Photo Flash: First Look at CultureClash Theatre's VOICES IN THE DARK

On Tuesday 24 April at Greenwich Theatre, CultureClash Theatre presented their first new writing night, Voices In The Dark, with 8 new short plays selected from over 100 submissions from around the world.

"We never expected to receive so many scripts - choosing 8 plays from over 100 was really tough when so many were of such high quality. We were overwhelmed that people were so willing to share their work with us" said the company's artistic director, Serin Ibrahim. "This was our biggest project to date. It saw us working with 31 other creatives including the writers, directors and actors for each piece. One of our aims in producing the event was to meet and work with new people, and we certainly achieved that - we now have a large pool of creatives who in the future we could collaborate with."

Before Voices In The Dark the company had already made an impressive impact with their debut show, the award-winning revival of John Retallack's Hannah and Hanna, and their follow-up, Under My Thumb, a new play about gender inequality. However, they both recognise the challenges facing emerging companies wanting to make their mark on a notoriously competitive industry.

Outreach director Cassandra Hercules explained, "We are aware of how difficult it can be to launch a career and have your work seen and supported. We have been lucky so far with the partnerships and funders we've been able to work with but we are not naïve about the challenges facing young artists like us. For that reason with Voices In The Dark we sought to give emerging playwrights, actors and directors a platform on which to launch their careers and or gain experience."

The success of the evening is already influencing future plans for the company.

"We were overwhelmed with the positive feedback from the audience" Ibrahim said, "both for the plays themselves and for the event overall. We are already of thinking of what we can do next - whether that is another night like this, a further exploration of one or more of the shortlisted plays, or the start of our next full length project. We're excited for the future of CultureClash and our plan going forward is to continue producing theatre that explores social and political issues in our society."

The eight plays selected for Voices In The Dark were:

BADGER by Luke Stapleton
CHOICE by Rebecca Robinson
HER, HIM, MOTHER AND OTHER by Andy Pilkington
HOW TO INVEST IN POVERTY by Cassiah Joski-Jethi
NECESSARY CHANGE by Azeem Bhati
NYE by Rachel Salisbury
ST. CHRISTOPHER by Conor Gormally
THE UNFORTUNATE TRIAL OF ROBIN GOODFELLOW by James Haddrell

Martin Donaghy as GRAHAM in BADGER by Luke Stapleton Directed by Liam Fleming

Production photography by Laura Granelli

Martin Donaghy as GRAHAM in BADGER by Luke Stapleton Directed by Liam Fleming

Production photography by Laura Granelli

Hugh Barnett as GRAHAM and Isobel Eadie as KATE in CHOICE by Rebecca Robinson Directed by Jodi Burgess

Production photography by Laura Granelli

Hugh Barnett as GRAHAM and Isobel Eadie as KATE in CHOICE by Rebecca Robinson Directed by Jodi Burgess

Production photography by Laura Granelli

Serin Ibrahim as HER and Samuel Lane as HIM in HER, HIM, MOTHER AND OTHER by Andy Pilkington Directed by James Haddrell

Production photography by Laura Granelli

Su McLaughlin as MOTHER, Samuel Lane as HIM and Serin Ibrahim as HER in HER, HIM, MOTHER AND OTHER by Andy Pilkington Directed by James Haddrell

Production photography by Laura Granelli

Jessica Aquilina as OTHER in HER, HIM, MOTHER AND OTHER by Andy Pilkington Directed by James Haddrell

Production photography by Laura Granelli

Shivi Hotwani as DARSHAN and Bhavik C Pankhania as SAMIR in NECESSARY CHANGE be Azeem Bhati Directed by Mike Cottrell

Production photography by Laura Granelli

Shivi Hotwani as DARSHAN and Bhavik C Pankhania as SAMIR in NECESSARY CHANGE be Azeem Bhati Directed by Mike Cottrell

Production photography by Laura Granelli

Cassandra Hercules as TARA and Jamie O’Neill as OLLIE in NYE by Rachel Salisbury

Production photography by Laura Granelli

Cassandra Hercules as TARA and Jamie O’Neill as OLLIE in NYE by Rachel Salisbury

Production photography by Laura Granelli

Melissa Dalton as LACEY and Gabriella Margulies as SAMARA in HOW TO INVEST IN POVERTY by Cassiah Joski-Jethi Directed by Laura Wooff

Production photography by Laura Granelli

Gabriella Margulies as SAMARA and Melissa Dalton as LACEY in HOW TO INVEST IN POVERTY by Cassiah Joski-Jethi Directed by Laura Wooff

Production photography by Laura Granelli

Martin Edwards as JUDGE and Alice De-Warrenne as FAIRY 2 in THE UNFORTUNATE TRIAL OF ROBIN GOODFELLOW by James Haddrell Directed by James Haddrell

Production photography by Laura Granelli

Joseph Richardson as PUCK and Rachel Fenwick as FAIRY 1 in THE UNFORTUNATE TRIAL OF ROBIN GOODFELLOW by James Haddrell Directed by James Haddrell

Production photography by Laura Granelli

Katrina McKeever as AINE and Sarah Agha as CLAIRE in ST CHRISTOPHER by Conor Gormally Directed by Serin Ibrahim

Production photography by Laura Granelli

Katrina McKeever as AINE and Sarah Agha as CLAIRE in ST CHRISTOPHER by Conor Gormally Directed by Serin Ibrahim

Production photography by Laura Granelli

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