The MIFTAs 2026
This is our Archive of the 2026 MIFTA productions, if you would like to learn more about these productions please email secretary.umds@gmail.com
We Know the Rats
a new play by Harry Petts
A skint, unfulfilled musician returns to his hometown in search of work. Taking a job in a kitchen he knows well, he is subjected to a chiffonade by who he thought to be a mentor. Also, there’s a rodent problem.
Creative Team
Directors: Harry Petts & Jess Stockley
Producer: Claudia Cumberpatch
Designer: Lois Makinson
Movement Director: Samantha Martin
Stage Manager: Henry Pywell
Sound Designer: Julian Alden-Haher
Cast
Big Monty: Daniel Forber
Little Monty: Fred Potts
Rachel: Rosa Peterson
Mercedes: Ella Hardy
Rose: Alice Eatough
The Beauty of It
a new play by Ella Matthews
When only hope remains, will you still rise?
Lucy Schwob and Suzanne Malherbe hate fascists. And they’re going to do something about it. Will you join them?
This incredible true story of a lesbian couple who resisted the Nazi occupation of the Channel Islands, champions love and collaboration in the face of fascism - resonating now more than ever.
Creative Team
Director: Ella Matthews
Assistant Director: Rosie Palmer-Barnes
Producer: Diane Brown
Designer:Ella Fisher
Stage Manager: Phoebe Higgins
Sound Designer: Aryaa Chakraborty
Stagehands: Alyn Page & Tessa Vafai
Cast
Claude: Theodore Anderson-Lincoln
Marcel: Millie Hampson-May
Lucy: Louie Robinson
Suzanne: Olivia Neale
Juturna
a new play by Benedict Zephyr
In the far future, the scouting team Aeolus are the first to discover a new mystical planet which they are forbidden from landing on. As the planet calls out to them, the crewmates begin to turn on one another. And then they hear a call; somebody else is already here.
Creative Team
Director: Benedict Zephyr
Assistant Director: Neeyati Singh
Producer: Nell Appleyard
Designer: Connie Morris
Sound Designer: George Linford
Stage Manager: Izzy Lyons
Cast
Lola: Mai Gabra
Shirley: Christine Seong
Melanie: Niamh Phipps-Brown
Randall: Lucas Yates
Jamie: Joe White
Eurydice
a pre-published play by Sarah Ruhl
The classic Greek myth reimagined through the eyes of Eurydice. Dying too young on her wedding day, Eurydice must journey to the underworld, where she reunites with her father and struggles to remember her lost love.
Creative Team
Directors: Martha Pardue & Hattie Wood
Producer: Eve Illien-Middleton
Designers: Sylvie Theroux & Bea Rutherford
Sound Designer: Sophie Irving
Stage Manager: Gwen Roberts
Stagehand: Esme Anderson
Cast
Eurydice: Merle Fraser
Orpheus: Harry Wopat
Lord of the Underworld: Euan Krasinski
Father: Larkin Armstrong
Stones: Chloe Cohen, Sophia Launder and Summer Lagan
Divine Wave
Divine Wave is set aboard a wartime submarine where survival depends on obedience. When a mysterious illness spreads through the crew, fear destabilises the rigid hierarchy and exposes deep fractures within a family bound by doctrine. Joanne, driven by zeal and a need for divine validation, seizes authority as her father weakens, while her sister Laila begins to question the moral cost of belief. Matthias, a doctor torn between compassion, repression, and fear of judgment, becomes complicit in acts he cannot undo. As paranoia escalates into violence, the crew must confront guilt, responsibility, and whether meaning can exist without faith, alone beneath an indifferent sea.
Creative Team
Director: Shona Wilby
Designer: Roisin Harder
Producer: George Lawson
Stage Manager: Navya Singh
Projectionist: Benjamin Underhill
Assistant Producer: Elliot Gregg
Cast
Joanne: Gaby Ward
Laila: Emily Butterfield
Dion: Ben Hebron
The Priest: Cael Maher
Matthias: Monty Fletcher
Ensemble: Doria Ng, Elsie Hehir
A Vacuum at the Centre
a new play by Elisabeth Hughes
Picture the worst theme park you’ve ever visited, and you have Bill Crisp’s Animation Studio. Once a venerable British institution, the suits behind the show appear to have lost their head.
Squeezing himself into a skin-tight filthy canary costume, new-comer Jack will do anything to get his foot in the door of the TV industry. Even if it means being locked inside a boardroom with the worst four people you’ll ever have the displeasure of meeting.
“From Heart, to Screen.”
Creative Team
Directors: Elisabeth Hughes and Ruby Coyte
Producer: Izzy Gunn
Lead Designer: Lara Rafot
Set Designer: Georgia Davies
Sound Designer: Finch Hamill
Lighting Designer: Zane Marsland
Cast
Jack: Daniel Baffoe
Alan: Summer Marshall
Marina Shipley: Fleur Jones
Jean: Joe Noble
Dame Lisa Swedge: Kate O'Connor
Bill Crisp: Kara Hughes
The Importance of Being Earnest
A pre-published play by Oscar Wilde
Who decides when fiction becomes truth?
When fiction becomes reality? Jack and Algernon find the answers to these questions when their fake identities cause simple misunderstandings, complicated romances and real upper-class absurdities. Full of clever epigrams, this play teaches, both its characters and audience, the importance of being earnest.
Creative Team
Directors: Olivia Jeffery and Charlie Rider
Producer: Harvey Lawson
Designers: Evie Moore, Sylvie Theroux & Bea Rutherford
Sound Designer:Angus Memmot
Lighting Designer: Rachael Turner
Stage Manager: Alisa Pasha
Cast
Algernon Moncrieff: Ben McCamley
Jack Worthing: Zack Maile
Lady Bracknell: Mili Branston
Cecily Cardew: Stella Haden
Gwendolen Fairfax: Freya McCourt
Lane / Merriman: Fraser Crook
Miss Prism: Lucy Hobbs
Rev. Cannon Chasuble: Joe Moore
The Autumn Fringe 2025
This is our Archive of the 2025 Autumn Fringe productions, if you would like to learn more about these productions please email secretary.umds@gmail.com
The Candidates
a new play by Harry Petts
Chorley witnesses its most important by-election at a turbulent time in the UK's political landscape. After the resignation of Labour MP Carl Ritter, four candidates are going head to head for the seat. Ritter's resignation leaves Labour with 325 seats. If Labour's Steve Ollenshaw, former Conservative Home Secretary, does not win, Labour will lose its majority.
It will not be televised again.
Creative Team
Director: Dan Greenwood
Producer: Joel Bishton
Assistant: Director Aryaa Chakraborty
Designer: Connie Morris
Stage Manager: Freya Howe
Cast
Brett Emery-Sabbath Darling: Joe Noble
Danny: Daniel Baffoe
Steven Ollenshaw: Joe Moore
Verity Bateman: Ruby Coyte
Elle Pritchard: Hattie Wood
Leo Wilson: Millie Hampson-May
It Speaks in American
a new play by Daniel Grady and Maisy Nichols
Levi, Montana. 1953. Stalin is dead, Buddy Holly is alive (for now). In an ecclesiastical diner on the edge of nowhere, a kangaroo court erupts when a reprobate stages a revolution against the town’s factory. Meanwhile, crops leak acid and baseballs fall from the sky.
Creative Team
Co-Directors: Maisy Nichols and Daniel Grady
Producer: Jess Seetharaman
Production Designer: Evie Moore
Set Designer: Oliwia Zytowiecka
Stage Hand: Nell Appleyard
Stage Manager: Sylvie Theroux
Cast
Malcolm: Owen Gunn
Truman: Harry Wopat
Leon: Isaac Clifton
Eleanor: Claudia Pope
Sammy: Angus Gordon
Muffins
a semi-devised play by Aila Macnaughtan-Clark
In a painfully ordinary office, chaos erupts when Elaine, the self-appointed narrator and puppetmaster, plants a mysterious note in a discarded muffin As alliances crumble and absurd truths unfold, the team is forced to confront their egos, desires, and questionable recycling habits. Muffins is a fast-paced, darkly comic play about gossip, guilt, and the bizarre ways people seek connection — one half-eaten muffin at a time.
Creative Team
Co-Directors: Aila Macnaughton-Clark and Liv Jeffery
Producer: George Lawson
Production Designer: Lucy Hobbs
Set Designer: Maream Merxa
Cast
Elaine: Hope Briggs
Sarah: Mabel Dalgleish-King
Jill: Shona Wilby
Jordan: Larkin Armstrong
Derek: Sam Radford
Mike: Ben Hebron
Greg: Bill Burrows
The Postcode Lottery
a new play by Alfie Pullum
A satire that exposes the grotesque games of class, cruelty and dignity that decides who eats, and who’s eaten. The Postcode Lottery is a play that climbs down the social ladder and back up again, asking: is it really a crisis? Or is it the business model? Dog-eat-dog, they say. But says who?
Creative Team
Director: Maisie Bayliss
Assistant Director: Charlie Rider
Producer: Lexie Stefanopoulos
Designer: Rob Hall
Stage Manager: Esme Anderson
Cast
Ashley: Carlita Rahaman
Naomi: Beth Pitt
Sarah: Merle Fraser
Henry: Joe White
Mei: Hannah Diarra
Edward: Harry Petts
Jodie: Jasmine Davis
Playback
a new play by Callum McCartney
Three siblings reunite at their childhood flat for their father’s funeral, only to find his voice lingering on an old cassette tape — and maybe the flat itself. Blurring the supernatural with family drama, this pacey thriller explores how we see the ghosts of our past.
Creative Team
Co-Directors: Scarlett Bartman and Roisin Harder
Producer: Rachael Turner
Designer: Benedict Zephyr
Stage Manager: Jed Malley
Cast
Robin: Fred Potts
Maddy: Theodore Anderson-Lincoln
Sara: Hattie Wood
Dad: Paddy Stockwell
Spooky Action at a Distance
a pre-published play by Eve Leigh
On 30 January 2016, far-right demonstrators clash with counter-protestors in Dover. A single brick links strangers: Wendy grips it as a weapon, Katie collapses beneath it. Meanwhile, Elliott carries guilt in the hospital and Bojana and Malik’s windows shatter. Across time, Priam, the old king of Troy, steps out of myth to hold his child’s hand.
Fiercely contemporary yet timeless, this daring, fragmented play weaves together young fascists, anti-fascist protestors, refugees, lovers, and mythic kings. It asks what it means to resist, to belong, to remain human while violence threatens to define us.
Poetic, political, unsettling- and urgently alive.
Creative Team
Director: Hope Rose
Producer: Hassaan Aziz
Assistant Director: Lois Makinson
Designer: Joe Cosgrove
Dramaturg: Ezgi Orakci
Cast
Elliot: Ryan Brooks
Katie: Mai Gabra
Wendy: Georgia Davies
Bojana: Zane Marsland
Malik: Rishit Goswani
Amina: Alayna K
The Officer: Louis Wolffe
The Freshers Show
Created by 2025 first-years.
Velvet Moon:
A new play by Aryaa Chakraborty
Director: Tansy McConnell
Assistant Director: Souraya Khasawneh
Movement Director: Izzy Brown
Cast:
Ally: Tessa Vafai
Vera: Martha Croxen
Edward: Rufus Angel
Elle: Sunshine Wirrmann
Charlie: Noah Machemer
Dancers: Gwenno Roberts, Elsie Hehir, Phoebe Higgins
The Proposal:
A pre-published play by Anton Chekhov
Director: Harvey Lawson
Assistant Director: Sean Duncan
Cast:
Natalya: Eve Illien
Chubukov: Vee Vasilescu
Lomov: Gigi Moore
Waxflower:
A new play by George Ventress
Director: George Ventress
Assistant Director: Chase Howard-Spink
Cast:
Art: Rufus Froy
Sydney: Hashim Kazarooni
Alice: Cara Mason
The Singer: Charlie Sydney
Katarina: Frankie Hutton
Kenneth: Alyn Page
The Roman Warrior:
A new play by Joe Turner
Director: Joe Turner
Assistant Director: Chris Shearlock
Cast:
The Child: Julian Alden-Haher
The Emperor: Anoushka Craggs
Emma/June/Cheeky-poor-boy: Grace Venyard
Stephanie/John/Gladiator: Olivia Brenninkmeyer:
Nigel/Cleaner/Gladiator: Henry Clark
Freshers Show Designer: Doria Ng
Freshers Show Producer: Izzy Gunn
Start Swimming
a pre-published play by James Fritz
It’s revolution. It's small versus big. It's the pressures of the future. It's everything stacked against you and even your words aren’t your own. When you’re stranded in a sea of despair - what else is there to do but Start Swimming?
Creative Team
Co-Directors: Henry Pywell and Jess Stockley
Producer: Neeyati Singh
Sound Designer: Deekkshitha Hanumantharaju
Light Designer: Sophie Jerram
Cast
A: Rosa Peterson
B: Euan Krasinski
Ensemble: Bex Buxton, Summer Marshall, Ella Matthews, Fred Woodley
The Edinburgh Fringe & London Show 2025
This is our Archive of the 2025 Edinburgh Fringe production and Etcetera Theatre show in Camden, London. If you would like to learn more about these productions please email secretary.umds@gmail.com
The Exterminator
a new play by Kara Hardie
The Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2025
A tenant's life is uprooted when a squatter boldly declares her living space as his own, exploring colonisation, occupation and displacement through a microcosm of Britain. Playwright Kara Hardie explores this allegory through themes of power and resilience against the backdrop of historical and contemporary conflicts.
Creative Team
Director: Kara Hardie
Assistant Director: Arista Abbabatulla
Producer: George Linford
Designers: Enid Kirk and Benedict Zephyr
Cast
The Squatter: Sam Radford
The Tenant: Fay Marouf
Mooncalf
a new play by Dan Grady and Maisy Nichols
London Show 2025
Two married researchers, isolated on a remote outpost in the mid-Atlantic and under surveillance by a sociologist, find two political campaigners washed up on-shore. The UK is ravaged by civil war, leaving the three scientists on the last piece of neutral British territory, and forced to make an impossible decision.
Creative Team
Co-Directors: Lily Lyon and George Aldridge.
Producers: Hattie Wood and Thomas Hand
Designer: Jiyun Seong
Cast
Danny: Harry Wopat
Melissa: Lara Wantling
Gloria: Hope Briggs
James: Gideon Coleman
Beatrice: Simran Chawla
The MIFTAs 2025
This is our Archive of the 2025 MIFTA productions, if you would like to learn more about these productions please email secretary.umds@gmail.com
Wish List
a pre-published play by Katherine Soper
Tamsin didn’t plan to spend her teenage years packing boxes on a zero-hour contract. But her brother is housebound, working to obsessive-compulsive rituals of his own. And when targets are raised, benefits are cut, and stability feels like a distant memory - if she doesn’t fight, who will?
Creative Team
Director: Amari Creak
Producer: Lokendra Shastri
Assistant: Director Georgia Riley
Designer: Robyn Montano & Bea Kirkland
Composer: Sophie Irving
Stage Manager: Zane Marsland
Cast
Tasmin: Theodore Anderson-Lincoln
Dean: Joe Noble
Luke: Nitheeshan Gunanantham
The Lead: Pablo Miguel
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Pavel Kushnir In Concert
a new play by Maurielle McGarvey
Добрый вечер! Join us for an evening at the Regional Philharmonic to honour the life of musician/ novelist/ poet/ art historian/ dissident/ punk/ fool/ foreign agent/ pacifist Pavel Kushnir. Featuring previously untranslated writing from Mr. Kushnir’s 2014 novel, “Russian Cut-Up”.
Creative Team
Co-Directors: Maurielle McGarvey &
Natalie Ings
Producer: Mizuki Imamura
Designer: Sophie Wilkinson
Sound Designer: Rebecca Horton
Cast
Pavel Kushnir: Ben McCamley
Olga/Yulia/Irina: Sarah Waghorn
Zhenya/Andrei: Owen Gunn
Mikhail/Agent Mulder/Beggar: Will Philpotts
Stuskochev/Putin/Interviewer: Xavi Goodall
Mooncalf
a new play by Daniel Grady and
Maisy Nichols
Two married researchers, isolated on a remote outpost in the mid-Atlantic and under surveillance by a sociologist, find two political campaigners washed up on-shore. The UK is ravaged by civil war, leaving the three scientists on the last piece of neutral British territory, and forced to make an impossible decision.
Creative Team
Co-Directors: George Aldridge & Lily Lyon
Producer: Tom Hand
Designer: Christine Seong
Stage Manager: George Linford
Cast
Beatrice: Simran Chawla
James: Gideon Coleman
Danny: Harry Wopat
Melissa: Lara Wantling
Gloria: Thea Barnes
New Leeds
a new play Jake Turner Chan
Four Some hundred years from now, amid a sparse population, a team of people gather in Leeds, attempting to make it the UK’s first liveable city since climate collapse.
Creative Team
Director: Jake Turner Chan
Producer: Alayna Raj Kondamudi
Assistant Director: Ondine Ryan Law
Designer: Robin Hall
Sound Designer: Zahra Aslanli
Dramaturg: Henry Pywell
Cast
Kerani: Evie Corney
Niamh: Alice Eatough
Martin: Paddy Stockwell
Mei: Gaby Ward
Jaden: Dan Greenwood
The Duchess of Malfi
a pre-published play by John Webster
Set in 16th century Italy, The Duchess Of Malfi tells the story of the spirited Duchess of Malfi and her love for her trustworthy servant Antonio. They marry secretly, despite the opposition of her two tempestuous brothers, Ferdinand and the Cardinal. An intense depiction of corrupted familial relationships, at odds with forbidden love, and a powerful female heroine.
Creative Team
Co-Directors: Martha Pardue & Isla Campbell
Producer: Eliza Friend
Designer: Maya Mosaku
Composer & Sound Designer: Sophie Irving
Dramaturg: Hassan Aziz
Stage Manager: Corey Jones
Cast
The Duchess: Elise Lane
Cariola: Lucy McNulty
Antonio: Tom Pyle
Bosola: Merle Fraser
Ferdinand: Euan Krasinski
Cardinal: Will Knight
Malatesti: Zack Maile
Cliffs
a new play by Kate O'Connor
On a dark cliff, in his hometown of Dover in 1964, an eleven-year-old boy falls to his death. Three generations will visit and revisit this cliff over, and over again for 60 years, each walking a precarious line between love, loss and belonging. Each trying their best not to fall.
Creative Team
Director: Kate O’Connor
Producer: Hattie Wood
Assistant Director: Hope Rose
Designer: Anna Bauss
Stage Manager: Hayley Cregor
Cast
Micheal: Alfie Pullum
Annie/Georgia: Stella Stevens
Emma/Rose: Joss Ball
George/Joe: Fraser Crook
Mawkirk
devised concept by Evie Clancey
Nestled between the lonely hills lies the town of Mawrkirk. What goes on there is not your concern – but the outside world is certainly theirs. The people here are strange. The days seem impossibly long. And from the surrounding forest you swear you can hear whispering in a language you don’t know. A devised folk horror piece.
Creative Team
Co-Directors: Evie Clancey & Ezgi Orakci
Producer: Sophie Jerram
Designer: Lois Makinson
Dramaturg: Milly Nixon
Cast
Jude: Sam Radford
Heather: Shona Wilby
Iris: Milli Branston
Finnegan: Nicolas Crossa
Christopher: Ryan Brooks
Samson: Callum Boe
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Flat Pink Roses
a new play by Isabel Macintosh
Women are born by and into suffering. What is birthed in the noise and blood and cries of child-birth is an intensely beautiful and crippling link between mother and daughter. It holds up a mirror between the two persons. This is a play about that moment where the mirror cracks.
Creative Team
Director: Isabel Macintosh
Producer: Mia Lee
Assistant Director: Ella Matthews
Designer: Jess Pittendreigh
Cast
Iris: Freya McCourt
Alex: Louie Robinson (1st yr)
Paige: Harper Towns
Ava: Bea Page
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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