As a city girl, returning to her family for Thanksgiving, Anna has always felt a bit of a black sheep in the family. But when dinner is about to begin, an unexpected guest throws the family into disarray.

Production Photos, Drayton Arms Theatre, November 14th, 2021

Photos by Amelia Oliva

Creative Team

Holly Wyder, Playwright

Holly Wyder (Hools Kay) has been trudging through the mud of life in the creative arts for the past 20 years. From playing a wheel of the car in the musical Grease, to winning $1000 doing improv comedy in a competition, to performing a solo auto-biographical award winning choose-your-own-adventure show at the Toronto Fringe, there isn't a venture Hools won't try. Having fallen in love with the art of writing after graduating from The Second City Conservatory, Hools has since been pouring her heart into words on a page, and has just published a piece in the book "The Performers Perspective: A Stage Light Flickers", in stores October 2021. 

Natalie Winter, Director

Natalie is a director, actor and voice actor also specialised in sword fighting.
Working across theatre, short film and particularly voice over, she is also creative director for Ragged Foils Productions. In the last two years, through Ragged Foils, she has produced, directed and hosted 3 seasons of audio drama new writing podcast The Ragged Scratch Podcast, produced award-nominated short audio series The Art of Ambition, and monologue play Jam Tart/Lemon Kurd, which toured to the Camden and Clapham Fringes before a run at The Hope Theatre.
In addition to directing several pieces for new writing nights Briefs and Stitchin' Fiction Natalie has directed for short plays as part of the Sci Fi Theatre Festival with Horatio Theatre, Payback, a short film for Kyne Productions, and Chill Tweets To Nest To, an audioguide-style game built for Amazon Alexa systems.

You find out more about her work at nataliewinter.co.uk and raggedfoils.co.uk

Cast

Candice Miller, Francis 

Growing up in Jersey, Candice was a singer-songwriter performing her original songs and covers at local gigs. She started her Musical Theatre training at CPA Studios before completing her training at the prestigious London School of Musical Theatre. Candice is a triple threat performer as well as an Actor-Musician playing the drums, Guitar, Piano and Ukulele . Her credits include work for Channel Four, Honk!, Lend Me a Tenor (Bridewell Theatre) and Twelfth Night (Teahouse Theatre). She’s also a trained 200hr yoga instructor and loves to teach and practice in her spare time.

Rosemary Lippard, Anna 

Rosemary Lippard is a Welsh actor-musician currently based in London. Just as skilled with a broadsword as she is with a mandolin, she received her training at the Manchester School of Theatre receiving a BA with hons. Rosemary is a seasoned Shakespearean performer having performed for 2 seasons with the Cambridge Shakespeare Festival as Maria in “Twelfth Night”, Portia in “Julius Caesar” Lady Anne in “Richard III”, and Prince Arviragus in “Cymbeline”. She has worked as an actor in theatre, film, and voice overs (for both radio and audio drama) with recent performing credits including Sebastian in “What You Will” (Little Lion Theatre Company), Jane Bennet/Narrator in “Pride and Prejudice” (Sun and Moon Theatre), The Lady in “About a Girl” (Ragged Scratch Podcast), and Peggy in the short film “The Good Wife” (dir. Toby Harris).

Maria Cole, Marjorie 

Maria Cole is a London-based actor and writer. Theatre credits include the no-nonsense matriarch Mildred in the world premiere of dark comedy Tenancy (Hampton Hill Theatre). Short film credits include the mumsy Mildred in Losing It (Sky Arts) and the dangerous Eve in Insider (London 48 Hour Film Project). She is passionate about new writing and has performed in many new writing/scratch nights (Cockpit Theatre, Aktualise Theatre, Page to Stage) and enjoys performing in English and Polish, which she speaks fluently. During Lockdown her monologue Where Do I Come From? about her Polish heritage, was selected for LifeLogues (Thematic Theatre/Small Steed) and she rehearsed and performed it via Zoom. She also met with fellow Speak the Speech actors/writers on Zoom to connect and share written work during Lockdown, and a selection of her monologues featured in the recently published Locked Down - a collection of modern monologues (Amazon).

Heather Jones, Sophie 

Heather trained in Musical Theatre at both The Royal Central School Of Speech and Drama and Bird College. She has worked professionally all over the UK with the immersive show Only Fools The Cushty Dining Experience playing both Marlene and Cassandra. Heather also played Maria in Little Lion Theatre Company’s most recent Twelfth Night. She is delighted to be working with the company again as Sophie in Family Tradition. Heather is a keen actor, singer and dancer who also plays the ukulele and drums. In her spare time, Heather enjoys yoga, walking, baking and candle making.

Tom Driver, Eric

Tom Driver’s acting career started in 2010 when he was invited to an amateur dramatics group and never looked back. After finding out he really loved it, his next almost immediate step was to become involved in The Groundlings Theatre in Portsmouth, where he appeared in productions ranging from Waiting For Godot,  Hamlet to Cabaret and The Importance of Being Ernest. He then expanded his acting to multiple theatre productions around the country, appearing in the Brighton and Bath fringes, acting with the Birmingham Royal Ballet as well as touring panto, and a TIE tour of France. Tom has appeared in multiple films, with roles ranging from the sinister Priest in Opus Dei to the bumbling CV expert in The Receptionist, and even the role of Boris Johnson in Thupparivaalam 2. TV roles include American serial killer Todd Kohlhepp in The World’s Most Evil Killers, a duelling second in a feature for BBC South Today and a submarine captain in Combat Ships. In 2018 Tom attained a level 6 Licentiate Diploma in Performing Speech & Drama from Trinity College London. Other qualifications include a grade 8 in musical theatre in 2021.
In 2021, following the easing of lockdowns, Tom returned to the to play Emperor Claudius in the new musical Domitius.

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