Damsel Productions in association with Theatre503 presents
£18 | £17 | £12 Conc. | £10 Previews & Weds. Mats | ‘Pay What You Can’ Sat. Mats
RUNNING TIME / NOTICES: 80mins (no interval). Recommended for 15yrs plus.
Contains flashing lights, staged violence and blood.
Katie and her girlfriend Hope work at their local corner shop, where the days pass in quiet, comfortable rhythms. But when new employee Michael arrives, the sands start to shift and the air begins to thicken.
Written by Tabitha Mortiboy (Beacons) and directed by Hannah Hauer-King (The Funeral Director, Fabric), all-female theatre company Damsel Productions (Fabric, Fury, Grotty, Dry Land) presents The Amber Trap, an unsettling portrait of devotion and control.
RELAXED: For anyone who benefits from a more relaxed performance environment. House lights are left up with audience free to exit and reenter as required. Sound levels are reduced and any strobe / ‘flashing light’ effects will be omitted also.
PARENT & BABY: Similar to our Relaxed Performance in terms of technical alterations, but provided as an opportunity for new mums and dads to enjoy a spot of theatre without the need to hire a babysitter. Please note, we do not exclude other audience members from booking to see this performance.
CAPTIONED: We’re offering captioning to mobile phones via the Difference Engine app, from Talking Birds. Download the free app from the App Store or Google Play, or find more info via the Difference Engine website.
POST-SHOW TALKS:
11 May (following the 3pm Matinee).
Panel includes Jennifer Tuckett, from University Women in the Arts, and Hannah Hauer-King, Artistic Director of Damsel Productions. A discussion on being a woman in the arts and developing your career in its early stages.
15 May (following the 7:30pm Performance)
Artistic Director, Lisa Spirling, is chairing a conversation on Lesbian Visibility in the theatre and beyond on Wed 15 May. Panelists include Tabitha Mortiboy (writer), Kitty Wordsworth (producer), Rebecca Usher (Marketing Manager at Theatre Peckham), and Temi Wilkey (Actor and Writer).
Tabitha Mortiboy
Tabitha began her writing career in Bristol, where she had several short plays staged and where her first full length play Billy Through the Window premiered at The Wardrobe Theatre in 2015. Billy later transferred to Theatre503 and to Underbelly at the Edinburgh Fringe, where it was shortlisted for the Brighton Fringe Excellence Award. In the same year, she was selected to work for a year on attachment to Bristol Old Vic as part of their Open Sessions scheme. In 2016 her second play Beacons was produced at The Park Theatre, London. Beacons was nominated for three Off West End Awards including Best New Play and Most Promising New Playwright, and is now being developed for radio.
In 2017, she co-wrote Bare Skin on Briny Waters for the Edinburgh Fringe, where it received a commendation for writing in the NSDF Edinburgh Award. As well as creating her own work, she writes alongside Bellow Theatre (Supported Artists at Hull Truck Theatre and Emerging Company at New Diorama Theatre), a company she co-founded in 2013. (Photo by Emma Croman Photography)
You can wait a long time to see a play that puts queer women centre stage and then two come along in the same week. It’s clear that theatre and the stories it tells are slowly evolving.
In part gentle character study and in part an exposé of the ubiquity of straight white male entitlement, the play has a lot to offer
original, disturbing and rather brilliant
Tabitha Mortiboy has an eye for quirky detail and a light comic touch
Jasmine Swan's set design is superb; her creation of the corner shop contains so much attention to detail. It's a rather stunning sight. Hannah Hauer-King draws out strong performances from her cast. It's refreshing to see a queer relationship on stage that doesn't focus on trauma and struggle
Jasmine Swan’s set is a tiny little matchbox version of a corner shop with aged blue-green paint decorating the walls. Lucy Adams’ harsh fluorescent lighting illuminates the action. The space is cluttered with shelves that are stacked to the brim with cheap booze, tampons and biscuits. The design both reflects and intensifies the claustrophobia of the situation.
It’s propelled forward by some very good performances
"The intricate detail Swan has gone into helps to suck the audience into the claustrophobic, “matchbox” world of the store."
“an enjoyable trip down the road for a pint of laughter and a box of unnerving drama”
Playwright Tabitha Mortiboy was inspired to write this play due to the lack of representation she sees of female same-sex relationships on stage, and, in fact, it is nice to see an authentic gay couple on stage.
