Roxy Joy Cook

Since Autumn 2013 I have been working with playwright David K Barnes, designer Celia Dugua and composer Gabriel Chernick on developing a new play, Games of Love and Chance . Loosely based on Pierre de Marivaux's Le jeu de l’amour et du hasard, Games is a fast paced and witty farce following the maladroit romances of the wealthy elite. Games premiered at the Karamel Club in July, where it enjoyed four performances and full audiences. I worked in conjunction with Mountview design and stage students on the piece as part of my Postgraduate Directing Showcase. Once the run was over, we took audience feedback on board and redrafted the script again for our Edinburgh Fringe Festival run. The show was a total sell out run and shortlisted for the National Student Drama Festival Emerging Artist's Award, as well as receiving commendations in the writing and musicianship categories. It received positive feedback from audience members and reviewers alike. Reviews Broadway Baby **** http://www.broadwaybaby.com/shows/games-of-love-and-chance/699575 Public Reviews **** http://www.thepublicreviews.com/games-of-love-and-chance-bedlam-theatre-edinburgh/ EdFringe Reviews **** http://edfringereview.com/r/U9taCM7MRVaLDCVVXDx6yg The show was developed and produced by Zut Alors Theatre, a company I recently founded with Celia Dugua and Mihaela Bodlovic. It was co-produced at the Edinburgh Fringe by...

The Women of Troy  (asst. to Cathal Cleary) Adapted from Euripides by Jamie Wilkes Performed at the Cockpit Theatre, May 2014 I assisted Cathal Cleary on a new adaptation of Euripides' tragedy. It was performed in rep with  The Notebook of Trigorin  by final year Mountview BA acting students.

In March 2014 I assisted Elizabethan clowning expert Stephen Wisker on a production of  A Midsummer Night's Dream . We spent a month working with 12 PG acting students on the piece. Photos: http://cargocollective.com/roxyjoycook/Assistant-Directing

TOYNBEE: Fragments of Other Lives and Times  (asst. to Geraldine Pilgrim/back-guide) Performed at Toynbee Hall and Studios, December 2013 I assisted Geraldine Pilgrim on her site specific, immersive, promenade piece  TOYNBEE . Geraldine's project, made in collaboration with Arts Admin and Spitalfields Music, celebrated the rich history and importance of Toynbee Hall and Studios in the East London community. During the show, the audience would walk quickly around the grounds, getting a glimpse of theatre performances, dinner parties, dance rehearsals and more. Geraldine presented two worlds in collision, the old Toynbee that homed unemployed workers and war-time widows, with the new Toynbee where rehearsals take place and young people gather to experiment with creating new work. Lyn Gardner  feature  for The Guardian.

In early 2013, I directed a production of West Side Story, which ran at the Churchill Theatre, Edinburgh for 6 nights. I worked with choreographer Aniela Piasecka on developing a blend of fresh and traditional choreography for the show. Unkeen to portray gang brutality through delicate movement and accepting that Robbin's original choreography is perhaps less shocking than it originally was, we decided to explore the origin and intent of each gang. Primarily drawing inspiration from Matthew Bourne's Spitfire , the Jets' movements were athletic and brimmed with the homoeroticism and pseudo machismo of an American football team. By contrast, the Sharks' choreography was rooted in their rich cultural heritage, taking inspiration from traditions like bull fighting and from groups like Danza Contemporanea de Cuba . I encouraged each performer to bring something new to their character, considering that many only had several lines and were the same age as their fictional counterparts. I viewed our production as a character piece, hoping that nobody would fade into the background during a chorus. I decided not to attempt a realistic portrayal of New York through a naturalistic set design, but instead worked with Production Designer Celia Dugua to make our...

In October 2011 I directed a production of Bryony Lavery's Stockholm at the Bedlam Theatre. I worked with a cast of two and choreographer Margarita Semsi on fleshing out Lavery's ambiguous and fragmented script with conceptual choreography. Choreography was based on two ideas- First, the habits we form in relationships. We developed movements that presented the nature of habitual dependence and the comfort it provides individuals with. We developed nervous ticks and repeated domestic sequences that disintegrated as the relationship unravelled. Second, the characters' relationship with their spectators. I realised that each adopted both the role of actor and narrator, and designed the set, lighting and sound accordingly. I divided the stage into 'abstract' and 'real' space, memories and reflections occurring in the former and real time occurring in the latter. The 'abstract' space was blank, warmly lit and haunted by echoes of sounds from the couple's memories. Pieces of kitchenware hung from the rig above this part of the stage. The 'real' space parodied an IKEA kitchen, and was cold, flashy and brightly lit. In correspondence with the two different aesthetics and atmospheres onstage, the actors moved differently in each space, thus demonstrating how their characters had changed...

In February 2011 I worked with Mihaela Bodlovic on staging her new adaptation of Antony Burgess' novel.  A Clockwork Orange  ran for five nights at the Bedlam Theatre. I worked with a chorus on fleshing out each group scene. Our aesthetic moved away from the retroism of Kubrick's film and towards a cold, urban landscape