TWELFTH NIGHT (Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds)
(Actor-musician touring family show, In association with Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds and Arts Council England, 2024)
Ellie While, Katy Secombe & Sophie Delores in Twelfth Night, photo by Neil Baxter
"Some are born great, some achieve greatness and some have greatness thrust upon them!”
Shipwrecks and pirates, rebels and tricksters come face to face with two noble households for an adventure of disguise and romantic entanglement. Performing across gender and genre, with audience participation and the chance to join the actors on stage, this fun packed show will delight all audiences and can be adapted to suit theatres and festivals.
Gather around the travelling piano as this timeless pop-up troupe tells a tale of uncertain identity and confused belonging, with some cringe-y karaoke to boot! Through doubling and disguise, slapstick and song, our characters battle to find out who they are, so that we can celebrate who you are.
A show in a suitcase made in association with Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds, our shorter Twelfth Night was created to make Shakespeare accessible, fun and relevant to a younger audience, encouraging us to question authority, embrace who we are and have faith that it will all be what you will, in the end.
NOTHING FROM NOTHING (SAM WANAMAKER THEATRE, SHAKESPEARe’s GLOBE)
(By Cicely Halkes-Wellstead, Globe New Writing Festival, 2024)
Cicely Halkes-Wellstead & ,Gemma Flweitt, photo by Giusi Buttitta
Three sisters and a funeral. In the aftermath of the death of Tory MP Rex Lear, and family confronts the legacy of things unsaid. A new short play written in response to King Lear, part of the Globe’s Kinship New Writing Festival, 2024.
The story of A Winter’s TAle (SAM WANAMAKER THEATRE, GLOBE)
(Director and co-writer, one-woman family show, 2024)
Gather for a thrilling Family Storytelling performance of Shakespeare’s time-travelling, country-hopping story, The Winter’s Tale, in the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse. King Leontes of Sicilia and Queen Hermione are happily married. But Leontes grows jealous of his wife’s friendship with the King of Bohemia. The furious king exiles his daughter, Perdita, as punishment and destroys his family. Sixteen years later, Perdita is a grown woman. Cue a journey across foreign lands, featuring shepherds, love and a famous bear… Is there a way that the family can be brought back together? They might need a bit of magic to help them out…
Recommended for ages 5–12 and their families. All under 18s must be accompanied by a ticket-holding adult throughout.
A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM STORY (SAM WANAMAKER THEATRE, GLOBE)
(Director and writer, one-woman family show, 2024)
Shakespeare’s famous tale retold through the eyes of one of his most challenging heroines: Helena, the simpering one, the one who betrays her best friend’s secret and doggedly follows her unrequited love into the forest… only to find her true heart. One woman (me), all the characters, a ukulele and a suitcase. An accidentally feminist tale, it’s like a mini Edinburgh gig show which I’ve directed, wrote the theme tune, sing the theme tune… and kids have the chance to get up on stage too! Perfect for ages 5-12, but every Bottom welcome.
ROMEO AND JULIET COMMUNITY CURTAIN-RAISER (SHAKESPEARE’S GLOBE )
(Director for community theatre curtain-raiser performances with local underprivileged schools, 2024)
Special performances from local schools act as a community theatre curtain-raiser for a bold new production Romeo and Juliet in the Globe Theatre. This fast-paced, 90-minute version is created especially for young people and is the perfect introduction to Shakespeare for everyone.
THE TEMPEST/ A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM/ AS YOU LIKE IT (OPEN AIR)
(Associate director Shakespeare’s Globe; UK and International Tour, 2020; Shakespeare’s Globe and local community tour 2021)
Eight performers, their instruments, and three of Shakespeare’s best loved plays. Following a Summer residency at the Globe, the actor-musicians follow in the steps of Shakespeare’s original players as they head for the road to present a trio of plays exploring the city and the places beyond the city walls and boundaries. For certain performances, audiences go to the theatre and not know which of our trio of shows they’ll be seeing. In the space of minutes you could be flung to fairyland, the forest of Arden, or a mystery island in the middle of the ocean. It’s up to audience members to collectively decide which world you’ll end up in. The rules are simple: the loudest cheer wins, and the action begins straight away. It’s an experiment, it’s experiential, it’s Shakespearean, it’s shared and it’s at the heart of what Shakespeare’s Globe does.
“A glorious gamut of romance, poetry, satire and slapstick... a credit to everyone involved.”
TESS of The D’URBERvilles (INDOOR & OPEN AIR Theatre)
(Actor-musician devised adaptation in development; R&D supported by Oxford Playhouse and Chipping Norton Theatre 2018)
In development with previous support from Chipping Norton theatre and Oxford Playhouse, Tess of The D’Urbervilles is a timely, vibrant new adaptation of Thomas Hardy’s classic, with traditional performance, physical theatre, live folk music & dance. Hardy’s Wessex is brought to life with an ensemble of actor-musicians and - through their participation at the village dance- the audience themselves. In the hope to reach new audiences, the show will be fully adaptable for both mainstream theatres and non-traditional outdoor spaces, with integrated BSL.
The Taming of The Shrew (OPEN AIR Theatre)
(Cambridge Shakespeare Festival, 2018)
Featuring a great ensemble of actor-musicians, live music, dancing, hunting and misbehaving, Shakespeare’s most outrageous comedy introduces one of theatre’s great screwball double-acts: a couple hell-bent on confusing and outwitting each other, right up to the play’s ambiguous and controversial conclusion.
Presented by the UK's best-loved open-air Shakespeare Festival, recently described in the TLS as "one of the finest events of its kind in the UK" and fourth in The Independent's 10 Top UK Festivals.
Dates and Times: 9 July-28 July 2018
Venue: St John’s College Gardens, Cambridge
For more information on the festival and to book tickets visit the Cambridge Shakespeare Festival website.
Sanguine Night (THEATRE)
(New writing in development; Park Theatre Script Accelerator Programme 2016, RADA festival 2017, Cambridge Junction 2017)
Sanguine: 1. optimistic, especially in a bad situation. 2. lit. blood-red. 3. arch. bloody or blood-thirsty. On a faded grand estate in central India, a family of five women are determined to survive, surrounded by an apocalyptic landscape ravaged by a terrible accident. A response to the rarely-discussed 1984 Bhopal Union Carbide disaster, the largest man-made industrial accident of modern times, this play combines Western music with Indian folklore and dance, in a story of accountability and family resilience. Written by Tamasha playwright Bushra Laskar, with dramaturgy and direction from Vanessa-Faye Stanley.
“An incredibly original concept set in a stark, visceral environment that grips us from the outset. ”
THE TERRIFIC ELECTRIC (THEATRE)
(Winner of the Oxford Samuel Beckett Theatre Award. Barbican Bite 2007)
Based on an original idea by Vanessa-Faye Stanley, The Terrific Electric is a piece of devised physical theatre which questions our relationship with technology and invention. Boileroom theatre company hosted an extraordinary collaboration between theatre makers and a surgeon, physicist, sculptor and a car mechanic. Supported by The Playground and Arts Council funding, it won the OSBTT award for innovative theatre and had a two week run at The Barbican Pit in 2007.
“Beguiling, moving, and outrageously funny… Boileroom’s production is experimental theatre at it’s multi-layered best
”
THE BELL BOY (MUSICAL THEATRE)
(New writing, The Playground research and development, 2009)
The Bell Boy is a piece of new writing from artist and composer Albi Gravener. It uses story-telling, live music, puppetry and multi-media. It was awarded a research and development grant from The Playground, a network for devising artists then funded by the Arts Council, and had several performances in 2009 at The Playground, London.
The Playground was a network for devising artists based at The Playground Theatre. Vanessa-Faye also worked as a rehearsal director for several new writing projects in research and development at the Playground.
Visit The Playground Theatre’s website.
THE SHIP OF FOOLS (THEATRE)
(Edinburgh Fringe and International tour, 2004)
A piece of new writing and physical theatre devised by the international ensemble. A modern day art historian restores a fifteenth century painting, unraveling a lost love story between the painter and his muse. It explores political persecution and the legacy of human relationships, deftly weaving two stories, eras and continents together.
OBERON'S OBSERVATORY (SITE SPECIFIC THEATRE)
(Various festivals across the UK, 2014)
A site-specific interactive theatrical experience which Vanessa-Faye conceived, directed and produced for Oberon's Observatory- a structure built and conceived by artist Pete Bateman. Commissioned by Bestival, Camp Bestival and Gideon Reeling, it brought together two professional astronomers, six performers and an architect… and several thousand revelers.
Visit Gideon Reeling's website.
captain PANCAKE (MUSICAL THEATRE)
(New writing. Research and development, Chats Palace 2014)
A nautical tale for family audiences developed at Chats Palace with a cast of physical theatre performers. This new writing show combines live music, puppetry, comedy, and object manipulation to tell the adventures of a young boy on Battenberg Island.
ROBIN AND PARTRIDGE: Robin DIES at the End of the Show (THEATRE)
(Pleasance Courtyard Edinburgh Fringe, 2014)
An original show from two seriously talented comedy performers, Robin Dies at the End of the Show was awarded a series of four and five stars reviews in 2014.
"It is simply flawless" Edfringe review
SHAKESPEARE SCHOOLS FESTIVAL (THEATRE)
Since 2010 Vanessa-Faye has worked with the UK's largest youth drama festival to stage Shakespeare’s abridged plays with young people in major professional theatres across the country. This involves training teachers and directors, working with drama colleges, primary schools and children with special needs.
