Theatre Imp

11/07/2020

This morning I was supposed to be giving my ‘An Evening with Irena’ talk with the Southwell Parkinson’s Disease Group , obviously it didn’t go ahead.
I read the script again in preparation and it’s such a great story! Its the nearest I’d come to reprising a production. The stars aligned for Irena’s Vow UK and I’d really only disappoint myself with a re-run!
So, I content myself but continuing Irena’s legacy.
Forever grateful.

21/01/2020

Found this banner from Feb 2014 signed by cast and crew.

12/01/2020

Attended a workshop quite sometime ago at Leeds Playhouse with Kneehigh’s Anna Maria Murphy and find not one but two pictures in their CPD Brochure!
Guess what I’m doing in the second picture?

26/08/2019

This has been a long time coming!
Over five years ago Theatre Imp put on the ‘first performances of this play anywhere other than America’ production of Dan Gordon’s ‘Irena’s Vow’ in Lincoln and York (England), to critical acclaim.
Complying with copyright and performing rights means there’s very little recorded performance of the production.
One of the actors asked me to record his main speech for his ‘show reel’, as he had just been offered a place at Mountview Academy. It’s been on mine and his devices ever since until I finally contacted Dan Gordon and asked if i could do something with it to make it accessible to all. Its still a bit of a ‘rough around the edges’ recording that was meant to be nothing more than for an actor to demonstrate his talent.
So, today I’m delighted to premier Oscar Conlon-Morrey as Sturnbamfuhrer Rokita with his (what we dubbed) ‘genius speech’.
I hope you’ll all agree it’s a compelling performance.

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17/02/2018

Thrilled to hear that, once again, Samuel French is selling scripts in a physical bookstore - created at The Royal Court Theatre - just seems right somehow.

We're thrilled to share that the Samuel French Bookshop will reopen at the The Royal Court Theatre on Monday 5 March!

http://www.samuelfrench.co.uk/bookshop

05/12/2017

Here's to meeting the lovely brand new cast this evening for Theatre Imp's next extravaganza.
Always nervous and excited in equal measure. Starting again after over two years off.

16/09/2017

Visionary and unique. And Margaret Thatcher was frightened of him! Sad to see a legend in directing has gone.

Michael Coveney pays tribute to the late founder of the Royal Shakespeare Company and director Peter Hall

08/07/2017

Tearful farewell. The biggest prop I've ever sourced - the vintage Mustang caravan - painstakingly searched for on eBay for weeks (I knew the look I wanted) purchased for £100 and then skilfully but scarily towed by Vince on the A1 from Cambridge. Used for Jerusalem and then 'stored' since October 2015 at , now set free and gone to be restored in the north east. Good news - I'll still see it as it's with Jon and Debra!!

19/05/2017

Polished and ready to return. Collected the Syd Hopkin Memorial Trophy from Fred Repper who won it for Best Newcomer on an Adult Stage at the 2016 NANDA Play of the Year for his portrayal of Marky in 'Jerusalem'.

10/03/2017

At last! Someone talking precisely about why the play I directed in 2014 should have been allowed to have been the dissertation in my Masters in Applied Theatre...

Plays have the power to bring about in-depth conversation regarding the responsibility of individuals and our role in a changing political climate. Amy Frits...

28/01/2017

Earlier today at the Chapel Interpretation Centre in Newark Cemetery commemorating Holocaust Memorial Day 2017. Telling the true story of Irene Gut Opdyke is always an honour and each time brings things up that I may have not considered before. Thank you to Friends of Newark Cemetery and Newark Town Council for allowing me to talk in this historic building and Laurence Goff for opening the chapel in plenty of time so that it was warm!

26/01/2017

I've just been to the national Holocaust Memorial Day Commemoration in London. Volunteering on reception, meeting and greeting, and being humbled by what people have endured and still endure. It was, as always, a reminder that every year there are fewer survivors.
That's why I do this talk. Irena herself has died, her daughter Jeannie continues her Mother's legacy, but this is in the USA.
Irena Gut's is really the only story I know well enough to justify the telling. The story deserves to be heard and the courage of one young woman should be honoured. I'm talking at 2.30 in the afternoon on Saturday 28th January 2017 at Newark Cemetary (inside, there's heating and warm drinks)