This May, as part of our celebrated new writing series a Play a Pie and a Pint (co-produced with Óran Mòr, Glasgow), Nel Crouch directs Sabrina Mahfouz’s powerful new play The Love I Feel Is Red, a poetic and touching exploration into abortion, love and finding common ground between a free runner and a home baker.
THE WRITER
The Love I Feel is Red is written by award-winning writer and spoken word poet Sabrina Mahfouz, who has written for Paines Plough and the BBC as well as previously being a Sky Arts Academy Scholar for Poetry. Sabrina’s last play Chef won a Fringe First in 2014.
THE DIRECTOR
Directing the show is our Director in Residence Nel Crouch. Nel is a founding member of Bucket Club, whose show Lorraine and Alan toured here in 2015. Nel has previously assisted at the Young Vic and the Arcola Theatre, as well as on Living Quarters and The Light Princess at Tobacco Factory Theatres.
THE CAST
The Love I Feel Is Red stars Janet Etuk as Mona and Heather Williams as Susan.
Janet Etuk graduated from the acting and contemporary theatre course at East 15 in 2012. Credits include: Beyond Caring (The Yard Theatre / The National Theatre); Doing The Idiots (National Theatre Studio); Touch Me (The Rustaveli Theatre, Tbilisi); The Four Minute Mile (Oxford Playhouse); Sealand (Arcola Theatre); The Spanish Tragedy (Old Red Lion) and Lone Rangers (Blue Elephant Theatre).
Janet has debuted scenes from her play, Mkpa Mbiet (Dead Grass) for The Southwark Playhouse and Arcola Theatre LAB Project, January 2014. She will be part of Alexander Zeldin’s newest devised production entitled Love, which debuts at The National Theatre, late 2016.
Heather Williams studied Drama at Hull University where she met the late Oscar-winning writer/director Anthony Minghella. She went on to perform in the world première of Two Planks and a Passion (Exeter Northcott Theatre); Whale Music (Granada TV) and feature films A Little Like Drowning and Truly Madly Deeply.
She spent her early career performing in theatres all over the country in everything from Shakespeare, Sheridan and Shaw through to contemporary drama, musical comedy and premieres of new plays. Television includes Coronation Street, Grange Hill, Casualty, House of Elliot, Play School, Play Away, All Star Record Breakers and Grandpa in My Pocket.
In 1991 she began a long association with Bristol Old Vic, performing in: Lovers, Winners, I Can Give You A Good Time, Epsom Downs, Yerma, Blithe Spirit, An Enemy of the People, Romeo and Juliet, The Decent Thing, Under Milk Wood , Myrtle On the Main Line, Aladdin, Mother Goose, Dick Whittington and most recently Sleeping Beauty last Christmas. Also at Bristol Old Vic, she was Director of Youth Theatre and Education for a period of ten years, directing over 30 Youth Theatre productions.
Since 2004 she has been Artistic Director of Myrtle Theatre Company performing in City of One, House of Letitia Smith, Jump and Up Down Boy. It’s sequel, Up Down Man by award winning playwright Brendan Murray had it’s première at Salisbury Playhouse in March this year, with Heather re-creating her role.
THE DESIGNER
Rebecca Jane Wood is a freelance designer for performance and collaborator in the South of England; Cornish born and living in Bristol. She was a Linbury Finalist for 2015 and for this she devised a conceptual design for the Nuffield Theatre which was be exhibited at the National Theatre. Rebecca is currently working on a conceptual for the Young Vic as a JMK director finalists’ in 2016.
After designing and collaborating on many student shows Rebecca graduated from University of Bristol BA Drama in 2012 went on to work as a freelancer. As Co-founding member and associate designer of theatre company Bucket Club, she designed their award winning show Lorraine & Alan and their festival show The Beasts.
Rebecca has gone on to have a year of training at Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama for an MA Performance Design in 2015 where she designed and collaborated with director Harry Fehr on a radical adaptation on Janacek’s Cunning Little Vixen at Sherman Cymru.
As a designer she has worked on Fringe First winning Dumbstruck by Fine Chisel, Silva Semerciyan’s The Window at Bristol Old Vic and David Lane’s Epiphany at Theatre Royal Plymouth. As a maker she has worked for companies including Punchdrunk and Bristol Old Vic.
THE LIGHTING DESIGNER
Joe Price trained at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama and received the 2015 Francis Reid Award for Lighting Design.
Lighting Design credits include: Miss Julie (Buckland Theatre Company, Etcetera Theatre); The Selfish Giant (Blue Apple Theatre Company, Tower Arts Centre); Some People Talk About Violence (Barrel Organ, Camden People’s Theatre); Dry Land (Damsel Productions, Jermyn Street Theatre), A Third (Fat Git Theatre Company, Finborough Theatre); Alternative Routes (National Dance Company Wales, Dance House WMC); The Duchess of Malfi (Richard Burton Theatre Company, RWCMD); Animal & The Endless Ocean (Royal Court/National Theatre Wales/Richard Burton Theatre Company, Gate Theatre); Y Twr (Invertigo Theatre Company, UK Tour); I Feel Fine (Fat Git Theatre Company, VAULT/New Diorama Theatre); The Snowqueen (Blue Apple Theatre, Tower Arts Centre); West Side Story (SJ Theatre Productions, Theatre Royal Winchester).
Relight credits include: Kite (Wrong Crowd/Soho Theatre, UK Tour), The Taking of Zena Charbonne (Occasional Cabaret, UK Tour); Blink (nabokov/Soho Theatre, UK Tour & Brits off Broadway); Wasted (Paines Plough, UK Tour); Hamlet (Blue Apple Theatre Company, UK Tour).
THE PRODUCER
Jojo Townsend is Assistant Producer at Tobacco Factory Theatres. She joined the team in 2014 having worked at Battersea Arts Centre, Fuel and as a freelance producer. Jojo works in the Tobacco Factory Theatres producing team on in house productions and touring work as well as leading on new writing pieces through a Play, Pie and a Pint including: Helen by Thomas Eccleshare, 140 Million Miles by Adam Peck and currently The Love I Feel Is Red by Sabrina Mahfouz. Jojo continues to work freelance with the Total Theatre Awards and Tremolo Theatre.
Posted on 15 April 2016
