Emma Jeans and Andrew Anderson and Peter Trott.
Word of Mouth is an exciting new short play season which will provide an opportunity for new and
emerging writers to showcase their work on the Titchfield stage.
Every night, eleven short plays will be performed, some of which have been specially written for this production. Each play has its own director and will have a simple set; 2 or 3 chairs and a table.
The event is dedicated to the memory of Paul King who was a good friend of Titchfield Festival
Theatre as well as a staunch supporter of new plays, and a wonderful and respected writer. Paul was instrumental in setting up the theatre’s Playwrights Group which meets fortnightly, a mixture of
experienced and less experienced writers, with the objective of helping to support and nurture new
talent.
Each play lasts for between 10 – 20 minutes, with six performed in the first act and the remaining five
following after the interval. The plays will cover a wide range of themes with subjects including
revenge; human relationships and alcohol addiction. Some are darkly comic pieces, others more
serious or perhaps even bizarre…
Johnny O’Hanlon, co-ordinator along with Janette Evans of the inaugural Word of Mouth production
says, “I am delighted to have the opportunity to direct these plays, particularly as my good friend Paul
King was such an inspiration to emerging and younger playwrights locally. It has been fascinating to
see how each of the plays has evolved over the past year and is testament to the amazing talent we
have at Titchfield Festival Theatre.”
Johnny continues, “I love the fact that the writers have created characters that are multi-layered,
offering insight and a sense of perspective. Word of Mouth will undoubtedly challenge the audience
as the plays move from style to style and it focuses their attention for that brief moment on a different
world.”
In addition to the new adult theatre production, Titchfield’s highly successful and award-winning Youth
Theatre is performing its own series of plays on Saturday 23rd March: Is it me? All of the actors are
aged between 8 – 16 years. There will be twelve plays, each one based on the improvisations
performed by the youngsters and some written by Johnny O’Hanlon. There will be a mix of styles,
including slapstick; serious; spooky and surreal.
Word of Mouth opens on Monday 25th March 2019 until Saturday 30th March at 7.30pm in the Acorn
Studio, Titchfield Festival Theatre, St Margarets Lane, Titchfield PO14 4BG.
For more information, please go to http://titchfieldfestivaltheatre.com/or contact our Box Office on
01329 556156.