
Following the acclaimed THE SPACE BETWEEN US, the Elders Company return with a radical new production.
I produced Moments That Changed Our World on behalf of the Royal Exchange Theatre.
The Blog of Theatre Things review
Photos by Joel Fildes
A Royal Exchange Theatre production
17 - 20 August 2017
Directed by Matt Hassall. Designed by Bethany Wells.
“FOR THE FIRST TIME, THE PAST BECAME FOR ME AS REAL AS THE PRESENT DAY.”
Something is happening. Underground. Someone is running. Someone is hiding. Someone is dancing. All of them waiting. For the time when they can be free.
Charting the shifting and stalling attitudes to gay rights, WE WERE TOLD THERE WAS DANCING marks the 50th anniversary of the Sexual Offences Act that began the decriminalisation of homosexuality in 1967 in England and Wales.
Following the sell-out successes of THE FACTORY and NOTHING, the Royal Exchange Theatre’s award-winning Young Company return with a piece that unlocks hidden histories and celebrates the radical individuals that have changed our future.
This project is supported by a grant from Superbia. Superbia Grants provide financial support for LGBT events as part of Manchester Pride’s commitment to the quality and diversity of cultural events taking place throughout the year in Greater Manchester superbia.org.uk
I produced We Were Told There Was Dancing on behalf of the Royal Exchange Theatre.
Photos by Joel Fildes
A Manchester Camerata production
29 September 2019
BBC Contains Strong Language Festival, Hull 2019
Written by Louise Wallwein. Directed by Sue Roberts.
What would dementia look like? It would look like a broken-down cello, all the strings stretched and breaking.
Hidden is a new theatre piece written by award-winning poet, playwright and performer, Louise Wallwein (MBE), created through a programme of public engagement and creative enquiry into the lived experience of young onset dementia. Hidden addresses the challenges that both people living with young onset and their loved ones are faced with in a powerful and uncompromising piece.
After a successful tour in June 2019, ‘Hidden’ performed at BBC Contains Strong Language Festival in Hull in September 2019.
Hidden went on to win Best Performance at the Manchester Culture Awards 2019.
I produced Hidden on behalf of Manchester Camerata.
A Royal Exchange Theatre production
11 - 14 April 2018
Directed by Matt Hassall. Composition and Musical Direction by James Frewer.
“THIS IS MANCHESTER; WE DO THINGS DIFFERENTLY HERE.”
A mixtape is a home-made compilation of music recorded in a specific order, for somebody specific.
Our MIXTAPE is a new kind of musical – part gig, part play, part party. A harmonious ode to this city.
The award-winning Royal Exchange Theatre Young Company return with this vibrant new musical exploring what it means to live in this city today and to make a place your home. MIXTAPE will be the latest production by the Young Company following the recent successes of WE WERE TOLD THERE WAS DANCING, NOTHING (winner of an MTAward), and THE FACTORY.
I produced Mixtape on behalf of the Royal Exchange Theatre.
Photos by Joel Fildes
A Manchester International Festival production
20 - 21 July 2019
Imagine a city where animals of all kinds, including humanz, live together as equals.
Animals of Manchester (including HUMANZ) is a Live Art experience that explores what life might be like if dogs, cows, pigeons, squirrels and other creatures lived alongside us as our peers – our companions.
On the Festival’s final weekend, we hosted absorbing activities, workshops and encounters in the Whitworth’s galleries and Whitworth Park.
There was a palace for mice and for humans, a film studio run by beetles, a hedgehog hospital, a conference of animals led by a cow, living memorials for extinct species, a Bestiary Beauty Parlour and a Life Art Library honouring animals as artists and performers.
Commissioned and produced by Manchester International Festival with support from the Whitworth, The University of Manchester.
A project by Theatre of Research & Live Art Development Agency with Sibylle Peters as Lead Artist & Curator, and Lois Keidan as Curator.
Featuring specially commissioned artworks by Angela Bartram, Ansuman Biswas, David Caines, Rebecca Chesney, Marcus Coates, Katharina Duve, Andy Field & Beckie Darlington, Krõõt Juurak & Alex Bailey, Bruce Gilchrist & Jo Joelson (London Fieldworks), Martin O’Brien, Esther Pilkington & Daniel Ladnar (random people), Benji Reid, Joshua Sofaer, Tim Spooner & Dmitri Logunov (Manchester Museum), and lectures by Jack Ashby, Laura Cull Ó Maoilearca, Antony Hall, Kerry Morrison, Kira O’Reilly, and David Weber-Krebs & Maximillian Haas.
I was Participation Co-ordinator for Animals of Manchester (including HUMANZ) on behalf of Manchester International Festival.
Critical response from Maddy Costa and Mary Paterson
Illustration: Rob Bailey
A Royal Exchange Theatre production
29 March - 02 April 2017
14 - 17 April 2016
By Amanda Dalton, adapted from the novel by Janne Teller. Directed by Bryony Shanahan.
When teenager Pierre Anthon cheerfully announces that nothing in life has meaning, his friends decide to prove him wrong. Fearful he might in fact be right, their desperate actions spiral out of control and lead to terrifying consequences.
Written in 2000 and translated in 2010, NOTHING caused widespread controversy in its native Denmark, receiving great critical acclaim, winning numerous awards, and simultaneously being banned in many schools and libraries.
Following the sell-out success of BRINK, the Royal Exchange Theatre Young Company returns in collaboration with director Bryony Shanahan and writer Amanda Dalton. Powerful and unsettling, this brand new adaptation of Janne Teller's novel is a UK stage premiere.
Following a sell-out run of the world premiere in the Studio in 2016, NOTHING returns by popular demand in Spring 2017.
Winner of Manchester Theatre Awards 2017 Youth Panel Award.
I produced Nothing on behalf of the Royal Exchange Theatre.
Photos by Joel Fildes
A Royal Exchange Theatre, Actors Touring Company, and Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh co-production
10 March - 01 April 2017
BY AESCHYLUS IN A NEW VERSION BY DAVID GREIG
Directed by Ramin Gray. Music composed by John Browne. Choreography by Sasha Milavic Davies.
FIFTY WOMEN LEAVE EVERYTHING BEHIND TO BOARD A BOAT IN NORTH AFRICA AND FLEE ACROSS THE MEDITERRANEAN.
They are escaping forced marriage in their homeland, hoping for protection and assistance, seeking asylum in Greece.
Written 2,500 years ago, this is one of the world’s oldest plays. At its heart are fifty young women in full chorus arguing for their lives, speaking to us through the ages with startling resonance for our times.
An extraordinary theatrical event, which opened in Edinburgh to great critical acclaim, this show will be reinterpreted for the unique Royal Exchange space. Part play, part ritual, part theatrical archaeology, it offers an electric connection to the deepest and most mysterious ideas of humanity - who are we, where do we belong and if all goes wrong – who will take us in?
I produced the Community Ensemble Cast for The Suppliant Women on behalf of the Royal Exchange Theatre.
★★★★★ Upstaged Manchester review
★★★★★ The Daily Telegraph
A Royal Exchange Theatre production
17 - 20 February 2017
Created by Andrew Barry and Christopher Owen.
THERE IS A SPACE AND TOGETHER WE WILL EXIST IN IT.
THE SPACE BETWEEN US is an eclectic group of performers who play, move and speak together. In this show the actors don’t play characters and don’t tell a story, instead they share their thoughts, feelings and experience.
Gordon describes the moment he fell for his wife, Matthew wonders how you know if you’re in love and Maureen dances to her own song. Words collide with movement, ideas and opinions knock against one another and human bodies aged 16-79 journey through the space.
The Space Between Us asks how are we different, how are we the same and what does it mean to be human?
Following the successful tour of FLICKER AND THE FLYING BOOKS the Royal Exchange Theatre’s resident community companies, the Elders Company and the Young Company, will once again collaborate in a pioneering new piece of physical theatre.
I produced The Space Between Us on behalf of the Royal Exchange Theatre.
Photos by Joel Fildes
A Royal Exchange Theatre production
25 - 27 August 2016
Directed by Matt Hassall. Designed by Bethany Wells.
ARE YOU COMMITTED TO BUILDING A STRONGER FUTURE?
WANT TO BE PART OF A SUSTAINABLE FRANCHISE?
WOULD YOU LIKE TO INCREASE YOUR OPPORTUNITIES AND DECREASE YOUR CHANCES OF MISFORTUNE?
If so, then The Factory is for you and we invite you to step inside our doors.
Following on from the success of Brink and Nothing, the Royal Exchange Theatre Young Company bring this new immersive experience to the Swan St. Studio which will see audiences plunged into an unexpected journey of tempation, power and canapés when new company Chrysalis invite them to see their innovative solutions to the problems of poverty and overpopulation.
I produced The Factory on behalf of the Royal Exchange Theatre.
Photos by Joel Fildes
A Royal Exchange Theatre production
02 June 2016
28 June - 04 July 2015
Directed by Andrew Barry.
Benji, why don’t you just read a book?
A book? Boring! Books are boring!
No one is interested in the little bookcase in the corner - they have far more important things to do. Then one day, the magical Flicker starts throwing books from the shelves and flicking through pages. Soon there is mayhem and chaos as a whole host of story-trouble comes tumbling out to charm and disrupt everybody's ordinary lives.
FLICKER AND THE FLYING BOOKS has been created by members of the Royal Exchange Theatre's two community Companies - the Young Company (aged 14-21) and the Elders' Company (aged 60+). It received its world premiere in Summer 2015 as part of the Manchester Children’s Book Festival and was a sell-out success.
I produced Flicker & The Flying Birds on behalf of the Royal Exchange Theatre.
Photos by Joel Fildes
A Royal Exchange Theatre production
10 December 2014
Written by Louise Wallwein. Directed by Evie Manning. Music by Wojtek Rusin.
We had money, we had cigs, we had beer, but we had nothing to do, no plans whatsoever, so then we ...
AT NIGHT is about risk. It's being young and feeling untouchable, of losing it and being out of control. It's darkness and light, noise and loud music. It's derelict buildings and No Entry signs. It's being bored and making something happen.
Performed in Rochdale's iconic Old Fire Station, AT NIGHT has been made with young people from Rochdale working with award-winning director Evie Manning (NO GUTS, NO HEART, NO GLORY and OUR GLASS HOUSE) and is based on their experiences of risk. Join us on an immersive, unpredictable journey to explore what it is to be young, AT NIGHT.
AT NIGHT is part of Truth about Youth, a major partnership with the Co-operative Foundation, challenging and changing negative perceptions of young people in the UK.
I produced At Night on behalf of the Royal Exchange Theatre.
Photos by Joel Fildes
A Royal Exchange Theatre production
28 - 29 August 2015
Written by Reuben Johnson. Directed by Alex Summers.
Your feet hit the water and hurt; that's how high you are... If you hit the bottom, it's a long way to come back up for air.
With roots as deep as the water that runs beside it, Ordsall has been absorbed by a city of gleaming glass. Once the beating heart of the dockside, a place of neighbourhood bonfires and exhilarating rites of passage, the Ordsall community finds itself drowning in a tangle of political rules and private regulations. But when all the odds are stacked against you, how do you get that community spirit back?
Developed by the Royal Exchange Theatre and the residents of Salford, this site specific production laces together the history of Ordsall, from the back-breaking work of the residents who built and worked at Salford's docks to the current debates around bridge-jumping and open water swimming, DEEP WATER is a modern-day narrative that explores the feelings of individual communities in a rapidly developing city.
I produced Deep Water on behalf of the Royal Exchange Theatre.
Photos by Joel Fildes
A Royal Exchange Theatre production
26 - 29 March 2015
Written by Jackie Kay. Directed by Matthew Xia. Designed by Frankie Bradshaw. Lighting designed by Ciaran Cunningham.
What brings you to the brink? When you are so close to the edge - do you go forward or turn back? What happens if you cross over? Who are you on the other side? At a crucial point in your life, at the steep place, the threshold, the fork in the road, the turning point, did you move towards success or head for catastrophe?
It is make or break time on the brink. These are pivotal times. Vital days. Life offers you chances that bring you to the brink. Small changes. Big changes. Everything is possible when you are so close to the brink.
I produced Brink on behalf of the Royal Exchange Theatre.
Photos by Joel Fildes
A Royal Exchange Theatre production
05 February - 07 March 2015
Written by Rona Munro. Directed by Wils Wilson. Designed by Fly Davis. Movement Direction by Eddie Kay.
MANCHESTER’S ORIGINAL STREET GANGS
It's 1885 and the streets of Manchester are crackling with energy, youth and violence. As workers pour into Ancoats to power the Industrial Revolution, 50.000 people are crammed into one square mile. The mills rumble thunderously day and night. The air is thick with smoke. Life is lived large and lived on the street. This is the world's very first industrial suburb and the young mill workers who are the living cogs in its machines form the very first urban gangs, fighting over their territory with belts, fists and knives.
Invisible in history their lives, deaths, loves, lusts and defiant energy tell stories that will repeat and repeat over the decades that follow. Inspired by the Manchester riots of 2011 and the stories of all the Manchester gangs between the nineteenth century and today Rona Munro's new play smashes the nineteenth century against a twenty first century sensibility to bring the young Scuttlers back to vivid, potent life.
I produced the Community Ensemble for Scuttlers on behalf of the Royal Exchange Theatre.
A Royal Exchange Theatre production
11 April 2014
From 2011 – 2014, the Royal Exchange Theatre delivered an innovative three year partnership with the Booth Centre (a service offering advice and activities for homeless people in Manchester) which used creativity and theatre to develop the personal and social skills of homeless adults.
In April 2014, the Royal Exchange Theatre and the Booth Centre delivered Backstage? Me?, a one day national event looking at homelessness and theatre. This event offered an opportunity for debate, discussion and intelligence sharing with other homeless charities, arts organisations, practitioners and social change professionals, exploring the rich variety of conversations, progressions and reflections taking place with people living in poverty.
I produced Backstage? Me? on behalf of the Royal Exchange Theatre.
Photos by Joel Fildes
A Royal Exchange Theatre production.
16-29 July 2012
Fourteen days and nights of theatre, music, film, cooking, exhibitions and opinion-gathering – produced and managed by young people.
The Truth about Youth Festival ran for fourteen days and nights in July 2012, marking the end of Year Two of the TaY programme at the Royal Exchange Theatre.
At the heart of TaY: The Festival planning were the 14 Young Leaders, who formed the core TaY team from Autumn 2011 onwards. Working in all areas across the organisation from Festival Management, Producing & Programming and Marketing Strategy to Front of House, Directing, Design and Stage Management, each Young Leader took part in a bespoke training programme designed to develop their creative and arts management skills and future employability. The Young Leaders worked with an external design agency to develop all Festival marketing materials, programmed and hosted the Festival Launch, led on all Festival press, and worked with professional Designer Amanda Stoodley to transform the theatre building into a colourful splash of life – a vibrant space including decorated entranceways and a chill-out zone.
Elsewhere, teams of young people (and adults) worked together to create performances, exhibitions and events which filled the Theatre. 15 young and intergenerational companies devised, rehearsed and created 20 new pieces of theatre, young comedians perfected their patter under the watchful eye of professional comedian Justin Moorhouse, and young photographers mounted Exposure – an exhibition of photographs exploring the real TaY. The Shout Out Radio team created and launched their radio station, conducting interviews throughout the Festival, and teams of young people developed the skills to welcome visitors to the building and to work front of house, as well as being trained up to Take To The Streets with the Bikeaphone (complete with colourful flags and a huge megaphone) and the Opinionator (a fantastical mobile booth designed to generate evaluative evidence on the changing perceptions of youth by asking the general public daily questions). The Cuisine Sixteen team prepared to take over the restaurant, and young craftspeople put the finishing touches to Future Makers, a professional selling exhibition of crafts in the Craft Shop.
Outside the theatre, a network of creative partnerships were developed with companies and individuals from across the North West. Partner organisations including professional theatre companies Quarantine and 20 Stories High, media partner BBC Radio Manchester, Community Arts Northwest, Reclaim and Springboard were joined by fledgling teenage companies, Speechmakers and performers who presented their work at daily Youth SFX events. Schools from across the region were also involved, taking part in the Big Blue Box of Ideas and creating a range of visual art and performance work for the Festival.
I produced TaY: The Festival on behalf of Royal Exchange Theatre.
Photos by Joel Fildes
A Royal Exchange Theatre production
January 2010
From your Elvis in the shower to the tin toys on your shelf, the shell suit in your wardrobe, the photo by your bed…
At home: the place we’re most likely to kick off our shoes and be ourselves, display ourselves, give ourselves away; the place we make a private exhibition of our lives.
Over 3 days in January 2010, members of the public were invited to drop in to The Studio at the Royal Exchange Theatre. Here, you found yourself in a front garden complete with plant pots of love; a washing line of scandal and shame; desperate, funny and heartfelt messages in (milk) bottles; a porch of suitcases packed with objects of desire – and a front door. Through the front door and into The Studio-transformed-into-a-home, visitors were met by four suggestions of rooms – a bathroom, living room, kitchen and bedroom – each furnished, each with its own unique soundscape and lighting design.
Once inside, you were encouraged to explore… to open the cupboards, find what’s under the bed, rifle through the drawers… you were invited to peep into the bedroom cabinet of nightmares, relax in the bathroom of floating dreams, read the toilet roll of consumption, and investigate a most unusual infestation in the sideboard…
I produced Making An Exhibition Of Ourselves on behalf of the Royal Exchange Theatre.
Photos by Joel Fildes
a Royal Exchange Theatre and North West Drama Ltd co-production
2010 - 2018
The Children's Shakespeare Festival aims to inspire excitement in Shakespeare’s plays and encourage the use of educational drama as a tool for deep and active learning. It comprises a range of projects which combine cross-curricular classroom activity with performance by children in professional theatre spaces.
Every year the festival introduces hundreds of primary school children, along with their teachers and families, to Shakespeare and drama as a deep, active learning experience. Each festival builds towards a technical rehearsal day, followed by a performance day, where participants share their interpretation of a classic Shakespeare text with family and friends.
I produced the Children’s Shakespeare Festival on behalf of the Royal Exchange Theatre.
A Lowry production
14 - 24 November 2007
Written by Shelagh Delaney. Directed by Chris Wright.
THE Lowry’s successful Salford season ends in style with Shelagh Delaney’s modern classic A Taste of Honey.
It’s the last of four community productions, performed by a huge range of people from across the city that began in October with Innit the Musical selling out most of its 10 shows.
Now, one of the archetypal plays associated with the city is set for similar status, with seats sold out weeks ahead.
Salford-born Delaney was just 19 when she wrote A Taste of Honey in 1958 and it still packs a powerful punch today. It’s set in a shabby maisonette and follows the lives and loves of long-suffering daughter Jo and her reluctant mother Helen. The story confronts a range of social taboos including teenage pregnancy, race and sexuality.
I directed A Taste of Honey on behalf of The Lowry.
A LeKoa production
17 October - 16 November 2006
Touring to Contact, Chester Gateway, Oldham Coliseum, Tristan Bates Theatre, The Citadel, Lawrence Batley Theatre, Unity Theatre
Written, directed, and produced by Chris Wright. Music by Max McGuirk
Following the critically acclaimed Black Box in 2003, LeKoa returns with its sensational new play, Vent. Caught up in an atmosphere of sexual tension, paranoia and political correctness, Vent follows the lives of four students and their tutors who become entangled in the fallout of an accusation of date-rape.
Set on campus in that last refuge of the sexes – adjoining toilets - Vent examines the breakdown in communication between genders and the complex ritualisation of contemporary sexual politics.
Exhilarating yet moving, Vent is a brilliantly observed production, full of razor-sharp dialogue. Brought to you by the ground-breaking LeKoa, Vent is the snappiest, most exciting piece of new writing you will see this year.
I wrote, directed, and produced Vent on behalf of LeKoa.
A LeKoa production
30 January - 01 February 2003
Contact Theatre, Manchester
Written, directed, and produced by Chris Wright.
Why can’t people just say how it is? They’re so scared of being misunderstood that they lie to avoid it.
Meet Cassius, Kate, Will and Liz. They’re all good friends. But someone is missing. Jack. Having died suddenly, his body is now lying at rest in the city art gallery. Without him the group begin to fall apart, revealing the source of their deepest fears: the secrets and lies that make up their lives.
Featuring ordinary people in an extraordinary situation, black box is an emotionally electric tale of love, loss, guilt, and forgiveness. Like a mirror held up to the face of its audience, black box offers an uncompromising reflection that begs the question: what do we really know about each other?
Set in the city art gallery and framed by four works of modern art, black box also questions the nature of art, the increasingly blurred boundaries between what is and what isn’t acceptable human behaviour and the theatrical tendency and compelling complexity of our everyday lives.
Written and directed by Christopher Wright, one of Manchester’s leading independent directors, black box is the first production by LeKoa, a theatre collaborative committed to writing and producing new plays in and around the North West region.
I wrote, directed, and produced Black Box on behalf of LeKoa.
A Honeymoon Killers production
Touring to Paris and Manchester
Written by Chris Wright and Hilary Jones.
Directed and produced by Chris Wright.
For the final part in the celebrated ‘How To Be A Female Icon’ trilogy, The Honeymoon Killers bring their unique style of biography to the story of Mary Magdalen.
For forty days and nights she sits alone in the desert, piecing together the fragments of her life. The man she loved is dead. But she doesn’t believe it, and she knows him better than anyone…
Magdalen. The best kept secret in the Bible.
“…an unusual and thought provoking examination of one of the most persistent of Western mythologies… Dirty Mary definitely deserves a viewing.” CITY LIFE MAGAZINE, October 1996
I wrote, directed and produced Dirty Mary on behalf of The Honeymoon Killers.
A Honeymoon Killers production
Touring to The Hacienda, ICA, Chapter Arts Centre, The Green Room
Written by Chris Wright and Hilary Jones.
Directed and produced by Chris Wright.
Out of the world of pulp fiction steps Martha Beck, one half of the most notorious crime couple, relaying the incredible events that lead to her execution. Through narrative performance, filmic scenographies and pop music, lonely hearts meet, victims come and go, crimes are caught on camera and the guilty die young.
This is the second part of this young Manchester company’s ‘How to be a Female Icon’ trilogy - ironic and inventive biographies of the infamous.
“There’s been quite a buzz about these guys of late, with their reputation for being brilliantly visual and uncompromisingly challenging.” CITY LIFE MAGAZINE, June 1995
I wrote, directed and produced Raymond & Martha on behalf of The Honeymoon Killers.
A Honeymoon Killers production
November 1994
The Green Room, Manchester
Written by Chris Wright and Hilary Jones.
Directed and produced by Chris Wright.
In a seedy nightclub, the wrong side of the Mason-Dixon line…
Lucy Jordan. A cabaret singer who aches to piece together her dark and sordid past; searching for the heart in the plastic, disposable emotions she sings night after night.
Based on a true story the company bring their films influence to this unique study of a woman’s life and lies. An ambiguous blend of post-modernism, cabaret, and conversation like you never nightmared. Welcome to the world of Lucy Jordan.
The Honeymoon Killers live for the present so that they can play in the past; they listen to all the coolest music, watch the hippest films, and video the sweetest television.
I wrote, directed and produced Ballad of Lucy Jordan on behalf of The Honeymoon Killers.
