for all the women who thought they were Mad
by Zawe Ashton
CAST
JOY Mina Andala
THE FLOURISH
RUTH Jumok Fashola
ANGELA Layo-Christina Akinlude
ROSE Janet Kumah
KIM Jennifer Dixon
MARGARET Joy Elias-Rilwan
NAMBI Elena Coleman, Chiamara Nwosu, Rae Ann Quayle
BOSS/DOCTOR Michael Fitzgerald
TOM Tom Chapman, Joe Eyre, Harry Harrington, Elliot Pierre
CREATIVE TEAM
Director Jo McInnes
Designers Natalie Pryce & ULTZ
Associate Director Gail Babb
Lighting Designer Kevin Treacy
Sound Designer Tony Gayle
Composer Dan Batters
Movement Director Leah Muller
Production Manager Shaz McGee
Stage Manager Tash Savidge
Technical Stage Manager Jon Harwood
Assistant Stage
Manager Natasha Houghton
Creative Assistant Amy Reade
COVER & PUBLICITY IMAGES
Photographer Benji Reid
COMPANY BIOGRAPHIES
Layo-Christina Akinlude | ANGELA
Layo-Christina Akinludes theatre credits include The Actors Nightmare (Park Theatre), The Secret Lives of Baba Segis Wives (Arcola Theatre), As You Like It (UK tour), After the Dance (Theatre by the Lake), and The Taming of The Shrew (Shakespeares Globe). Her television credits include The Prince Story: Icon, GeniusSlave ; and for film, Rocks and The Last Tree .
Mina Andala | JOY
Mina Andalas theatre credits include The Living, The Dead and The Fired Fish (National Theatre Portugal), Richard III (Algarve Theatre Company), and Kiss Kiss (Fabrica do Ingles). Her television credits include Carnival Row, A nica Mulher , , Submersos, Laos de Sangue , , Olhos nos Olhos, Vip Manicure, Os Jika da Lapa, Santos da Casa, Inspector Max, O Meu Ssia E Eu and Ganncia ; and for film, Gabriel, Pilgrimage, Yvonne Kane, Amrica, Retornos, The Fascination and The Woman Who Believed She Was President of the United States .
Zawe Ashton | Writer
Zawe Ashton is an actor and writer. Her playwriting credits include Harms Way, Skunk and She from the Sea . As an actor, her theatre credits include Betrayal (Harold Pinter Theatre and the forthcoming Broadway transfer to Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre), The Maids (Trafalgar Studios), Splendour (Donmar Warehouse), Gone too Far!, Rhinoceros, The Arsonists (Royal Court Theatre), and Othello and The Frontline (Shakespeares Globe). Her television credits include Wanderlust, Guerrilla, Fresh Meat and Not Safe for Work ; and for film, Velvet Buzzsaw, Greta, Nocturnal Animals, Dreams of a Life and St Trinians: The Legend of Frittons Gold . Ashtons debut novel, Character Breakdown , was published this year.
Gail Babb | Associate Director
Gail Babb is a theatre-maker who specialises in devising and participatory arts. She has worked with professional artists, young people and mental health service-users to create shows for a range of settings including theatres, South Africas National Arts Festival and site-specific pieces in museums and a derelict school.
She has worked with a range of organisations including The Kiln, Fuel, Southwark Playhouse, RADA and Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. As Producer for Participation & Learning at Talawa Theatre Company from 2007-2018, she brought work with emerging theatre makers to the centre of the company.
Dan Batters | Composer
Dan Batter is based in London and works with sound for the arts and commercial sectors.
Elena Coleman | NAMBI
Elena is very excited to be making her acting debut in this wonderful production. She is however, no stranger to the stage having performed at Her Majestys Theatre and Sadlers Wells with The Lucy Lovick Dance School based in South East London. As part of this dance school, she has performed at Haven Caravan Parks and onboard Royal Caribbean and MSC Cruises around Europe, alongside her three sisters. Elena loves to be versatile and, through Royce Management Agency, has undertaken photographic work for Zurich Insurance and can be seen in a cinema and television commercial for Sky Movies.
Jennifer Dixon | KIM
Jennifer Dixons theatre credits include Willow (Bunker Theatre); and for television, Brain in Gear .
Joy Elias-Rilwan | MARGARET
Joy Elias-Rilwans theatre credits include Hamlet (Tara Arts), Some Other Mother (Traverse Theatre), High Life (Hampstead Theatre), The Importance of Being Earnest (The Albany), A Midsummer Nights Dream (National Theatre), Yerma (Arcola Theatre), Ritual (Donmar Warehouse), The Billie Holiday Show (Royal Court Theatre), Tewodros (Arts Theatre), and Anowa (Gate Theatre). Her film credits include The Secret Laughter of Women, Ama and the multi award winning short film Joy made inspired by her relationship with the late great Ms. Nina Simone, her self appointed God mother. Numerous radio and voiceover parts include Joys talking book of the award-winning Half of a Yellow Sun (Harper Collins).
Jumok Fashola | RUTH
Jumok Fasholas theatre credits include Lost in the Stars, Mass (Southbank Centre), The Secret Lives of Baba Segis Wives (Arcola Theatre) and House of Corrections (Riverside Studios). In addition, she has written and appeared in one woman shows including Dirty Little Secrets (London Festival of Cabaret/Bush Theatres Radar Festival/St James Theatre), and Protest Divas & Revolutions (EFG London Jazz Festival/Royal Albert Hall/The Pheasantry). She also created Jazz Verse Jukebox which had a seven-year residency at Ronnie Scotts Jazz Club, and is now running monthly at Hoxton Hall. Fashola is also a radio and television broadcaster, currently presenting J to Z on BBC Radio 3 and Inspirit on BBC Radio London.
Michael Fitzgerald | BOSS/DOCTOR
Michael Fitzgeralds theatre credits include Innocence (Arcola Theatre), Donkeys Years (Comedy Theatre), The Importance of Being Earnest (Bristol Old Vic), Becket (Theatre Royal Haymarket), Bombing People (Jermyn Street Theatre), The Invention of Love, The Madness of George III (National Theatre), The Tempest (Nottingham Playhouse/international tour), Vieux Carre (Nottingham Playhouse), Peer Gynt (Barbican/international tour), Richard III, Anthony and Cleopatra, King Lear, Much Ado About Nothing, The Swan Down Gloves (RSC), and A Christmas Carol, The Importance of Being Earnest, If Your Glad, Ill be Frank, The Real Inspector Hound, and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, (Young Vic). His television credits include Maigrets Dead Man, Borgia, Whitechapel, The Infinite Words of H.G. Wells, The Choir and Heart of Darkness ; and for film, The Bookshop, The Marriage of Reason & Squalor, Chromophobia, Kingdom of Heaven and Love Actually .
Tony Gayle | Sound Designer
Tonys productions as Sound Designer include Jersey Boys (UK tour), Beautiful The Carole King Musical (UK tour), Songs For Nobodies (Wiltons Music Hall/Ambassadors Theatre), The Wild Party (The Other Palace), Lazarus (Kings Cross Theatre), Candide (Bridewell), Salad Days (UK tour), West Side Story ( Bishopsgate Institute), Floyd Collins (Wiltons Music Hall), Bumblescratch (Adelphi Theatre), First Lady Suite (K-Club), Billy, Legally Blonde, Into the Woods, Ballad of Little Jo, Nymph Errant (Bridewell Theatre), How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (Guildhall), American Idiot (UK tour), Godspell (Lyric Theatre), Little Women and A Man of No Importance (Royal Academy of Music).
Jonathon Harwood | Technical Stage Manager
