Tower Theatre Company : Terrorism

The first in a season of three plays on the theme of PROTEST!

Terrorism

by Oleg and Vladimir Presnyakov, translated by Sasha Dugdale

Directed by Andy Marchant

The Tower Theatre performing at the Bridewell Theatre, off Fleet Street

Tuesday 20th - Saturday 24th September 2011

Photography by David Sprecher

Review by Jill Truman in the Totttenham and Wood Green Journal

For one week only, Londoners have the opportunity to watch this puzzling, thought-provoking and sometimes hilarious play, written by two Russian brothers, Oleg and Vladimir Presnyakov. Translated by Sasha Dugdale, it is part of the topical Protest Season currently being presented by The Tower Theatre Company.

British audiences, with no way of knowing how much has been lost, or gained, in translation, will detect traces of absurdism, realism, surrealism and the chaos theory - but the overwhelming impression is of a production that continues to resonate, long after the performance is over.

The astonished audience is immediately emotionally involved as it finds itself transformed into the passengers in an airport, closed because of "suspect luggage". Gradually members of the cast emerge and subsequently appear and disappear as we catch glimpses of their everyday lives and discover the connections between them.

Directing such a complex and unusual play is a challenge in which Andy Marchant succeeds superbly. It is an ensemble production, with a uniformly high standard of performance by a large and talented cast, portraying a range of emotions both universal and very Russian. However, the level of hysteria sustained almost throughout is irritating and sometimes so shrill as to be inaudible. They could, with advantage, have contrasted their hyperactive verbosity with quieter portrayals of thought and suffering.

Sound, so important in its use by the state to control the behavior of the populace, is designed by Ruth Sullivan with imagination and wit.

Dont miss this unusual and fascinating play.

Read Cast member James Killeen's
Diary on preparations for the show

The Company
Anne Connell
Aqil Zahid
Belinda Lauria
Chris Yates
Dean Brown
Emily Ambler
Emma Miranda Moore
Emma Sullivan
James Killeen
James Wickham
Jo Donnelly
Jonathan Norris
Kya Mubarik
Louisa Shindle
Mark Ewins
Neil Forster
Nigel Barker
Paul Isaacs
Rayanna Dibs
Will Baltyn
and featuring Lola, the dog

Production Team
Director : Andy Marchant
Set Design : Michael Bettell
Costume Design : Andy Marchant, Scotti Harper
Lighting Design : Robin Snowdon
Sound Design : Ruth Sullivan
Fight Director : Lindsay Royan

Stage Manager : Luise Weiner
Lighting Operators : Adam Taylor, Laurence Tuerk
Sound Operator : Phillip Ley
Costume Assistants : Jill Batty, Celia Reynolds
Military Paraphernalia : Del Fowler
Set Construction : Michael Bettell, Ruth Sullivan, Sue Brodie & members of the cast and crew

Anne Connell has been with the Tower since 1994, playing numerous parts including Kate in Dancing at Lughnasa, Mrs. Venables in Suddenly Last Summer, the Narrator in Under Milk Wood, Muriel in Habeas Corpus and most recently Florence in The Odd Couple. She also co-authored Curiouser and Curiouser, an adaptation and merging of both of Lewis Carroll's "Alice" books, which performed at the Minack Theatre in Cornwall in 2008.

Aqil Zahid trained at the City Lit. He recently appeared at The Tricycle Theatre in Judgment at Nuremberg and as Petruchio at The Shakespeare Birthday Celebrations in Stratford-upon-Avon. Theatre credits include The Cherry Orchard at the White Bear Theatre and as Sade in Marat/Sade at The Courtyard Theatre. He has appeared at the Camden Fringe Festival as Aegistheus in The Flies and in Blonde Compassion: A Yoga Comedy. He received a special mention as Ruckley in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Recent film credits include Replica and A Handful of Dust. This is his third production with the Tower Theatre and he hopes to make it out alive and clothed!

Belinda Lauria is quite new to the company - Terrorism is her first production having joined about five months ago. She has a Contemporary Arts degree, majoring in Drama which she completed in Melbourne, Australia, her home town. Although involved in theatre at university and drama schools, this is the first English company she has belonged to. During the day she is a secondary school drama teacher - she hopes the saying isn't true that "those who cant do ... teach".

Christopher Yates has acted in a variety of Tower Theatre productions since 1974, perhaps most notably in Heartbreak House and Under Milk Wood. He appeared most recently in The Boy Friend.

Terrorism is Dean Brown's first show with the Tower Theatre. He has previously appeared on stage with various companies in The Seagull, The Bald Soprano and Bear Hug. Eagle eyed viewers may also have seen him loitering in Tim Burton's adaptation of Sweeney Todd and participating in a particularly poor episode of Tonight with Trevor MacDonald. Outside of theatre, Dean works as a writer for a company magazine and website.

This is Emily Ambler's second production for the Tower Theatre, her first being Smells of Wee earlier this year in which she played Madonna. Her previous theatre credits include performances for the Maddermarket theatre company (The Resistable Rise of Arturo Ui, Antigone) and the Sewel Barn theatre company (Shakers Re-stirred). Her professional engagements include appearances in programmes such as Hollyoaks and Britian's got the pop factor, and she has been lucky enough to have trained in workshops with the National Theatre, RADA and the Central School of Speech and Drama.

Emma Miranda Moore trained at Arts Ed having mis-spent most of her teenage years in various youth theatre groups. This is her first acting role with the Tower having joined earlier this year. Recent theatre roles elsewhere include Amanda in Private Lives and a production of Pool, No Water directed by Tom Daley. When not acting Miranda can be found taking fashion photographs (for money) or indulging her inner Beyonce at Pineapple studios (for fun).

Emma Sullivan graduated from a London law school in 2005 and has worked in the City as a shipping litigation lawyer for the last four years. Emma's real passion however is acting and she takes every opportunity to get involved with various productions whenever possible. She trained with the Anna Scher Theatre, the Sylvia Young Theatre School and has taken short courses at RADA and City Acting. This is her first production with the Tower Theatre Company, but she has also been cast as Martha in the Tower Theatre's second Protest Season play 5/11. She has previously appeared in The Demon for the Theatre Collection at the Lord Stanley Arms, em>Betrayed for the Anna Scher Theatre and The Beauty Queen of Leenane for the Sylvia Young Theatre School. She has also performed in both short and feature length films including Capsule (Feature Film) by Eddie St Jean and The Disappearance of Dylan Jenkins (Short Film) for the Film and Media Dept of Royal Holloway University.
Emma hopes to make a regular appearance in Tower Theatre productions and next year her formal acting training will begin at the Central School of Speech and Drama.

James Killeen trained at the City Lit, completing the Foundation and Access courses. Theatre credits include Antonio in The Merchant of Venice, Tom in Tom and Viv, Ralph Clark in Our Country's Good, and Norman in Round and Round the Garden. He has also directed Habeas Corpus, and written and acted in a 1950s B-movie adaptation of A Midsummer Night's Dream. This is James's second show with the Tower, having previously appeared as Titorelli (and various household objects including a lamp, half a couch, and washing hanging on a line) in The Trial.

James Wickham has been with the company for only a short while, joining in February this year. Terrorism marks his stage debut out of school, where he cut his teeth on roles such as Algernon Moncrieff in The Importance of Being Earnest and Osborne in Journey's End. His unshakeable passion for acting has finally brought him back to the stage. He hopes this will be the first of many productions, and intends to carve out a career as an actor - one way or another!

This is Jo Donnelly's debut performance for the Tower. Recent roles have taken her from materialistic tart Carol in Stags and Hens with KDC, to free-spirited hippy in SEDOS's production of the musical Hair. Jo trained at the London College of Theatre Studies and featured as lead vocalist for a signed band. She holds a degree in Visual Communication Design and is the co-founder and creative director of graphic design agency Do Good Branding.

Over his 18 Tower Company years, Jonathan Norris has somehow got tangled up in about 50 productions, whether acting (Hubbard in Dial M For Murder; Doolittle in Pygmalion ); music-directing shows such as A Little Night Music and Guys and Dolls), or otherwise adding music to things, producing from nowhere a trombone to be played in Curiouser and Curiouser and Lark Rise. Ignoring traditional advice he performed a Morris dance in Lark Rise and taught others to do so for Garden ... By day, he and his wife Ruth commute in from fashionable Clapton to earn a crust as Administrators of the Company.

Kya Mubarik has been a member of the Tower Theatre Company for about a year. She trained at the Drama Studio London and the City Lit, and she has an Access to Drama Diploma and LAMDA gold medal. She hase also trained in Kathak and contemporary dance and stage combat to BASSC standard. The latter included unarmed combat and rapier and dagger fighting which she thoroughly enjoyed!

Louisa Shindle has been a member of the Tower Theatre since January 2007. Her first performance involved being trapped in a cupboard in Taking Steps. She has also appeared in Hay Fever, The Sea, The Trial and Princess Ivona. Prior to joining the company, she acted with Stage Left, playing such diverse roles as a drunken male lecher, a glamorous nightclub singer, a Walrus and a dominatrix Evil Queen.

This is Mark Ewins's first show with Tower although he is not new to the stage, having performed with the RSC in the World Premiere of Lord of The Flies. Having taken a break to do a Food Science degree, Mark returned to acting appearing as Lavatch in All's Well That Ends Well (KDC theatre) and Flute in SEDOS' City Tour of A Midsummer Nights Dream. Recent stage performances have included stand-up comedy at UCL's Bright Club and KDC's recent production at the Barons Court Theatre of A Midsummer Nights Dream. Mark is also a member of the Camden Light Orchestra and can be found singing with 'Sustain' around pub venues in London.

This is Neil Forster's third show since moving to London last year, and his first with the Tower Theatre. Before venturing down South, he studied at York University and appeared in several Drama Society productions, including Cider with Rosie, Women Beware Women, West Side Story and Grease. More recently he performed with KDC as Lysander in A Midsummer Night's Dream, and returned to his northern roots with a bit of the old ultra-violence in A Clockwork Orange.

This is Nigel Barker's first acting role with the Tower as he has just recently joined. He took a 2 year Acting Foundation Course at the Questors Theatre, Ealing. His roles included Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York in Henry VI & Matthew Moon in Far from the Madding Crowd. He also played a �Royal Dancing Bear in the 2008 Christmas Production of Cinderella.
He works as a Document Controller in the construction industry and his hobbies include Snooker & watching Arsenal F.C. Nigel is hoping that his role as 'Captain of the Military' will lead to many more challenging roles at the Tower.

This is Paul Isaacs's first production with the Tower Theatre, following several years studying acting at the City Lit, and having previously completed an English degree at Leeds University.
Roles in training include Macbeth, Sam in Flatspin, Bruce in Beyond Therapy, and Haemon in Antigone. Recent parts include Medvedenko in The Seagull, Anthony Witwoud in The Way of the World, and Bardolph and the Duke of Orléans in Henry V.
Paul currently works at the British Retail Consortium and can sometimes strongly identify with the unseen protagonist in Scene 3!

Rayanna Dibs trained at Brunel University and also Los Angeles, and was accepted into Mountview Academy. Recent credits include two short films : Schizophrenia me and me screened at the Cannes Film Festival 2011, and Room for Rent in which she played the lead, recently screened in central London. This is her first production with the Tower Theatre Company, and she's particularly enjoyed working in such a large cast (the stage-combat has also come in handy)! She's also loving doing some theatre again as she has been focusing more on film recently. She hopes to appear in more Tower Productions in the near future.

William Baltyn is a recent addition to Tower Theatre, having previously appeared in two KDC Restoration comedies, The Provoked Wife and He Ventures, She Wins. In a pre-London life he has appeared several times at the Edinburgh Fringe and won individual and ensemble awards at the Bristol One Act Festival for Self and the Scarborough National Student Drama Festival for Absence of War. Technically he has appeared on both stage and screen but sadly William's starring roles on television have been entirely limited to appearing on local news.

This is Andy Marchant's second time working for the Tower, having directed The Trial last year. Once again Andy has decided to present the darker side of people and society, having previously directed the hedonistic Alfie, the existentialist Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead and the melancholic The Tragedy of the Prince Of Denmark (an adaptation of Hamlet). He is also the Chairman of KDC Theatre and has scripted both plays and films.

	Anne Connell has been with the Tower since 1994, playing numerous parts including Kate in Dancing at Lughnasa, Mrs. Venables in Suddenly Last Summer, the Narrator in Under Milk Wood, Muriel in Habeas Corpus and most recently Florence in The Odd Couple. She also co-authored Curiouser and Curiouser, an adaptation and merging of both of Lewis Carroll's "Alice" books, which performed at the Minack Theatre in Cornwall in 2008.			Aqil Zahid trained at the City Lit. He recently appeared at The Tricycle Theatre in Judgment at Nuremberg and as Petruchio at The Shakespeare Birthday Celebrations in Stratford-upon-Avon. Theatre credits include The Cherry Orchard at the White Bear Theatre and as Sade in Marat/Sade at The Courtyard Theatre. He has appeared at the Camden Fringe Festival as Aegistheus in The Flies and in Blonde Compassion: A Yoga Comedy. He received a special mention as Ruckley in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Recent film credits include Replica and A Handful of Dust. This is his third production with the Tower Theatre and he hopes to make it out alive and clothed!
	Belinda Lauria is quite new to the company - Terrorism is her first production having joined about five months ago. She has a Contemporary Arts degree, majoring in Drama which she completed in Melbourne, Australia, her home town. Although involved in theatre at university and drama schools, this is the first English company she has belonged to. During the day she is a secondary school drama teacher - she hopes the saying isn't true that "those who cant do ... teach".			Christopher Yates has acted in a variety of Tower Theatre productions since 1974, perhaps most notably in Heartbreak House and Under Milk Wood. He appeared most recently in The Boy Friend.
	Terrorism is Dean Brown's first show with the Tower Theatre. He has previously appeared on stage with various companies in The Seagull, The Bald Soprano and Bear Hug. Eagle eyed viewers may also have seen him loitering in Tim Burton's adaptation of Sweeney Todd and participating in a particularly poor episode of Tonight with Trevor MacDonald. Outside of theatre, Dean works as a writer for a company magazine and website.			This is Emily Ambler's second production for the Tower Theatre, her first being Smells of Wee earlier this year in which she played Madonna. Her previous theatre credits include performances for the Maddermarket theatre company (The Resistable Rise of Arturo Ui, Antigone) and the Sewel Barn theatre company (Shakers Re-stirred). Her professional engagements include appearances in programmes such as Hollyoaks and Britian's got the pop factor, and she has been lucky enough to have trained in workshops with the National Theatre, RADA and the Central School of Speech and Drama.
	Emma Miranda Moore trained at Arts Ed having mis-spent most of her teenage years in various youth theatre groups. This is her first acting role with the Tower having joined earlier this year. Recent theatre roles elsewhere include Amanda in Private Lives and a production of Pool, No Water directed by Tom Daley. When not acting Miranda can be found taking fashion photographs (for money) or indulging her inner Beyonce at Pineapple studios (for fun).			Emma Sullivan graduated from a London law school in 2005 and has worked in the City as a shipping litigation lawyer for the last four years. Emma's real passion however is acting and she takes every opportunity to get involved with various productions whenever possible. She trained with the Anna Scher Theatre, the Sylvia Young Theatre School and has taken short courses at RADA and City Acting. This is her first production with the Tower Theatre Company, but she has also been cast as Martha in the Tower Theatre's second Protest Season play 5/11. She has previously appeared in The Demon for the Theatre Collection at the Lord Stanley Arms, em>Betrayed for the Anna Scher Theatre and The Beauty Queen of Leenane for the Sylvia Young Theatre School. She has also performed in both short and feature length films including Capsule (Feature Film) by Eddie St Jean and The Disappearance of Dylan Jenkins (Short Film) for the Film and Media Dept of Royal Holloway University. Emma hopes to make a regular appearance in Tower Theatre productions and next year her formal acting training will begin at the Central School of Speech and Drama.
	James Killeen trained at the City Lit, completing the Foundation and Access courses. Theatre credits include Antonio in The Merchant of Venice, Tom in Tom and Viv, Ralph Clark in Our Country's Good, and Norman in Round and Round the Garden. He has also directed Habeas Corpus, and written and acted in a 1950s B-movie adaptation of A Midsummer Night's Dream. This is James's second show with the Tower, having previously appeared as Titorelli (and various household objects including a lamp, half a couch, and washing hanging on a line) in The Trial.			James Wickham has been with the company for only a short while, joining in February this year. Terrorism marks his stage debut out of school, where he cut his teeth on roles such as Algernon Moncrieff in The Importance of Being Earnest and Osborne in Journey's End. His unshakeable passion for acting has finally brought him back to the stage. He hopes this will be the first of many productions, and intends to carve out a career as an actor - one way or another!
	This is Jo Donnelly's debut performance for the Tower. Recent roles have taken her from materialistic tart Carol in Stags and Hens with KDC, to free-spirited hippy in SEDOS's production of the musical Hair. Jo trained at the London College of Theatre Studies and featured as lead vocalist for a signed band. She holds a degree in Visual Communication Design and is the co-founder and creative director of graphic design agency Do Good Branding.			Over his 18 Tower Company years, Jonathan Norris has somehow got tangled up in about 50 productions, whether acting (Hubbard in Dial M For Murder; Doolittle in Pygmalion ); music-directing shows such as A Little Night Music and Guys and Dolls), or otherwise adding music to things, producing from nowhere a trombone to be played in Curiouser and Curiouser and Lark Rise. Ignoring traditional advice he performed a Morris dance in Lark Rise and taught others to do so for Garden ... By day, he and his wife Ruth commute in from fashionable Clapton to earn a crust as Administrators of the Company.
	Kya Mubarik has been a member of the Tower Theatre Company for about a year. She trained at the Drama Studio London and the City Lit, and she has an Access to Drama Diploma and LAMDA gold medal. She hase also trained in Kathak and contemporary dance and stage combat to BASSC standard. The latter included unarmed combat and rapier and dagger fighting which she thoroughly enjoyed!			Louisa Shindle has been a member of the Tower Theatre since January 2007. Her first performance involved being trapped in a cupboard in Taking Steps. She has also appeared in Hay Fever, The Sea, The Trial and Princess Ivona. Prior to joining the company, she acted with Stage Left, playing such diverse roles as a drunken male lecher, a glamorous nightclub singer, a Walrus and a dominatrix Evil Queen.
	This is Mark Ewins's first show with Tower although he is not new to the stage, having performed with the RSC in the World Premiere of Lord of The Flies. Having taken a break to do a Food Science degree, Mark returned to acting appearing as Lavatch in All's Well That Ends Well (KDC theatre) and Flute in SEDOS' City Tour of A Midsummer Nights Dream. Recent stage performances have included stand-up comedy at UCL's Bright Club and KDC's recent production at the Barons Court Theatre of A Midsummer Nights Dream. Mark is also a member of the Camden Light Orchestra and can be found singing with 'Sustain' around pub venues in London.			This is Neil Forster's third show since moving to London last year, and his first with the Tower Theatre. Before venturing down South, he studied at York University and appeared in several Drama Society productions, including Cider with Rosie, Women Beware Women, West Side Story and Grease. More recently he performed with KDC as Lysander in A Midsummer Night's Dream, and returned to his northern roots with a bit of the old ultra-violence in A Clockwork Orange.
	This is Nigel Barker's first acting role with the Tower as he has just recently joined. He took a 2 year Acting Foundation Course at the Questors Theatre, Ealing. His roles included Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York in Henry VI & Matthew Moon in Far from the Madding Crowd. He also played a �Royal Dancing Bear in the 2008 Christmas Production of Cinderella. He works as a Document Controller in the construction industry and his hobbies include Snooker & watching Arsenal F.C. Nigel is hoping that his role as 'Captain of the Military' will lead to many more challenging roles at the Tower.			This is Paul Isaacs's first production with the Tower Theatre, following several years studying acting at the City Lit, and having previously completed an English degree at Leeds University. Roles in training include Macbeth, Sam in Flatspin, Bruce in Beyond Therapy, and Haemon in Antigone. Recent parts include Medvedenko in The Seagull, Anthony Witwoud in The Way of the World, and Bardolph and the Duke of Orléans in Henry V. Paul currently works at the British Retail Consortium and can sometimes strongly identify with the unseen protagonist in Scene 3!
	Rayanna Dibs trained at Brunel University and also Los Angeles, and was accepted into Mountview Academy. Recent credits include two short films : Schizophrenia me and me screened at the Cannes Film Festival 2011, and Room for Rent in which she played the lead, recently screened in central London. This is her first production with the Tower Theatre Company, and she's particularly enjoyed working in such a large cast (the stage-combat has also come in handy)! She's also loving doing some theatre again as she has been focusing more on film recently. She hopes to appear in more Tower Productions in the near future.			William Baltyn is a recent addition to Tower Theatre, having previously appeared in two KDC Restoration comedies, The Provoked Wife and He Ventures, She Wins. In a pre-London life he has appeared several times at the Edinburgh Fringe and won individual and ensemble awards at the Bristol One Act Festival for Self and the Scarborough National Student Drama Festival for Absence of War. Technically he has appeared on both stage and screen but sadly William's starring roles on television have been entirely limited to appearing on local news.
	This is Andy Marchant's second time working for the Tower, having directed The Trial last year. Once again Andy has decided to present the darker side of people and society, having previously directed the hedonistic Alfie, the existentialist Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead and the melancholic The Tragedy of the Prince Of Denmark (an adaptation of Hamlet). He is also the Chairman of KDC Theatre and has scripted both plays and films.