Reflections on A Mirror
		Sunday 25 October, 2026 At the Tower Theatre, Stoke Newington

Now in its sixth year, the Tower Theatre Writers’ Room continues to nurture new writing, helping members grow from staging their first short plays at the Tower to having full-length works produced at new-writing venues and performed on the fringe.
This year’s two showcases have been rewarding for both writers and the Tower’s wider creative community. Our talented actors and directors bring new work to life, exploring and developing each piece. With plays at the heart of what we do, it’s a pleasure to use our collective skills to nurture the next generation of writers. For this event, each Writers’ Room participant was invited to write a short play inspired by the story and themes of A Mirror by Sam Holcroft, which the Tower had recently produced. These were performed as a rehearsed reading by a group of Tower actors.

Here's a review of the evening, by Roanne Insley
On Sunday 25 October an audience of approximately 80 people watched 11(!) pieces of new writing – all inspired by the Tower’s recent production of A Mirror. And what an excellent and entertaining evening it was – who would have thought you could pack so much nuance and characterization into a five-minute play? The full list of pieces is shared below, and every piece had plenty to recommend it. There was a lively discussion in the bar with a select group of critics and the range of favourites was wide.

The opening piece A Morning After by Janet South elicited much praise and enthusiasm ("I haven’t laughed so loud or for so long in ages" – A. Audience). Another of my selected critics enjoyed the Stoppardian atmosphere and echoes of The Real Inspector Hound of Hello Audience! by Chelsea Fernandez. Showcase by Ian Hoare was a favourite with a number of the Critics' Circle. One of my top choices was Classified by Marilyn Campbell Fessal (which was fortunate as I was saying how much I liked it without realizing that Marilyn was sitting in front of me in the auditorium).

Amazingly, the versatile cast – all of whom appeared in several pieces – only had minimal rehearsal. You would never have known it, the whole event was very polished. I hate to single out individual actors, as they were all marvelous, but performances that really stayed with me were Sue Brodie’s hilariously grumpy grandmother in Out of the Mouths of Babes by Alison Kelly, Martin South’s oily theatre director in A Morning After and Katie Smith, Joe Lewis and Tim Waghorn in Censor Committee by Oscar Gill. Everyone else was also brilliant.

Incredibly good direction by Ian Hoare, Janet South and Martin South - and overall curation and production management by Janet South - made everything work brilliantly. Ably assisted, of course, by Matthew Ibbotson who stage managed and ran the well-timed sound cues. The whole evening was a delight – have I already said that? AND the bar was extremely lively.

Twice yearly Writers’ Room showcases, twice yearly Poetry Evenings (with people regularly performing their own work), and regular Sunday Sing sessions ... and just like that, the Tower is THE place to be if you’re feeling creative and cultured on a Sunday.

Part 1 A Morning After by Janet South A piece of new writing is rehearsed Censor Committee by Oscar Gill The committee meet to discuss which plays are on or off the censorship list On Script by Neha Vaze Heather introduces her girlfriend to her parents Cinderella v2.0 by Jacky Rowland A playwright responds to a challenging writing brief Smile by Lisa Hevey A strategy awayday for the Department of Gratitude Hello Audience! by Chelsea Fernandez Chuck and Ruby go to the theatre

Part 2 Out of the Mouths of Babes by Alison Kelly Four generations of women contemplate a long and distant war Classified by Marilyn Campbell-Fessal Zara and Elodie await the results of their government classification test Showcase by Ian Hoare Sam struggles to meet the brief for a theatre showcase Company Town by Caroline Trettine Finding an acceptable British show for the Shanghai Grand Hay Fever - How the World Ends by Jonathan Reed It’s just whist and karaoke in the bunker

The Cast Rachel Bothamley Tim Waghorn Katie Smith Sue Brodie Emily Carmichael Joe Lewis Richard Hague Martin South Kate Pemberton Simona Hughes

Production Team Producer : Janet South Directors : Janet South, Ian Hoare, Martin South Stage Manager : Matthew Ibbotson

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Photography by Laurence Tuerk