About RoguePlay

Where did the name RoguePlay come from?

After a few painful hours of throwing very quickly dismissed ideas around, as well as trawling through the thesaurus, we decided the two words 'Rogue' and 'Play' best express our vision and our work. They communicate our urge to push theatrical boundaries and stir up conventional ways of watching and engaging an audience in performance. Really, we're just lovable rogues, playing around!

What's RoguePlay's history?

RoguePlay was established from a piece of work entitled 'Finders/Keepers', written by Kim Charnock and Lorna Meehan. Kim is the Artistic Director of the Company and studied at De Montfort University in Leicester. Whilst Kim was still a University she created a Company called Kiss My Face Theatre, devising and performing for venues as well as delivering work in education. Lorna joined Kiss My Face Theatre in 2007 as a faciltator in education. The creative collaboration took off and together they wrote the very popular show, 'Portait Of An Actress As...' an autobiographical collection of comedy sketches about the trials and tribulations of life on the stage. Kiss My Face Theatre also undertook a large amount of education work and is very well known in the Leicester area for its workshops and projects, and has worked with Creative Partnerships, the City Council and a number of other arts organisations and companies. The education work was growing and growing, which was great, but now Kim felt she needed to concentrate on performance work. Kiss My Face Theatre still runs in Leicester but the focus on performance has culminated in the new company 'RoguePlay Theatre'. Lorna Meehan still writes with Kim as part of RoguePlay and both now based permanently in Birmingham. RoguePlay has been in Birmingham since 2008 and have successfully managed and re-named The Custard Factory Theatre, now known as The Mixing Bowl, delivered a large number of educational projects, taken over the Birmingham branch of The Young Actors Company, become the Associate Company of the South Birmingham College and developed a number of new works which have performed and toured.  

Why Birmingham?

After about six years in Leicester, a new location and a new set of audiences and challenges were needed to develop new work, and Birmingham had a lot to offer in terms of venues, a diversity of other local companies, and a vibrant creative arts scene. Its also only a hop, skip and jump from Leicester so it just seemed the next logical step.

Do you work in education?

Yes. We offer workshops, projects and residencies in schools and the community, and can accomodate our working practices to whatever subjects/themes need to be explored. We work through Drama, Physical Theatre, Comedy Improvisation, Spoken Word, Capoeira and Creative Writing, and have delivered projects across the educational spectrum. To book us for a workshop or to find out more about our educational packages, please take a look at the education page or contact us.

How can I get involved with RoguePlay?

RoguePlay bring in other actors/practitioners in various capacities, both for performance and educational work. Because of this we welcome information from actors and theatre workers so you can always e mail us or post a CV with headshot, plus a short letter explaining how you would like to be involved. We make every effort to reply to everyone.

Do you tour?

Yes, we do. We recently toured various fringe festivals throughout Britain and are currently planning to tour a new piece called 'Climbing The Walls' which will be performed in July and August of 2011.