We are delighted to welcome Andrew Candish to the Darkling Agency and we look forward to your very busy future.

Cathryn Sherman opened last week in The Black Eye Club at the Bread & Roses Theatre in Clapham. Opening night was also the 3rd anniversary of the theatre, so quite a celebration. The show is already getting good reviews including a 5* one from Remote Goat who say that Cathryn’s character “Sharon turns out to be a much more surprising and meaningful character than initially expected”. London Pub Theatres (4*) say that Cathryn “presents a scary picture of authority” and that “the role is played … very effectively, and only later in the play does Sherman show the soft edge of her character.” The show runs until 18th November.

Victoria Porter gave a very moving and nuanced performance in the monologue Sophie by Rob Young – an award winning writer whose previous commissions include the RSC, National Theatre, Papatango, Working Title, BBC and Channel 4. This was as part of The Scene at the Tabard Theatre with Get Over It Productions, with whom she is now in rehearsals for Jean Genet’s The Balcony. Victoria will be playing The Envoy, Arthur and The Executioner  and the show will be performed at the Bread & Roses Theatre from 21st November until 2nd December.

Victoria Porter is currently rehearsing for the monologue Sophie by Rob Young – an award winning writer whose previous commissions include the RSC, National Theatre, Papatango, Working Title, BBC and Channel 4.  It’s the story of a woman who examines her life choices following an unexpected encounter with an old friend and will be performed on Monday 23rd at the Tabard Theatre.

Cathryn Sherman is in rehearsals for The Black Eye Club, a black comedy by Phil Charles. The play was selected anonymously out of over 450 submissions as the winner of The Bread & Roses Playwriting Award, the theatre where it will be performed from 1st – 18th November, Tuesday to Saturday. Cathryn plays an eagle-eyed security guard at a women’s refuge.

Next for Victoria is Jean Genet’s The Balcony, in which she will play The Envoy, Arthur and The Executioner. Set in a brothel as a country crumbles under revolution, the play takes a satirical look at society’s need for figureheads, as the clients of the brothel become the unlikely participants in reforming the establishment. This all-female ensemble will be at the Bread & Roses Theatre from 21st November – 2nd December.

It’s good to be busy!

Victoria  Porter will be performing a monologue, Sophie by Rob Young, as part of The Scene at the Tabard Theatre in Turnham Green.  It’s a female-centric scratch night with 6 playlets, presented by Get Over It Productions.

There will only be one performance, on Monday 23rd October at 7.30pm. For more details and to book tickets click here.

This is another deep and interesting character for Victoria to embody and we’re looking forward to seeing it.

Victoria opened in Gareth on Wednesday and Garry has the first performance of Ballroom tonight – we wish them both well with their respective shows.

Victoria Porter is currently rehearsing Gareth at the Wightman Theatre in Shrewsbury, and Garry Freer is rehearsing Ballroom at the Waterloo East Theatre in London.

Gareth is written by Shropshire playwright Joan Shirley and is the second production in The Wightman professional theatre season. Gareth is a 50 year old Welsh psychiatrist and Victoria plays his wife, Lucy. It will run from the 10th to the 20th of May (inclusive) with matinee performances on the 12th, 13th, 18th, 19th and 20th. Click here for more information

Ballroom is a 1970’s musical by Jerome Kass with music by Billy Goldenberg and lyrics by Alan & Marilyn Bergman, featuring the classic Broadway song ‘Fifty Percent’. It stars Jessica Martin, and Garry plays Johnny, one of the ballroom regulars. It will run from 12th May to 4th June with performances Tues to Sat at 7.30pm and matinees Sun at 4pm (no performance Tues May 16). Click here for more information

We wish them both well, and are looking forward to two opening nights!

Victoria Porter plays Karen in ‘Gazing at a Distant Star’ which is opening the spring season in the new Greenwich Studio Theatre tonight. Written by Sian Rowland, it runs from 13th to 29th January and is a three-hander which deals with the aftermath of people going missing. It’s been developed from the 20 minute monologue ‘Life Sentence’, which Victoria previously performed at the Southwark Playhouse and Bread and Roses Theatre. Following a rehearsed reading in Greenwich in October, it’s directed by Greenwich Theatre’s artistic director, James Haddrell.

For more details head to the Greenwich Theatre website

London Pub Theatres

The jewel in the crown of this excellent night and the best piece of drama I have seen this year is undoubtedly….‘Life Sentence’.  Victoria Porter is perfectly cast….a performance of startling intensity and grace from Porter, eschewing empty histrionics; understated, observational drama at its very best….  Every breath, every twitch of the superb Porter is imbued with humanity and humour.  The message is delivered without compromise as we’re showed the personal cost of loss to a strong and desperate mum….delivers a political message like a punch in the gut.

Carns Theatre Passion
….evening stealer….this exquisitely written, superbly acted piece took you by the guts and wrenched you from your seat.

Female Arts
….the high point of the evening….Porter’s performance as the perplexed mother totally sells the play.

Congratulations to Cathryn Sherman on her successful run of Road Show – the show proved extremely popular with many performances completely full. Cathryn really enjoyed the challenge of singing Stephen Sondheim’s work and hopes to have the opportunity to do so again.

Cathryn Sherman is playing Mama Meisner in the first UK revival of Stephen Sondheim’s Road Show directed by Phil Willmott, which is at the Union Theatre until 5th March – for more details see their website:

http://www.uniontheatre.biz/road-show/4591191795

Tickets are selling fast, with some performances already sold out.