Kelly Gough in 'Harm' at Bush Theatre. Photo Isha Shah.
I want Alice immediately. To suffer something unfortunate. To be friends with me… I don’t know. Both?
When an unhappy estate agent sells a house to Alice, a charismatic social media influencer, the two strike up an unlikely friendship. But as her obsession with Alice’s seemingly perfect world intensifies, the lines between online and reality become dangerously blurred.
A new play by Bruntwood Prize award winner Phoebe Eclair-Powell (WINK, Fury) and starring Kelly Gough (Broadchurch, Marcella), Harm is a thrilling and razor-sharp twisted comedy on the corrosive effects of social media and isolation, directed by Atri Banerjee (Hobson’s Choice).
★★★★ “Intoxicating from beginning to end.” Guardian
★★★★ “Kelly Gough shines” The Times
★★★★ “Grim, glittering and dangerously gripping.” London Theatre
★★★★ “Elevates the familiar into something extraordinary.” Daily Telegraph
Harm is made possible thanks to the support of the Government’s Culture Recovery Fund, which enables the venue to produce work from April to June 2021.
We have been granted the use of Society Of London Theatre & UK Theatre’s ‘See It Safely’ mark. This certifies that we are complying with the latest Government and industry COVID-19 guidelines, to ensure the safety of our staff and audiences. Find out more about the safety measures we have in place.
Annelie Powell CDG is a casting director for stage and screen. She was Head of Casting for Nuffield Theatres Southampton from 2017 – 2020 and has also worked prolifically on a freelance basis. Recent credits include: Wendy And Peter Pan (Leeds Playhouse), What’s New, Pussycat? (Birmingham Rep), The House Of Shades (Almeida Theatre), Romeo & Juliet (Regent’s Park) Faustus, That Damned Woman (Lyric Hammersmith), Vassa (Almeida Theatre), Pavilion (Theatr Clwyd), The Pope (Royal And Derngate Northampton), The Weatherman (Park Theatre), Wolfie (Theatre 503), Cougar (Orange Tree Theatre), Don Quixote (RSC, West End), Othello (English Touring Theatre), Describe The Night (Hampstead Theatre), Hamlet, King Lear , Imperium, Myth, The Rover, Seven Acts Of Mercy, Two Noble Kinsman, Oppenheimer (co-casting), The Shoemaker’s Holiday ( co-casting), Faustus (co-casting) (Royal Shakespeare Company).
She also works extensively in television and film working with companies such as the BBC, Netflix, Warnerbros, SKY and Viacom.
Atri Banerjee won The Stage Debut Award for Best Director in 2019 for his production of Hobson’s Choice at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester. Other directing credits include Europe at LAMDA and Utopia at the Royal Exchange.He was previously Trainee Director at the Royal Exchange, where he was Assistant/Associate Director on productions including West Side Story, The Mysteries (also tour), Happy Days, The Almighty Sometimes, Jubilee (also Lyric Hammersmith) and Our Town. Other Assistant/Associate Director credits include The Nico Project at Manchester International Festival and Melbourne International Arts Festival and The Son at Kiln Theatre. He trained at Birkbeck and is currently a Resident Director at the Almeida Theatre.
Chi-San Howard’s Movement Work includes: Living Newspaper Ed 5 (Royal Court), Sunnymeade Court (Defibrillator Theatre), The Effect (English Theatre Frankfurt), The Sugar Syndrome (Orange Tree Theatre), Oor Wullie (Dundee Rep/National Tour) Variations (Dorfman Theatre/NT Connections) Skellig (Nottingham Playhouse), Under the Umbrella (Belgrade Theatre/Yellow Earth/Tamasha) Describe the Night (Hampstead Theatre), Fairytale Revolution, In Event of Moone Disaster (Theatre503), Cosmic Scallies (Royal Exchange Manchester/Graeae), Moth (Hope Mill Theatre) The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Scarlet, The Tempest (Southwark Playhouse) Adding Machine: A Musical (Finborough Theatre)
Film: Hurt by Paradise (Sulk Youth Films) Pretending – Orla Gartland Music Video (Spindle) I Wonder Why – Joesef Music Video (Spindle Productions) Birds of Paradise (Pemberton Films).
This isn’t Hanne’s first time at the Bush Theatre. Before Harm she worked on The Arrival, Strange Fruit, Leave Taking and Misty. Other credits include The Claim (Shoreditch Town Hall), Dinomania (New Diorama), Zaza (Opera Holland Park), Madam Butterfly (King’s Head Theatre), The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time (Gielgud Theatre) and Sweeney Todd at the Harrington’s Pie and Mash Shop (Shaftesbury Avenue).
Jasmin Kent Rodgman is a British-Malaysian Artist & Composer. In 2018/19 she was a British Council PRS Musician in Residence, living and composing for two months in Lanzhou, China. In 2017/18, she was a London Symphony Orchestra Jerwood Composer, writing new music as well as producing and curating for their 2018 Season.
Her music and live productions have been performed across the UK and internationally with partners such as London Fashion Week, World Music Festival Shanghai, Edinburgh International Festival, Wilderness Festival, the Roundhouse, Shoreditch Town Hall, Barbican, Oxford Playhouse and the Royal Albert Hall. Her film scores have featured at festivals such as Sundance, SXSW, Toronto International Film Festival and the London Short Film Festival.
Previous work and commission include: Britannicus (Lyric Hammersmith – Composer and Sound Designer) Red Ellen (Northern Stage – Composer & Sound Designer), Prisoner C33
(BBC & Pioneer Productions – Composer), Dorian ( Reading Rep – Sound Designer), Missing Julie (Theatre Clywd – Composer and Sound Designer), Nanjing, Feature Film – Composer, Harm (BBC Film – Composer and Sound Designer) with a live production at Bush Theatre, London and a new 2021 digital commission for Music Theatre Wales. Nineteen Ways of Looking (Chinese Arts Now), At Home with the World (Bagri Foundation), Culture Mile (London Symphony Orchestra.
Jerome began his career as a technician at The Albany, Deptford, before later becoming the Chief of Electrics.
Jerome holds a bachelor’s degree in technical theatre arts, from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
Credits include: Harm (Bush Theatre), 2036 (Bush Theatre), Alyssa: Memoirs of a Queen (Vaudeville Theatre) and Legends of Lockdown Live (Vaudeville Theatre).
Kala Simpson‘s stage management credits include: Female Shorts (Hoxton Hall), Beauty and the Beast (Queen’s Theatre), End of Hope (Soho Theatre), Room ( Theatre Royal Stratford East), Five Guys Named Moe (Speilgeltent Festival Square).
Lois trained in Stage Management at Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Previous credits include Game of Love and Chance (Arcola); A Christmas Carol (Goblin Theatre); Brassed Off (Aberystwyth Arts Centre). Bush credits include: Old Bridge, Harm, Invisible.
Phoebe Eclair-Powell is a writer from South East London, and the most recent winner of the Bruntwood Prize for her play Shed:Exploded View. In 2015, Phoebe’s debut play, WINK at Theatre 503 received rave reviews and four Off West End nominations including ‘Most Promising New Playwright’. Her play Fury was runner up for the Verity Bargate Award 2015, and subsequently won the Soho Young Writer’s Award and had its run extended at Soho Theatre due to popular demand. It also received an ‘Offie’ nomination for ‘Best Play’.
For 2016-17 Phoebe was the resident playwright at Soho Theatre through the Channel 4 Playwright scheme. During which she had two Edinburgh shows, Torch with Jess Edwards (Underbelly, New Diorama) and Epic Love and Pop Songs (Pleasance Theatre). In 2017 Phoebe adapted The Picture of Dorian Gray for the Watermill Theatre, which toured schools and village halls. In 2018, Phoebe’s play These Bridges was part of the National Theatre’s Connections Festival.
Prior to this, Phoebe completed the Channel 4 Screenwriting course. She was also on the Soho Writers’ Lab for 2014/15. Phoebe was a previous member of the Royal Court Young Writers and the Royal Court invited group under Alice Birch. Phoebe was commissioned by the BBC writers-room drama programme with Sid Gentle Films and took part in Nick Frost and Simon Pegg’s YA incubator at their company Stolen Picture. Phoebe has written for award-winning Channel 4 continuing drama Hollyoaks.
Phoebe is currently under commission with Freemantle Australia, Newcastle Live Theatre and Paines Plough Roundabout. Phoebe is working on several original TV shows as well as writing episodes on other shows for Kudos, Twelve Town and Slim production. As well as writing, Phoebe has worked as an Assistant Script Editor and researcher for Kudos Television on Sky series Tin Star (1, 2 & 3) and as Assistant Script Editor for FILMWAVE on YA Netflix show A Letter to The King. Phoebe was also assistant to the writer Patrick Barlow on two projects – Ben Hur at the Tricycle and A Christmas Carol at the Noel Coward Theatre (Olivier Award nominated for ‘Best Comedy’).
Rosanna Vize trained at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School as a theatre designer. She has worked regularly as an assistant to Anna Fleischle and was the resident design assistant for the RSC from Sep 2014 – Sep 2015. She was a Linbury Prize Finalist in 2013 working with English Touring Opera and is currently one of the Jerwood Young Designers.
Theatre includes: King Lear (Shakespeare’s Globe, Dir: Nancy Meckler), The Phlebotomist (Hampstead Theatre), Hedda Gabler (Sherman Theatre), The Earthworks & Myth (Royal Shakespeare Company), The Almighty Sometimes (Royal Exchange Manchester), Yous Two and The Phlebotomist (Hampstead Theatre), Henry I (Reading Between the Lines), Girls (Soho Theatre, Hightide & Talawa Theatre), FUP, Noye’s Fludde (Kneehigh Theatre), Dark Land Lighthouse, St Joan of the Stockyards, A Thousand Seasons Passed, The Tinder Box, The Last Days of Mankind, Talon (Bristol Old Vic), Diary of a Madman, The Rise and Shine of Comrade Fiasco (Gate Theatre), Infinite Lives, Coastal Defenses (Tobacco Factory Theatres), Banksy: The Room in the Elephant (Tobacco Factory Theatre and Traverse Theatre), Edward Gants Amazing Feats of Loneliness, Wicked Lady (Bristol Old Vic Theatre School), The Picture of John Grey (The Old Red Lion), Measure for Measure (Oxford School of Drama).
Opera includes: Don Giovanni (Hampstead Garden Opera), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (RSC & Garsington Opera).
