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Venus at the Mirror By Peter Paul Rubens, ** A Friend of a Friend Productions would like to thank Nik Corrall (consulting designer), Nicole McKeown (production assistant), and Matthew Huggins for the time and effort that they have contributed to making The Installation a success. Thanks also to The Bell and London South Bank University for providing rehearsal space, Fish Scale Film Co. for filming the production, and Liz Charsley-Jory , curator of Hide Gallery, our gracious host. 50 Middlesex Street, E1 7EX ** Liz Charsley-Jory Paul Debois Laura Moreton-Griffiths Caroline Underwood www.lizcharsley-jory.com www.pauldebois.com www.lauramoretongriffiths.com www.carolineunderwood.com ** seeks out and supports new writers, directors and performers. At the core of our ethos is creating a platform for high calibre, though provoking work from emerging artists. www. a friend of a friend theatre .com t: @FOAF_Theatre fb: /FOAFTheatre info @ a friend of a friend theatre .com Sunday 24 November, 4pm and 8pm Monday 25 November 7pm Brought to you by Welcome. Thanks for coming. Did you get a glass of wine? Good! I’m absolutely thrilled to be presenting The Installation in one of London’s youngest and most versatile inde- pendent galleries, the Hide Gallery. The seedlings of The Installation were planted when long-lost friend Sooz invited me to become resident director of the very aptly named A Friend of a Friend Theatre Company. We were to mount a series of short plays in the typical style of most young theatre companies: a small black box fringe theatre. However, the more submissions of shorts we skimmed, the more we realised there was a magical trend occur- ring. Nearly all of our favourite pieces seemed to deal with the subject of ART. “Maybe I think you’re right. It’s just... something to look at. You said before you didn’t look at the art… But you looked at the people instead.” – Here Comes a Lady “When, for some unknown and beautifully unexpected reason, you hear a certain chord from your favourite song, or a line from your favourite poem, and you miss home. And you miss all the things you have not given any thought to for what seems like an eternity. Art.”- The Project From this discovery we quickly felt the most realistic environment for the pieces was naturally a gallery space. The challenge of creating theatre in a somewhat non-theatrical environment excited me. I thought the stark gal- lery lighting, the natural sight-lines the and inability to mask elements with theatricality would force the strength of the writing and of the acting to be the predominant focus of the piece. After all, what else should be the focus of such events? With the lack of theatrical conventions, it is my wish that the beautiful writing by eight of the most exciting, up-and-coming playwrights worldwide is viscerally portrayed with the abundant talent of eleven of the finest actors from across the globe. An epic thank you to the entire company who sparred an hour here, an afternoon there to passionately create the world of The Installation. Liz Jory and the Hide Gallery team who were crazy enough to allow Thespians to infiltrate their mecca of serenity. To the A Friend of a Friend team for working more swiftly and professionally than most West End shows. Finally to the incomparable Susanna Narváez who has been my partner in crime for the past few months. This entire event has been organized through bullet-pointed e-mails, the occasional mara- thon breakfast meeting, and frantic voicemails. It is a testament to her effortless organizational skills that The Installation has indeed been installed. Thank you, Enjoy! Patrick Maubert Director of The Installation Resident Director of A Friend of a Friend Productions Production Team: Susanna Narváez (Artistic Director/Stage Manager) went to King’s College London to read Law and French Legal Practice. Since then Sooz has worked backstage on several West End shows including Spamalot (Palace), The Lord of the Rings Musical, Oliver!, Shrek the Musical (Theatre Royal Drury Lane), The Hurly Burly Show (Garrick), Dirty Dancing (Aldwych). She assisted with the planning and PR of West End Stories at the Jermyn Street Theatre and acted as runner and location manager for special events run by The British Red Cross and by the Mayor of London. Technical credits include: Doctor Faustus (KCL Greenwood), FunBags Comedy (Cavendish Arms), and the monthly burlesque night A Little Bag of Cabaret (Drayton Arms Theatre). Recent Stage Management credits include: the off-West End nominated production of Ondine (White Bear Theatre), Sibling Productions’ Short Cuts 4: Metamorphosis, Short Cuts 5: All Hallows Eve, and the monthly Have A Grandee Monday (Hen and Chickens Theatre); and Moments, a series of short plays by new writers from the BA Creative Writing course at London South Bank University, co-produced by A Friend of a Friend Productions and South Bank Group (Chelsea Theatre). Patrick Maubert (Resident Director), a native to New Brunswick Canada, began his career as a performer completing his undergrad training in musical theatre performance at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy of New York City. As a performer, Maubert has worked internationally in an array of cross-genre platforms. He has since completed his MA in Directing at the Arts Educational Schools. Selected international directing credits include: Heaven Help Me!For Perfect Pitch, Wizard of Ozfor Secombe theatre, Heart&Musicfor Charlotte Street Arts Centre, Oliver! for Polkadot Theatre, Hairspray for Voyager Academy, A Christmas Carol for Playhouse Theatre. Assistant/resident directing credits include: The Road to Qatar at the Edinburgh Fringe, Passport to Pimlico, a site specific musical adaption for SouthWest Fest, Legally Blonde for ArtsEd, The Wonderful World of Dissoica for ArtsEd, Feel Good for Theatre New Brunswick. Patrick recently directed Mark Abbey’s Ice Cream for Camden’s Theatre Breaks Festival and was Assistant Director/movement on Aria Entertainment's Blood wedding. His next project will be the European premier of The Domino Heart with First Sight at the Finborough Theatre. ** Nik Corrall (consulting designer) graduated with a Graphic Design degree from Camberwell College of Arts. After working as an animator and shop window display designer, he found himself drawn to design for theatre. Nik's background in Graphics brings a different approach and process to designing for the stage. His belief is that design is at its most successful and exciting when it draws from non traditional sources and mixed disciplines. Together with his role as designer for Saltpeter production company, Nik a recurring visiting lecturer at the Academy of Live and Recorded Arts (ALRA) and has previously been invited to guest design/teach at Birmingham School of Acting and Weekend Art College. He has also acted as assistant designer for James Perkins and Simon Daw at Theatre503 and Stewart Charlesworth of Morphic Grafitti. Nicole McKeown (production assistant) is currently studying BA (Hons) Arts and Festival Management at London South Bank University. Originally from Northern Ireland, Nicole has been involved in theatre for 10 years specialising in singing, acting and dancing. She has been stage manager and choreographer for various theatre companies in Belfast, most recently for Kandu Theatre company in their production of The 39 Steps. Since coming to London Nicole has been ASM for A Friend of a Friend’s production of Moments. She is excited to be a part of this event and is looking forward to her next project in London. Maria Rodriguez Reina Professional musician (cellist), originally from Zaragoza, Spain. In 2006 Maria got an MA in English Studies and a BMus (cello). She moved to London in Jan 2008. She has got relevant experience mainly in orchestras, chamber music groups, bands, musical theatre productions and recordings. www.mariacello.com Mathew Foster Since leaving drama school in 2012, Mathew has appeared in 55 Days at Hampstead Theatre, worked with Shakespeare's Globe on their Read Not Dead productions at the Globe itself and on location, starred in Sitting With Thistle at the Lion and Unicorn theatre and appeared in Lazarus Theatre's productions Dido: Queen of Carthage and Lear at Greenwich Theatre. Mathew features in Mark Gatiss' BBC drama The Tractate Middoth this Christmas. [email protected] @MathewTweet Patrick Keeler Originally from Canada, Patrick recently finished an MA at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and is excited about his recent move to London. Previous credits include William Dean in “The Dock” (BBC Radio 4), Jiminy Cricket in “Pinnochio#10” (AgenC-1), Testor in “It’s a Greek Thing”, Rev. Dodgson in “Alice”, and Bottom in “Midsummer Night on the Boulevard of Broken Dreams” (all Basement Theatre). Theatre credits while training include Faulkland in “The Rivals”, Man in “Lungs”, DeFlores in “The Changeling”, Telegin in “Uncle Vanya”, and Orlando in “As You Like It”. Rosie Fletcher Rosie graduated this summer from Arts Educational School London. Roles include: "Baby" Rose Owen in Babes In Arms and Gaelen/Dance Captain in Legally Blonde. Rosie was also fortunate to be a soloist on BBC Radio 2's Friday Night Is Music Night. Since graduating Rosie worked with Patrick on Passport to Pimlico and is about to start rehearsals for a musical that will tour the UK in the new year. Rosie Ladkin Rosie trained at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (formerly RSAMD). Credits whilst training include "Into The Woods" and "Tommy", and she originated the role of Claude in Douglas Maxwell and Richard Taylor's new musical "Watertight". Performance credits also include "The Improvised Musical", "Musicville", the title role in "Reni and The Brownshirts" with BBC Radio 4, Hot Mikado (Landor Theatre) and 'Rali : The Woman Who Speaks The Future' in Noisemaker Productions’ (Winner of the 2013 S&S award) "Freak Show".