Tower Theatre Company :Staying Alive

Staying Alive

by Kat Roberts

Directed by Olivia Chakraborty

Wednesday 4 - Saturday 14 June, 2025

At the Tower Theatre, Stoke Newington

Photography by Ahmed Kamara

Cast List

Mary : Saskia Connolly
Jack : Jonathan Buckingham
Jenn : Isabel Daly
Sarah/Social Worker/Administrator : Jacky Rowland
Will : Simon A. Brown
Nathan : Christopher Lloyd-James
Portia : Fiona Masterson

with Archimedes Weston as the voice of Tom

Production Team

Director : Olivia Chakraborty
Set Design : Dina Benderra
Costume Design : Emma Efkeman
Lighting Design : Nick Insley
Sound Design : Olivia Chakraborty and Samuel Jego

Stage Manager : Gary O’Keefe
Assistant Director : Michael Reilly
Lighting Operator : Laura Corkell
Sound Operator : Chris Sheil
Set Construction and Get-In: Céline Barrière, Phillip Ley, Keith Syrett, Max Batty, Angelika Michitsch, Kristina Collini, Emma Wiltshire, Jodie Michaelides and members of the cast & crew.

Reactions and Reviews

Audiences praise Staying Alive:
"A hugely thought-provoking play and what an excellent cast and production" "Such a difficult and touching topic, perfectly presented on stage, we were all was in tears at some point" "Congratulations on a brilliant performance. I really enjoyed it. It was an emotional rollercoaster and really tugged at the heart strings" "Blown away by this show; everything about it was phenomenal" "Superb hard-hitting show" "Bravo to the director, cast and all the crew; a wonderful piece of theatre!"

This is Saskia Connolly's debut performance at the Tower since joining in March 2025. Upon graduating with first class honours from the University of Leeds (productions including Jo in She, Charlie in Posh, Elle Woods in Legally Blonde: the Musical), Saskia went on to train for two years at the renowned Identity School of Acting. Over her time at IDSA she gained representation from their agency and progressed to Tier 1, training amongst the top 9 of 900 students. She finished in July with successful filmcase The Wound and has since booked a short film, Maggot, and workshopped a project with Miranda Hart. More recently, she has sought to create her own work by completing a course in Playwriting at the Royal Central School of Speech & Drama. Alongside acting, Saskia has built a career across TV and Musical Theatre production working for the BBC, Channel 4 and Cameron Mackintosh Ltd. She is open to opportunities via saskiaroseconnolly@gmail.com.

Born in Stockport, this is Jonathan Buckingham’s second appearance at the Tower having last performed in A Dream Play. Though a mathematician by trade, he has long been involved in amateur/student productions, acting in theatres across London, Glasgow, Sheffield, Bath and Manchester.

This is Isabel Daly's first show at the Tower Theatre. Previously, she participated in the King's Crown Shakespeare Troupe at Columbia University, where she played Brutus in Julius Caesar and the Third Witch in Macbeth. This year, she made her directorial debut with the feature film Washed Up.

This is Jacky Rowland's first production at the Tower, and she is enjoying the challenge of playing three different roles. She likes theatre that tackles contemporary social and political issues, with dark comedy being one of her prefered genres. So Staying Alive is right up her street. Jacky studied acting at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and at the Academy of Live and Recorded Arts. In a previous life, she was a television correspondent, covering international news, notably conflict.

This is Simon A. Brown’s second show at the Tower; he was recently seen as Nol in Shakespeare in Love. He appeared in several plays while at Oxford University, and returned to the stage with The Crouch End Players last year in his own new adaptation of horror classic The Monkey’s Paw. He’s also a BAFTA-winning screenwriter with a long career writing for TV and film, but hopes to write more for the stage in the future. When not acting or writing, he wrangles various cats.

Christopher Lloyd-James joined the Tower in early 2023 and this is his third appearance in a Tower Production following Measure for Measure as Barnadine/Friar Peter (2024) and Shakespeare in Love as Henslowe in (2025). He also took part on last year's poetry evening reading Beasley Street. He starting acting again after a very long gap seven years ago and has appeared on the London Fringe, in short films and music videos.

This is Fiona Masterson's first production with the Tower Theatre. Hailing from Dublin, Fiona has been involved in amateur theatre since she was a child, and in more recent years she has starred in plays such as Absent Friends, The Playboy of the Western World, The Night Alive, The Salvage Shop and Lady Windermere’s Fan. In her university days, Fiona was a member of the Trinity College Players and, after training as a teacher, she went on to direct many-a-school-musical and run afterschool Drama Clubs. She very much looks forward to making her debut at the Tower Theatre.

This is Olivia Chakraborty's third production with the Tower Theatre; previous directing credits include A Doll’s House, Mind Your Language, Julius Caesar, The Merchant of Venice, You, Me and Noor and Two Billion Beats. She is constantly on the hunt for scripts by emerging playwrights focussed on social issues and stuff 'less talked about'. Olivia likes actors to find their own vision of the characters they play, ‘make it your own, how does this make you feel; how would you have reacted?’ and loves showcasing intricate relationships between these characters, which go beyond spoken words, through sound, light and movement.

	This is Saskia Connolly's debut performance at the Tower since joining in March 2025. Upon graduating with first class honours from the University of Leeds (productions including Jo in She, Charlie in Posh, Elle Woods in Legally Blonde: the Musical), Saskia went on to train for two years at the renowned Identity School of Acting. Over her time at IDSA she gained representation from their agency and progressed to Tier 1, training amongst the top 9 of 900 students. She finished in July with successful filmcase The Wound and has since booked a short film, Maggot, and workshopped a project with Miranda Hart. More recently, she has sought to create her own work by completing a course in Playwriting at the Royal Central School of Speech & Drama. Alongside acting, Saskia has built a career across TV and Musical Theatre production working for the BBC, Channel 4 and Cameron Mackintosh Ltd. She is open to opportunities via saskiaroseconnolly@gmail.com.			Born in Stockport, this is Jonathan Buckingham’s second appearance at the Tower having last performed in A Dream Play. Though a mathematician by trade, he has long been involved in amateur/student productions, acting in theatres across London, Glasgow, Sheffield, Bath and Manchester.
	This is Isabel Daly's first show at the Tower Theatre. Previously, she participated in the King's Crown Shakespeare Troupe at Columbia University, where she played Brutus in Julius Caesar and the Third Witch in Macbeth. This year, she made her directorial debut with the feature film Washed Up.			This is Jacky Rowland's first production at the Tower, and she is enjoying the challenge of playing three different roles. She likes theatre that tackles contemporary social and political issues, with dark comedy being one of her prefered genres. So Staying Alive is right up her street. Jacky studied acting at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and at the Academy of Live and Recorded Arts. In a previous life, she was a television correspondent, covering international news, notably conflict.
	This is Simon A. Brown’s second show at the Tower; he was recently seen as Nol in Shakespeare in Love. He appeared in several plays while at Oxford University, and returned to the stage with The Crouch End Players last year in his own new adaptation of horror classic The Monkey’s Paw. He’s also a BAFTA-winning screenwriter with a long career writing for TV and film, but hopes to write more for the stage in the future. When not acting or writing, he wrangles various cats.			Christopher Lloyd-James joined the Tower in early 2023 and this is his third appearance in a Tower Production following Measure for Measure as Barnadine/Friar Peter (2024) and Shakespeare in Love as Henslowe in (2025). He also took part on last year's poetry evening reading Beasley Street. He starting acting again after a very long gap seven years ago and has appeared on the London Fringe, in short films and music videos.
	This is Fiona Masterson's first production with the Tower Theatre. Hailing from Dublin, Fiona has been involved in amateur theatre since she was a child, and in more recent years she has starred in plays such as Absent Friends, The Playboy of the Western World, The Night Alive, The Salvage Shop and Lady Windermere’s Fan. In her university days, Fiona was a member of the Trinity College Players and, after training as a teacher, she went on to direct many-a-school-musical and run afterschool Drama Clubs. She very much looks forward to making her debut at the Tower Theatre.			This is Olivia Chakraborty's third production with the Tower Theatre; previous directing credits include A Doll’s House, Mind Your Language, Julius Caesar, The Merchant of Venice, You, Me and Noor and Two Billion Beats. She is constantly on the hunt for scripts by emerging playwrights focussed on social issues and stuff 'less talked about'. Olivia likes actors to find their own vision of the characters they play, ‘make it your own, how does this make you feel; how would you have reacted?’ and loves showcasing intricate relationships between these characters, which go beyond spoken words, through sound, light and movement.