Three new, female-led shows by emerging Midlands writers will be unveiled at Nottingham Playhouse’s Amplify Seasons: Summer event.
Frenemies, a double bill of work in progress, will start the event. It will comprise Spare Goose by Danica Corns of Smashed Avocado Productions, created as part of the Nottingham Playhouse writers’ group in 2024, and F*ck You, Claire by Rosie Hollingworth of Sugar Theatre, whose previous work, Scruffy, toured to the Camden and Brighton fringes in 2023.
The evening will close with BoonDog Theatre’s production of Lovett, a prequel to the life of Mrs Lovett from the story of Sweeney Todd. Written and performed by Lucy Roslyn, with direction by Jamie Firth, this play explores what led to Lovett’s poverty-induced brutal choices of baking humans into pies. It will go to the Edinburgh Fringe in August.
Danica Corns, writer of Spare Goose, said, “the Amplify programme at Nottingham Playhouse has been pivotal in getting me to this point, giving me the confidence to run with my ideas and challenging me to be bolder and even more fearless in my work.”
Rosie Hollingworth, writer of F*ck You, Claire, commented, “it’s an absolute joy sharing new material with eager new viewers, and there’s no better feeling than being able to sink our teeth into the story together as one group.”
Jamie Firth, director of Lovett, said, “this will be the first public performance of Lovett and it give us a great chance to get audience feedback to fine-tune it ahead of the Edinburgh Fringe and a UK tour.”
Nottingham Playhouse artist development producer Beccy D’Souza added, “it’s a privilege to be able to provide support and resources to these artists and companies at a pivotal time in the development of their shows.
“I’m excited to connect local audiences with this work and to see how this impacts on where it goes next. I’m so looking forward to the evening. I think it promises to be really fun, fresh and fruitful.”
Amplify Seasons: Summer will be held on Friday 4 July in the Neville Studio. Tickets are available at the Nottingham Playhouse web site.