​It's been 7 years in the making but we finally did it.
I learned about Laura Jury and the The South Devon Players Theatre & Film Company, Brixham shortly after I arrived in the UK. I was instantly impressed by the drive, tenacity, and sheer determination of this female theatrical powerhouse. Laura has made a way out of literally no way to build and brand her theatre company. As a mixed-race, woman of colour, she has beaten back the odds of owning a theatre company in an area of England that is certainly not known for it's diversity, inclusion, or tolerance of "others". With little to no money, and very little public funds, Laura has raised money for her company in creative ways like having car boot sales, selling on Ebay, sweets sales, and anything her creative mind can think of to finance her projects. I have sat back and watched and admired her progression, her work, her work ethic over the years, in awe of all that she has been able to accomplish.
It is definitely a labour of love, but by no means should one mistake this for being a low-rent production company. The costumes alone will show you that. The talented performers in her group will show you that too. Many members of the company are neurodivergent, autistic, and other challenges, which none of it deflects from their incredible on-stage performances.
So, after 7 years, Laura and I combined forces as I was able to host her latest production, "A Midsummer Night's Dream" at The Birmingham Black Box. She and her company drove 3.5 hours to get to Birmingham, ran a full tech/dress rehearsal, set the stage, and then performed the 3 hour show before driving the 3.5 hour return journey! The synergy was palpable as these performers gave it their absolute all in front of a delightfully enthusiastic audience.
There are already talks about our next collaborative effort and I'm very excited about the prospects. Let me tell you all, it's not easy being a Black woman/woman of colour in business, especially in theatre. But somehow, we're doing it and we're making lots of progress in the area of inclusion for all people to participate in the arts. I feel so privileged to call Laura my friend, she has helped me in ways I can't disclose here, but she's been a rock in my life's progression. Stay tuned to see what we come up with next! Sending lots of love to this outstanding group.

Well it’s been a very productive week again, still rebuilding after two years of pandemic. 

- we are now in ongoing (and highly positive) talks with one of Devon’s universities about partnering with them to create more learning and training opportunities and the university will also be promoting our shows and opportunities.

- we are now talking to some very interesting new venues for our shows: with the cost of petrol and minibus travel skyrocketing, we are sadly having to look at keeping closer to home for a bit for our shows: unless funding is found to keep our usual span across the wider southwest of course! Of course this mustn’t mean a significant reduction in the number of shows- and the streaming options for each show will still happen too, to reach global audiences.

- this weekend several of our lovelies came together to film showreels. As actors we all need showreels to send to casting directors and agents; and varyingly some us need to update as all footage is a few years old, so on Saturday we were filming showreel clips for one another. 
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And also to say are delighted with the quality of initial enquirers for our open auditions for Beowulf, and are really looking forward to casting a glorious mixture of returning and new actors for this show. We will happily audition anyone who wants to try out for the show so do check out our events section on Facebook or the auditions page on our website, for more information.