Who We Are
Polar opposites Jade (small, blonde, cockney) and Olivia (tall-er, brunette, RP) are united in a love of creating theatre about the ordinary people we walk past in the street and the extraordinary, unheard stories we each have within us. Somehow, their love of heritage and the way it forms societies and individuals alike, always worms its way into their work.
They also love to talk for hours over a cup of tea.
Having met at drama school in 2016, they have continued to make theatre together ever since.
How We Work
We make new plays that gravitate towards real-world stories and female-forward narratives. Our work is deeply rooted in Stanislavski’s principles of Naturalism, leaning on in-depth research and long-form improvisation. We believe that extended periods of time spent in character lead to the formation of complete and varied individuals to place into our work. From weekends spent in a caravan, to a week in the woods, to long days in rehearsal rooms, we endeavour to give our work the space it needs to evolve. This process helps us develop characters who are informed, believable and flawed, with dialogue that moves as smoothly and imperfectly as we experience in reality.
We fundamentally believe the power art holds over us lies in an audience watching people they recognise and identify with, so they leave and consider the world they live in and their place in it. That’s why we want to tell accessible and relatable stories.
Olivia Baker
Olivia Baker is an actress and theatre-maker, with a passion for creating complex female characters and telling stories that reflect the world around us with honesty. She has over 7 years experience as a producer in the London Theatre circuit.
Since graduating from East 15, she has performed in numerous productions, including: Atty in Three Chairs and a Hat’s Mrs Pack (Edinburgh Fringe Festival); Irene Adler in Scripts for Supper’s Sherlock Holmes (Ivy Café Marylebone); Hamlet in The Oxford Shakespeare Company’s (US) Hamlet (open air – Marienlyst Castle, Denmark); Mrs. Engel in the London transfer of Haymarket! (The Actors Church).
As a theatre-maker, Olivia has brought numerous productions to fruition, including: There’s a Dead Body in my Living Room at The Vaults Festival (co-producer), Chum-o-logues at The Southwark Playhouse (actress and co-producer); Light at Midnight’s Faustine at The Hope Theatre (producer); Laundry at The Space Arts Centre (actress, co-creator and producer); It’s a Playception at The Hope Theatre (actress, co-creator and co-producer); Scripts for Supper’s Jekyll and Hyde (assistant director); Mayblood by Coco Maertens, scratch performance at The Cockpit Theatre (director).
Jade Dowsett-Roberts
Jade Dowsett-Roberts is an actress, theatre maker and writer from South East London. She has over 12 years experience as a theatre facilitator, devising plays for theatres and companies across London including London Bubble Theatre, Half Moon Children’s Theatre, The Old Vic, The Young Vic and Unicorn Theatre. Her passion lies in elevating the voices and unheard stories of the working class community which she proudly represents.
Jade Co-wrote, Co-Produced and performed in sell out theatre production LAUNDRY (Styx Theatre 2018, The Space Arts Centre 2019). She continues to offer her experience and skills in devised theatre to external theatre companies and individuals alike.
Jade’s recent performance credits include; Stage; The Big O (Vault Festival 2023 & The Kings Head 2023, OFFIE Nomination 2024 “Lead Role in a Play”) Chum-O-Logues (Southwark Playhouse 2022), This Wounded Island (Theatre 503 2019), LAUNDRY (The Space 2019), The Suit Parallel (Young Vic) Screen; Marching Powder (Dir. Nick Love 2024), For Good or Ill the Rains Will come (Dir. Madeleine Moore 2023); Essex Girls (Dir. Yero Time-Biu 2023).
Current Collaborators
Ed is an award-winning, dyslexic playwright, poet and comedy writer based in Brighton.Before finding his feet as a writer, Ed was a bin man, care worker... and even once spent a winter as a husky trainer in Lapland! His first major play Mongrel Island opened at Soho Theatre in 2011 to great critical acclaim, and was later produced in Mexico as Perro Sin Raza, where it ran for six months.
His other plays include The Cow Play, What the Thunder Said (which won The Writers’ Guild Award for Best Play For Younger Audiences), and Never Ever After (shortlisted for the Meyer-Whitworth award). He wrote his first opera, A Shoe Full of Stars, with composer Omar Shahryar. It was described as a ‘comic opera for children… about terrorism!’ and won the international YAM Award in 2018 for Best Opera. His new play Strangers Like Me is currently in production as part of the National Theatre’s Connections 2023 programme. Ed has also become one of BBC Radio Drama’s most regularly commissioned and highly acclaimed dramatists since his first radio play Porshia was produced in 2007. His first sitcom, Dot, a popular wartime spoof about the misadventures of some of the female staff of Churchill’s War Rooms, has run since 2015. Between 2011 and 2015 he won a Sony Gold/Radio Academy Award for The Resistance of Mrs Brown, a Writers’ Guild Award for Troll, and a BBC Audio Drama Award for Billions.
Ed Harris is a Royal Literary Fellow and has recently been awarded an Arts Council Grant to write his first children’s novel, The Circus at The End of The World. He is also on attachment to The National Theatre, and this year is adapting a season of Kafka’s novels for radio and stage for both BBC Radio 4 and Oxford University’s Global Kafka Festival, commemorating the centenary of Franz Kafka’s death in 2024.
Ed Harris - Dramaturg for Edie’s House
Laura Bay is an actress, writer and creator based in East London. As an associate artist of The Big House theatre company, Laura works with young people coming from the care system or on the verge of social exclusion, to help them realise and pursue their future dreams and desires. The theatre company, well known for their provocative and bold immersive shows has gained a reputation for turning out raw and talented performers, some of which have gone on to huge fame.
Laura was a recent recipient of the DYCP Grant from the arts council. This grant has allowed her to work with some established artists to develop a number of her current writing projects. All of Laura’s writing has a social commentary and she is driven to creating societal change from her creative endeavours.
Laura Bay - Script Consultant for Edie’s House
We have partnered with Age UK and will be running drama workshops with older adults from the Southwark and Lambeth community. They will use improvisation, forum theatre and storytelling to create characters based on props. Individuals will have the ability to share their own experiences of being an older adult in today’s society. Participants will have a social, collaborative, creative experience, designed to combat loneliness and enrich through shared creativity.
We will use the knowledge and understanding gained through this time spent with participants, to inform our writing and one of the central characters in Edie’s House.