Rope by Patrick Hamilton (2023)

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Directed by Julia Finn

Producer and Assistant Director: Clemence Benard

Production Manager: Maddy Whitby

Associate Producer: Phil Saxby

Cast:

Brandon - James Platt

Granillo - Kate Fraser

Rupert Cadell - Zachary Elliot-Jones 

Leila Arden - Rebekah Paterson

Kenneth Raglan - Luke Hookham

Sabot - Declan Humphries

Sir Johnstone Kentley - Fred Baker

Mrs Debenham - Iver WIlliams

Crew:

Stage Manager - Uma Collins

Lighting Designer - CT

Set Designers - Noah Lei Underwood, Sam Bromley

Sound Designer - Jake Kalender

Costume Designer - Phil Saxby

For the mere sake of adventure, danger, and the "fun of the thing," Wyndham Brandon persuades his weak minded friend, Charles Granillo, to assist him in the murder of a fellow undergraduate, a perfectly harmless man named Ronald Kentley. They place the body in a wooden chest, and to add spice to their handiwork, invite a few acquaintances, including the dead youth's father, to a party, the chest with its gruesome contents serving as a supper table... 

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Our intention with this production was to explore how transmasculine characters impact the perception of the play and it's subtextually romantic partnership. As it considers the role of power and dominance in society, we found it particularly interesting to view this through a queer lens. 

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Produced by Sheffield University Theatre Company

Co-directed by Julia Finn and Maddy Whitby

Producer: Daisy Powell

Production Manager: Heather Ellis

Cast:

Alexander Clifton - Iver Williams

Elizabeth Clifton - James Platt

Father John Clifton - Andrew Hurrell

Caoimhe Parsons - Maple Baker

Mary Parsons - Bella Gualano

Seán Doyle - Daniel Burniston

Dennis McCarthy - Luke Hookham

Crew:

Stage Manager - Phoebe Cookson

Assistant Stage Manager - Zephyr Solaris

Set Designer - Noah Lei Underwood

Lighting Designer - Eleanor Bevan

Sound Designer - Natalie Heasman Tree

Costume Designers - Phil Saxby, Clémence Bénard

General Crew - CT Tang, Josie Cowell, Emily Williams, Daria Slaby

Alexander and Elizabeth were born in a manor. This manor overlooks vast swathes of Irish land, now soaked in blood from the War of Independence. They know very little outside than the isolation of the manor, besides its dying garden of lavender and violet. At night a ghostly figure dances in the rotting halls, in their late mother's robes. In a nearby town a girl returns from the war, but Caoimhe is not the same child people remember. Alexander and Caoimhe find a respite from loneliness in each other, and later a safety in queer identity and romance. But no one is safe while the manor towers over the land. And the lavender, wilts.  

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Our intention with this production was to celebrate the unknowable history of transgender people and how this intersects with the island's history of colonial subjugation by the British. We did this with the help of our majority transgender company to tell the story of two transgender women who fall in love.

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Produced by Sheffield University Theatre Company

Co-directed by Maddy Whitby and Isaiah Mitchell

Producer: Ella Murton

Co-production managers: Maddy Whitby and Isaiah Mitchell

Cast:

Polly - Daisy Powell

Cara - Alicia Fitswilliams

Coyle - Susie Wakely

Sage - Julia Finn

Seru - Tobias Kunz

Oakley - Allister Harvey

Gossamer - Jenny Doran

Gally - Clémence Bénard

Forty - Georgie Isaacson

Dart - William Atkinson

Harris - James Gilson

Aster - Ciaran Constable

May - Kirsty Lucas

In the bustling town of Port Collas, Polly has watched the trader ships come and go her whole life. She's always had dreams of sailing the world, but the outlook is bleak. Her older sister's bar is struggling, and her father's death has thrown her family life into turmoil following a contentious will reading. Polly seems to be out of options - doomed to an unhappy marriage and life in the town she was born - until a ship appears on the horizon and turns her world upside down. 

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In this production, Madeline and Julia first worked together, with Julia as a performer and Maddy as director. A historical fantasy lesbian romance, The Smuggler's Arms was borne of an escapist fantasy during lockdown, and has themes of familial obligation, queer love, and grief. 

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Produced by Sheffield University Theatre Company