Our Projects to Date
Our inaugural work was The Dissolution of Percy (2014/15) a unique piece of theatre about the final few years in the life of Branwell Brontë. The play focused on male mental health and the value of feminism in a man’s world, and was funded by Arts Council England. Performances took place at The Kings Arms Theatre in Salford and Parkside Social Club in Haworth.
“Gripping… Fine performances… Excellent…” *****
[RemoteGoat]
The company delivered the first ever performance adaptation of Charlotte Brontë’s Shirley as part of a tour around Farfield Mill in the Yorkshire Dales National Park on the 16th and 17th of September 2017. The piece studied the Luddite uprising and its parallels with worker displacement today.
Programme (including cast and contributors)
“Authentic. The cast captured the sense of the time and portrayed it beautifully.”
“Acting and entire performance wonderful. Felt myself transported back in time.”
“It was original, deftly adapted… Excellent use of space and actors’ adaptability to character. Altogether a surprising, engaging production.”
“Very moving. It was superb in every respect.”
[Audience comments]
Theft of a Girl was our first multimedia work, based around a simple and striking live monologue accompanied by a stop-motion film about a real abduction case in 1826. It was performed by Elka Lee-Green as part of Live at Lyme, a collaboration between the National Trust’s “Trust New Art” programme and Creative Industries Trafford. The piece explored the manipulation and under-education of young girls. It was shown at Lyme Park in Disley in September 2017.
Further Information (including cast and contributors)
“I have really enjoyed the more emotional stories… some quite difficult subjects spoken about, like the abduction of Ellen Leigh – or Ellen Turner as she was then.”
[Caroline Heap, Lyme Park Visitor Experience Coordinator]
On Me initially ran from 27th – 30th July 2022 at the Seven Oaks pub as part of the Greater Manchester Fringe festival, then was revived in May 2024 for performances at the Waterside Arts Centre in Sale, Trafford and at Bolton Central Library.
Following the blossoming relationship between true crime docudrama actors Shona and Christian, the piece explored today’s extreme awareness of the very real threat of gender-based violence – and its impact on modern romance – while underlining the need for the assurance of female safety before we can truly be spontaneous and secure.
The play received the Manchester Off West End OFFfest award in summer 2022, and was also shortlisted for the Write for the Stage Prize for New Writing and the Greater Manchester Fringe Award for Best Drama. For its run in May 2024, the play received an Off West End commendation or OFFComm.
2022 Programme (Including Cast and Contributors)
“A thoughtful examination of a society in which violence against women is accepted as a casual occurrence and the impact upon people who might be regarded as bystanders rather than perpetrators.”
[British Theatre Guide]
“A play that resists easy answers.”
[North Manchester FM]
“A worthy and thought-provoking addition to a very important and vital conversation.”
[Upstaged Manchester]
“Caroline Lamb’s script is just about as close to verbatim writing as one could get; it’s visceral, simplistic, and poignant.”
[Reviewer Number 9]
2024 Programme (Including Cast and Contributors)
“Just an hour long, but it is an important hour…”
“…a thought-provoking short play. It is entertaining and often funny, but the underlying message is clearly carried throughout leaving nowhere to hide from it.”
⭐⭐⭐⭐.5
[The Reviews Hub]
“…every woman in the audience sighed the same sigh, recognising when they had been Shona, speaking to their own Christian…”
⭐⭐⭐⭐
[Lost in Theatreland]
2025 Programmes (Including Cast and Contributors):
The Martin Harris Centre, Manchester
We’re exceptionally proud to have played a role in the development and delivery of S.I.S Productions‘ Silent Approach – adapted for the stage by our resident writer Caroline Lamb from the book Police to Paranoia by Rebecca House, and focusing on the urgent need for revised mental healthcare treatment in the UK.
“Caroline Lamb’s script conveys the complexity and horror of Beck’s situation in a brisk and chilling manner.”
“Silent Approach works both as a means of raising awareness about the activities of Strength In Struggles and as a disturbing, but ultimately uplifting, drama.”
[British Theatre Guide]
“It delivers on every level, a truly lived experience highlighting the unrelenting physical and psychological struggles of mental health and the associated ignorance.”
“Silent Approach is a play that leaves nothing uncovered.”
[North West End]
Dangerous To Know 