Gallery – Previous work
Below are pictures and information showing some of Jemma Houghton’s work with various theatre companies. Please click on the pictures to view them in full size.
The C Word by Spherical Directions
The C Word … is Cancer. It is cells. It is complex, yet it is common. It is confusion. It is cigarettes. It is chemicals and chemotherapy. We convulse. We console. It is a captor which clings to us and to our children. It causes cabin fever. It is crippling. Choices must sometimes be made.
But with cancer, comes care, compassion and comfort from those we love and have a connection with. We continue. We are coping. We can. One day, there will be a conclusion: a cure, completion, a celebration.
The C Word is a devised piece of theatre: a collection of real people’s experiences of cancer, their memories, thoughts and emotions. The piece tells the stories of those we have loved, lost and saved and pays tribute to the ongoing strength and courage of those who continue to fight it today.
It is a powerful and raw piece of theatre which not only looks at the truth about cancer, but also explores the nature of relationships, time and ultimately life itself.
Cast: Suzanne Houghton, Ralph Corke, Helen Pawson.
Directed by Jemma Houghton.
All ticket sales were donated to The Christie.
Below are pictures and information showing some of Jemma Houghton’s work with various theatre companies. Please click on the pictures to view them in full size.
The C Word by Spherical Directions
The C Word … is Cancer. It is cells. It is complex, yet it is common. It is confusion. It is cigarettes. It is chemicals and chemotherapy. We convulse. We console. It is a captor which clings to us and to our children. It causes cabin fever. It is crippling. Choices must sometimes be made.
But with cancer, comes care, compassion and comfort from those we love and have a connection with. We continue. We are coping. We can. One day, there will be a conclusion: a cure, completion, a celebration.
The C Word is a devised piece of theatre: a collection of real people’s experiences of cancer, their memories, thoughts and emotions. The piece tells the stories of those we have loved, lost and saved and pays tribute to the ongoing strength and courage of those who continue to fight it today.
It is a powerful and raw piece of theatre which not only looks at the truth about cancer, but also explores the nature of relationships, time and ultimately life itself.
Cast: Suzanne Houghton, Ralph Corke, Helen Pawson.
Directed by Jemma Houghton.
All ticket sales were donated to The Christie.
Manchester’s Fairy God-Mothers by LittleLegs&LongLegs
Think puffy skirts, magical wands, 80’s big hair, and glitter dust and sparkles galore! The Fairy Godmothers are here to help Manchester’s people finally find their soul mates and live happily ever after! Wouldn’t it be easier if you could pick ‘The One’ from a catalogue? Well now you can with the help of Manchester’s Fairy Godmothers! Isn’t it about time there was love in the city as well as sex in the city?
Cast: Caroline Emmerton, Jemma Houghton and Rebekah Maine.
Timid Eutopia by Spherical Directions
When the sun rises each day, some days our hearts do not. Life can lift us and life can drop us. Sometimes we fly and sometimes we fall. As each day passes and as each year goes by, we leave the innocence of childhood behind. We grow up into a world, which demands that we make choices, face our responsibilities and live with the consequences of every single decision we make.
We must choose our direction, our path in life; friendships are made and broken, relationships loved and lost; and ourselves we have to find. It can be hard to find a moment’s peace, a moment to reflect on or even enjoy life. Laughter can escape us and happiness can fade so far away, that you forget what it felt like and if it even existed in the first place. One cannot blame you if you become lost in the busy, never-ending labyrinth, which is life….
Once upon a time though, things were different. We were different. Look back at yourself, to when you were very young. Remember how your eyes sparkled and how your mischievous grin lit up your whole face. Remember the energy in you, the spark of life and play. Feel it and find it once more… Once upon a time, we fulfilled our big dreams, we fought our monsters and won; we travelled the world and saw every wonder, we soared over mountaintops and flew through the dreamy skies.
If you open your eyes, you will see that that beauty is still all around. You will see you have friends, who are there to support you and who are there to fly alongside you, experiencing every dream, every ogre, and every lustre of life with you. Open your heart. Let the magic in it. See the sparkle, the magic dust. Dare to believe in yourself, dare to dream, dare to live your wishes. Find the fighting spirit that is within you and play and dream once more.
Cast: Charlotte Lancaster, Jemma Houghton, Scott McGee and Suzanne Houghton.
Choreographed and directed by Jemma Houghton.
The Women Are Thirsty by LittleLegs&LongLegs
The Women Are Thirsty is an adaptation of two plays, which look at how women are stereotyped into one of three social roles: the “maternal” housewife, the “whorish” mistress and the “innocent” daughter.
It is a powerful and raw piece of theatre, which looks at adultery, jealousy, incest and the characters’ frank openness of their situations.
In life we are told there is someone for everyone; here though, one man is shared between three women, who are willing to go to any length to get what they want…
How far would you go for love, sex or to be wanted?
Cast: Caroline Emmerton, Jemma Houghton and Rebekah Maine.
WomenSex by Aspects Theatre Company
In our age of plurality, finding a single coherent identity for any social group could be considered nearly impossible. Nonetheless, it has been the obsession of humankind from time immemorial to seek and codify the underlying patterns of nature.
Womensex is an attempt to scratch beneath the lipstick feminism of a popularised sexuality to discover if there are any such unifying principles. A devised piece based mainly on anonymous accounts and “found” materials, and produced by an all female cast, the performance is a collection of stories, ideas, feelings and opinion.
Perhaps there is no singularity at the heart of women’s sexual identity, but inevitably it is always the search that is most revealing.
Cast: Caroline Emmerton, Helen Becconsall, Helen Falcon, Jemma Houghton, Kate Whitworth and Rebekah Maine.
Directed by Graig Russel.
