Cast and Crew
Debbie Bridge
Anita Boult/Producer
I’m Debbie Bridge and I live to inspire confidence, power and truth. I have performed for British royalty, children, at Abbey Road Studios, the Savoy Theatre and to people on the London Underground.
I’m a traveler at heart. I’m pleased that singing has taken me to Europe, South Africa, North America and Australia, but I never know where I’m going next, sound nuts, I know, but that’s the life of a singer. You never know when the next gig is coming or where?
I’ve spoofed an operatic Princess Leia, have been a water pistol, raffle ticket selling gay cabaret singer (don’t tell my husband!), sung in the West End and I’ve coerced, with my song, sparkling wine from picnicking audience members.
My favourite moments when singing are when I can see someone moved to tears because of the incredible connection I get to make when performing. My favourite response after a gig has been, ‘I managed to put my fork into my cheek (twice) and bit my tongue.’
So that’s the effect I want to have on everyone who sees my work, that amazing bond that can only be shared by a singer and her audience.
It moves lives.
Come investigate yours!
Debbie's website, click here.
To watch Debbie's thoughts/process for Miss Givings, click here.
Nicholas Quirke
Director
Artistic Director of the Droll and Folly Theatre and the Festival Shakespeare Company, Nicholas Quirke joined the team of Miss Givings after working with Debbie on 'Much Ado About Nothing'
which would, according FringeGuru, ‘rank high on a list of best outdoor Shakespeare ever‘. He has directed film as well.
Nicholas has always had a huge love of the musical genre and this was a chance for him to bring his extensive work as a director of plays to this medium. His approach to this piece was to see it as a play with music which tells a story rather than how these musical pieces would often be seen in concert format only.
To watch Nicholas' thoughts/process for Miss Givings, click here.
Robert Cohen
Playwright
Born and briefly raised in London before being emigrated to America, Robert lived first in Dayton, Ohio, then San Diego, California, before the Cohen family re-crossed the “pond”, and he did the rest of his upgrowing in Eastbourne. He studied at the University of East Anglia and now lives in the city of Brighton & Hove.
He has written and performed four one-man shows: The Death of Nelson (a political tragicomedy set over 18 years between the high tide of Thatcherism and the dawn of New Labour); The Trials of Harvey Matusow (true tale of a McCarthyite supergrass – winner of the FringeReview Outstanding Theatre Award); High Vis, a dark traffic comedy about a warden under siege from an airgun-wielding stalker; and the Argus Angel-winning Something Rotten, a re-working of Hamlet seen from the viewpoint of the Prince’s Uncle Claudius.
Other writing projects include Propaganda (a play about Shakespeare, the Earl of Essex and the latter's revolt against Elizabeth I), the novel-in-progress Architecture For Beginners, and The Ragged Regiment, winner of the Sussex Playwrights' New Play Competition.
Robert's website, click here
To watch Robert's process/thoughts, click here.
Peta Taylor
Costume Designer
Having designed for Festival Shakespeare Company and Droll and Folly Theatre, my costume work usually takes inspiration from classic film, art movements and vintage fashion; Miss Givings was a gift.
The movie-stars & characters that she might dream about (plus an actor's charity-shop-habit and dressing-up-box wardrobe) provide Anita Boult with a different diva or ditz every day. Of course, ultimately, she has to find her own style.
Peta's website, click here.
Jenny Rowe
Puppeteer
Jen trained at ACT Brighton and now teaches there on a regular basis. Her credits include dreamthinkspeak (Underground) and Fringe-first nominated Bite-size Plays. She has toured with The Foundry Group and played Ero in The Widow’s Tears for the Shakespeare’s Globe ‘Read Not Dead’ series. She is an actor, voiceover artist, writer and teacher, having worked with the BAFTA nominated Treason Show Productions and can be seen as a hula-hooping, crash-helmet-wearing starlet walkabout act for Twisted Dreams at various festivals.
As an improviser, she has toured with Fluxx, performs with Impromptu Shakespeare, plays two-person improv (Two Seats Four Cheeks) with Lloydie James Lloyd and once won £2.38 during an ‘improv-off’ in a Ken Campbell workshop. She has trained at Secondcity and Annoyance, teaches Improv for Creative Writing and has two writing projects on the go: a sitcom pilot and a one-woman show about an SF writer. Yeah, she’s busy.
Jenny's website, click here.
Show Details
Technical Requirements
Need soundboard or some facility to play a CD and plug sockets. We can provide our own technician, but this may not always be feasible, so may require one. Also, prefer venues which have lighting, but this isn’t a must. We prefer blackout, but it is a very flexible show, as it’s been created for small-scale touring in mind. A pianist can be hired for the show with or without a keyboard, depending on what is possible and the budget.
Target Audience
13 to adult; urban arts eclectic, fun, fashion, and friends & mature explorers – as outlined in the arts council document, ‘Arts Audiences: Insight’
Accessibility
The show works for any level of physical accessibility which the venue is able to provide. We do not have any support for the hearing or visually impaired.
Wraparound
Financial Deal
Workshops can be on singing or acting. Content can be adapted, for example, different age groups, but core aims are: to encourage participation in performing arts and build self-esteem, confidence, leadership and teamwork.
Please send through an email for further details and costs to hire this show. Click here!
Full Reviews
“Overall this is a genuinely warming piece of musical theatre delivered with skill and panache by Bridge. It stays confident in its calmness and the hour glides by. Debbie Bridge carries off all the well-chosen songs. Without microphone, she’s raw, real live and spot on.
Nocturne was stupendous and where all elements of the show converged: powerful and poised command of a difficult song, sensitive and economic direction, sandwiched between some enjoyable and playful monologue and breaking down of the fourth wall.” – Reviewed by Paul Levy, Fringe Review (4 stars)
“Miss Givings is every wide-eyed performer’s story – from the delight in exercising your talent, through the nerves and excitement of auditions, to the deflating self-doubt that accompanies not getting picked. The stinging realisation that your past victories have been modest coupled with the almost excruciating thrill of sharing your true self onstage culminates in a bittersweet denouement.
An adept storyteller, Bridge is likable and ebullient, versatile and purposeful in bringing tragicomic Anita to life. If you’ve ever slept in your tap shoes, belted a Babs-Judy-Liza medley in the shower or were picked last for every sport, Miss Givings should take pride of place on your festival agenda; a perfectly pleasant way to spend an evening.” – Reviewed by Amy Holtz, Broadway Baby (4 stars)
“Debbie Bridge doesn’t need to prove anything. Her track record in opera and the West End are enough for anyone.
But still, she has enough time to put together an impressive list of songs from the Great American Songbook to delight tiny audiences. It has the feel of a labour of love because otherwise why such an accomplished performer would be prepared to stand up in front of no more than 20 people at Lovibonds and belt out Gershwin, Copland and Bernstein?
Nevertheless, she does and we are grateful. There are other singers making a living with a microphone these days who would kill for her ability in the lower range. When she’s up in the soprano register we get the full benefit of a set of lungs probably able to power spacecraft. These songs come from some of the great American musicals including West Side Story when her There’s A Place For Us brought a lump to this reviewer’s throat.
And she can act, really act, not a token bit of speaking as a subsidiary to her singing. It was a hot early evening at Lovibonds and Debbie was dressed in a velvet skirt and various costume changes included coats and other uncomfortable attire. Not a word of complaint or comment was passed about the conditions.
Top professionalism from every quarter.” – Reviewed by Mike Rowbottom, Henley Standard - highly recommend