Made In Chekhov

WHERE made in chelsea meets chekhov

‘He was just, he was just talking, he was just doing the same sort of thing he always does when he starts talking about how he’s always liked me and it’s been years and we’ve been friends, ba ba ba. But would anything ever happen sort of thing? There’s chemistry between us you can tell.’ – Caggie Dunlop, Made in Chelsea

‘You ought to go and look at yourself. What a grey life you lead, what a lot you talk unnecessarily.’ – Andreievna Ranevskaya, The Cherry Orchard

In 2011, a ‘structured reality’ TV programme called Made in Chelsea first aired on E4. The show was an immediate hit and continues to run to this day. Acting Lab: Perform presents Made in Chekhov – an experiment into the limits of verbatim theatre and a full-hearted celebration of British trash TV.

On the luxurious streets of Chelsea, the rich and the beautiful fill their nights with extravagant parties and their days with shopping. But they’re searching for connection and for meaning in a world where something has been lost. In this funny and tragic tale of deep longing, missed opportunities, fur and fake tan, will the socialites find happiness before the episode ends?

ACTING LAB: PERFORM

Acting Lab: Perform (ALP) is a theatre-making ensemble of community performers, led by Tom Brennan, who create high-quality productions in a professional theatre setting. Between September 2022 and February 2023, the company have met weekly to develop ensemble and performance skills, explore material and devise or adapt a new piece of work for a public performance. 

Tom Brennan is a director, playwright, filmmaker and actor. His multi-award winning theatre company, The Wardrobe Ensemble is an associate company of Complicite, Bristol Old Vic and Shoreditch Town Hall. His work with the company has been performed at The National Theatre, Almeida Theatre, Trafalgar Studios and Soho Theatre among many other venues across The UK and USA. He is a Creative Associate of The North Wall Arts Centre and The Geoffrey Garton Creative Fellow at Wolfson College, Oxford.

ALP company members are graduates of Acting Lab, our weekly acting course for adults. ALP seeks to throw open the doors of a professional theatre-making process; creating an opportunity for community performers to experience the role of a professional actor / theatre maker, whilst working with a professional director.