Set in the midst of a mounting recession and the current housing crisis, Octopus explores how average British families are one paycheck away from destitution and the lengths they will go to keep a roof over their head.
Octopus is a call to arms and a cautionary tale, reminding us that housing is a basic human right, shining a disturbing light on how easy it is for someone to lose their home and how quickly society judges them.
A vital, politically-engaged theatre production by acclaimed writer Stephanie Dale, Octopus will be developed alongside people on the brink of being unhoused and in partnership with regional and national housing charities.
OCTOPUS (In Development)
written by Stephanie Dale
Creative Team
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Stephanie Dale - Writer
Stephanie Dale writes for stage, radio and large-scale theatre.
Plays include: SALT (Poole Lighthouse, 2023); SPINNING THE MOON (Dorchester Community Plays Association, 2023); PERSUASION (Tour, Theatre6, 2018); GIANT’S ON THE HILL (Tour – Centric Theatre, 2017); THE LOST BOY (Theatre in the Quarter, 2016); LIMBUS (Moving Stories at the National Theatre, 2016); A WORLD BEYOND MAN (Tour, Edinburgh Fringe, Centric Theatre, 2015); ALICE (Theatre in the Quarter, 2014); FOR THE PAST 30 YEARS (Birmingham Rep, 2014); CHESTER MYSTERY PLAYS (Chester Cathedral, 2013); MOONFLEET (BOVTS, Tour); THE WITCHES' PROMISE (Birmingham Rep, 2011) and DEALING WITH DREAMS, (Birmingham REP, 2011.)
Stephanie’s BBC Radio 4 work includes: BELIEVE ME (nominated for the Tinniswood Award 2012); WRITTEN IN MIST; WHAT IS MISSING FROM YOUR LIFE?; THE WIFE; and FIRST BITE OF THE AIR.
Stephanie was awarded the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain Olwen Wymark Theatre Award, 2023.
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Alice Chambers - Director / Dramaturg
Alice is a director and theatremaker born and raised in the rural Northwest,
She trained on the MFA Theatre Directing course at Birkbeck. She studied her undergraduate degree in English Literature.
She currently works as Resident Assistant Director at Birmingham Rep, with a focus on facilitation for the youth theatre groups, dramaturgy, and local artist development. She specialises in new writing that is local and formally-inventive.
Recent credits include: The Mother Sh*t (Stumble Trip and Pleasance Theatre), A Gem of a Place (BoldText Playwrights), Uncommon Riches Festival (Young Rep), Little Amal (The Walk), Sky Comedy Rep Festival (Sky Studios), and Albatross (Playground Theatre).
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Mad Friday Productions - Producers
Mad Friday Productions are a collaboration-driven, women-led production company founded in 2021 championing big ideas from Northern, working-class and neurodiverse artists.
Born in Doncaster but working with organisations and artists across England, our work spans theatre, film, community arts, exhibition and live events.
We don't believe in doing anything by halves: Our ambition is to be a leading company in high-quality theatrical productions and new writing, created and developed in Yorkshire and produced all over the world.
Our premier production Children of the Night was shortlisted for the 2023 Women’s Prize for Playwriting, the 2024 New Diorama Theatre Untapped Award and made the Top 9% of BBC Open Writers Call 2024.
Stephanie Dale Previous Work:
Reviews for PERSUASION by Stephanie Dale
Theatre 6, directed by Kate McGregor. National tour 2018/2019
★★★★★ Broadway Baby: "Beautifully fresh."
★★★★★ Wirral Globe News: "Warm and inviting."
★★★★★ Writebase: "Beautiful. Evocative. Modern."
★★★★ NorthWestend: "Austen would be charmed by this adaptation."
★★★★ London Theatre1: "A very strong adaptation."
★★★★ Henley Standard: "A carefully crafted paean to a timeless author."
★★★★ Upper Circle: "Very impressive."
★★★★ "Stephanie Dale’s adaptation is faithful, reverential in all the right ways and puts the comedy of manners, etiquette and romantic procedure front and centre.” Liverpool Underlined.
Reviews for THE LOST BOY by Stephanie Dale
Theatre in the Quarter, directed by Kate McGregor. Music by Matt Baker.
★★★★ The Stage: "A beautifully crafted and pertinent new play featuring testimony from real asylum seekers."
★★★★ We are Chester: "Haunting and provoking."
Reviews for ALICE by Stephanie Dale
Theatre in the Quarter, directed by Peter Leslie Wild. Music by Matt Baker.
"A captivating reimagining of this classic tale. The best of children's stories brought to life." Chester Culture.
"The perfect festive treat for all the family... fast-paced and clever reimagining." Cheshire Live.
‘A multi-layered and inventive take on a familiar tale that manages to be both a clever reimagining and a faithful reproduction of Carroll’s fanciful worlds.‘ The Stage ★★★★
"A fantastic festive feast to make your Christmas extra special; absolutely not to be missed." WhatsonStage ★★★★
Alice Chambers Previous Work:
'Beneath all the fun, The Nag’s Head has some wise things to say about grief and loyalty' ★★★★
Review: The Nag’s Head, Dir. Alice Chambers - Park Theatre, October 2023
“Alice Chambers directs with clarity and humour, unafraid to lean into genre conventions with ominous soundscaping, dramatic spotlighting and a beautifully blocked scene set in the dark.
The production as a whole strikes a pitch-perfect balance between the funny and the macabre, and pulls off its spiral from almost-naturalism to full-blown absurdist supernatural mania with flair.”
Review: The Nag’s Head, Dir. Alice Chambers - Park Theatre, October 2023
“People’s relationship with their mothers – and their mothers’ relationship with them – come under a broadly comedic, and occasionally emotional, spotlight from Stumble Trip Theatre.” ★★★★
Review: The Mother Sh*t Dir. Alice Chambers – Pleasance Theatre, London
MAD FRIDAY PRODUCTIONS PREVIOUS WORK:
CHILDREN OF THE NIGHT
Written by Danielle Phillips
Children of the Night is a play and a party. Part poem, part kitchen-sink, part dance-party.
Set on the closing night Doncaster’s infamous club Karisma. It follows the story of Lindsay Jenkins, a working class ex-miner’s daughter, as she navigates coming of age during an HIV outbreak in the grand finale of clubland: the late 90’s.
Children of the Night is a loud night out and quiet revolt, it celebrates post- Thatcherism, rebellious ravers and asks why so many Northern towns have found a new identity in club culture?
The show ran for a week of preview performances at Cast, Doncaster in March 2023 to sell-out audiences. A 2025 Edinburgh Fringe run and national tour are currently in development.
Shortlisted for the 2023 Women’s Prize for Playwriting
Shortlisted for the 2024 New Diorama Theatre Untapped Award
Made the top 9% of the BBC Open Writers Call 2024
Trailer
Making The Show
OBSESSED (R&D)
written by Lauren Yvonne Townsend
Megan has always been obsessed: an adolescence spent drooling over Zac Efron, Hunger Games movie marathons, and near encyclopaedic knowledge of all things Beyoncé and BTS.
But after moving back home at the height of the pandemic, other kinds of ‘obsessions’ make their way to the surface.
Obsessed is the semi-autobiographical debut play by Mad Friday Co-founder Lauren Yvonne Townsend based on her own experiences living with OCD.
This brand-new work has been commissioned by The Lowry through its Artist Development Programme ‘Developed With The Lowry’ and is also supported by Arts Council England and Sick! Festival.
