by Frances Hodgson Burnett adapted by Elizabeth Newman. Directed by Emily Hassan.
Wednesday 22 – Friday 24 October and
Wednesday 29 – Friday 31 October at 7.30pm
Saturdays 25 October and 1 November at 6pm
Matinées on Saturday 25 October*, Sunday 26 October and Saturday 1 November at 2pm.
At the Tower Theatre, Stoke Newington
I’ve stolen a garden. It isn’t mine. It isn’t anybody’s.
When orphan, Mary Lennox, comes to live at Misselthwaite Manor on the Yorkshire Moors, she finds it full of secrets. Left to her own devices, she wanders the grounds and, with the help of a friendly robin, discovers a garden that has been locked for years.
Published in 2023 and heralded as an ‘enriching, affirmative show’, this new adaptation of a much-loved children’s classic employs music, movement and puppetry to create a nostalgic, family-friendly piece, complete with a sense of magic.
Running Time: 90 minutes including a 15 minute interval
Buy Tickets
Wednesday 22 October at 7.30pm
Thursday 23 October at 7.30pm
Friday 24 October at 7.30pm
Saturday 25 October at 2pm
Saturday 25 October at 6pm
Sunday 26 October at 2pm
Wednesday 29 October at 7.30pm
Thursday 30 October at 7.30pm
Friday 31 October at 7.30pm
Saturday 1 November at 2pm
Saturday 1 November at 6pm
* The chilled performance on Saturday 25 October at 2pm will take a more casual approach to noise and movement in the auditorium, but the performance itself will not be changed. It is ideal for people who feel more at ease knowing they can go in and out of the auditorium during the show. This performance is for everybody, including people with dementia, SEN children and young adults, and babes in arms are welcome.
Cast
Mary Lennox : Eloise McCreedy
Dickon Sowerby : Pablo Tranchell
Colin Craven : Morgan Buckley
Martha Sowerby : Imogen Front
Mrs Medlock : Emma Cornford
Ben Weatherstaff : Jonathan Norris
Mr Craven : Michael Hopkins
Robin/Ensemble : Irina Daw, Jacquie Cassidy, Ivy Thorne, Joe Davidson
Production Team
Director : Emily Hassan
Set Design : Phillip Ley
Costume Design : Christine Bowmaker & Kate Els
Lighting Design : Stephen Ley
Sound Design : Kseniia Vengsar
Stage Manager : Sarah Ambrose
Assistant Director : Mark Joyce
ASM : Ruth Sanderson
Lighting Operator : Jizelle Patah
Sound Operator : Kseniia Vengsar
Accent Coach : Rob Ellis
Set build and get-in : Masi Nagdee, Piers Haines, Alex Burton, Sumair Shakh, Max Maxwell, Keith Syrett, Jacqueline Knight, Megan Stretton
Photography by Giulia Paratelli
 This is Eloise McCreedy‘s sixth show with the Tower Theatre and she is very excited to be performing the role of Mary Lennox in The Secret Garden. Eloise graduated from the Victorian College of the Arts in Melbourne with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatre. Her credits include Patricia Milligan in London Wall (Tower Theatre), Trudi in Apologia (Putney Theatre Company), Becky in An IQ Test For My Birthday (Tower Theatre), Sibyl in Private Lives (Richmond Shakespeare Society), Sonya in Crime and Punishment (Tower Theatre), Grace in The Dark Room (Tower Theatre), Shirley in Hangmen (Tower Theatre) and most recently, Harriet Smith in Emma (Questors Theatre). |
 Pablo Tranchell first performed at the Tower Theatre in the 2018 production of To Kill A Mockingbird as Jem, and the year after that as Alan Turing’s young Greek lover in Breaking The Code – before leaving London to study Film Production at Anglia Ruskin University in 2020. Now graduated, this will be their first show back at the Tower, and first return to acting in six years. While Pablo’s current focus is film, theatre has been a big part of their life, with many childhood years spent performing with Angel Shed Children’s Theatre and taking part in the Shakespeare School’s Festival, taking on roles such as Hamlet, Macbeth, Henry V, and Apemantus in Timon of Athens. Pablo also did their Work Experience at the Tower Theatre, having fond memories of constructing a picket fence in the parking lot, as well as working with Sarah Ley on film screenings at the Tower. |
 Morgan Buckley was first introduced to acting through the drama society in University College Dublin, where he appeared in over a dozen shows over two years. He then went on to perform with several Dublin-based theatre companies and has performed in festivals in Dublin, Belfast, and Cork. Since moving to London, he has acted in short films and is currently training at the London Meisner Company. Some past productions include Shakespeare in Love, The Importance of Being Earnest and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. |
 Imogen Front trained at Central School of Speech and Drama, and has acted in a range of stage productions, including Dahling You Were Marvellous, The God of Carnage, Present Laughter and A Woman of No Importance. She also has extensive audio experience, with roles in The Shell Seekers and Chicken Soup with Barley for BBC Radio 4, 1984 for Audible, and most recently, several audiobooks for the RNIB, including Tia Fisher’s Not Going to Plan. The Secret Garden will be her second performance at the Tower, following her role as Meg in The Chimes. She also assistant directed Black Men Walking this autumn. Imogen is thrilled to be a part of The Secret Garden, and to be directed by Emily Hassan, the Olivia to her Viola. |
 Emma Cornford has appeared at the Tower in Death and the Maiden, A Ten Minute Play About Rosemary’s Baby, All That Fall, That Almost Unnameable Lust, The Railway King, Crime and Punishment and, most recently, Moby Dick. She is also an assistant artistic director at the Tower. Emma has been teaching Drama in London comprehensives for many years and currently works in a secondary school in Walthamstow. |
 The Secret Garden seems to be the 75th production to have ensnared Jonathan Norris in his 33 years of membership… He has acted (Thomas Boleyn in Wolf Hall, Inspector Hubbard in Dial M For Murder, Alfred Doolittle in Pygmalion amongst many others), music-directed (A Little Night Music and Guys and Dolls), and written and/or played musical additions on keyboard or trombone. He has happy memories of playing Ernest in Bedroom Farce; arranging and Music-Directing Nell Gwynn; playing Sorin in The Seagull in the new Tower’s first season (2018); and Mr Walker in London Wall in 2022. Recently he has added sound and lighting operation to his repertoire, and (with crucial help here and there) provided the music for last year’s Christmas offering The Chimes, in its first theatrical production. |
 Michael Hopkins is appearing in his second show at the Tower Theatre, having previously acted (and sung) in Shakespeare in Love. He started out as a student actor, and has since been an active member of theatre groups in North and East London over many years, in roles as diverse as Polonius (Hamlet), Pastor Manders (Ghosts), Tim (Ten Times Table), Stephen Blackpool (Hard Times) and Chanticleer (The Canterbury Tales). More recently he has appeared in group-devised productions with the Park Theatre Company, Finsbury Park, and has also acted in versions of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Widows, and The Crucible, as well as in new pieces from established playwrights Martin Murphy and Billie Esplen. |
 Irina Daw Benchelef is appearing in her first rehearsed play at the Tower Theatre. She has moved from Co. Clare Ireland 6 months ago to pursue her acting dream. She is currently studying at All In Actors doing a 1 year acting course. She has been involved in a Musical Society back in Ireland and was a part of the musical Sister Act. She is very excited to begin her acting journey with the very talented cast and crew at the Tower Theatre and give it all she’s got! |
 Jacquie Cassidy returned to acting in 2018. Tower audiences may recognise her as Viv from Escaped Alone, and she has played Mary Warren in The Crucible and Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream with the Park Theatre Company. Other roles include God in The Nativity and Kathleen in Home (both with Incognito Theatre) and 2nd Messenger in The Bacchae and the Nurse in Romeo and Juliet (South London Theatre). |
 Ivy Thorne is a London-based multi-disciplinary artist working across theatre, dance and film. With a strong background in musical theatre, Ivy has performed in A Pirate Queen (SEDOS), High School Musical: On Stage!, Disney’s The Little Mermaid (BAT) and Mamma Mia! (Savoyards). Other stage credits include A Midsummer Night’s Dream (4MBS) and The Land Mine is Me (Elsewhere Theatre). On Screen, Ivy appears in indie films, What we Leave Behind and Dick Punch and is always looking for new ways to explore performance across different media. This is Ivy’s first production with the Tower and with a collaborative mindset and a love for creative challenges, she is excited to keep growing and connecting through the arts. |
 The Secret Garden marks Joe Davidson‘s first performance with the Tower Theatre. An enthusiastic actor from a young age, he first found his passion for performing through school musicals and youth theatres and was soon hooked. During his university degree, he spent as much time on the stage as he did in his studies, directing and producing his own projects and taking plays such as The Seven Second Theory to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. His credits include Duke Orsino/Maria in Twelfth Night, the Thane of Cawdor in Macbeth, Danny in Grease, and Fagin in Oliver!. |
 Emily Hassan has been involved in several shows with the Tower over the last two years, including acting in The Mirror Crack’d and The Real Inspector Hound, and operating lighting for Flare Path. Before joining the company, favourite roles included Medea, Helena in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Varya in The Cherry Orchard. She really enjoyed assistant directing on The Chimes last December and is therefore very excited to make her directorial debut with The Secret Garden. She hopes to do it justice, having loved the book as a child. |