Jake's Women

by Neil Simon

Directed by Lily Ann Green

Tuesday June 28th - Saturday July 2nd, 2011

The Tower Theatre performing at the Bridewell Theatre

On Thursday June 30th, in a first for a Tower Theatre production, the performance was interpreted in British Sign Language (by Bibi Lacey-Davidson and Paul Michaels).




Cast :
Jake : Michael Mayne
Maggie : Jane Dodd
Karen : Anna Dimdore
Molly12 : Charlotte Adams
Molly21 : Stephanie Urquhart
Edith : Meryl Griffiths
Julie : Louisa Norman
Sheila : Jennifer Quinn

Director : Lily Ann Green
Assistant Director : Adam Taylor
Set Design : Lily Ann Green & Adam Taylor
Costume Design : Karen Walker & Simona Hughes
assisted by members of the company
Lighting Design : Robert Irvine
Sound Design : Stephen Ley
Stage Manager : Neil Christie
Deputy Stage Manager : Jasmine Embrechts
Lighting Operator : Giulia Bertolini
Sound Operators : Adam Taylor, Chris Holmes
Chaperone : Jacqui Adams
Set Construction : Michael Bettell, Keith Syrett, Jude Chalk & members of the cast and crew



Michael Mayne has performed with the Tower for a year having played the title role in Julius Caesar last year and more recently Sidney in Smells of Wee. Over the last five years he has also acted with in other companies, with parts ranging from a boy in Blue Remembered Hills, a drunken lawyer in Family Affairs to Shylock in The Merchant of Venice and Fred in Fred & Madge.
Michael is a classically trained actor. As a child he attended the CORONA stage school, and then went on to the London Academy of Music and Drama Art (LAMDA) where he gained an MA Hons diploma.
He worked in the professional theatre for 20 years before family commitments moved him into the commercial world; now those commitments are fulfilled he is working his way back into the Business.
He has a dark secret : "think confectionery" !

Jane Dodd's theatre credits include leads in Airswimming (Hen & Chickens Theatre), 4Play (Lilian Bayliss Theatre), Colder than Here (Courtyard Theatre), Widows (Arcola Theatre) and Make You Mine (Soho Theatre).
Jane trained at E15 Acting School, The Actors’ Temple, London and Meisner Centre, LA.
Jane lives in Battersea, but is originally from Lancashire. She worked extensively in financing in the private sector before training as an actor. She also has military experience having been an Officer in the Territorial Army and the Regular Army reaching the rank of Major.
Jane has written her first play, Super Manic and her first screenplay, Angel Cake, both of which are currently in development.

Meryl Griffiths studied drama at ALRA and toured for some years before merging theatre with business and becoming a presentation skills trainer. A Tower member since 1998, she is developing a good line in psychiatrists – previously Dr Eve Bollinger in Sordid Lives – as well as those who may or may not be completely barking mad - Jessica in Hysteria and Bertha in Jane Eyre. Other favourites include Mrs Mercy in The Killing of Sister George, Grace in Faith Healer, Winsome in Bombshells and most recently Mrs Robinson in The Graduate.

Louisa Norman joined the Tower in 2007 and has since appeared in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, The York Realist, Blood Wedding and Lark Rise , touring to Minack in summer 2010. She recently played Lady Macduff in the Tower's production of Macbeth at St Leonard's and in Paris. She is also a member of the Questors where she recently enjoyed taking part in the Open Stages RSC workshop. She has a BA in drama from the University of Wales and was also a member of The Questors student group from 2007-9. In her spare time Louisa enjoys travelling, playing the saxophone and reviewing London theatre for Offwestend.com.

Jennifer Quinn studied acting at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute, New York, where she performed in I Am A Camera, Crimes of The Heart and Boy's Life. In London, she has worked on radio, short films and most recently performed in Proof for the Tower Theatre Company having joined the Company 8 months ago.

Anna Dimdore was active in university theatre in plays ranging from Aristophanes to Douglas Adams, though it may have been her role as a cardboard rhinoceros that prompted her to take a 15 year break from the stage. Since her return she has played roles such as Tessa in Funeral Games, Linda in Play it Again Sam, Mary in The Memory of Water and Eva in Absurd Person Singular. She has also directed Twelfth Night and co-directed The Memory of Water. This is her first production with the Tower Theatre having joined the company in March.

A member since 2010, this will be Stephanie Urquhart’s first full length production with the Tower Theatre Company, having taken part in the rehearsed reading of Vanity Fair earlier this year. With other companies in London she has appeared in An Experiment with an Air Pump (Isobel Bridie), Gross Indecency (Wood), Fox Girl Five (Chloe), An Actor's Nightmare (Ellen Terry), The Lonesome West (Girleen Kelleher) and not forgetting Molly (12) in a previous production of Jake’s Women.

Charlotte Adams is excited and nervous about making her Tower - and stage! - debut with Jake's Women, after appearing in several short films and music videos. In her spare time she likes to sing and play music, and is a keen writer. She's particularly chuffed to be working alongside her "Partner In Crime", Stephanie Urquhart.