Brighton 24 Hour Play Festival 2024

Liam Rear is the son of an actress and a graduate of Brighton Screen and Film School With a specialism in directing. Liam has directed music videos, short films and documentaries before making his recent transition into theater following Foray In Innocence (@forayplay) written and produced by Ronan Colfer (@ronan.colfer)

While Foray was a rather large and expansive look at the realities of leadership and rebellion, Liam is often attracted to smaller stories that focus on the interpersonal relationships between small groups of people often taking the shape of love stories or family dramas.

One of Liam's passions is finding ways movement can tell a story and this resulted in a short film that leaned heavily on the use of martial arts and stunt work. This then carried on to working with dancers and creating work that showcased different styles of dance and the emotion they create that is unique to each style 

Liam is currently developing his debut feature film The Detour, a film that focuses on two young people that escape their toxic home lives and travel down to Brighton all in the hope of meeting a washed up actor from the 80s

Isabella is an award-winning actress and voiceover artist from Brighton. Isabella recently made her Off-Broadway debut at Soho Playhouse in NYC, after being awarded the International Fringe Encore Series Award for her performance of Something Underground's one woman show Betsy: Wisdom of a Brighton Whore. Isabella is delighted to be joining the cast of Wild Elk Productions' The Tower by Emma Kelly this May, in its debut run at Brighton Fringe. Other recent credits include Lady of the House in The Mirror, Narrator in The Landing Light Live, Hilda in the UK Tour of A Good Jew and Anna in Anna Christie (BHAC winner - Best Actress). When she isn’t treading the boards Isabella can be found at the helm of Rising Phoenix – a Sussex based Arts Collective she founded in 2023 to inspire and connect local creatives.

Website: www.isabellamccarthysommerville.co.uk

Instagram: @isabellamccarthysommerville and @risingphoenix_artscollective

Sam has been acting in Brighton since 2022. His past credits include Vicar/Colonel (Dad’s Army - BLT), James (James and the Giant Peach - BLT), Rick (Woman in Mind - Wick Theatre), Ned Alleyn (Shakespeare in Love - BLT), Man (You - NVT), and Edgar (King Lear, NVT). He will also be appearing as John Kemble in Kemble’s Riot at Brighton Open Air Theatre in May, and is directing The Real Inspector Hound for BLT in September.

Sam's Instagram handle is @theuniquesheep.

Originally from Cardiff, Joshua Davey toured in Nazanin's Story, before moving to Brighton in 2020 to study at the Institute for Contemporary Theatre,  graduating in 2023. He performed at that years Brighton Fringe in the 'Highly Recommended' sold out show, The Dreams of Salvador Dali. Having performed at various immersive theatre installations across the UK, he is excited to return to the stage as part of the 24 Hour Play Festival, and enthusiastic to meet his fellow creatives taking part. @joshperforms

Catie is a Brighton based actor who loves working with new writing and so is thrilled to be taking part in the Brighton 24 Hour Play Fest.

She recently played Charlotte in Twisted Angel Theatre's tour of "Wasted" by Kae Tempest.

Other recent theatre includes: Mary Shelley in one-woman play "The Last" (DifferenT Theatre); Juliet in "Romeo and Juliet" and Lucentio in "The Taming of the Shrew" (One Fell Swoop); Edith Gascoyne in “Blue Blood” (Brighton Fringe/Blue Devil Productions); Isabella in “Measure 2 Measure” (DifferenT Theatre); and Amanda in “Not Talking” (New Venture Theatre).

Catie trained at the Academy of Creative Training in Brighton. 

She has just written her first play, That Witch Helen (@thatwitchhelen) - a feminist retelling of the Trojan War - and is currently in rehearsals to perform it at Brighton Fringe.

Tracy has a  degree in Acting and Contemporary Theatre Making from Brighton University.  She has performed at Brighton Fringe many times, playing: Bea in A Glass Half Empty (Giggling Witch), Big Red in Sleeping Beauty and The Ewe’s Duty (Ridley Theatre), Diane in A Slender Thread (Sunny Arts) and Deanne Rose in Pistols (Hanover Productions). Other theatre includes: Sarah in Nothing Personal (First Floor Theatre), Carrie in The Ballad of a Thin Man (Ropetackle/Pix Hall), Libby in Missing Sonya and Tara in Note to Self (Fruits of the Womb/Camberley Theatre/Tour).  She was a regular member of the Scary Mary Sketch Show at the Komedia Brighton (George Ravenscroft).  She has also written and toured with her own production of Spreading Her Thinly (Theatre Royal Bath/Tour) which was directed by Joy Forsythe.  Screen work includes All Those Things and I Heart Chair (both George Ravenscroft), Susan in Quit (Ed McGown), Alice in Geraldine’s Dilemma (Sunny Arts), Trudi in Jenny and Friends (Betty Mae Productions) and Miss Wigmore in The Homophobia Project (Fruits of the Womb/Peer Productions).  Commercials include Care for Cake (Tricycle), TalkTalk (Stink), Wintrillions (Wagon) and Rabo (Blink).  Her career highlight so far has been the role of Harriet Summers in Eastenders, which required her to play darts in the Queen Vic pub.  She does not know how to play darts.

Bridie Donaghy (@bridiedonaghy) is a writer, actor and producer from Brighton. She has performed at Theatre503, The Yard Theatre, CLF Art Cafe, New Venture Theatre and Brighton Little Theatre. Bridie recently finished filming for short film, 'Love the Sinner', and has worked on other films including 'Unnatural Selection' for the Screen & Film School, and 'Oh Dear', a music video by synth-pop artist BYFYN. Bridie worked with Brighton-based dance company Tick Tock Bridget as writer and narrator of their latest show, 'Mary', for Brighton Fringe 2023, and was one of the writers for Peut-Être Theatre's award-winning podcast, 'Audiomoves at the zoo'. She is a member of the script reading team for the Papatango New Writing Prize.

Bridie is really excited to collaborate with the brilliant creatives at this year's #Brighton24HourPlayFest!

Lorraine Yu is a Brighton-based actor with an ever-evolving movement practice in capoeira and a hunger for physical theatre. Her recent works include BATSU! London (Underbelly Boulevard), The Writer’s Mark directed by Natasha Higdon, Find Your Fire: Scratch Night (Rising Phoenix Artist Collective), Dark Bites (Savage Heart), Bubbling (BodiesforRent), The Box We Tick (LegalAliens), and The Happy Poor Guys (Théâtre de la Feuille). She will make her Brighton Fringe debut this year in The Tower (Wild Elk Productions) and That Witch Helen directed by Janette Eddisford. Lorraine has been exploring life outside of Hong Kong since 2020. 

Spending the past two years, performing, writing and directing alongside her A-levels in Cambridge, Lia most recently performed in the critically acclaimed devised comedy ‘Lights, Donkey, Action!’ at the Edinburgh Fringe festival, a riff on Cervantes’s epic novel ‘Don Quixote’. Other performance credits include Spamalot the Musical (The Robinson Theatre);  Dido, Queen of Carthage (The Robinson Theatre); Tracing (The Cambridge Corn Exchange); Conversations in Past Tense (The ADC Theatre - as part of the Cambridge Drama Festival). Writing and directing credits include Beautiful Little Fools (The Robinson Theatre) and Conversations in Past Tense. Lia is thrilled to return to the buzz of the stage and work with a plethora of talented creatives in pulling together this exciting project. 

Angus Foulkes is an actor, artist and wordsmith. He has trained at East 15 Acting School and The Fontainebleau School of Acting. 

His most recent credits include Lysander and Bottom in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” directed by Nia Lynn with @tiltomorrowtheatre and a lead role as ‘Benny’ in the short film, “Penny Up” directed by Oluwatomisin Okeowo, releasing later this year. 

He is currently in rehearsals for “As You Like It” as Silvius directed by David Burrough. 

Angus can’t wait to dive into the 24 hour play festival!