The Autumn Fringe 2024
This is our Archive of the 2024 Autumn Fringe productions, if you would like to learn more about these productions please email secretary.umds@gmail.com
Wild Swimming
a pre-published play by Marek Horn
A Dorset beach. The year is 1593. Or maybe it’s 1607. We will meet here, on this beach, again and again, for the next 400 years. Things will change, as they always seem to. Just try to keep up…
Creative Team
Director: Sophia Shann
Assistant director: Ondine Ryan Law
Producer: Rachel Crane
Designer: Maya Mosaku
Cast
Nell: Lucy McNulty
Oscar: Euan Krasinski
Bull
a pre-published play by Mike Bartlett
Bullying, bull-fighting or bullsh*t? The situation is simple: two will stay; one will go. Fight, flight or freeze? Grab ring-side seats as three employees battle to keep their job, this is a time for mind games. If you ever forget that terrible people exist, Bull serves as a harrowing reminder.
Creative Team
Director: Maisy Bayliss
Assistant director: Mia Lee
Producer: Miranda Sheinbaum
Designer: Isla Campbell
Cast
Isobel: Mia Barnett
Tony: Lucas Everett
Thomas: Charlie Dix
Carter: Harry Wopat
The Exterminator
a new play by Kara Hardie
Imagine waking up one day to find someone else who has made themselves at home in your living space, boldly declaring it theirs. The Exterminator delves into this provocative scenario, offering a riveting exploration of the concepts of occupation and colonisation through a microcosmic depiction of Britain. Through the contrasting perspectives of a tenant and a squatter, this play invites you to rethink the meaning of ownership and space in a way that's as engaging as it is thought-provoking.
Creative Team
Co-directors: Kara Hardie &
Evie Corney
Producer: George Alexander Linford
Designer: Enid Elsie Kirk
Sound and Video Designer: Benedict Zephyr
Cast
Squatter: Sam Radford
Tenant: Fay Marouf
We Aren't Poets
a new play by Sienna Kelly
Weaving between six interconnected lives in moments of love, self-discovery and vulnerability, this play explores the complexity of communication and the consequence of silence. Posing the question: What would you say if there were no words to be left unsaid?
Creative Team
Co-directors: Sienna Kelly & Anna Foster Producer: Ella Matthews
Designer: Carmen Morzaria
Cast
Riley: Isobel Macintosh
Violet: Harper Towns
Nova: Bella Martyr-Icke
Jack: Finnen McNiffe
Rosie: Imogen Holmes
Lola: Freya McCourt
The Freshers Show
created by 2024 UMDS First Years
The Shawshank Reaction
a new play by Fraser Crook
Co-Directors: Fraser Crook & Alba Del Rio
Becky: Ruby Coyte
Becky’s mum: Hope Briggs
Fran: Anna Shenton
Becky’s brother: Zane Marsland
Julie: Hannah Diarra
Stacey: Ella Hardy
Waiting on Godot
a new play by Harry Petts
Co-Directors: Esmee Clark & Harry Petts
Vladimir: James Campbell
Estragon: Jed Malley
Dignity
a devised play
Co-Directors: Roisin Harder & Antonio chiu
Cast: Henry Pywell
Martha Pardue
Niamh Phipps-Brown
Lillias Manning
A Day in a Life
a devised play
Co-Directors: Sylvie Theroux & Ezgi Orakci
Cley: Ryan Brooks
Lucy: Phoebe Williams
Sam: Ella Hermer
Anthony: Louis Wolffe
Freshers Show Producers:
Hattie Wood & James Given
Uggdeath
a new play by Will Philpotts
Faced with imminent starvation, two cave-people discover a C.P. Company goggle hat that enables them to see into the 21st century A.D. Will this glimpse of the future offer a way out of their desperate plight, or will it only push them deeper into misery?
Creative Team
Director: Will Philpotts
Assistant Director: Ali Martin
Producer: Emma Flack
Designer: Gaby Ward
Cast
Ugg: Dan Greenwood
Ggu: Fleur Jones
Ensemble: Anushka Rehman
Ensemble: Joe Noble
Pour Me
devised concept by Yelena Finnegan
Four British boozers and one group leader, sat in a room of an old, cold church - this is AA. When left to their own devices, these attendees get to know one another and form unlikely friendships in a comedic fashion.
Misconceptions about these meetings are exposed while each character faces their own kind of exposure. Everyone has a story to tell, each with varying degrees of embellishment. Get ready to laugh, both at and with these characters as they navigate the stone cold journey to being totally Teetotal.
Creative Team
Director: Yelena Finnegan
Assistant Director: Jasmine Nieradzick-Burbeck
Producer: Scarlett Joyce
Designer: Isobel Watson
Cast
Peter: Laurie Cracknell
Katie: Lola Corcoran
Jonty: Ben Mccamley
Tim Thomas: Cameron Howden
Shane: Tom Pyle
Returning to Haifa
by Ghassan Kanafani, adapted by Naomi Wallace & Ismail Khalidi.
In 1948, Palestinian couple Said and Safiyya fled their home during the Nakba. Now, in the aftermath of the 1967 Six Day War, the borders are open for the first time in twenty years, and they dare to return to their home in Haifa.
They are ready to find someone else living where they once did, but nothing can prepare them for the encounter they both desire and dread with the son they had to leave behind.
A compelling story of two families - one Palestinian, one Israeli - forced by history into an intimacy they didn't choose.
Creative Team
Co-Directors: Sharvi Rana & Aamna Asan
Producer: Fatma Mohamed
Designer: Rowdah Charbak
FX Designer: Maia Peracha
Dramaturg: Maurielle McGarvey
Cast
Young Said/ Dov: Rishit Goswami
Young Safiyya: Isabella Monaghan-West
Old Said: Leena Bhatti
Old Safiyya: Gaby Ward
Miriam: Theodore Anderson Lincoln
The Edinburgh Fringe 2024
This is our Archive of the 2024 Edinburgh Fringe productions, if you would like to learn more about these productions please email secretary.umds@gmail.com
Wasps
a new play by Flora Scutt & Jenifer Hosking
A Four women. Wasps. Cupboards made of cardboard. Wasp jokes. A kitchen that isn't quite a kitchen. Alma, Connie, Dana and Beth are living together in their forties, in the wake of failed marriages and career compromises, they try to look towards the next parts of their lives.
It wasn't part of the plan to find their way back to each other. In their kitchen, they navigate relationships, love. and the occasional run-in with doggers - but as an incessant buzzing begins to taunt them, patience wears thin. and soon. something has to break.
Creative Team
Co-Directors: Flora Scutt & Jenifer Hosking
Producer: Anna Foster
Designer: Diana-Marina Paune
Cast
Alma: Rachel Keller
Connie: Calista Darsono
Beth: Merle Fraser
Dana: Jennifer Thompson Chatburn
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Chameleon
a new play by Jess Telling
Lizards! Raves! Chips! Join our autistic heroine in a dark and humorous quest for love, self-acceptance, while tiptoeing the delicate dance of conversation. Ensnared by the devious Snake, a chance encounter with Gecko sparks possible and vibrant new beginnings.
Creative Team
Director: Jess Telling
Assistant Director: Allegra Allen
Producer: Gabi McGurk
Designer: Maddy Weatherby
Cast
Chameleon: Hope Rose
Snake: Will Knight
Gecko/Croc: Eleanor Butcher
The MIFTAs 2024
This is our Archive of the 2024 MIFTA productions, if you would like to learn more about these productions or request to watch a recording of one please email secretary.umds@gmail.com
How to Overturn British Democracy
a new play by Connor James Reid
A Prime Minister faced with losing the next election brings together members of his cabinet to form a plan to stay in power forever. Once this plan leaks, chaos ensues as they attempt to do damage control.
Creative Team
Co Directors: Connor James Reid &
Lara Fleur Wantling
Producer: Evie Clancey
Designer: Gaby Ward
Dramaturg: Alfie Pullum
Cast
Prime Minister: Arran Kemp
Deputy PM: Will Philpotts
Secretary of Transport: Joe Noble
Chancellor: Isabel Macintosh
Home Secretary: Lola Corcoran
Foreign Secretary: Freya McCourt
Leader of the Opposition:
George Aldridge
What's Wrong With The Girls?
a new play by Ella Kendrick
A night out. A group of girls. Your Girls. You don't have to question anything, or be anything more than what it says on the tin, you're just The Girls, right?
‘What’s Wrong With the Girls?’ asks how sex and relationships define us, and questions what it means to be afraid if they do.
Creative Team
Director: Ella Kendrick
Assistant Director: Evelina Black
Producer: Poppy Crowther
Designer: Sadie Souter
Movement Director: Sienna Kelly
Cast
Mae: Lydia Woodhouse
Amy: Katie Sutton
Jenny: Hope Groizard
Cara: Arabella Finch
Kris: Harper Towns
The Man: Finnen McNiffe
An Accidental Spark
a new play by Victoria Bell
When Darcey Banks is unjustly admitted to an asylum, the defiant Catherine Banks secures a job there— intent on protecting her sister. Victorian society confines and condemns women, but can these sisters be stopped? After all, gone are the days of burning Witches at the stake. Or are they?
Creative Team
Co Directors: Victoria Bell &
Milly Nixon
Producer: Anna Foster
Designer: Rebecca Parsons
Dramaturg: Kitty Sharland
Videographer: Nico Byrne
Cast
Catherine: Sarah Waghorn
Darcey: Bea Page
Samuel: Ned Blackburn
Fleet: Laurie Cracknell
Marcobson: Leo Krenzer
Jane: Elsa Hopkins
Meredith: Olivia Neale
Adella: Flo Duckworth
Scenes With Girls
by Miriam Battye (pre-published)
“I genuinely think in five to ten years we’re going to have several different possible Happys.”
Tosh and Lou. 22 scenes.
Other friends have come, got boyfriends and gone.
So what? Tosh and Lou have each other. They’re not interested in becoming clichés.
They’ll never be like other girls.
This is love. This is enough.
Creative Team
Director: Ella Raffe
Assistant Director: Emily Duchen
Producer: Arista Abbabatulla
Designer: Yelena Finnegan
Cast
Tosh: Emilia O'Donoghue
Lou: Lottie Burgess
Fran: Mia Barnett
Boy: Ben McCamley
What They Can't See
a new play by Linnae Abraham
What They Can’t See is a play based on living under two cultures. A young girl lives in a house that is alive and one day a stranger comes in through her window exposing her to the outside world. It uses magical realism inspired by Filipino folklore as the House is brought to life through imagery to pose the question:
What makes a House a Home?
Creative Team
Director: Linnae Abraham
Assistant Director: Zi Xing Chiew
Co-Producers: Anou Stubbs &
Jess Telling
Movement Director: Carlos Lee
Head of Design: Scheherazade Yahya
Set Designer: Mara Croitoru
Cast
Kamai: Calista Darsono
The Neighbour: Alma Busch
The House:
Flo Hitchcock
Daisy Steen
Christine Seong
Anushka Rehman
Sofia Shann
River Daeun Jung
Fleur Jones
Stench
devised concept by Thea Barnes &
Lizzy Rackstraw
You’ve been born. You’re a beautiful little baby. Your parents love you... But you Stink. Life goes on but in the back of your mind you know that you will never be like the people that smell good.
Until STENCH is born. A perfume that can give anyone their desired smell. That can solve all your problems...
Creative Team
Co-Directors: Thea Barnes &
Lizzy Rackstraw
Producer: Nitheeshan Gunanantham
Designer: Theodore Anderson-Lincoln
Lighting Designer: Eliza Friend
Sound Designer & Composer:
Nate Ozlo
Cast
Elise Lane
Aidan Concannon
Jacob Butcher
Nicolas Crossa
Sam Brooks
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You Stupid Darkness!
by Sam Steiner (pre-published)
Four volunteers, four hours, four times a month. Telling strangers on the other end of a phone that everything is going to be okay.
But when the outside world is disintegrating, and hopes and fears become entangled, is it possible to find community in catastrophe?
Creative Team
Co-Directors: Amari Kreak &
Jenifer Hosking
Producer: Georgia Riley
Designer: Diana Marina Paune
Cast
Frances: Natalie Ings
Angie: Grace Brown
Jon: Xavier Moras Spencer
Joey: Amani Bates
We Met in the Palace
a new play by Hebe Jones
Your 15 minutes of fame was 40 years ago, but someone reminds of this fading feeling. You’ve chosen 8 tracks to help you tell the best story of your life. You have the whole pub's attention.
Based on a true story Micheal has an insane story to tell.
Creative Team
Director: Hebe Jones
Assistant Director: Dan Greenwood
Producer: Lily Lyon
Designer: Isobel Bateman
Sound Designer: Rebekah Maxfield
Cast
Journalist: Lucy McNulty
Michael: Issac Deayton
Paul: Gideon Coleman
Rich: Paddy Merritt
Reggie: Charlie Dix
Norris: Cameron Howden
The Autumn Fringe 2023
This is our Archive of the 2023 Autumn Fringe productions, if you would like to learn more about these productions or request to watch one please email secretary.umds@gmail.com
Baby Steps
a new play by Alfie Pullum
It's almost mothers day. In Alice's mind, the day of reckoning. She's been waiting for this moment for months. Just to see what will happen. Mother's day can't possibly exist without her mother, right?
A play about the self-destruction of a friendship that ensues after this life-changing loss. Alice is pushing Jo away, Jo won't let her go. "It'll get better" Jo tells her, "take it one step at a time. Baby steps."
Creative Team
Director: Alfie Pullum
Assistant Director: Milly Nixon
Producer: Esme Redrup
Designer: Diana-Marina Paune
Cast
Alice: Freya McCourt,
Jo: Oljas Kudabayev
Telephone
a new play by Ferdinand Ray
You hear a rumour. You tell a friend. She tells someone else. They tell another person. And again. And again. And again and again and again and again. Ad nauseum.
Telephone is a game of telephone, watching as gossip spreads and examining the people it travels through. Don’t hang up.
Creative Team
Director: Ferdinand Ray
Assistant Director: Hope Groizard
Producer: Evie Clancey
Cast
Bea Page
Aidan Concannon
Elise Lane
Katie Sutton
Sarah Waghorn
Xavier Moras Spencer
Tenant
a new play by Noah Broad
The political climate is poisoned, the news is a disaster and everything's coming up recession but… who are you to complain?
Can you help the country depressed in your bed, living under the boot of your landlord? Can you even trust anything you think?
Creative Team
Co-Directors: Noah Broad &
Daisy Steen
Producer: Beckie Flintoft
Designer: Madison French
Cast
Lee: George Wood
Ryan: Charlie Dix
Abi: Ella Kendrick
Philipa & Dr Bevan: Victoria Bell
The Freshers Show
created by 2023 UMDS First Years
Full Circle
a new play by Ella Matthews
Co-Directors: Ella Matthews & Scarlett Bartman
Savannah Mor
Thea Raynor
Sam Radford
Josie Grimsell
Hometown
Co-Directors: Sharvi Rana &
Alayna Kondamudi
Mandy: Rosie O’Hanon
Violet: Evie Corney
Nico: Kenzie Scholes
Holes
A pre-published play by Tom Basden
Co-Directors: Elsa Hopkins &
Paddy Stockwell
Ian: Masie Munro
Gus: Gil Corkery
Marie: Fleur
Tedious Theatre
Co-Directors: Georgia Riley &
Zi Xing Chiew
Abi: Merle Fraser
Magnus: Joe Noble
Vix / Sam: Milli Branston
Mark / Nancy: Hope Rose
Freshers Show Producers:
Rosie Goffe & George Linford
Pulse
a new play by Ben Chesworth
In the centre of Devin’s room stands a newly picked crocus - a seemingly innocuous addition - until it shows no signs of wilting for weeks. Driven to scientific mania in order to understand what is occurring, Devin must come to terms with their sister to prevent their relationship from falling apart.
Creative Team
Director: Amari Creak
Assistant Director: Ben Chesworth
Producer:Hannah Motler
Designer: Jonas Biedermann
Cast
Devin: Amani Bates
Renne: Theodore Anderson-Lincoln
Sadie: Grace Brown
The Professor: Chephren Parker
Everything You've Missed
devised concept by Erin Walfisz
For all the times you’ve blinked and suddenly it’s 3am - and you can’t help but feel like you’re missing out on moments of your own life…
This devised piece will use surreal comedy and experimental poetry to explore neurodivergence, time blindness, queerness and gaining community in a world that isn’t made for you.
Creative Team
Co-Directors: Erin Walfisz &
Anushka Rehman
Producer: Anna Foster
Designer: Diana-Marina Paune
Cast
Journalist: Lucy McNulty
Michael: Issac Deayton
Paul: Gideon Coleman
Rich: Paddy Merritt
Reggie: Charlie Dix
Norris: Cameron Howden
When In Florida and
Outside of Kent
a new play by George Aldridge
You can’t say it. No really you can’t. This play hypothesises the impact Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” Bill could have on future and present queer generations while tearing apart a queer relationship that can’t agree on identity, morals, if gay penguins actually exist – pretty much anything really.
Creative Team
Co-Directors: George Aldridge & Lucy Arnold
Producer: Kareena Sangha
Co-Designers: Michael Thomas & Poppy Pope
Cast
Bex: Lottie Burgess
Phoebe: Thea Barnes
Jo: Kara Sood
Strange Bedfellows
devised concept by Sasha Dowdy &
Hollie Buckhurst
You spend ⅓ of your life in bed - so how come I’ve never seen you in yours?
Creative Team
Co-Directors: Sasha Dowdy &
Hollie Buckhurst
Producer: Poppy Crowther
Cast
Alma Busch
Conor Mather
Hebe Jones
Kara Hardie
Lily Lyon
Sam Bell
General info
Email secretary.umds@gmail.com for all general enquiries.
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