Cast and creatives announced for John Webber’s Wake Up People as part of the Blueprint Festival at Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch

‎Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch have announced the cast and creative team for Wake Up People, playing 16 – 17 September as part of the Theatre’s Blueprint Festival.

Inspired by anti-vaxxer marches, paranoid YouTube videos and flat-earthers, John Webber’s Wake Up People is a funny and ultimately heart-breaking glimpse into how obsessions can tear apart a family that is already under pressure.

The cast of seven includes Eve Matheson (May to December and Vanity Fair, BBC). She returns to Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch following last Spring’s production of All My Sons (★★★★ The Stage). Eve will be taking on the role of Pauline, a grandmother from Thurrock who spends too much time surfing the internet.

In the role of Pauline’s daughter is Laura Doddington as Stacey, with Mark Field as her ex, Hannah Traylen as their daughter and Nathan Clarke as a younger colleague from work who Stacey brings home.  Playing shadowy characters online are Jacoba Williams and David Tarkenter.

Beth Kapila is directing this script-in-hand performance Video and sound projections will also help to show how the internet is enabling the contagion of conspiracy and misinformation to sweep through local communities.

Beth is a former Artistic Associate at Tara Theatre, South West London. She often works with new writers to develop their work and aims to represent experiences and voices that go unheard. Wake Up People explores issues of identity and how we interact with the world, to ask questions that make us see the world in new ways, and delve deep into ideas and imaginations.

Thurrock-born playwright John Webber has worked as an actor at the National Theatre, among other theatres, and his screen credits include EastEnders and Doctor Foster. The first full production of a play written by him was the acclaimed Spiderfly in 2019 at Theatre503, which The Guardian called “a taut relationship tangle” ★★★★ (Off West End Award nomination).

John said: ‘I grew up a stone’s throw away from Hornchurch so I’m really excited to be part of Blueprint – and this festival shows the vibrancy of the Theatre in spades – I can’t wait. This is going to be such an enjoyable two weeks of theatrical invention. To think as a kid growing up in the neighbourhood I’d barely imagine having something on at Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch – even if it’s a reading – it’s going to be special. Do come along!’

Creatives: John Webber Writer Spiderfly (Theatre503); Beth Kapila Director Our Streets (Tara Theatre); Sarah Jane Schostack Dramaturg from High Tide Theatre, The Last Five Years (West End); Simon Frith Camera Operator Under the Radar: The Mike Edmonds Story.

Cast: Nathan Clarke The Suicide (National Theatre), East is East (West End); Laura Doddington The Birds and The Bees (New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich, Norwich Playhouse and Bury St Edmunds Theatre Royal), Oleanna (New Vic); Mark Field Vincent River (Old Vic), An Inspector Calls (National Theatre Tour); Eve Matheson All My Sons (Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch and New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich), May to December (BBC); David Tarkenter The 47^th and Endgame/Rough For Theatre II (Old Vic); Hannah Traylen Heroine (HighTide Festival/Theatr Clywd/Sherman Theatre), A New and Better You (The Yard Theatre); and Jacoba Williams Before I Was a Bear (Soho Theatre), Hamlet (Shakespeare’s Globe).

Wake Up People
Writer John Webber
Director Beth Kapila
Dramaturg Sarah Jane Schostack from High Tide Theatre
Camera Operator Simon Frith

Cast: Nathan Clarke, Laura Doddington, Mark Field, Eve Matheson, David Tarkenter, Hannah Traylen and Jacoba Williams.

Friday 16 September 6.30pm and Saturday 17 September at 2.30pm and 6.30pm.

Tickets: £5* | £3* concessions
Running time: 140 minutes

Tickets for Wake Up People are £5, £3 concessions book here. For more details and for the full programme of the Blueprint Festival, visit our Blueprint page or call the Box Office on 01708 443333. Blueprint runs from 12 – 24 September.

 

*(plus +65p QNext fee)

Blueprint countdown

Rehearsals are under way at Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch for The Empty Chair. The countdown begins with the first show in our new Blueprint festival of ideas opening next week.

“The Empty Chair is a love letter to Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch and to the surprises that can be discovered in the theatre over centuries,” says actor Robert Pickavance, who has worked in many of the country’s theatres and companies, including the Young Vic, Leeds Playhouse and Northern Broadsides.

One of two performers in the The Empty Chair, he shares the cast with singer and performer Melanie Pappenheim (Damon Albarn’s Dr Dee, Netflix’s The Crown).

This project, Melanie says, “presents a wonderful opportunity to take our audience on an offbeat journey exploring the nooks and crannies of the theatre and our theatrical past.”

Joe Lichtenstein is the director. He is returning to Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch after his hit revival last year of David Eldridge’s play Beginning. Joe came up with the initial idea for The Empty Chair and devised the play in collaboration with his cast of two. Together they will create a dramatic atmosphere of intrigue, while keeping details under wraps until audiences experience it for themselves to preserve the show’s strong element of surprise.

Each performance is for a privileged audience of just two people. Each audience will be directed to a secret door into the theatre and led into the bowels of the building to arrive at a secret location not generally accessible to the public. Finally, the full drama of The Empty Chair will unfold as the audience settles in for an exciting half-hour long performance.

“The Blueprint festival of new work at Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch is encouraging bold ideas ,” says Joe. “The opportunity for a group of artists to take bold risks in a supportive environment is what leads to discovery. These are the ingredients for artistic alchemy.”

Blueprint festival takes over every available space in the theatre, and runs September 12-24. It includes 13 mostly new works of non-traditional forms of theatre to be performed in and around the recently Grade II-listed building. From the basement to the roof and the carpark, as well as the auditorium and foyer. There will be immersive and devised pieces, staged play readings, a dramatic design-led production on a revolving set of 31 scenes in 31 minutes, Shakespeare on film and digital and musical innovation.

The Empty Chair opens the festival on Monday September 12, with up to six performances a day until September 17. Book your tickets here.

As part of our upcoming Blueprint Festival, a fortnight of extraordinary, new and unusual theatre, Mawa Theatre Company has announced the cast for ‘Shakespeare-On-Sea’,
a short film project exploring Shakespeare’s maritime imagination through the gaze of Black female artists in Essex. The project will run at Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch from 12 to 24 September 2022.

Sharon Rose (Hamilton, Jingle Jangle) will play Prospero in The Tempest, Mia Jerome (Squad Goals, A Christmas Carol) will play Adrianna in The Comedy of Errors, Deborah Imhogiemhe (To Whom It May Concern, One Last Goodbye) Will Play Juliet in Romeo & Juliet.

The film will be directed by Mawa’s Artistic Director Maisey Bawden and Executive Director Danielle Kassaraté, their first collaboration with us since they joined the creative leadership team this year.

Maisey Bawden says: “Following our first digital project last year, we are so excited to put Shakespeare on film once again, this time honouring some of the fantastic talent we have here in Essex. Making Shakespeare digestible and accessible is so important to us and we hope by giving our audiences free access to Shakespeare as it has never been seen before, in bitesize chunks will inspire a new generation of theatre-goers.”

Sharon Rose says: “Having grown up deep in the heart of Essex and experiencing a drought of representation in the arts growing up, seeing and now being a part of Mawa Theatre Company is pure joy. It reminds me that I matter, that my stories matter, and that I am not entirely invisible to the thing I love. Mawa Theatre Company is food for the soul. A safe space to refresh, replenish and spring forth.”

Mathew Russell, Chief Executive says: “We were thrilled when Maisey and Danielle recently joined the creative leadership team, as we are huge admirers and supporters of the important work of Mawa. ‎It’s therefore even more exciting to have the opportunity to work together on this clever approach to making Shakespeare accessible to many more people and to be working with such an extraordinary group of Black female artists from Essex. Blueprint offers the perfect opportunity to enjoy these newly made films intimately or on the large screen.”

Entry to Shakespeare on Sea is free but advance booking is required, book for the Foyer Seating here or the Main House seating here. To book your tickets and to find out more about the full programme of exciting shows and experiences on offer as part of Blueprint festival, click here.

Young people across Havering to take part in National Theatre’s Speak Up Programme in partnership with Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch.

• New creative programme delivered for free across Havering with Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch
• Young people, teachers and artists to collaborate in five secondary schools in Havering with Creative Associates LUNG

Following a successful pilot phase that began in Autumn 2021, the National Theatre’s Speak Up programme will work with young people in five secondary schools in Havering across the next three years.

Speak Up is the NT’s new national programme which sees young people, who have been most affected by the pandemic, working in collaboration with local artists and teachers to co-create artistic responses to issues that are most important to them. Responding to the current challenges in schools, the programme aims to develop young people’s self-expression, wellbeing and personal skills, with an open-ended offer to make creative projects in their local area.

Speak Up will take place in selected schools across Havering in partnership with Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch as part of the national programme which is also being delivered in Doncaster, Greater Manchester, Sunderland, Wakefield and Wolverhampton with the project extending into additional areas in 2023.

A successful pilot phase of Speak Up began in Autumn 2021 with secondary schools in Greater Manchester, Sunderland and Wakefield, with students taking part in a variety of creative sessions to empower them to tell their own stories and connect with each other and their local communities.

The NT is collaborating with LUNG as Creative Associates to deliver the training of artists and teachers and to develop the creative ambitions of Speak Up. LUNG is a campaign-led verbatim theatre company which works closely with communities nationally to shine a light on political, social and economic issues in modern Britain to ensure hidden voices are heard.

Speak Up is generously supported by the Mohn Westlake Foundation which shares the NT’s belief in the power of youth voice and working with young people to enable positive change in their lives, schools and local communities. Through a £3.3million grant to deliver the programme nationally, Speak Up will reach hundreds of thousands of students, with the majority of the funding distributed to partners enabling local employment of producers and artists.

James Watson, Head of Learning and Participation at Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch has said ‘Speak Up will enable us to work in new and exciting ways alongside hundreds of young people, through an extraordinary new partnership with 5 local secondary schools. It’s giving young people space and support to explore and create their own work, empowering them to take risks and showcase their thoughts and opinions on the world as they see it. Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch is thrilled to be furthering our partnership with the National Theatre to bring world class opportunities to communities in Havering as part of this national campaign.’

Rufus Norris, Artistic Director of the National Theatre said, ‘Speak Up is a crucial part of the National Theatre’s work in levelling up, giving agency to young people nationwide whose voices often go unheard and that the Covid pandemic hit even harder. This innovative model will empower young people to share their views on current issues and put them at the heart of the creative process. We are excited to build on our in-depth relationships with our Theatre Nation partners across the country to deliver this new programme, guided by the creative vision of LUNG with invaluable funding from the Mohn Westlake Foundation. Together we will support young people to become leaders of the future and make positive change in their own lives and in their communities.’

Havering Changing are ecstatic to have been awarded Arts Council England’s Creative People and Places National Portfolio Funding for the people living in our community to continue to lead their own inspiring creative programmes.

Havering Changing is a consortium of eight local partner organisations, led by Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch, working with Clarion Futures (the charitable foundation of Clarion Housing Group), New City College, Havering Asian Social & Welfare Association (HASWA), Havering Volunteer Centre, Havering Youth Services and myplace, Rainham Association for Village Events (R.A.V.E.), and The Mercury Shopping Centre.

Havering Changing would like to thank all of the steering group members, participants, volunteers, community partners and funders, who include the London Borough of Havering, Clarion Futures and Romford BID, who have all played such an important part in the success of the project so far.

Arts Council England today announced that a total of £38.3 million will be invested in Creative People and Places projects over the next three years – made possible thanks to National Lottery players – to deliver more grassroots-led cultural experiences in areas across England where involvement in arts and culture is below the national average.

James Jackson, Project Director for Havering Changing said ‘
We are delighted by the support shown by Arts Council England in continuing to fund this amazing project. Since November 2019, local people have come together to create and celebrate on their doorsteps, at bustling markets, in our beautiful green spaces, in busy high streets, and much loved community, youth and faith spaces. The community have made all this and more happen, and in doing so, have staged nearly 100 free events and activities, engaged over 25,000 people in hyper local arts and culture, and invested over a quarter of a million pounds into the local creative economy’.

2020 got off to a brilliant start for Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch, as thanks to all your efforts, we were awarded The Stage ‘London Theatre of the Year’, marking the success of 2019.

And we were on a spring roll. Half of the audience for our co-production of ‘Macbeth’ were under 26. ‘Maggie May’, our world premiere co-production, was going to be a landmark event, having been made with people living with dementia. Our acclaimed co-produced musical ‘Once’ was touring the country and had already been seen in 9 cities by nearly 40,000 people.

But then COVID-19 struck and everything changed for everyone.

But we’ve been determined to fight back ever since and keep playing a vital part in the lives of our community. We’re really proud of the remarkable work our team have made happen, all thanks to your extraordinary support.

We’ve remained at the heart of the community, amongst other things, delivering online Sing-A-Longs and Seated Dance Classes to over 100,000 viewers, taking over the theatre for summer holiday workshops, working each week with looked after children, recording and broadcasting Tiny Plays written in community playwriting classes, and keeping our 200 Youth Theatre members active and creative.

We’ve premiered our first YouTube streaming, of ‘The Hired Man’; broadcast nightly from an empty stage ‘Here I Am’, lovingly pieced together from 1,000 lockdown stories collected from our audiences; especially commissioned four writers to collaborate on the premiere of ‘Misfits’, streamed 12 times, acclaimed by critics and nominated for an #OnComm award

And we’ve been offering a lifeline to a growing network of creative practitioners, through weekly skill sessions, and free space, engaging 1,100 artists. Throughout September and October we staged performances for families, people experiencing dementia and those seeking life enhancing entertainment during some pretty bleak times.

But despite all this, COVID-19 has still been having an impact on the charity financially, due to Tier 3 restrictions. We couldn’t have got through the year without generous donations from audiences, and vital support from funders.

As we look towards a brighter and ever more ambitious 2021, if at this festive time of year you can help a little bit more, by donating to QRenew, joining us as a Queen’s Angel or gifting a dear one a named seat, we’d so love to hear from you. Each penny will be invested back into brilliant theatre making for everyone throughout next year and beyond.

But in the meantime, whether you’ve already donated or can do so again, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts for continuing to support our vital work, lovingly made for and with you, and wish you the very best for the festive season.

How to support us:

QRenew We’ll be back, hopefully playing an even bigger part in your lives as soon as we can, supporting QRenew will allow us to invest in our community to make great theatre. [donation id=”6336bb09-b73e-eb11-80ed-00505601004c”]  [donation id=”2d7c7928-b73e-eb11-80ed-00505601004c”]  [donation id=”31eaf5bb-b73e-eb11-80ed-00505601004c”]

Become a Queen’s Angel Queen’s Angels are those who regularly support our work by making monthly donations, enabling the Theatre’s wide ranging programme, particularly work with young people and the community, investing in and nurturing artistic talent and making theatre accessible.Become a Queen’s Angel and receive unique membership benefits.

Name A Seat Naming a seat is a unique and meaningful way to celebrate yours, or a loved one’s, passion for theatre and help support our inspiring work on stage and in the community. Find out more here.

 

Whilst Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch will sadly need to close as a building from this Thursday, throughout the rest of November,‎ in line with the latest Coronavirus National Restrictions, we’re ‎relieved that the Government late last night confirmed that theatres can continue to rehearse and live stream productions.

With that, we’re pleased to announce that next week’s world premiere of Misfits, the latest Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch production, will continue, with all twelve performances live streamed, as this new production gets performed from the empty auditorium! This entertaining fresh work, capturing the true spirit of Essex and its people, was always designed to be watched at home OR in the theatre, and tickets have been sold on this basis to date.

Existing bookers will be able to view the production in real time via a private link to the live stream‎ that will be sent out on the day of the performance (as previously planned).

New bookers can continue to book a ‘virtual seat’ for all performances, with immediate effect, and will also be sent the private link on the day.

Booking for Misfits, and spreading the word that it’s continuing (and going to be brilliant!), is one of the best ways of supporting your local theatre, and the writers, actors and creatives making the show, through this difficult time for the entertainment industry. It also guarantees you a fantastic and unique Lockdown highlight!

All other presentations throughout November are being postponed to later dates. We’ll be back in touch with those new dates, and to transfer your tickets, in the coming couple of weeks.

We’re also switching more of our incredibly popular and vital ‎learning and participation programme online for the next month, and will be in touch with participants directly in the coming days too (and hopefully with news of some exciting new projects before too long).

Like many charities, now, more than ever, we urgently need your support, to help us continue and rebuild some of the charitable activity lost to the devastating‎ impact of COVID-19 on us and our community. You can donate via this link or by text – simply text:

QTH to 70085 to donate £5

QTH 10 to 70085 to donate £10

QTH 15 to 70085 to donate £15

or QTH 20 to 70085 to donate £20

Thanks again for all the extraordinary generosity‎, encouragement and patience our supporters have shown. The last three months at Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch, since we re-opened, have seen some of the most wonderful responses from audiences of all ages enjoying the work of the Theatre again, in real life. We look forward to a uniquely theatrical November with you, through ever so special digital experiences, and fingers crossed, re-opening our doors at the beginning of December.

Stay safe in the meantime.

Full casting has been announced for Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch’s upcoming production of Misfits, an innovative new hybrid of live theatre and digital content, playing 12-22 November 2020. Bookers will purchase a ticket which will allow them the choice of watching the show be performed live onstage in front of a socially distanced audience or streamed to their homes, right up until the day of the show. Misfits intertwines four inspirational tales of Essex resilience to make an unmissable world premiere by four of the region’s most exciting playwrights: Anne Odeke, Guleraana Mir, Kenny Emson and Sadie Hasler.

The play will be rehearsed and performed in a socially distanced environment. It will be co-directed by QTH Artistic Director Douglas Rintoul (As You Like It; In Basildon; The Hired Man, Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch) and Emma Baggott (Stiletto Beach, Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch; Assistant Director for As You Like It, RSC).

The cast is: Anne Odeke (Bartholomew Fair, The Merry Wives of Windsor, The Globe Theatre), who is also writing part of the piece, Gemma Salter (Cruel Intentions, The Assembly Rooms), Mona Goodwin (The Visit, National Theatre) and Thomas Coombes (Save Me, Sky TV).

QTH Artistic Director Douglas Rintoul says: “We’re incredibly proud to be commissioning and employing freelancers during this challenging time for this brand new joyous and celebratory play about the Essex experience. This sterling cast will take you on an epic and whirlwind journey through place and time, leaving you a little more in love with this misunderstood region. Enjoy it in the theatre or from the comfort of your sofa, the choice is yours.”

Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch (QTH) is delighted to have been one of the 1,300 cultural organisations across the country today‎ awarded Government Cultural Recovery Funding. This award is an incredibly valuable lifeline at a crucial time for arts organisations like the Theatre‎ and recognises the vital role QTH plays at the heart of the local community, as a regionally significant player and as a key contributor to the national cultural infrastructure too.

We’re so very grateful to the DCMS and Arts Council England for the support and vote of confidence, and to everyone else who has donated so generously and helped to keep the Theatre afloat since March 2020.

But particularly given recent developments and restrictions, there is much more to do to help charities like QTH survive, recover and thrive again in the future. This invaluable award represents 5% of last year’s turnover, but despite this the charity will still lose out on more than £3 million of income this year.

So audiences and supporters are encouraged to do everything they can to keep supporting their local theatre ‎- by booking tickets for now and into the future, donating where they can, using the Cafe and spreading the word that the Theatre is open, COVID-19 Secure and looking forward to increasingly getting back into business.

• World premiere of Misfits, intertwining tales of Essex resilience by four commissioned writers: Anne Odeke, Guleraana Mir, Kenny Emson and Sadie Hasler.
• Christmas Allsorts, a brand new, delightfully traditional family variety show.
• I AM HERE, a new online project exploring representation in the arts through the lens of class, race, gender and sexuality, led by the Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch Young Changemakers.

Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch has today (Tuesday 1 September) announced its Autumn 2020 season following the news it will be reopening its doors to the public on Thursday 3 September. The building has been closed to the public for the last five and a half months, while extensive work has continued behind closed doors to complete the Theatre’s £1.2 million QNew Transformation capital programme.

The Autumn season has been significantly revised to reflect the current circumstances surrounding socially distanced performances and reduced auditorium capacity. The season includes Misfits, an innovative new hybrid of live theatre and digital content – bookers will purchase a ticket which will allow them the choice of watching the show be performed live onstage in front of an audience or streamed to their homes, right up until the day of the show. Misfits intertwines four inspirational tales of Essex resilience to make an unmissable world premiere by some of the region’s most exciting playwrights. It is the next step in the Theatre’s Essex on Stage programme, an ambitious new two year programme led by Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch, championing positive notions of Essex, celebrating theatre made by working class people and raising aspirations for emerging artists from Essex and Outer East London. Misfits is a collaborative project written by four Outer East London and Essex writers. Three of the four writers have not been commissioned by Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch before:

• Anne Odeke, a Southend-based actress to whom QTH has given her first ever writing commission (Bartholomew Fair, The Merry Wives of Windsor, The Globe Theatre)
• Guleraana Mir, (Coconut, Ovalhouse), Hornchurch-based playwright and one half of female-led theatre company The Thelmas
• Kenny Emson, award-winning Essex playwright (Rust, Terrorism, Bush Theatre; Plastic, Mercury Theatre Colchester)

The fourth, Sadie Hasler, co-founder of Southend theatre company Old Trunk and Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch Associate Artist, wrote the highly acclaimed Stiletto Beach for the Theatre, as part of the 2019 Essex Girls and Boys season.

The Theatre is also bringing a range of socially distanced comedy, family and music guest shows to its Main House throughout the Autumn, as well as showcasing new work from emerging artists as part of its Outer Limits programme on its newly renamed The Other Stage. The popular community Café will also reopen, and the Theatre’s impressive learning & participation programme, which engaged over 32,000 participants of all ages last year, continues with a range of online and in-person activities.

Finally, the Theatre gets festive with Christmas Allsorts. The Theatre is offering this brand new seasonal special as an alternative to its regular Christmas pantomime, following the announcement, alongside Lyric Hammersmith Theatre, Hackney Empire, Theatre Royal Stratford East, that the pantomime cannot go ahead. The production is a delightfully traditional family variety show featuring yuletide tunes from films and musicals, as well as beloved Christmas pop, alongside classic and new sketches.

Finally, the Theatre is also launching I AM HERE, a new online project taking place across four sessions, featuring trailblazing artists Paul Bradshaw (A Christmas Carol, Lyceum Theatre), David Gilbert (Umtolo, The Young Vic), Jordan Gray (Transaction, Comedy Central), Kelly Jones (Room To Escape, BBC Arts). The sessions have been produced and will be hosted by the Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch Young Changemakers, a group of nine individuals aged 18-25, all from different backgrounds, all living in Outer East London and Essex, who are passionate about bringing young people into theatre. Each weekly session will focus on a different intersection of identity: class, race, sexuality and gender, exploring representation in the arts.