Bristol Express Theatre Company

Company name: Bristol Express Theatre Company

Founders: Andy Jordan (Artistic Director), Simon Pell (Administrator)

Established: 1978

Reason: To present Michael Meyer’s Lunatic & Lover, 1978, and a season of work at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Current status: The company had always relied upon Arts Council project funds. Stopped regular national touring in 1988 after an Arts Council project grant was catastrophically not awarded; launched the award-winning annual Festival of New Writing The Play’s The Thing! in 1986; Andy Jordan joined the BBC in 1988; Bristol Express continued with The Play’s The Thing! project until 1994, when the company ceased production until the year’s 1999 and 2000 when it produced Collin Johnson’s play The Tree House at The Pleasance Theatre and was involved in a co-production with Assembly Theatre of Brian McAvera’s Picasso’s Women. Thereafter the company was disbanded when Andy Jordan and Chris Corner founded Andy Jordan Productions Ltd.

Area of Work: New Writing. Plus the occasional revival of a classic play, e.g. Drums in the Night by Bertolt Brecht (1980)

Policy: Small and middle-scale national touring, occasional No 1 (commercial) touring, occasional overseas touring, and London. New writing by first-time writers as well as new plays by experienced writers, touring Arts Centres and Regional Theatres throughout UK. Regular seasons at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Also, middle to large scale tours of more populist new plays. Committed to producing new work in the belief that the writer is the catalyst for theatre. Aimed to present original work to new and varied audiences, who did not always have the opportunity to see it, by touring throughout the UK and finally to London. It was the policy of Bristol Express to commission and or present plays from writers on themes instigated by the company. For example, Lunatic & Lover, about August Strindberg, by Michael Meyer; Casanova’s Blue Days, about Giacomo Casanova, by Dick Edwards; A Bloody English Garden, about disadvantaged working class boys and social violence, by Nick Fisher; Prophets in the Black Sky, about Black South African prophets, by John Matshikiza; Doolaly Days, about the British in the India Raj, by Paul Unwin, and Winter Darkness, about language and social change, by Allan Cubitt

Structure: The company was limited by guarantee and a registered charity. Once the company achieved Arts Council project funding status (in 1982), the management structure was an unpaid honorary Board of Trustees, all theatre and industry professionals, two full / part time members of staff – Artistic Director and Administrator, with regular part-paid or volunteer staffing. All other staff employed or engaged for single productions, e.g. Designer, Actors and Production Staff. When people were paid, union rates were always paid. When people were not paid union rates, different models of renumeration were used. Open here for a list of key company people.

Based: As befits the company name, we were initially based in Bristol (where Andy Jordan and Simon Pell had been drama students at the University), but we quickly moved to London, where the company remained until disbandment.

Funding: Arts Council of Great Britain (ACGB) project grants (the company never achieved Revenue Funding status), with occasional grants from Greater London Council, West Midlands Arts, Southern Arts, Northern Arts among others. When not in receipt of Arts Council subsidy – which was most of the time – the company’s funding (income) came from a variety of fundraising or income-earning activities including producing commercial productions, through co-production deals, Fundraising Galas, a Benefactor’s Scheme, Benefit Performances, Auctions and Parties, Appeals and Donations and commercial and private sponsorship.

Performance venues: Bristol Express presented its first season of work in 1978 at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe at the Heriot Watt Theatres in Grindlay Street, one of the Fringe’s first multi-space venues, which Andy Jordan programmed for four years into the early ’80s, with Bristol Express performing there in 1978, 1979, 1980 and 1985. They also had shows in Edinburgh in 1994 and 1995. All tours usually culminated at a London venue, or the company presented productions solely in London, including at: Bush Theatre, Riverside Studios, Half Moon, Almeida Theatre, Lyric Hammersmith, Croydon Warehouse, Albany Empire, BAC, Hampstead New End, Old Red Lion, Kings Head, Lilian Baylis Theatre.

Audiences: As various as the plays but the shows were sometimes chosen/directed at particular audiences – from members of Black communities, University or College students, New Writing aficionados, Regional audiences, and the usual very mixed bag of Londoners. National tours took the company from St Austell in Cornwall to Lerwick in the Shetlands.

Company work, policy and process: After the company’s huge success at the 1978 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, its first season of work in which the world premiere of Michael Meyer’s Lunatic & Lover won a Scotsman Fringe First Award and the British premiere of August Strindberg’s Storm (translated by Michael Meyer) had attracted rave reviews, it took the company three years to crystallize its policy and future direction as a national touring new writing company. At this juncture it should be noted that a defining characteristic of the company’s history and development was that Bristol Express did not request or receive public subsidy until 1981, three years after its inception, and thereafter was only ever the recipient of Arts Council Great Britain project grants, the awarding of which could not be relied on, so that the inevitable cycle of disappointment and financial insecurity which followed prevented the company from reliable forward planning, a situation which persisted for many years after.

Concerning the kind of process Bristol Express used in regard to new writing, the company tried as much as it could to generate work by choosing a story it felt compelled to tell, and by matching the writer to the project. However, we did not always have funding which would allow us to commission, i.e. pay a fee to writers for their work. Naturally, we would have preferred to always pay writer’s a commissioning fee up front but in the absence of regular public subsidy we were frequently prevented from doing so. As a way round this problem, we were often compelled to work from an agreement with a writer that we would actively help develop the play with the aim of eventually securing a full production.

Without regular public funding we had therefore to find other ways of developing new work and supporting and encouraging new and established writers. In this difficult situation, there were a variety of ways in which the company generated work, but the main ones included the following.

1) Developing plays from scratch with writers for production in Edinburgh or on the fringe in London.

2) Presenting productions of unsolicited new plays in Edinburgh or London (like all new writing companies Bristol Express received numerous unsolicited plays, which were regularly read and reported on, and which we occasionally agreed to produce).

3) Commissioning playwrights to write scripts for London or regional touring (using ACGB writer’s grants, or project funding, when we received it, or monies raised privately).

4) Conducting intensive programmes of new writing research and development, e.g. The Plays the Thing! a body of work which lasted for three years, presenting eight seasons, which included full productions, workshop productions, staged readings, script workshops and seminars in venues across London and around the country.

Then followed the work of the writer on the text with input from the director, most usually, Andy Jordan or Paul Unwin, through various drafts of the play. (In 1983, Paul left Bristol Express to become the Artistic Director of the Bristol Old Vic Theatre). Parallel to this, the director would work closely with the designer of the project. Then, armed with the manuscript, he would cast the play. In the meantime, the Administrator and Company Production Manager – from 1985 this person was most often Chris Corner – would be preparing the details of the tour and co-operating with the chosen venues, and securing the final London destination – London was the carrot or prize at the end of the tour for the acting company, most of whom lived in London, even if they didn’t originate there. It was also important to the whole company that we were reviewed by the national as well as regional press. Prior to this the tour booking took many months of the Director’s and Administrator’s time. He or she had to dovetail the dates, which always proved tricky, being composed of 4 – 16 weeks of touring the regions, and maybe playing 2 – 3 venues in one week. In such circumstances the set design had to be imaginatively versatile. Rehearsals lasted 3 – 5 weeks depending on the size of the project and the number of cast and on the financial situation, ie, was the project funded or not.

Personal appraisal & thoughts:
Please see Andy Jordan for his wide ranging reflections and further information on the work of Bristol Express.

Reviews
:
Lunatic & Lover by Michael Meyer (World Premiere, Edinburgh Festival, 1978, and Old Red Lion Theatre Club, London, 1981, Scotsman Fringe First Award Winner)
‘…a really interesting and attractive company… a fine example of documentary drama.’ (James Fenton, Sunday Times)
‘Small is beautiful in this deft, economical production by the Bristol Express Theatre Company of Michael Meyer’s Lunatic and Lover, a brief but substantial chronicle of the life and mind of playwright / misogynist August Strindberg…’ (Malcolm Hay, Time Out)
‘A very experimental, impressionistic work which goes directly to the core of the life of this highly talented, demented man, and at the same time attempts to portray the workings of his obsessed mind.’ (Brian G. Cooper, The Stage)
‘The special attraction of Andy Jordan’s production for the Bristol Express is the way in which Strindberg’s thoughts take physical shapes… the whole effect is one of high theatrical concentration.’ (Ned Chaillet, The Times)
Storm by August Strindberg (British Premiere, Edinburgh Festival, 1978)
‘…without doubt a theatrical tour-de-force, and one of the outstanding events of this year’s Fringe…the company as a whole under Andy Jordan’s skilful direction attains a level of excellence…’ (Brian G. Cooper,The Stage)
‘Andy Jordan’s direction maintains the high standards of the Bristol Express Theatre Company.’ (Ronald Jack, The Scotsman)
Live and Get By by Nick Fisher (World Premiere, Old Red Lion Theatre Club, Bristol Express Season, Bristol and London, 1981)
‘…a breathlessly brilliant piece of social comment, cleverly written by Nick Fisher and too well acted ever to look remotely like a cliche…Director Paul Unwin gives the play a riveting ferocity.’ (David Foot, The Guardian)
‘It’s one of those comforting cliches that just when you’re convinced all’s up with the theatre along comes something just a little bit special to re-charge your enthusiasm. This week out of the darkness sprang Live and Get By…….imaginative, inventive, economic, extremely well written, creating powerful verbal images to parallel the visual ones, and intensely moving…Good theatre and good fun.’ (Suzie MacKenzie, Time Out)
Live and Get By is compelling, not only for its tightly written dialogue, but for its fine lyrics and harmonies, its urgent and disciplined direction under Paul Unwin, and the vitality and appeal of its three actors. Bristol has had a refreshing influx of fringe theatre these last few weeks: Bristol Express rates as one to be most highly recommended.’ (Kerry Platman, Bristol Evening Post)

For more reviews click here.

Productions: 

PRODUCTION NAMEVENUESDATES
The Naughtiest Girl in the School!
Company Devised (based on books by Angela Brazil)
Director: David Hornbrook
Cast: Tony Barnes, Musa Lev, Jeannie McTavish, Clive Panto, Jenny Seagrove, John Wood
Heriot-Watt Theatre, Edinburgh, , Duke of York’s Theatre, West End London1978
Bristol Packet (the Bristol Revue)
Director: Anthony Mulholland
Lyricist: Alan Colhoun
Musicians: Maurice Carr & Bill Headley Miller
Cast: Jeremy Brock, Alan Colhoun, Cherif Ezzeldin, Annabel Mednick, Barbara Vaughan, Michael Waterman
Music: Humphrey McFall
Choreographer: Michael Waterman
Heriot-Watt Theatre, Edinburgh1978
Lunatic & Lover
Writer: Michael Meyer
Director: Andy Jordan
Cast: John Christopher Wood, Laura Davenport, Jenny Seagrove, Adele Griffiths, Ian Ormsby-Knox, James (Jim) Smith
Design: Jane Jet Harris
Lighting: Richard Moffatt
Musical Direction: Dick Crozier
Company Manager: Simon Pell
Heriot-Watt Theatre, Edinburgh1978
Storm
Writer: August Strindberg
Director: Andy Jordan
Cast: James (Jim) Smith, Clive Panto, Laura Davenport, Adele Griffiths, Ian Ormsby-Knox, Jenny Seagrove, John Wood, Simon Pell
Design: Jane Jet Harris
Lighting: Richard Moffatt
Heriot-Watt Theatre, Edinburgh
1978
Return To My Native Land
Writer: Aimé Césaire
Translated by: John Berger & Anna Bostock
Director: Andy Jordan
Cast: CY Grant
Design: Dee Gradidge
Heriot-Watt Theatre, Edinburgh
1978
The Heretic
Writer: David Collis
Director: Andy Jordan
Cast: David Collis
Heriot-Watt Theatre, Edinburgh1978
The Gospel According To Lenny
Writer: Keith Woods
Cast: John Cassady
Heriot-Watt Theatre, Edinburgh1978
Drums in the Night
Writer: Bertolt Brecht
Translated by: John Willett
Director: Paul Unwin
Assistant Director: Phil Smith
Cast: Anthony Mulholland, Jenny Hall, John Christopher Wood, Becky Wright, Jaquetta May, Alan Colhoun, Michael Adler, James (Jamie) Hope, Alex Jennings, Jeremy Brock, Michael Waterman, Annabel Mednick
Musical Director: Alan Colhoun
Designer: Liz Fjelle
Lighting: Martin Hazlewood
Stage Manager: Melanie Adam
Costumes: Sallie Aprahamian
Sound: Steve Drummond
Heriot-Watt Theatre, Edinburgh1979
Mary Ann
Writer: John Downie
Director: David Hornbrook
Cast: Becky Wright, Jaquetta May, Michael Waterman, Alex Jennings, Michael Adler, James Hope, Jenny Hall, Jeremy Brock, James Hope, Cherif Esseldin, Roy Brown
Musical Director: Humphrey McFall
Designer: Liz Fjelle
Lighting: Martin Hazlewood
Stage Manager: Chris Wood
Costumes: Sallie Aprahamian
Sound: Steve Drummond
Heriot-Watt Theatre, Edinburgh1979
The Third Rule
Writer: John Christopher Wood
Director: David Hornbrook
Cast: John Christopher Wood
Stage Manager: Sallie Aprahamian
Lighting: Bob Lever
Tape: Steve Drummond
Heriot-Watt Theatre, Edinburgh1979
Elsie & Norm’s Macbeth
Writer: John Christopher Wood
Director: David Hornbrook (1979)
Cast: Alex Jennings, John Christopher Wood, Barbara Vaughan
Heriot-Watt Theatre, Edinburgh
1979
The Death Of Pasolini
Writer: Rowland Bowden
Director: Paul Unwin
Cast: Jonathan Dockar-Drysdale, Michael Gale, Peter Silverleaf, Jim Smith
Heriot-Watt Theatre, Edinburgh1980
Suddenly Last Summer
Writer: Tennessee Williams
Director: Sallie Apprahamian
Cast: Ian McCurrach, Annabel Mednick, Caroline Swift, Sally Armstrong, Katie Evans (Kate Lyn Evans), Jonathan Dockar-Drysdale, Maggie Fox
Heriot-Watt Theatre, Edinburgh1980
The Third Nam
Writer: Bill Stair
Director: Tony Robinson
Design: Chris Wood
LX: Mike Large
Heriot-Watt Theatre, Edinburgh1980
Raid
Writer: Linda Heynes
Director: Paul Unwin
Cast: Annabel Mednick
Heriot-Watt Theatre, Edinburgh1980
Cloud Nine
Writer: Caryl Churchill
Director: Sallie Apprahamian
The Gallery, Bristol1980
Lunatic & Lover
Writer: Michael Meyer
Director: Andy Jordan
Cast: Miles Anderson, Lesley Duff, Debbie Sack, Anna Lindup, Jonathan Kydd, Nigel Hughes
Design: Louise Belson
Scenic Artist: Patricia Donnison
Lighting: John Schwiller
Sound: David Carden
Production Manager: Candida Boyes
Administrator: Simon Pell
Deputy Stage Manager: Dawn Chandler
Theatrespace, Covent Garden; Old Red Lion Theatre, Islington1981
Theory For The Attention Of Mr Einstein
Writer: Paul Unwin
Director: Andy Jordan & Paul Unwin
Cast: Roderic Leigh, Hazel Clyne, Lynne Verrall, Bill Thomas, Jon Cartwright, Iain Ormsby-Knox, Max Hafler
Designer: Candia Boyes
Lighting & Sound: Steve Christian
Stage Management: Helen Jackson & Jocelyn Boxall
Sound Operators: Steve Christian & Dave Carden
Administrator: Graham Mulvein
Technical Director: Steve Christian
Administrative Assistant: Kathryn Wolfe
Artistic & Company Direction: Andy Jordan & Paul Unwin
Poster Design: Candida Boyes
Old Red Lion Theatre Club, Islington1981
Sweet Like Sugar
Writer: Paul Herzberg
Director: Andy Jordan
Cast: Paul Blake, Paul Herzberg, Burt Caesar
Set & Lighting Designer : Candida Boyes
Stage Management: Jayne Dowell & Jed Hopkins
Sound Operators: Steve Christian & Dave Carden
Design Assistant: Liz Stevens
Administration: Simon Pell
Old Red Lion Theatre Club, Islington1981
Live And Get By
Writer: Nick Fisher
Director: Paul Unwin
Cast: Annabel Mednick, John Tramper, Billy Fellows
Music: Rick Lloyd
Lyrics: Rick Lloyd & Nick Fisher]
Pianist: Jonathan Sharp
Set Design: Sarah Lawrence
Lighting Design & Technical Direction: Steve Christian
Stage Manager: Tamara Batt
Sound Operators: Dave Carden & Steve Christian
Company Manager/Admin/Publicity: Simon Pell & Liz Keynes
Graphic Designer: John Riddelsdell
Old Red Lion Theatre Club, Islington
The Gallery, Bristol
1982
Doolaly Days
Writer: Paul Unwin
Director: Andy Jordan
Cast: Kate Lynn Evans, Sylvester Morand, Harmage S. Kalirai, Shreela Ghosh, Richard Albrecht, Lucinda Curtis, Andrée Evans,
Designer: Amanda Fisk
Lighting: Barry Tofield
Sound: Paul Bull
Stage Manager: Maryanne Tennyson-Hopwood
Deputy Stage Manager: David Barham Mann
Tour Stage Manager: Stephen Rolfe
Assistant Stage Managers: Chris deWilde & Philip Goldacre
Poster Design: Al Stewart
Programme: Liz Mason
Photographs: John Gardner
Haymarket Theatre, Leicester; ACGB-backed UK tour including New End Theatre, London; Vandyck Theatre, Bristol1982
Gulls
Writer: Robert Hewett
Director: Andy Jordan
Cast: Jeffrey Chiswick, Carol Burns, Terence McGinity, Evie Garratt, Paul Aylett, Peter Allday
Designer: Candida Boyes
Music: Paddy Cunneen
Lighting: Dave Hill
Sound: Paul Bull
Stage Manager: Maryanne Tennyson-Hopwood
Assistant Stage Managers: Gary Sparkes & Simon Stallworthy
Company Stage Manager: Alan Buckingham
Lighting Designer: Steve Christian
Puppets: Peter Allday & Paul Aylett
Poster & Programme Design: Al Stewart
Haymarket, Leicester, then UK tour including:
Croydon Warehouse Theatre; Basingstoke Haymarket Theatre;
Bristol Old Vic Theatre;
Peterborough Key Theatre; Shaw Theatre, London
1984
A Bloody English Garden
Writer: Nick Fisher
Director: Andy Jordan
Cast: Mary Sheen, Richard Graham, Neil Packham, Stephen Jameson
Lighting: Matthew Evered
Design: Candida Boyes
Sound: Stephanie Nunn & David Barker
Sound Supervision: Christopher Shutt
Assistant to Director: Deborah Paige
Production Manager: Peter Bailey
Company & Stage Manager: Grenville Houser (BOV), Chris Corner (BETC)
Deputy Stage Managers: Charlotte Barson & Emma London
Assistant Stage Manager: Daniel Nissel
Board Operator: Matthew O’Connor
General Manager & Licensee: Rodney West
Theatre Managers: Josephine Biggs & John Symonds
Trainee Theatre Manager: Gary Reay
Artistic Directors: Andy Jordan & Paul Unwin
General Manager: Michael Moneghan
General Manager (BETC): Michael Moneghan
Assistant Administrator: Sarah Maddocks
Bristol Old Vic Theatre, then ACGB-backed UK tour including: The Tron Glasgow, BAC, London1985
Prophets In The Black Sky
Writer: John Matshikiza
Director: Andy Jordan & John Matshikiza
Associate Director: Alasdair Ramsay
Cast: Cleo Dorcas, Pamela Nomvete
Designer: Candida Boyes
Music: Sophie MgCina
Coventry Belgrade Theatre, then UK tour including: Heriot-Watt Theatre, Edinburgh; Manchester Festival; Albany Centre, Bristol; Midland Arts, Birmingham; Surry Hall, London; Drill Hall, London1985
Elsie & Norm’s Macbeth
Director: Andy Jordan (1986)
Cast: John Christopher Wood, Jan Shand
Design: Candida Boyes
Stage Manager: John Marshall-Potter
Assistant Stage Manager: Kate Sarley
Poster Design: Michael McLaughlin
Birmingham Repertory Theatre, then UK tour including: Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh; Sheffield Crucible; Warwick Arts Centre; Jackson’s Lane Theatre1986
Please One And Please All
Writer: Rosemary Linnell
Director: Adrian Bean
Cast: Russell Floyd, Peter Stone, Michael Brooks
Designer: Morny Sherriff
Musical Arrangements: Peter Stone & Michael Brooks
Stage Manager: Ruth Estevez
Props: Karl Forster
Poster Design: Al Stewart
Production Photographs: Johnny Bean
Attenborough Theatre Workshop, Leicester, then UK tour including: Gartree prison, Mkt Harborough; Belgrade Theatre, Coventry; Cecil Sharp House, London; Bear Gardens Museum, London; Dulwich College, London1987
Betty & Boaby’s Macbeth
Writer: John Christopher Wood
Director: Andy Jordan
Cast: Elaine C. Smith, Tony Roper
Designer: Monica Nisbit
Lighting: Steve Simms
Poster Design: Al Stewart
Dundee Repertory Theatre, then Scottish tour including: Eden Court Theatre; MacRobert Arts Centre; Assembly Theatre, Edinburgh; Tron Theatre, Glasgow1988
Haven’t A Clue or Murder At Withering Heights and Ta, Ta My Lovely
Writer: John Christopher Wood, Barbara Vaughan, Ric Jerrom
Director: John Christopher Wood
Assistant Director: Jonathan Banatvala
Cast: Karen Gerald, Duncan Law, David Prescott
Designers: Maria Boggi, Tristan Peatfield, Emma Thistlewaite
Project Director: Jonathan Banatvala
Production Manager & Lighting Designer: Chris Corner
Stage Manager: Antony Ferguson
Deputy Stage Manager: Pete Baldwin
Artistic Director: Andy Jordan
Associate Director: Adrian Bean
Literary Manager: Michael Quinn
Administrators: Tana Russell & Nick Bamford
Finance: Harry Sanders
South Hill Park Arts Centre, Bracknell; then UK tour including: Ocatgon Theatre, Yeovil; Epsom Playhouse; Library Theatre, Manchester; Roses Theatre, Tewkesbury; Windsor Arts Centre; Jackson’s Lane Theatre, London1988
Winter Darkness
Writer: Allan Cubitt
Director: Susan Hogg
Cast: Mick Ford, John Axon, Ian Bartholomew, James Greene, Julie McDonald, Timothy Morand, Michael Wilson
Designer: Clare Stent & Martin O’Carroll
Lighting: Chris Corner
Composer: Bill Crow
Stage Manager: Jhan French
Assistant Stage Manager: Rosa Mahmud
Production Photographs: Shelia Burnett
New End Theatre, Hampstead1988
Child’s Play
Writer: Jon Wolfman
Director: Adrian Bean
Assistant Director: Michael Quinn
Cast: Mathew Byam Shaw, Collin Johnson (Collin McPhillamy), Liza Sadovy, Bhasker Patel, Sue Kelvin, Tim Swinton, John McNeil
BAC, London1988








Wide-Eye’s Kingdom
Writer: Nick Fisher
Director: Nick Pitt
Assistant Director: Annika Bluhm
Cast: Jonathan Cullen, Anthony Wise, Michael Penna, Rachel Joyce, David Prescott, Elaine Claxton
Musical Director: Dave Barker
Bass: Andy Read
Design Associate: Franklin Beckford
1988
Between The Lines
Writer: Allan Cubitt
Director: Andy Jordan
Assistant Directors: Jonathan Banatvala & Michael Quinn
Cast: Lucy Capito, Graham Christopher, Ben Foster, Camilla Gribbs, Kate Goodson, Adrian Harwicke, Nicola Hollinshead, Joseph Hutton, Maximillian Jacobson-Gonzalez, Collin Johnson, Ross Kenworthy, Deirdre Osborne, Katerina Tana, Vernon Thompson, Anna Tymoshenko, Adam Warren, Kevin Williamson
Set & Costume Designer: Michael Vale
Assistant Designer: Gareth McMillan
Composer & Sound: Alan Lawrence
Additional Sound: Colin Brown
Lighting Designer: Jason Bevan
Fight Arranger: Keith Ducklin
Production Managers: Jason Bevan & Kath Richardson
Company Stage Manager: Cranmer Webb
Deputy Stage Manager: Mark Shayle
Assistant Stage Managers: Tom Albu & Nikki Sawyer
Administrator: Ben Hughes
Press Representative: Eric Auzins
Bridge Lane Theatre, London, then UK tour including: Waterman’s Arts Centre, Brentford; Orkney Islands Festival, Scotland1988
A Dream Play
Writer: August Strindberg
Director: Jenny Romyn
The Lyric Studio, Hammersmith1989
The Devil And Stepashka
Writer: Claire Booker
Director: David Gillies
Cast: Terence Budd, David Beckett, Miriam Copper, Susie Jenkinson, Penelope Asquith
Production Photos: Jack Taylor
Pleasance Theatre, Edinburgh; New End Theatre, London 1989
Boudicca’s Victory
Writer: Jean Binnie
Director: Richard Osborne
Assistant Director: Philippa Williams
Cast: Josephine Welcome, Saira Todd, Candida-Jane West, Chris Adamson, Melvyn Bedford, Peter Mair, Alec Wallis, James Lailey, Nick Bartlett, Annette Holland, Anna Lindup, Andy McEwan, Kate Terence, Jackie Skarvellis, Kenn Sabberton, Morris Perry, Michael Wilson, Chris Lailey, Peter Mair
Designer: Anna Greenhow
Musical Directors: Keith Bray & Stephen Bradshaw
Voice Coaches: Trisha Bailey & Sophie Mgcina
Movement & Fight Director: Ritchie Madden
Lighting Designer: Jeff Naylor
Stage Manager: Fiona Layland
Riverside Studios1990
Heaven
Writer: Sarah Aicher
Director: Andy Jordan
Cast: Sam Dale, Robert Blythe, Crispin Redman, Oscar Quitak, Jeff Harding, Barbara Wilshere
Design: Isabella Bywater
Lighting: Chris Corner
Music: Mia Soteriou
Sound: Paul Bell
Lilian Baylis Theatre - Sadlers Wells, London1991
Syme
Writer: Michael Bourdages
Director: Christopher Geelan
Assistant Director: Matthew Broughton
Cast: Paul Herzberg, Henrietta Garden, Heather Bell, Charles Armstrong, Richard Sockett, Simon Coury, Russell Wootton
Designer: Sarah Milton
Orange Tree Theatre Room, Richmond 1992
Gangster Apparel
Writer: Richard Vetere
Director: Daniel Slater
Cast: Stephen Davies, Richard Le Parmentier
Designer: Simon Elliot
Lighting Designer: Simon Mills
Sound Designer: Ken Bolam
Production Manager: Sarah Rowe
Stage Managers: Peter McCabe & Lisa Salisbury
Producer: Nick Pitt
Old Red Lion Theatre, Islington1993
A Meeting In Rome
Writer: Michael Meyer
Director: Richard Osborne
Cast: Michael Meyer, Brett Usher, Jill Graham, Andy McEwan, Joanna Myers
Designer: Christopher Richardson
Lighting: Dan Watkins
Costume Designer: John F
Stage Manager: Clare Simmonds
Project Manager: Will Winch
Executive Producer: Andy Jordan
Publicity: Julius Green (at Hard Sell)
Poster Design: Tim Lole
Set Construction: Tim Powis & Neil Austin
Scenic Artist: Sam Dowson
Pleasance Theatre, Edinburgh1994
The Tree House
Writer: Collin Johnson
Director: Collin Johnson
Written, Directed and Performed by: Collin Johnson (now Collin McPhillamy)
Executive Producer: Andy Jordan
Pleasance Theatre, Edinburgh1994
Picasso’s Women
Writer: Brian McAvera

Links:  Andy Jordan Productions

Existing archive material: Andy Jordan retains a large archive of material relating to Bristol Express. He can be contacted here.

Bibliography
:
Mary Ann by John Downie (July Fox, 1979)
Lunatic & Lover by Michael Meyer (Methuen Publishing Ltd, 1981)
Michael Meyer (Methuen, 1981)
Elsie & Norm’s Macbeth by John Christopher
Wood (Samuel French, 1985)
Prophets in the Black Sky by John Matshikiza (Polyptoton, 1985)
Casanova Undone by Dic Edwards (Oberon, 1992)
Picasso’s Women by Brian McAvera (Oberon, 1999)

Acknowledgements: This page was written for us and archive material provided by Andy Jordan, co-founder Bristol Express, to whom we are immensely grateful. We are also grateful to Hazel Thomas who helped compile the information. The page was constructed by Jessica Higgs and Sam Nightingale. November 2013.

The creation of this page was supported by the National Lottery through the Heritage Lottery Fund.