Snuff Box Theatre, for the Soho Theatre presents
by Charlotte Josephine
(Title typeface designed by Kay Ogundimu)
First performed as a London preview at Theatre503 in July 2012. Performed at The Underbelly as part of the Old Vic New Voices Edinburgh Season 2012, supported by IdeasTap. First performance at the Soho Theatre: Tuesday, 19 February 2013.
Character: Chloe Jackson
21-year-old female boxer from Leytonstone, East London.
The performance lasts approximately one hour.
Writer and Performer – Charlotte Josephine
Director – Bryony Shanahan
Original Music/Sound Designer – Daniel Foxsmith
Lighting Designer – Seth Rook Williams
Creative Producer – Daniel Foxsmith
SNUFF BOX THEATRE
Snuff Box Theatre is a bold collective of theatre makers who thrive on creating new work from a blank page. Founded in 2011, after training for three years together on the Contemporary Theatre Course at East 15 Acting School, the company has a rich and diverse background in performance and creative play, which drives us in the creation of our work. We collaborate with multi-skilled actors (actor-musicians, actor-writers, actor-directors and devising specialists) on each new idea, and there is always a strong sense of ensemble within the Snuff Box. Whether large-scale or intimate, political or fantastical, we have one singular aim: to tell great stories on stage.
Snuff Box Theatre is Associate Company at Redbridge Drama Centre; all details can be found on our website: www.snuffboxtheatre.co.uk
Charlotte Josephine
Trained at East 15 Acting School (Acting and Contemporary Theatre Course). Theatre includes Perffection (ZOO Roxy, Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2011, written by Charlotte Josephine, NSDF Commendation for writing), Bitch Boxer (Theatre503, The Underbelly and Soho Theatre 2012/13, Old Vic New Voices Edinburgh Season 2012, Soho Theatre Young Writers Award), Julius Caesar (Donmar Warehouse 2012/13).
Bryony Shanahan
Trained at East 15 Acting School (Acting and Contemporary Theatre Course). Directing includes Bitch Boxer (Snuff Box Theatre, The Underbelly/Soho Theatre/UK National Tour), The Altitude Brothers (Snuff Box Theatre, Redbridge Drama Centre), Chapel Street (Scrawl Theatre, UK National Tour), You and Me (Little Soldier Productions, Greenwich Theatre/The Blue Elephant), Babies (Ben Coren, Southwark Playhouse) and Perffection (Clay Elephant Theatre, Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2011). Assistant director credits include Bound (Bear Trap Theatre, Southwark Playhouse/UK National Tour) and The Gruffalo’s Child (Tall Stories, UK National Tour).
Daniel foxsmith
Trained at East 15 Acting School (Acting and Contemporary Theatre Course). To date, Daniel has performed across two continents and won several awards, including Best Performer at the 2011 Adelaide Fringe. He has toured the UK extensively with award-winning show Bound (Bear Trap Theatre Company) and more recently, with The Gruffalo (Tall Stories) and The Altitude Brothers (Snuff Box Theatre).
Writing includes The Observatory (The Underbelly, Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2011), winner of the NSDF/Methuen Edinburgh Fund award and the CDS/Scottish Daily Mail Edinburgh Award, and The Altitude Brothers (Redbridge Drama Centre, 2012), winner of the IdeasTap Innovator’s Award.
Follow us online www.facebook.com/SB.Theatre or @SnuffBoxTheatre on twitter.
Snuff Box Theatre is very grateful to the following for their support over the years: Uri Roodner, East 15 Acting School, IdeasTap, NSDF, Old Vic New Voices, The Pleasance Theatre Islington, Scottish Daily Mail, Soho Theatre, Adrian @StreetCoffee, Islington Boxing Club, GoLocalise and Redbridge Drama Centre.
ABOUT BITCH BOXER
Image used for Bitch Boxer poster, Old Vic New Voices Edinburgh Season 2012, photo taken by Alex Brenner at Islington Boxing Club
Reviews for Bitch Boxer:
‘Sweat-slick and tough, yet sweet
and gifted with terrific timing.’
**** Times
‘A young company to watch.’
**** Telegraph
‘A pumped-up, underdog monologue with a big heart, delivered in a hail of upper-cuts and a spray of sweat.’
*** Independent
NOTE FROM THE WRITER:
Story of Bitch Boxer
I worked part-time in a coffee shop whilst waiting for acting jobs to appear. Lugging boxes into an office one day a passer-by made a comment about how I didn’t look very ladylike. The kind of thing you can usually brush off but for some reason on that day the comment stung. I wrote a rant on my phone on the bus home, a moan at the world for insisting that women behave a certain way. Reading it a few days later, seeing a character who was really fighting for something, I shaped it into a monologue. A few days later I read that women would be competing in the boxing event at the Olympics for the very first time. The play sort of wrote itself.
Bitch Boxer was developed in the Soho Theatre Young Writers Labs. The very first draft was chosen to be performed as a scratch, by Chizzy Akudolu, at the Soho Theatre in December 2011.
Islington Boxing Club, photo taken by Reggie Hagland
I started training at Islington Boxing Club for research in January 2012. I fell in love with boxing, thick and fast, became totally addicted to training and was invited by IBC to train with the ABA competitive boxers three times a week, where I took my first big hit.
‘You can’t beat this guy’
Photo taken by Reggie Hagland at Islington Boxing Club
I applied, auditioned and won a place on the Old Vic New Voices Edinburgh Season in collaboration with The Underbelly in Edinburgh and supported by IdeasTap. Islington Boxing Club put me in touch with Steve ‘Big Daddy’ Bunce who was kind enough to invite me on his BBC Boxing Hour radio show (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcR7sNeNKXc&sns=fb) and the name ‘The Writer