about
With THE BLOODY CHAMBER, Angela Carter boldly reimagined Western fairy and folk tales, creating dark, rich and sensual stories of female empowerment and the possibility within each of us to change…
The composer/ lyricist and director behind THE WICKER HUSBAND wish to bring these “gothic tales,” as Carter herself describes, “cruel tales of wonder, tales of terror, fabulous narratives that deal directly with the imagery of the unconscious” to theatrical life. In doing so they will create a new British musical that is true to Carter’s rich imagination and radical intent.
Darren Clark’s narrative-driven, folk-infused music makes him the perfect interpreter of Carter’s stories. Drawing on the musical motifs threaded throughout, he will unlock the rich symbolism of her worlds and the subconscious desires of her characters. This rich sonorous world will be enhanced by a sound design inspired by the creaking winter landscapes and the dark forests of the book.
Charlotte Westenra will bring her romantic and feminist perspective to the dramaturgy and directorial vision. Her stripped back, theatrically inventive and fleet-of-foot staging will sensitively draw out the many shiting tones of the stories… from the bawdy, farcical PUSS IN BOOTS, to the gothic romance of THE LADY OF THE HOUSE OF LOVE, to the horror-infused THE BLOODY CHAMBER. As is the case with Carter’s original, this production will defy easy categorisation, transforming itself from moment to moment like the shape-shifters in its stories.
music
Angela Carter’s stories are heavily influenced by folk traditions and her stories in this collection reflect the dark, transformative, and oral nature of folk songs and this will be perfectly complimented by Darren Clark’s lyrical songwriting. Here is a song from The Wicker Husband which gives a sense of musical world for The Bloody Chamber.
“Heart of the Weave” by Darren Clark from The Wicker Husband
Reviews from Darren and Charlotte’s past collaboration:
"The Wicker Husband has it all. A captivating story with glorious music brilliantly performed by a tight ensemble; inspired direction by Charlotte Westenra; groundbreaking choreography by Steven Harris that takes in puppets too. Most remarkable of all, a larger than life-size puppet as leading man. It is getting well-deserved standing ovations. This second chance to see an extraordinarily original, beautiful and bewitching musical is an opportunity not to be missed.
Whats on stage ★★★★★
“The two-year hiatus has done little to dwindle this production’s magic, as the inaugural winner of the MTI Stiles and Drewe Mentorship award continues to captivate audiences with its imagination… Clark’s music has all the power needed to lift this production to great heights. The start of something truly special has been woven.”
The Stage ★★★★
form
Each of the stories will be presented using a different theatrical form - echoing the shifting styles employed by Carter in the collection. We hope to employ live animation for “The Courtship of Mr Lyon” and our work is heavily inspired by Paper Cinema. Their ability to create detailed beautiful stories, whilst showing the workings of that creation compliments Carter’s self aware creation of reworked familiar stories. In allowing us to see her “workings” we see her desire to remake the patriarchal world. Showing the workings becomes political.
Angela Carter’s work explores the blurred lines between human and animal. We will be exploring the use of puppetry so an audience will see the transformation between the man and beast in front of their eyes. They will be also be able to see the man within the beast as the puppetry reveals its workings. Perhaps we will see the beasts within a human too. Maia Kirkman-Richards will explore the mythological connection between man and beast through the puppetry workshop and bring it into our reimagining of Carter’s work.
Example of Maia’s puppetry direction and making is found below:
Dance will be used throughout the piece to make visible a character’s inner animal desires. Alongside this, the choreography will challenge notions of the feminine and masculine through a usurpation of the traditional “male” and “female” dance steps. Women will lead, men will dance en pointe, women will lift, men will be caught. This constant reexamining of the dance tradition reflects Angela Carter’s reexamining of our traditional folk stories.
The Lady of the House of Love will be told entirely through dance, bringing out its gothic romanticism.
We are Emma influenced by Emma Portner’s 2024 Islands where the stage is shared by two women instead of the heteronormative male/ female partnership and the troop all lift equally throughout:
creative biographies
Charlotte Westenra (adaptor/ director) won the BWW Irish Award for Best Director for Agreement. The play also won Best Play and Best New Play. It was nominated for the International Award at the Stage Awards and Best Play at the UK Theatre Awards. Hillary Clinton said it was “absolutely captivating” and Alastair Campbell named it the “Cultural Event of 2023” on the Rest is Politics podcast.
After training at Augusto Boal’s Centre of the Theatre of the Oppressed in Rio de Janeiro, Charlotte’s career started at the Donmar Warehouse, where she was the Resident Assistant Director between 2004-2005. For the Donmar, she directed Kiss of the Spider Woman and Lower Ninth (for Donmar @ Trafalgar Studios). Charlotte was also associate director on Frost/Nixon to Michael Grandage and Piaf to Jamie Lloyd for both the Donmar West End transfers at the Gielgud and Vaudeville respectively.
Credits include: Agreement by Owen McCafferty at the Lyric Theatre Belfast, Irish Arts Centre, New York and Gate Theatre Dublin; The Wicker Husband by Darren Clark (music and lyrics) and Rhys Jennings (book) (Watermill Theatre); Indecent Proposal by Michael Conley (book and lyrics) and Dylan Schlosberg (music) (Southwark Playhouse); On Hostile Ground by Juliet Gilkes Romero (book), Michael Henry (music) Darren Clark (lyrics) and co-created by Charlotte Westenra (presented online as part of Royal & Derngate’s “Made in Northampton” new musical theatre festival); A room of one’s own by Virginia Woolf, adapted by Linda Marshall Griffiths and staring Nina Sosanya (London Library); The Sorcerer’s Apprentice by Richard Hough (book and lyrics) and Ben Morales Frost (music) (Southwark Playhouse/ Stream.Theatre); Sunset Baby (Gate Theatre); Titanic; Scenes from the British Wreck Commissioner’s Enquiry (Mac, Belfast); 66 books (Bush Theatre); Gladiator Games (Sheffield Studio and Theatre Royal Stratford East); How Long is Never, Bloody Sunday and Justifying War with Nicolas Kent (Tricycle) and Waiting for Lefty (Battersea Arts Centre).
She co-wrote the synopsis for Christopher Wheeldon’s new ballet Strapless for the Royal Opera House. She is currently developing two new ballets.
Charlotte has been recognised for numerous awards: The Wicker Husband was the winner of the inaugural MTI Stiles & Drewe Mentorship Award. It was also selected to be showcased at the prestigious NAMT Festival of New Musicals in New York in 2018. The London Lit Festival in 2021, which featured her film A Room of One’s Own, was highly commended at the FutureBook Event Award.
Darren Clark (lyricist/ composer) is a multi Olivier award winning composer & lyricist working exclusively for the musical theatre. Amongst his many shows are the Olivier and Off West End Award Winning The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, currently playing at The Ambassadors Theatre in London’s West End and the multi award-winning The Wicker Husband which won the inaugural MTI Stiles & Drewe Mentorship Award and was selected for the prestigious NAMT festival in New York. Darren’s love for musicals extends to family theatre having written the music and lyrics for the smash hit productions of The Scarecrows Wedding and The Jolly Christmas Postmanand his wide-ranging and eclectic work also encompasses political musical theatre including the critically acclaimed productions of The Day of the Living and These Trees Are Made of Blood. Darren is also a passionate advocate for new British musicals. Four of his new musicals have been featured in MMD’s BEAM Showcases and he remains an active member of MMD today. He is the founder of New UK Musicals, a website that allows new UK based writers to sell their sheet music and backing tracks to students, performers and fans. As a producer Darren has created the hit community musical theatre project ORDINARY PEOPLE which creates a brand new musical based on the true life stories of local communities. allowing locals to experience a different kind of musical and introducing them to a new generation of writers. Darren’s work has been generously supported by the PRS Open Composer Award, The Peggy Ramsay Foundation Award, The Help Musicians UK Award, the Musical Theatre Executive Trust Award and Arts Council England.
Maia Kirkman-Richards (puppetry director/ designer) work as a puppet Director and Designer, theatre includes: The Artist (Theatre Royal Plymouth); Bear Snores On (Regents Park Open Air Theatre); The Jungle Book (Theatre By The Lake); There’s A Rang-Tan In My Bedroom (Little Angel & National Tour); My Cloud (National Theatre of Qatar); Our Teacher’s A Troll, Peter Pan & The Battle For Neverland (Ruined Theatre); The Butterfly Lion (The Barn Theatre); Ally in Wonderland (Ruined Theatre); A Dickensian Christmas (The Old Library); Look Up (UK Tour); A Stone’s Throw (Edinburgh International Book Festival).
As Puppet Designer, theatre includes: The Sorcerer's Apprentice (Southwark Playhouse); The Wind In The Willows (Turbine/UK Tour); A Squash and a Squeeze, Charlie Cook's Favourite Book, The Further Adventures Of The Owl And The Pussycat, The Slightly Annoying Elephant (Little Angel); Great Apes (Arcola); Jack Frost (Moon On A Stick; Theatre Royal, Norwich/UK Tour); The Dream Factory, Invisible Me (House of Stray Cats; UK Tour); Baby Bear (Moon On A Stick; UK Tour); Meet The Eastenders (Museum of London Docklands); Metamorphosis, The Good Person of Szechwan, Doctor Faustus (Theatrical Niche; UK Tour); Tyke (Edinburgh Fringe Festival).
As Associate/Assistant Puppet Director, theatre includes:Hercules (UK Puppet Associate - Theatre Royal Drury Lane); 101 Dalmatians (Puppetry Associate - Regents Park Open Air Theatre); The Everywhere Bear (Associate Director - Polka Theatre).
As Puppet Maker, theatre includes:My Neighbour Totoro (RSC); 101 Dalmatians (Regents Park Open Air Theatre); Hey Duggee (National Tour); The Magician’s Elephant (RSC); Animal Farm (UK Tour), Doctor Dolittle (UK Tour); The Wizard Of Oz (Birmingham Rep); Beauty and the Beast (Chichester Festival); Mr Poppers Penguins (International Tour); Wolves in the Walls (Little Angel/UK Tour).
As Puppet Maker, television includes: Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared (Channel 4); Gnomus (BBC Proms).
Jane McMurtrie has worked extensively as a Choreographer, Associate Choreographer and Performer on the West End and internationally. Theatre credits include as Associate Choreographer: Footloose (UK Tour) Oklahoma (Chichester Festival Theatre), Fiddler on the Roof (Menier Chocolate Factory & The Playhouse Theatre), The Bodyguard (Stuttgart, South Korea & Vienna), Gypsy (Savoy Theatre), The Producers (International Tour), Legally Blonde (Sydney Lyric, Australia), Groundhog Day (Old Vic), Pure Imagination (St James Theatre).
As Choreographer: Spring Awakening (Edinburgh Fringe), Pop Icons and Soul Show (Marella Cruises), Our House, Ghost, The Wedding Singer, Spring Awakening, 9 to 5 and Violet, (Bernie Grants Arts Centre), Carrie (The Ivy Arts Centre), Snow White and Peter Pan (De Montfort Hall, Leicester), Guy Fawkes the Musical (London Workshop).
As a Performer: Gypsy (Chichester), Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Theatre Royal Drury Lane), Legally Blonde, Carousel (Savoy Theatre), Mary Poppins (Prince Edward Theatre), Footloose (Novello Theatre), On the Town (ENO/ London Coliseum), Tonight’s the Night (Victoria Palace), The Wedding Singer, Annie Get Your Gun, Grease and Oh What a Night (UK Tours).
Anna Kelsey (designer) trained at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. Anna spent a year at the Royal Shakespeare Company as resident assistant designer (2018-2019), is an associate artist at The Watermill Theatre and was shortlisted for the JMK 2023. She is costume designer and associate stage designer on The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, which won best new musical at the Oliviers 2025.
Her work as a set and costume designer includes; Big Blue Sky (New Vic), With Courage (St James’ Theatre), The Wicker Husband (the Watermill Theatre), The Snow Queen, Lark Rise to Candleford (Cheltenham Everyman), The Sorcerer’s Apprentice (Southwark Playhouse.)