Centuries after their deaths, a mother and her two daughters reunite for the fist time to come to terms with their wounds, their writing, and their reverberations through history. Mary's Daughters tells the story of Mary Wollstonecraft, the 18th Century intellectual radical, and mother of Western feminism, along with her two daughters: the forgotten-by- history, illegitimate love-child Fanny Imlay, and the infinitely more famous, author of Frankenstein, Mary Shelley. This feminist ghost story plunges the audience into a fluid, poetic, whirlwind tour through the lives, legacies, and times of these three incredible women. Shaped and misshapen by each other, they swap stories and memories, each intercutting and challenging the narrative offered by another. We hear the tireless writings of a genius out of her time, two sisters trying to reconcile the emotional wounds only families can create, and the birth of an iconic monster on the shores of lake Geneva. This play, written by Kaya Bucholc and Will Wallace, is a rallying cry for a world that centres radical kindness above all things.
This is the first co-production between BiLLO Studio and Little Lion Theatre Company. BiLLO Studio is a London production company that centres real people and real craft; specialising in stories on screen, this is BiLLO’s first venture into the world of theatre. Little Lion Theatre Company is a Canadian Theatre company in London that works to bring Canadian content to British stages.
As well, this is the first play from Kaya Bucholc and Will Wallace. Kaya is a Canadian actor/writer living in London, whose favourite work takes inspiration from classical texts, untold stories from the past, and frames them in a modern context, especially when these stories are brought to life with movement-based work and physical storytelling. Will has been an aspiring writer since he was 13, and is an English teacher living in Toronto, Canada, but began his life at the Queen Charlotte Hospital in Hammersmith, London. Working together for the first time, their blend of academic rigour and artistic creative writing has been both rewarding and inspiring, with a depth and richness being created by their combined styles.
Venue: The Space, London Dates: March 19th-30th
Little Lion and BiLLO are grateful for the support of the Arts Council of England in making this project happen. We have also partnered with You Make It, the award winning race and class inclusion charity based in inner city London. You Make It empowers unemployed and underemployed women to access the social, cultural and economic life of their city. For more information on this incredible charity click here.
Production Photos from Mary's Daughters, The Space, 2024
Bios of Cast and Creative Team
Kaya Bucholc, Playwright and Fanny Imlay
Originally from Toronto, Canada, Kaya moved to the UK to complete her master's degree in classical acting at LAMDA (2018). Since graduating, she has continued to live and work in London, appearing in the award winning production of The House of Yes at The Hope Theatre (2019), and Will & Co.'s Bard in the Yard, a touring solo show about William Shakespeare (2020, 2021, 2022, 2023). Kaya also had the pleasure of meeting and working with Little Lion Theatre for the first time this past summer, playing Portia in Portia’s Julius Caesar, at The Dell in Stratford-Upon-Avon and is beyond thrilled to be back in this role at The Space this April. In recent years, Kaya has enjoyed exploring writing and creating her own work, leading to several scripts for both stage and screen, and is very excited to be sharing Mary's Daughters, her first full length play to be produced.
Will Wallace, Playwright
Will Wallace has been an aspiring writer since he was 13. This is his first play and first playwriting collaboration, if you don't count several high school musical scripts. He is an English teacher living in Toronto, but began his life at the Queen Charlotte Hospital in Hammersmith. He is a co-founder of the Young Writers' Conference at the Toronto International Festival of Authors.
Megan Carter, Mary Wollstonecraft
Megan Carter is an American actor and writer based in London. She holds a BA in Theatre from Loyola University Chicago and an MA in Classical Acting from LAMDA. Favourite stage roles include Kate in Kate Crackernuts (No Drama Theatre), Cressida in Troilus and Cressida (LAMDA), and Evil Gabbi/Farrah in She Kills Monsters (Loyola). She has voiced characters in the audio dramas That Vampire Show (Tandon Productions), Gower Hall (11th Hour Audio), Accipiter (Dir. Joe Vevers) and also participated in the writers room for upcoming series Over, Under, Even from Tandon Productions. When not working, Megan enjoys dancing, museums, and roller coasters.
Rachael Reshma, Mary Shelley
Rachael trained at East 15. Credits include: Theatre: Maryland (Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch), The Seagull (Tower Theatre), Scandalous (Leicester Square Theatre), One P**ed Off Renter (Battersea Arts Centre). Film: The Three Musketeers Audio: The Unicorn Academy 1, 2 and 3, Aphrodite and the Duke.
Kay Brattan, Director
Kay is a director, dramaturg, producer, and actor from Toronto, Canada. Kay’s theatre training comes from the prestigious Theatre Performance programme at Humber College in Toronto where she studied as an actor. Kay is a graduate of East 15’s Directing Programme where she was awarded an MA with distinction in theatre directing. She has also studied with GITIS International in Moscow, Russia, in partnership with East 15 Acting School. Directing credits include Lysistrata (how.dare.collective. Toronto Fringe 2017, Best Ensemble Nominee, My Entertainment World Awards 2017), Wake Up and Smell the Coffee (LowDown Theatre Company), The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea (Alumnae Theatre Company, New Ideas Festival 2018), CARMILLA (Montreal and Toronto Fringe, 2018), an all female production of Shakespeare's Cymbeline (East 15 Acting School, MFA International Acting Graduating Class,The Bridewell Theatre, 2023), The Bride and the Moon (East 15 Acting School, MA Acting Graduating Class, The Corbett Theatre, 2023), and Alice in Wonderland (East 15 Acting School, MFA International Graduating Class, The Corbett Theatre, 2023). Credits with Little Lion: Mustard (The Drayton Arms Pub Theatre, 2020), What You Will, or Twelfth Night (Tea House Theatre, 2020), and the UK premiere of Kat Sandler's Yaga (Drayton Arms Pub Theatre, 2022). (kaybrattan.com)
Billy Steel, Producer/Assistant Director
Billy studied at Kingston School of Art, graduating as a graphic designer in 2010, but soon after beginning his career in the design world, his lifelong love of film quickly pulled him in a different direction. Now the founder and director of BiLLO Studio, a film production company, Billy is a writer, editor, filmmaker, and has created various short films, documentaries, corporate videos, and art films. Mary’s Daughters is Billy and BiLLO’s first venture into the world of theatre.
Alice Greening, Associate Producer
Alice Greening officially joined Little Lion Theatre Company in October 2017 as the producer for Tuesdays & Sundays at Theatre N16 and was appointed Executive Director in January 2018, although she produced their inaugural production, One More Time, at the Tristan Bates Theatre as part of the Goldsmiths' Take Note Festival in September 2017. Alice has worked in various backstage theatre roles for the past eight years, and has a strong background in both music and theatre. She is currently studying for a PhD in Drama at Goldsmiths, University of London, where she is focusing on the roles of LGBTQ women in musical theatre.
Isobel Paull,Stage Manager
Isobel started her career as a Photographer following studying at the University of Westminster in 2017. She is now a freelance Stage Manager and Technician, alongside working full time at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre. After assistant stage managing the First Folio event in the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse in 2023, Isobel is now making her Stage Managing debut at The Space with Mary’s Daughters.
Marysia Bucholc, Set Designer
Marysia has been designing and building sets in Toronto, Canada, for over twenty years and has been twice nominated for a Dora Mavor Moore Award (Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts), for Treasure Island (Solar Stage, 2018) and Kafka and Son (Theaturtle, 2006). Over the course of the last year, she designed and built sets for Better Living (Alumnae), I Found My Horn (Toronto production touring from the UK), and Tunnel at the End of the Light (Soldiers In The Arts). Other favourite more recent sets include The Importance of Being Earnest (Alumnae, 2018), Motherland (Toronto Fringe, 2017), The Gut Girls (Alumnae, 2017)
Charli Hurford, Lighting Designer
Charli Hurford is an award-winning freelance lighting designer, stage manager and technician. She graduated with a BA (Hons) in Drama at Queen Mary University in London, and currently works full time as senior technician at Shakespeare's Globe. Recent credits include: Don't Smoke in Bed (VAULT Festival), Fir Tree (Shakespeare's Globe), Shakespeare's Secrets (Lancaster Grand), Karaoke Play (Bunker, Offcom), A Tinder Trilogy (Theatre503), Linda (Soho Theatre), Little pieces of Gold (Southwark Playhouse), Othello (New River Studios)
Robert Moutrey, Sound Designer
Robert Moutrey is a composer, musician and sound designer from Manchester, based in London. Robert has been writing music for theatre since he was sixteen years old. Performed in many ensembles and orchestras, for much of his childhood; a notable highlight was the 2006 production of The Last Tango (The National Youth Theatre) under the direction of Milos Matic & Jimmy Jewell. Later, he received a 1st Class Honours degree in Popular Music from Leeds College of Music in 2010. Spending the majority of his early career touring internationally with rock ‘n’ roll ensemble Crocodiles, Robert returned to theatre in 2016. Self-producing The Rain God, which he scored and performed in, it premiered at VAULT Festival in early 2018 and described by The Stage as ‘gig-theatre’ - where storytelling meets live music. Robert has led on sound design for several other theatre productions most notable being Hamlet, by the Park Theatre (2017), and Haley McGee’s Olivier Award nominated show Age Is A Feeling (2022). Robert is the owner and director of PRONK! Productions, a comprehensive audio production company that specialises in narrative audio experiences. He has produced audio for the BBC, The British Science Festival and The British Museum. He also creates voice reels for actors with his business CreateMyVoiceReel.com. And when not making music he enjoys painting the occasional oil portrait.
Catherine Mieses, Understudy
Catherine is a Dominican-American actor based in London. She recently completed her MFA in Acting at East 15 Acting School and did a residency with Shakespeare's Globe Higher Educationin 2022.
Some of her recent credits include Alba in 'Golden Age' (Corbett Theatre), Bennie in 'Shakesqueer: Rosalie & Juliet' (Etcetera Theatre), Ria in newly commissioned piece 'Let Me Change Your Mind' (Hoxton Hall) and Cymbeline in an all-female presenting cast of 'Cymbeline' (Bridewell Theatre).
Catherine is excited to return to the roles of Brutus and Ester with Little Lion Theatre Company's Portia's Julius Caesar, having performed last summer in Kent and The Dell in Stratford-upon-Avon curated by the RSC. She is represented by Media Artists Group UK.