Blurbs, Pictures, Performances

Artistic Director Lisa Parry writes:

The running order has been decided! Our dramaturg Louise Stephens Alexander has juggled actors, rehearsal locations and themes to fix our schedule.

So if you're at Chapter on February 17, Theatre503 on February 19 or The Arches on February 22, you'll see work by the following writers: Sam Burns, Vittoria Cafolla, Poppy Corbett, Clare Duffy, Samantha Ellis, Marged Parry.

And if you're at Chapter on February 18, Theatre503 on February 20 or The Arches on February 23, you'll see work by these writers: Ioanna Anderson, Branwen Davies, Sarah Grochala, Lisa Parry, Morna Pearson, Lindsay Rodden.

Obviously, we hope you come to both!

We've been running a campaign on twitter using the #a160feb hashtag where the writers have been revealing a word they think encapsulates their play. We also asked the writers to give us a sneak-peek into their plays. Below is what they came up with.

And don't forget to book! All booking links are on our website: www.agent160theatre.co.uk.

Poppy Corbett

Ioanna Anderson – How To Be A Pantomine Horse

In an air accident, the normal rules of human behaviour are suspended; people behave in unexpected and sometimes unpredictable ways. In this darkly funny, surreal and moving two-hander, an air crash throws two women into an impromptu but vital partnership.

Sam Burns - Amnesty

‘You cross with me?’ she says. ‘Sort of’, I says. ‘Cause I done a good deed with my knife.’ Grace, 16, hoarder of Lego, knows she has to surrender her number one favourite possession in the whole entire world, but fate’s not making it easy. And Grace can’t give anything away.

Sarah Grochala

Vittoria Cafolla – The Last Word

Paedar and Phoebe are in Pompeii, but are the city's ruins the only ones they're exploring? And just how important is it to have the final say in an argument? All is not as it seems when both compete to have the last word.

Poppy Corbett - Branded

Meet Kaitlin, the Store Image Director. She strictly enforces the brand of the store, but is there more to being a woman than a brand? Branded explores power games in the work place and in the world.

Branwen Davies - Genki

A woman finds herself in limbo in no man's land surrounded by battered boxes and a suitcase full of photos, memories and stuff that no longer make sense. They don't belong here but where does she belong?

Clare Duffy – How Do You Sleep At Night?

For three years, Abi has been protesting outside the home of a retired chief executive of a zombie bank. But today, at 4am, the executive’s insomniac wife comes to make Abi an offer.

Morna Pearson

Samantha Ellis - Noura
Can ice cream be chewy? Can bellydancers turn into birds? Can you be homesick for a place you haven't been to? And if you can, what's the cure? A shapeshifting dancer meets a mixed-up Iraqi refugee in this play about who we are and who we want to be.

Sarah Grochala - Red Shoes

And it don’t matter that I ain’t had no tummy tuck caesarean, no postnatal Pilates. Cos I’m thinking it don’t matter what you got, you got it, when you got shoes like that.

Kaz has found the answer to all her problems, a pair of shoes, a pair of red Christian Louboutin shoes. If she has those shoes, she knows she can win her ex, Darren, back. All she needs now is the money to buy them or the guts to steal them.

One night in London when everything goes crazy, she finally gets her chance.

Lisa Parry - Nancy

Nancy lives in Sussex – the rural bit, not Brighton – and is in financial straits. But it’s not just the bank she needs to keep from her door; it’s the rabbits and moles too. But what has this to do with the audience? And why is she on the Agent 160 tour?

Clare Duffy

Marged Parry – The Sweet Shop Stand Off

Melisa's back in her home town and she's not who she used to be. She seeks to salvage a time capsule that she buried long ago with her childhood best friend Kevin. But why is Kevin so reluctant to dig up the past?

Morna Pearson – Skin; or How To Disappear

Robert hasn't left his house since Helen Daniels from Neighbours died. Having pulled out every hair on his body, he has started peeling off all of his skin. His day is interrupted by a visit from an incapacity benefit assessor. Somebody's life is about to change.

Lindsay Rodden – A Modest Proposal

Something is rotten in the world.  But the butchery is far beyond the border, and even if the cries and howls came over her own back fence, Mrs Paula O’Neill wouldn’t hear them. Hasn’t she trouble enough, with one runaway daughter, and a baby boy to grow up nice and fat? Eyes down, turn the radio up, and get that dinner on. And eat every pick on that plate.