WRITER-IN-RESIDENCE

by Jez Bond

An exciting day today as we have appointed our first ever writer-in-residence….

Sarah Rutherford is an actor and writer. With a degree in English from Oxford University, she pursued a career as an arts journalist alongside a PhD on black farce in Jacobean and 1960s theatre, before training as an actor. Her professional acting credits include popular drama series such as Murphy’s Law, Casualty and The Royal as well as theatre work in the West End and beyond. Her first play, What You Do To People, was recently showcased at the Hampstead Theatre.

Sarah is currently working alongside The Park’s associate director, Melli Bond, to create a show inspired by the people of Finsbury Park.

It’s very exciting for us as Sarah came up with the idea of developing a piece of theatre based on the stories of N4. Her aim is to research the history and people of the area in order to give a voice to the many diverse communities that make up Finsbury Park. When she approached me I loved the idea – what a fantastic way to engage with our audience, to really involve them actively in the making of a production.

The exact nature of the end product is not fixed – in fact it will ultimately be determined by Sarah’s research and the response to her quest for people to share stories over the coming months. Whether the final production takes place in the finished building or in the shell, whether it’s with the local community acting or directing or with professional actors taking the story forward, the fact is that the process will be an extremely exciting one.

We’ll be posting information specifically on this project in the coming days – so watch this blog, the website and our facebook group. In the meantime if you wish to share ideas Sarah can be reached on [email protected]

Early start tomorrow, we’re meeting the structural engineer on site…