ABOUT

US

Living the Drama is a not-for-profit theatre company founded in 2015 and incorporated as a company limited by guarantee in 2016.

OUR AIMS

  • To encourage creative new writing for people of all ages, ability and heritage, including those with many years experience of life and ‘living the drama’.  Drama is a powerful medium making us laugh, cry, rage and reflect.  Our normal, everyday lives witness comedic moments, tragic loss, ethical dilemmas and grave injustices.  It is through writing memorable plays that we reach out to touch the hearts and minds of others.
  • To take the best plays forward to full professional production.
  • To explore ways in which we can widen participation in theatre, by connecting to ‘hard to reach’ audiences
  • To look for ways in which we can work with actors, crew, creatives and audiences from the global majority to create a truly diverse company.
We’re very grateful to have received funding for specific projects from the Arts Council England and Oxford City Council, as well as enjoying support from AgeUK Oxfordshire.  We’re proud to have signed up to the aims and values of the Oxford Cultural Anti-Racism Alliance.  You can read our Anti-Racism Policy Statement.
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WE VALUE

Relationships

We treat each individual with respect, offering friendship and encouraging open communication. We deeply appreciate our volunteers who work with us on Community Productions.

Freedom

We cherish artistic freedom; freedom to play, risk and experiment, to express opinions and feelings however controversial.

Professionalism

We follow sound commercial business practice – always striving for quality and efficiency, aiming to bring out the best in what we do and who we are, so the company can thrive as a social enterprise.

Simplicity

We try to cut through unnecessary bureaucracy, adopting a straightforward approach which everyone can understand, keeping promises and always following up.

THE TEAM

Carolyn Lloyd Davies

Carolyn Lloyd Davies

Founder & Artistic Director

Carolyn is the founder of Living the Drama Ltd, and as a professional actor, playwright and experienced teacher, she brings a mix of knowledge and experience to all her projects. Working closely with her creative team, her role is to lead, manage and develop the company’s vision and ensure its values are upheld.

Carolyn trained at the Academy of Live and Recorded Arts (ALRA) in London, and was a Trustee for seven years. She is on the Development Committee of Pegasus Theatre, Oxford, a thriving Performance Arts Centre for young people. She has written four full length plays (one with Stephanie) plus two short screenplays, and two audio comedies. In 2016/17, she was attached to the Oxford Playhouse Playmaker scheme for a year, and has published over 30 articles. She is a member of the Oxfordshire Theatre Makers Steering Group, and one of the judges for the ‘Performing Shakespeare‘ competition for schools, run by the English Speaking Union.

Ambrose Hogan

Ambrose Hogan

Co-Artistic Director

Ambrose has a degree in English from Cambridge and a Diploma in Acting from Central School of Speech and Drama.  He has extensive experience in drama education, which has included productions of Shakespeare, Timberlake Wertenbaker, musicals, and devised work.  He has written three plays, two performed in Westminster Abbey, and one (Flesh, 2007) at the Edinburgh Fringe.  As an actor and theatre-maker, he has worked professionally on a wide range of fringe productions.

He is a director of the Oxford Folk Weekend, and a competent folk musician and choral singer.  He also writes about teaching and education, and lectures part-time in higher education; he has a PhD in psychosocial studies and education. 

Stephanie Connell

Stephanie Connell

Casting & Creative Director

Stephanie is an actor, playwright, medical roleplayer and web designer. She recently understudied and played Sylvia in the National Theatre and Theatr Clwyd’s UK Tour production of Home I’m Darling by Laura Wade.  She also appears in Paris Zarcilla’s feature film Raging Grace with David Hayman, Leanne Best and Max Eigenmann which won the award for Best Debut Feature Film at SXSW 2023, produced by Chi Thai.

She joined Living the Drama after appearing as Gemma Briggs in Carolyn’s play Silent on the Matter in 2015.  Following that, Stephanie wrote a full length play Birds of Prey, (with Carolyn), an one act play, The Curious Case of Lady Fowler, which toured the Care Homes in 2019; and Broken Heart, a short play, winning first prize at Actors & Writers London Competition, toured in 2017.  When she’s not acting, she takes on the creative role of design, casting and marketing, co-producing, and even as lighting operator and sound designer.

Jo Boston

Jo Boston

Production Manager

Jo is our Production Manager and makes sure our productions run smoothly with minimal disruption. She joined Living the Drama in 2015.

She studied at London School of Contemporary Dance in the late 70’s, and trained to teach Pilates with Alan Herdman and taught along side him in his Studio.

After performing in France for 10 years, she returned to the UK, studied Yoga and began to teach, all the while continuing to use her previous Pilates knowledge in her classes.  She shames us all by walking or cycling everywhere, regardless of how many miles.

OUR ASSOCIATES

David Trevaskis

David Trevaskis

Director

David directed three of our previous productions, Penetration in 2021, Silent on the Matter and Swallows.  He trained as an actor at Academy of Live and Recorded Arts (ALRA), and his directing reflects this, he believes the director’s job is one of service; of the play and its message, of the actors and their needs and most importantly in service of the audience.

David’s work does not start with a final vision of the piece in mind.  His starting point is to create an atmosphere in which the cast and crew create together. This environment is his vision – change one player and the piece must change.

He runs his own company, Acting for Change, which provides an interactive alternative to traditional executive learning by equipping leaders with the confidence and skills to find their voice, and the ability to help others find theirs.

Shakespeare Okuni

Shakespeare Okuni

Actor/Director

Shakespeare is an actor and director, formerly of Footsbarn Travelling Theatre and the Werdyn Gypsy Horse Circus.  He has worked in England, France, Ghana, Ireland, Switzerland, and Lebanon, where he is collaborating with Lebanese actress and theatre director, Nidal Al Achkar, on new projects for Masrah Al Madina, Beirut’s fabled Theatre of the City.

He is the author of Black Box, a play devised with the actors of the National Theatre of Ghana, and Mabinogion, a libretto for string quartet, flutist and storyteller.  Bread and Cloth, the nomadic theatre entity created by Shakespeare Okuni, is currently devising The Dreaming Chorus with participants all around the world.

Shakespeare’s first book, A Creature Comes to Me, will be published in 2023.

Emma Webb

Emma Webb

Movement Director

Emma is a director and facilitator with a background in movement working in the UK and abroad.  She directed The Curious Case of Lady Fowler by Stephanie Connell, for our 2019 Care Home Tour, and more recently was the Movement Director on Penetration, 2021.

She has worked as a Movement Director for Leaning House productions, Human Story Theatre, UnderConstruction Theatre, the Oxford Playhouse and the Old Fire Station/Crisis, and creates her own work ranging from choreographic to one woman shows, street performance and theatre based.

Emma developed The Elves and The Shoemaker for Wild Boor productions for younger audiences as well as devising a separate, sensory show for an audience with differing needs.

 

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