Smoke & Pearls
Starring Lucy Thatcher as Lita Lowe
Production photos
© Dominic Mifsund
Performer, wife, lover, laundress . . . how many lives can one woman juggle?
Meet the original multi-tasker, Lita Lowe, as she dares to pursue both love and her career in the cutthroat world of the 1950s cabaret scene.
In the summer of 2009, guest director Lora Mander and performer Lucy Thatcher created a brand new devised one-woman show in collaboration with bagg theatre. Work-in-progress showings took place at the Battersea Barge and Southwark Playhouse bar (as part of Southwark Playhouse Secrets), culminating in a run at the Canal Café Theatre. The three intimate cabaret-style venues provided perfect settings for the show, which featured songs of the mid-twentieth century – both the familiar and forgotten – including Wives and Lovers, Blue Room, I’m A Woman, Somebody Else Is Taking My Place, and Lollipops and Roses.
Creative Team
Smoke & Pearls
Devised by Lora Mander & Lucy Thatcher
Script by Catie O’Keefe
Performed by Lucy Thatcher
Director Lora Mander
Musical Supervisor Candida Caldicot
Costume & Design by Emma Thatcher
Musical Director Daniel Dibdin
Filming by Antonio Ribeiro
Assistant Director Keiko Sumida
PERFORMER:
Lucy Thatcher, is impeccably cast as Lita Lowe, being herself
an experienced cabaret singer of London venues such as Ronnie Scott,s,
as well as an actress and West End veteran of shows such as The Rat Pack.
She has also appeared at diverse venues including the Open Air Theatre
Regent’s Park, the London Palladium and the Wiltshire Theatre Los Angeles.
DIRECTOR:
Lora Mander trained in theatre and music in England and the USA
and now specializes in devised theatre. She is here creating her first
work for bagg theatre as a new artistic associate with the company. Lora’s
recent directing credits include Jon Fosse’s Winter at the Battersea Arts
Centre and Kurt Veill’s Down in the Valley for the Asheville Lyric Opera.
WRITER:
Catie O'Keefe holds a BA in Theatre from Lewis & Clark College
in Portland, Oregon USA and a Masters in Playwriting from Royal Holloway
University of London. Her work has been performed at the Denver Center
for Performing Arts, Lewis & Clark College, Royal Holloway University,
The Royal Court Upstairs and the 2008 Edinburgh Fringe Festival. She participated
in the Fall 2007 session of the Royal Court’s Young Writers Program and
also the 2008 Invitation Class back at the Royal Court. Her most recent
pieces include The Bathtub Session, Extraction, 264 Hours and The Space
Between My Head and My Body which premiered at London’s Theatre 503 and
then transferred to the Underbelly Baby Belly 3 in Edinburgh. Her last
project included a spot in the Dyssing Monday’s Dyslexic Playwriting festival
with her play Deception, Illusion and Nate in October 2008. Next projects
include a reading of 246 Hours at the Southwark Playhouse and a week run
of Deception, Illusion and Nate in the Henley Fringe Festival, both in
July 2009. She is Co-artistic director of Gin in the Tea Theatre Company.
MUSICAL SUPERVISOR: Candida Caldicot has a music degree from Cambridge University where she was also awarded a University Instrumental Award for piano playing. Her recent credits include Jet Set Go! (Jermyn Street Theatre), Cinderella (New Wimbledon Theatre), All Bob's Women (Arts Theatre, London), Holoray Holiday (Arcola Theatre, London), The Marilyn Monroe Show (Brighton Spiegeltent), Hey Jack (Arcola Theatre), Princess Ida (Minack Theatre), South Pacific (ADC Theatre), Me and My Girl (Cambridge Arts Theatre), Yeomen of the Guard (Cambridge Arts Theatre), The Cabaret of Menace (Edinburgh Fringe), Wetmarsh College (Edinburgh Fringe).
She has also played keyboard for The Sound of Music (London Palladium) and was rehearsal pianist for La Cage Aux Folles (Playhouse) and Rue Magique (King's Head). She also works as a repertoire coach at the Central School of Speech and Drama. She has a particular interest in new musicals and has worked with Mercury Musical Developements on workshops and showcases as well as full scale productions.
FILMING:
Antonio Ribeiro
www.storymakers-tv.com
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR:
Keiko Sumida graduated from the European Theatre Arts
course BA(Hons) at Rose Bruford College in 2007. She has since worked
for Tell Talla theatre company, ChoppedLogic theatre company, Metis Arts,
LOT Teatro (Peru), Ontroerent Goed (Belgium), Station House Opera, Echange
Theatre Company, Southwark Playhouse and Lyric Hammersmith for their in
house productions. Her credits as an assistant director include 'Darlings,
You Were Wonderful', 'British Soil' and the new musical 'Betwixt!' at
the King's Head Theatre during her young director apprenticeship there.
'That Moment' by Live Wire Theatre Company at the King's Head and its
South West England tour. She is an assistant for artistic directors of
Net Curtains Theatre Company for which she worked recently 'Dreamland
Project'. Her first production as a director 'What comes out of women?'
is now under further development. She also works as a pianist at restaurants
and hotels, and a rehearsal pianist for opera singers. Her next projects
for this summer are assistant director for an experimental opera "Shadowplays"
at Riverside Studio and "Dreamland Project" by Net Curtains
for its London showing.
www.keikosumida.com
COSTUME AND DESIGN:
Emma Thatcher
www.emmathatcher.co.uk
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