Based on the award nominated An Earl’s Court Miscellany, a filmed celebration of the vivid history and personalities of Earl’s Court featuring poetry, prose and music, released as part of the Finborough Theatre’s #FinboroughFrontier series of digital releases, we now embrace another new digital genre with two interactive walking tours.
Walk the streets of Earl’s Court or wander at will through Brompton Cemetery, experiencing poetry, song and history with geolocated sound that automatically plays as you walk. And for those who would prefer to tour remotely, there is also a virtual listener option.
Available FREE on the Finborough Theatre website until 15 May 2024.
Actor, writer and director Catherine Harvey is Artistic Director of Rhyme & Reason. Catherine directs and curates Rhyme & Reason’s shows, drawing on the work of both popular and less well-known poets, as well as music and song. As an actor, she has worked in venues including the Finborough Theatre, the Bush Theatre, Arcola Theatre, the Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond, and Clwyd Theatr Cymru. As a playwright, she has had work performed at venues including Bolton Octagon Theatre, the Bush Theatre, Arcola Theatre, Soho Theatre, the Old Red Lion Theatre, Theatre503, Morden Hall Park, the 24:7 Theatre Festival, Manchester, and Pleasance Edinburgh. As a director, she has worked on new writing at the Bush Theatre, Hampstead Theatre, Soho Theatre, The Cockpit, 24:7 Theatre Festival, Manchester, and Pleasance Edinburgh, as well as working with comedians who have performed at the Camden, Brighton, Melbourne and Edinburgh Festivals, and on national and international tours – including stand-ups Mary Bourke (Best of Irish, Time Out Critics Choice), Sajeela Kershi (Asian Woman of the Year – Arts and Media, The Times Top 6 Female Acts), Funny Women winner Suzy Bennett (Time Out Top 10 Acts to Watch) and Louise Mai Newberry aka ‘Precious Jade’ (WOW at South Bank Centre and Yellow Earth’s Dim Sum Nights). Catherine is also series producer of Radio 4’s long-running poetry series Tongue and Talk: The Dialect Poets (produced by Made in Manchester), which has travelled as far afield as Aberdeenshire, Northern Ireland, South Wales, Liverpool and the Forest of Dean, seeking out wonderful poetry written in local dialect. Tongue and Talk has frequently featured on Radio 4’s Pick of the Week and been chosen as pick of the day in a range of newspapers – including The Guardian, The Times and The Daily Mail – and even mentioned in the Manx Parliament, Tynwald.
The poetry performance group Rhyme & Reason was co-founded by actors and poetry enthusiasts Catherine Harvey, Jonathan Cullen and Peter Kenny under the mentorship of the late Clive Swift to create bespoke live poetry events. The group’s rolling membership includes actors who have worked in the West End, Royal Shakespeare Company and National Theatre, as well as contributing to Arts programmes on Radio 3, 4 and the World Service. Catherine Harvey is the current Artistic Director, devising and directing their frequently sold-out shows, which the group have performed at venues as diverse as Dr Johnson’s House, the Poetry Café, St Mary’s Church, Bow, and the Tristan Bates Theatre. When Covid hit, Rhyme & Reason took their work online, with Zoom performances that have been watched as far afield as Newfoundland, Japan and the Isle of Man.
Roguegunners Productions is a modern media company run by Johnny Blanchard and Erica Miller, concentrating on digital film, serials and theatre. Working with their own original material and work from other talented creators, they create unique experiences for the new age of film and theatre. Their recent sci-fi short Control has won many awards including New Fort International Film Festival – Best Female Director of a Short Film; Hodu International Film Festival – Best Film on Women Short Film, Best Sci-Fi Short Film, Best Director of an International Short Film; Indo French International Film Festival – Best Debut Filmmaker of a Short Film, Best Sci-Fi Short Film; Havelock International Film Festival – Best International Short Film, Best Mobile Short Film; and International Motion Picture Festival of India – Best International Sci-Fi Short and Best Director International Short Film. Their children’s film ScreenTime won Best Children’s Short Film at the International Motion Picture Festival of India and their short Lost and Found is currently in post-production. Recent theatre includes Shorties, a short play event, at Ramjam Records.
Assistant Director and Assistant Producer Erica Miller trained at the Young Vic and StoneCrabs Theatre. Theatre direction includes Harrow’s Angels (Harrow Arts Centre), Amsterdam (ArtsEd), Pathways (Extant), Stray Dogs (Bread and Roses Theatre and Brighton Fringe), Tell It Slant (Hope Theatre), The Lying Kind, Radiant Vermin and Shorties (Ramjam Records), Patience (Black Lives, Black Words at the Bush Theatre), Ashes of Roses and A Poison Tree (The Miniaturists at the Arcola Theatre), The Job and Treading Water (Pleasance Edinburgh) and Meat (Bush Bazaar at the Bush Theatre). Film direction includes two award-winning shorts – the sci fi film Control and the fairy tale ScreenTime – for Roguegunners Productions, Lost and Found, A Night of Dogs, A Stepmother Speaks, A Door, A Coin In Somebody Else’s Pocket. She also directed the audio play Eulogies (for Fizzy Sherbet Podcasts). Erica is co-artistic director of Roguegunners Productions and Merry Spinsters Theatre Company.
EARL’S COURT WALKING TOURS
Devised and Directed by Catherine Harvey.
Assistant Director and Assistant Producer – Erica Miller.
Presented by Rhyme & Reason in association with Roguegunners Productions, and in association with Neil McPherson for the Finborough Theatre as part of #FinboroughFrontier
Supported by The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea
Cast: Louise Ashcroft. Louise Bangay. Jeryl Burgess. Olivette Cole-Wilson. Rufus Graham. Catherine Harvey. Sue Moore. Annabel Mullion. Peter G. Pearson. Ninka Scott. Lesley Stone. Lizzie Tranter. Elaine Wallace.
