Paola Dionisotti as Maeve in Nobody's Listening | A Bush Theatre production at St Stephens Church | Production photo by Helen Murray
“People said we looked good together – they always say that, his black skin, my white hair. Striking is how we look. We even got in the papers.”
Second-generation Irish immigrant Maeve took up the tango in her early seventies and has mastered the pasa doble at 74.
As she dances through piles of her late mother’s belongings Maeve conjures conversations with the women she has known and turned away from, largely in distaste.
From the acclaimed writer of Jumpy comes Nobody’s Listening, a glittering, bittersweet play that casts one eye on motherhood and one on the motherland.
Ailin Conant is a Japanese-American director and founding Artistic Director of Theatre Témoin. She has worked freelance for Ayyam Al-Masrah (Gaza), Clown Me In (Mexico), The Catalyst (Switzerland), and Satellite Théâtre (Montreal); directs student work for East 15 and Fourth Monkey; and has directed outreach work for The Young Vic Theatre. She also works as a movement director and dramaturg. In 2011 she received a Stevens Fellowship to run a year creative projects with ex-soldiers in Lebanon, Israel, Rwanda, and Kashmir and in 2014 and 2016 she received the Wellcome Trust People Award to tour Nobody’s Home (supported by Salisbury Playhouse) and The Marked (Everyman Theatre Cheltenham co production). In 2015 she spoke at TEDx Lausanne about her theatre work in Rwanda, and she is currently working with on a EU-commissioned street theatre project with Syrian refugees in Lebanon.
April De Angelis’ extensive theatre work includes After Electra (Theatre Royal Plymouth & Tricycle Theatre), Jumpy (Royal Court/Duke of York’s Theatre/Melbourne Theatre Company/Sydney Theatre Company), Rune (New Vic Theatre Stoke), Gastronauts (Royal Court Upstairs), The Life and Times of Fanny Hill (Bristol Old Vic). She’s currently under commission to the Rose Theatre, Kingston, the Royal Exchange, Manchester, and the National Theatre. April has also written the libretto for Flight (music by Jonathan Dove, Glyndebourne Opera) and The Silent Twins libretto, (music by Errollyn Wallen, Almeida Theatre). April’s work for radio includes an adaptation of Life in the Tomb (BBC Radio 3), a serialisation of Peyton Place, Visitants (BBC Radio 4), and The Outlander (Radio 5), which won the Writer’s Guild Award in 1992. TV work includes a BFI / Channel 4 commission, Aristophanes.
Priscilla John, Orla Maxwell and Francesca Bradley have worked together as a casting team since 2009 on diverse and exciting film and international TV projects. Priscilla leads the team with a wealth of experience including the Royal Court Theatre in 1970’s, Granada TV, and an independent career casting for David Lean, Steven Spielberg, Gore Verbinski, Terrence Davies and Andrei Tarkovsky. Always on the hunt for new UK talent, the team are passionate theatregoers attending fringe, West End and drama graduate shows.
St Stephen’s Church was built on Uxbridge Road in 1850 by renowned architect Anthony Salvin, at the same time as the adjoining school. St Stephen’s today is strong in the centre and commands widespread local loyalty; the diversity of church membership in both age and background is a distinctive characteristic of the congregation, which includes many young families. Led by either Bob or Anne, the church services blend Anglo-Catholic liturgy with evangelical preaching. During the week St Stephen’s hosts two other Christian groups, while gigs in conjunction with Communion Music take place several times a year in the church. St Stephen’s runs a weekly film club for elderly people, and another film club for the homeless and hostel dwellers, during which a hot meal is served for up to 100 guests.
St Stephen’s Church, while raising £200,000 for a new roof, is delighted to open its doors to the Bush Theatre. Please click here for more information.
