CREATIVE
TEAM
Lisa
Evans - Writer
Lisa Evans has written extesively for the theatre, including classic adaptations such as Jamaica Inn (Salisbury Playhouse), The Maid of Buttermere (Theatre By The Lake, Keswick), as well as Frankenstein and Villette for Frantic Assembly. Her play Once We Were Mothers (Orange Tree Theatre) played to packed houses and was shortlisted for the John Whiting Award. She has had many plays commissioned by Birmingham Rep and her work has been seen throughout the UK as well as abroad. She has written for The Bill, Eastenders, Casualty and Holby City among other long-running TV series. Lisa's many original plays and adaptations for radio include Mary Seacole and a version of her own theatre play Stamping, Shouting and Singing Home. www.lisa-evans-playwright.co.uk
"Fresh and urgent...[a] remarkable play...It sings with hope in the face of terrible family tragedy and dances with the comedy of white women desperate to maintain their privilege" - The Guardian on Stamping, Shouting and Singing Home
"Lisa Evans has created ahaunting production...without doubt contemporary creative theatre at its best" - The Stage on Frankenstein
"Prepare to be blown away. Vilette is one of the most varied and fresh performances I've seen this year... The scripting is clever...there are some sharp observations in there that still hold true" - Online review of Villette
Damian
Cruden - Director
York Theatre Royal's Artistic Director, Damian Cruden will be directing Up The Duff. He has directed many in-house productions including: Death of a Salesman, Patient No.1, Twinkle Little Star, Enjoy, The Dumb Waiter, The Hare and the Tortoise, Pygmalion, Broken Glass, East is East, Hay Fever, Macbeth, Brassed Off, Caitlin, A Taste of Honey, Bouncers, Kafka's Dick, Romeo and Juliet, Getting On, The Three Musketeers, Les Liaisons Dangereuses, All My Sons, Piaf, Dead Funny, Educating Rita, Neville's Island and Private Lives.
"This text has wonderful comic potential and the time spent workshopping was great fun. The depth of humour in the piece only becomes clear when you have four women manoeuvring around the space with large bumps and flatulence. I had the honor of escorting the actresses for lunch on one day, when they decided not to remove their fake bumps, and I revieved some odd looks. I in no way resembled a gynaecologist, so what the public thought of me one can only guess at!" - Damian Cruden
Fresh Glory productions and York Theatre Royal
Fresh
Glory's first production last year was a critically-acclaimed
revivial of Bryony Lavery's play Frozen, at the Riverside
Studios and on a national tour. With 4 and 5 star reviews in the
London and National press, Frozen was also Time Out
Critic's Choice for two weeks.
Fresh Glory was concieved as a co-production company and current ventures include Huck, a new adaptation of Huckleberry Finn, with Shapeshifter and The Theatre, Chipping Norton, adapted by the up and coming writer James Graham (ITV's Caught In A Trap and Soho Theatre's Tory Boyz). This show will tour in Spring 2010. In the Autumn of 2009, Fresh Glory is also collaborating with Third Party and director John Wright (Told By An Idiot, Tresle) on a national and international tour of King Lear. www.freshglory.com
York
Theatre Royal needs
no introduction as one of the leading production repertory theatres
in the country, with a vibrant programme which includes popular
plays and more challenging independent work in both its main house
and studio as well as being a top visiting venur for national
touring of all kinds. www.yorktheatreroyal.co.uk