Office romance... Should work and play ever mix?

Sunday 16 February 2020

A manager is set to take to the stage to grill her employee on the thorny topic of inter-colleague relationships next week.

Rhona Richards and Annigna Kennedy will be at Jersey Opera House Studio at 19:30 19 to 22 February for four performances of ‘Contractions’, a dark comedy by Mike Bartlett developed from a radio play.

Inspired by real-life ‘love clauses’, which dictate the nature and extent of office relationships, the play features only two characters: a manager and an employee. 

The latter finds her personal life coming under increasing scrutiny after beginning a relationship with a colleague. 

Pictured: Annigna Kennedy and Rhona Richards play Emma and the manager.

“I first heard Contractions on the radio and it was a play that absolutely gripped me,” Rhona said. “It has a very simple premise, a series of meetings between an employee and her manager, but the narrative takes you on a journey that is funny, absurd and ultimately very shocking. 

“Contractions questions just how much someone might willingly surrender to remain in employment. If you're the kind of person who enjoyed the Black Mirror series you'll love Contractions.”

‘Contractions’ is the second production for Feisty Goat Theatre Company, which Rhona founded in 2018 “to provide a vehicle for local theatre makers who have trained and worked professionally to showcase their work”.

“It’s a contemporary play with a very modern staging,” Rhona said. “It's the kind of play that you don't often get the opportunity to see in Jersey."

Pictured: ‘Contractions’ is a Mike Bartlett’s comedy developed from a radio play.

“It's also unusual in that we've commissioned original lighting and sound for the production. Local composer, Christina Orchard, has created an original sound design and Jersey-based photographer and videographer, Andrew Whitehouse is our lighting designer. Paul Ahier, a Sound Technology graduate, will be our sound technician.”

Like Feisty Goat’s first production, ‘Two’, ‘Contractions’ only features two actors - “a conscious choice” forced upon the company by its small budget. While the company hopes to put on a larger scale production in the future, they are now concentrating on plays “that work well in a studio venue".

Rhona and Annigna will be acting under the direction of Alice Bravery, who trained as a Theatre Maker and Actor at York University and previously worked as a producer for ArtHouse Jersey.

“We'd talked about working on a project together and I knew that she'd be a great director for Contractions,” Rhona said. “Alice was responsible for bringing Annigna and I together. We met when we were 'models' (in the loosest sense of the word!) for an ArtHouse Drink and Draw event. I was dressed as Miss Haversham and made-up to look a hundred years old and Annigna was a very glamorous 20s flapper. We were clearly meant to work together!  

“Alice was offered a place at the prestigious Curious School of Puppetry in Cornwall so Emma O'Prey has joined us as a dramaturg for the last few weeks of rehearsal. Emma is Head of Performing Arts at Hautlieu School so brings a huge amount of knowledge to the rehearsal space.  

"It's been great to be able to collaborate with such an experienced and talented group of people.”