This Island's Mine

Philip Osment

• Publisher: Oberon Books
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9781786827562
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: LGBT Studies
• Index: Social Sciences

1988. THATCHER'S BRITAIN. Seventeen-year-old Luke runs away to London – away from homophobic playground slurs, headlines that scream 'Don't Teach Our Children To Be Gay' and a family who wouldn't understand him – to Uncle Martin, who he once saw with his arms around another man at a march. In the capital, Mark is sacked because of fears about colleagues working with 'someone like him'. His boyfriend, Selwyn, faces being beaten up both by the police and at home by his own stepbrother. Meanwhile, Debbie battles with her son, who doesn't want to live with her and her girlfriend. And retired piano teacher Miss Rosenblum – who once found refuge in this country from a terror that swept away half her family in 1930s Vienna – has seen this sort of hatred and fear before. Soon, these individual stories – of first loves and old flames, alliances and abandonment, missed opportunities and new chances – intertwine to paint a vivid picture of Eighties Britain. This Island's Mine was originally performed by Gay Sweatshop in 1988. Now, three decades after the introduction of Section 28 banning positive representations of homosexuality, Philip Osment's passionate and lyrical play, of outsiders, exiles and refugees, is all too resonant.

This Island’s Mine was revived by Ardent Theatre Company at the King’s Head Theatre in London. The production opened on 17 May 2019 with the following cast and creative team:

Cast

MARTIN/STEPHEN/PROSPERO Theo Fraser Steele

SELWYN/DAVE Corey Montague-Sholay

JODY/MME IRINA/DEBBIE/WAYNE Rachel Summers

MARIANNE/MAGGIE/MIRANDA Rebecca Todd

MISS ROSENBLUM/VLADIMIR Jane Bertish

MARK/THE DIRECTOR/FRANK Tom Ross-Williams

LUKE Connor Bannister

Creative Team

DIRECTOR & DESIGNER Philip Wilson

LIGHTING DESIGN Rachel E Cleary

SOUND DESIGN Dinah Mullen

COSTUME SUPERVISOR Bronya Arciszewska

ASSISTANT DIRECTOR Alexandria Anfield

ASSISTANT SOUND DESIGN Sepy Baghaei

SCENIC ARTIST Natasha Shepherd

PRODUCTION MANAGER Toby Burbidge

STAGE MANAGER Stevie Wren

ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER Chloe Brown

PRODUCERS Mark Sands, Andrew Muir

PRESS & PUBLIC RELATIONS Kate Morley PR

PUBLICITY IMAGE Curtis Holder

Ardent Theatre Company would like to thank the following for their generous donations: Richard O’Brien, Anthony Field CBE, John Causebrook FRSA and Gary Donaldson of Anthony Field Associates, Juan Carlos Vieira De Gouveia, David Harris, Dr James McCarthy, Philip Hedley and Dr David George.

Thanks, also, to: Philip Osment, Adam Spreadbury-Maher and all the King’s Head Theatre team, James Hogan, Charles Glanville, Max Vickers and James Illman of Oberon Books, Martin Prendergast, Jessica Curtis, Tom Rogers, Johanna Town, Lucy-Pitman-Wallace, Sally Collier, Sophie Acreman, Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch, Costume Collective, Claire Nicolas, Lamda, Cancer Research UK Turnham Green, Richard Sandells, Kate Owen, Tierl Thompson, Miranda Yates, Stonewall, The Albert Kennedy Trust, Pride in London, Christopher Kenna and Dean Evans of Brand Advance, Stagetext, Holly at Cuckoo Bang Studio, Louise Hill, David Moorst, Jo Herbert, Michael Matus, Ony Uhiara, Paul Keating, Jez Bond and Boundless Theatre.

Captioned performance on Friday 31 May 2019 by Miranda Yates, supported by the Almeida Theatre.

CAST, in alphabetical order

Connor Bannister LUKE

Connor trained at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts.

Theatre credits include: Covering Paul McCartney in Let It Be (UK Tour) and Steve Marriott in All or Nothing (West End); A Theory of Justice: The Musical Workshop (Deus Ex Machina); Prince Jagger in Sleeping Beauty (Chipping Norton Theatre); Floyd Collins (Wilton’s Music Hall) and as Martin Treves in A Month of Sundays (Kate McGregor).

Theatre during training includes: Oberon in A Midsummer Night’s Dream; Gilbert Worthy in Lockhart; Chauffeur/Zinnowitz in Grand Hotel; Ben Butler in Living Quarters; Lysander in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Young Walsingham/Pearce in Half a Sixpence.

Vocal credits include: Everybody’s Talking About Jamie Demo (Jonathan Butterell) and A Theory if Justice Cast Album (Deux Ex Machina).

Jane Bertish MISS ROSENBLUM/VLADIMIR

Theatre credits include: Richard III (Arcola Theatre); Richard III, Duchess of Malfi (West Yorkshire Playhouse); A Round Heeled Woman (Riverside Studios/West End); The Syndicate (Chichester Festival Theatre/Tour); House Of Bernarda Alba (Almeida Theatre); Tales From Vienna Woods (National Theatre); Nicholas Nickleby (Chichester/West End); A Family Affair (Arcola Theatre); The White Devil, The Milktrain Doesn’t Stop Here Anymore (Lyric Hammersmith); Gertrude the Cry, Hurts Given And Received (Riverside Studios); The Last Supper, 7 Lears, Golgo (Royal Court); Mother Courage (Mermaid Theatre); Phaedra, Conversations with my Father (Old Vic); Anatol, Walpurgisnacht (Gate Theatre); A Bright Room Called Day (Bush Theatre); Oedipus (Lyceum Theatre); Judith (Traverse/BAC/ European Tour) plus many productions for The Glasgow Citizens Theatre and Birmingham Rep.

Television credits include: Emerald City (NBC); Apple Tree Yard (BBC); Black Mirror (Netflix); You Me and the Apocalypse (NBC); Sensitive Skin (BBC); My Dad’s the Prime Minister (BBC); Lewis (ITV); Rosemary’s Baby (NBC); The Reef (HBO); The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone (Showtime).

Theo Fraser Steele MARTIN/STEPHEN/PROSPERO

Theatre credits include: Don Quixote (West End); Jeeves & Wooster in Perfect Nonsense, Sense & Sensibility, Single Spies (Theatre by the Lake); Doctor Faustus, The Alchemist, Don Quixote (RSC); Woman in Mind (Salisbury Playhouse); Bloody Sunday / Guantanamo (Tricycle Theatre & West End); The Drowned World (Traverse Theatre & The Bush Theatre); Outside Now / The Moment Is A Gift (Prada Institute, Milan); The Importance of Being Earnest (Australian Tour & West End); Skylight (National Theatre & West End); The Shallow End (Royal Co...