Theatre - New Writing - Climate Change - Animal Ethics - Environment
〰️
Theatre - New Writing - Climate Change - Animal Ethics - Environment 〰️
Meat Cute by Bibi Lucille
Birdie’s Adventures in the Animal Kingdom by Grace Joy Howarth
Blood On Your Hands by Grace Joy Howarth
BLOOD ON YOUR HANDS
Southwark Playhouse.
17 Jan - 3 Feb 2024
Written by Grace Joy Howarth
Directed by Anastasia Bunce
Why don’t you go somewhere else?
I have nowhere else to go.
It’s Ukrainian ex-veterinarian Kostyantyn’s first day at the slaughterhouse, where he meets Dan, a happy-go-lucky Welsh lad who cracks too many jokes for his own good. Despite their grim working conditions, an unexpected friendship begins to form. Meanwhile, Kostyantyn’s wife and daughters are home in Ukraine, and Dan’s activist ex-girlfriend won’t stop pestering him at work…
Amidst bleak conditions, this is a tale of human strength, connection and hope. Will the two men save each other from slaughter?
Blood on Your Hands has been shortlisted and longlisted for national awards such as BBC Writersroom, the New Diorama Theatre Untapped Award, the Phoebe Frances Brown Award, the London Library Emerging Writers Programme, and the Masterclass Pitch Your Play award.
Press on Blood On Your Hands:
★★★★★ “Sinister, moving and electric” London Theatre Reviews
★★★★ “The direction and performances are skilfully and impressively executed and it’s captivating to watch.” West End Best Friend
★★★★ ‘‘The use of subtext and parallelism in this play is phenomenal, working wonders on a metaphorical and literal level’’ Adventures in TheatreLand
★★★ ‘‘Meaty New Writing Packs a Punch’’ The Telegraph
Meat Cute at Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2023
The Offie Finalist, Critically Acclaimed ‘Meat Cute’ by Bibi Lucille performs at Gilded Balloon 2-27 August at 6:20pm.
Directed and Produced by Anastasia Bunce.
Lena is on a mission to veganise her tinder dates. What could possibly go wrong? 14 days later: a broken family, a Pomeranian named Mozart and an eviction notice. Is this rebellion or simply a cry for help? Meat Cute asks: how does a 25-year-old woman navigate a world governed by masculinity and violence and how far is too far? Multi-roling 10 characters, accompanied by a soundtrack of Meghan Thee Stallion, Meat Cute is bright, very pink, will make you belly laugh and will certainly make you think.
Press
Blood On Your Hands, London Theatre Reviews
“Sinister, moving and electric”
★★★★★
Meat Cute Review, West End Best Friend
★★★★★
Thanks to the fantastic, consistent script and energised acting from Lucille, and thanks to marvellous direction from director Anastasia Bunce - stripped back but intricate all at the same time - I found myself engrossed from start to finish.
Blood On Your Hands, West End Best Friend
“The direction and performances are skilfully and impressively executed and it’s captivating to watch.”
★★★★
Meat Cute Review, North West End
★★★★★
The fact that an over population of cows on the planet is slipped in during a comedic scene, so that before you realise it you are laughing and absorbing the facts, without even batting an eyelid.
Patch Plays and Bibi Lucille deserved the huge round of applause that was given by the audience. This is an excellent play, well written, directed and performed and if the standard remains this high, they are sure to continue to grow as a theatre company.
Meat Cute Review, London Pub Theatres
★★★★
‘Memorable, well written, topical, and funny’
It turned out to be one of the most memorable hours I have had. It was really well written, topical, and funny. In particular, it really made me think about the animal activist movement and how it affects people.
Residency with Vault Festival
Patch Plays: Staging Change.
In 2023 Vault Festival kindly offered Patch Plays a residency at their hub, The Glitch.
We host monthly new writing scratch nights to develop new talent that engages with the themes of humans relationship with the natural world, animal ethics and climate change. If you are a writer interested in submitting work for consideration please email us with your ideas at patchplays2020@gmail.com
Our upcoming dates are:
June 9th
-
Artistic Director and Founder
Anastasia is a theatre and film director based in London who directs new writing and modern classics. Stylistically, she is interested in utilizing expressionistic devices, that enable the poetry of a piece to become its focal point, as this for her, is where stories start to shape into art.
Anastasia trained in MA Theatre Directing at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts in 2019-2020. Recently she directed the critically acclaimed Offest finalist one-woman show 'Meat Cute' by Bibi Lucille which performed at Gilded Balloon for a month's run this Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2023. She also directed the short film adaptation of Meat Cute scheduled for release. Further credits with Patch Plays include directing and co-producing ‘Birdie’s Adventures in the Animal Kingdom’ (Greenhouse Theatre 2023 and Harrow Arts Centre 2022) and ‘Blood On Your Hands’ (Cockpit Theatre 2022). She produces regular scratch nights with Patch Plays in residency with Vault Festival and is passionate about working with new writers on themes of climate change and animal ethics. She is excited about the work that Patch Plays makes - believing in the power of theatre to spark and continue dialogue about these important topics.
Further theatre credits include ‘Darkie Armo Girl’ (Finborough Theatre). Screen credits include ‘Meat Cute’ (2023), ‘Yoghurt is not sexy’ (2021), ‘Push’ (2021), and ‘Swipe Left’ (2020).
-
Associate Artist
Grace Joy Howarth is a playwright, author and composer from London. Theatrical credits include ‘Blood on Your Hands’ (The Cockpit, BBC Writers Room Longlist, Masterclass Pitch Your Play Longlist), ‘Birdie’s Adventures in the Animal Kingdom’ (The Greenhouse Theatre, Harrow Arts Centre, Polka Theatre R&D) and ‘She is Taken Lightly’ (Hope Mill Theatre). Her work has been produced in scratch nights across the UK, and she self-produced a radio play ‘Until We Can’t See the Sky’ on Resonance FM and Chapel FM. She has had over a dozen short stories published, holds a First Class degree in Songwriting, and works as a freelance sustainability writer.
Grace has worked with Patch Plays to bring ‘Birdie’ and ‘Blood on Your Hands’ to the stage, acting as writer, composer, co-producer and occasional costume designer. She looks forward to the future of these shows and the company, as well as developing new work focused on animal ethics and the climate!
-
Associate Artist
Bibi is an award-winning actress, having won the Starnow Award for Rising Star and the Women of the Future award (2021) for her contribution to Arts and Culture. Lucille studied acting at The Questor’s Youth Theatre in Ealing before beginning her professional career at the age of nineteen with a lead role in Noel Coward’s ‘This Was a Man’ in the West-End. Further credits include ‘Lipstick and Scones’ (Leicester Square Theatre and Edinburgh Fringe). ‘Richard III’ (Barons Court Theatre) ‘Hound of the Baskervilles’ (UK Tour, London Mayor’s Choice 2018). Screen credits include: ‘All Inclusive’, ‘Purgatory’, Amazon Prime’s ‘Trust’, ‘I Am Sophie’.
Following the pandemic, Lucille began writing her first play, ‘Meat Cute’ for Patch Plays’s first Scratch Night in 2020. She then developed the play with Patch Plays into a full-length show which debuted at The Chiswick Playhouse, Camden Fringe and the Bread and Roses. The play gained critical acclaim and became a finalist at the Offest Awards. ‘Meat Cute’ then performed at Vault Festival in 2023 and is currently being performed at Gilded Balloon for the Edinburgh Fringe in 2023.