Shadow Road Productions' New Brochure!

My small independent theatre company, Shadow Road Productions, specialises in bringing exciting works of theatre, for all ages and occasions, to unusual spaces in creative new ways.

As well as continuing that tradition with Fireside Folktales, retelling myths, legends and classic stories from around the world as original short plays performed by a company of four professional actors, we also offer much more, including the UNBROKEN Festival & Short Film Prize, a variety of murder mystery events, full-scale theatre   productions, and our soon-to-be-launched cross-platform venture, Secret Storytellers.

This fantastic new project will see us producing some exciting online content based in a new, immersive story-world, in order to enhance the impressive work of our two-person teams, who will be busy delivering a range of thrilling live performances. In common with Fireside Folktales, and in keeping with the world in which the overall project is set, all music and sound effects are performed live by the cast, so no electricity or technical equipment is required, once again allowing us to be extremely flexible in terms of venue.

Finally, whether for team-building purposes, school visits, or those with a simple interest, we also offer several creative and educational workshops. Some of these are designed to accompany a particular production, so that you might watch the play and then take part in the workshop afterwards, while others - such as the general Drama Workshop, An Introduction to Playwriting, and An Introduction to Stage Combat, etc - can be delivered as standalone events. 

So that we have all the information in one place, we have put together a shiny, new PDF brochure outlining everything that Shadow Road has to offer theatre lovers, schools, events organisers and private clients with parties to throw! We hope you will find it both interesting and helpful. If, after reading, you have any questions, please feel free to get in touch - we would love to hear from you.

Anyone interested in finding out more can download the brochure HERE.

We look forward to working with you!

A Delightful Day

Many thanks indeed to the pupils and staff of the Virgo Fidelis Preparatory School, who made me so welcome when I went to spend their School Book Day with them yesterday.

In the morning I visited three separate classes - the Nursery, Reception and Year 1 - all of whom were delightful and very generous with their lovely hugs! After reading Uncle Alonzo’s Beard, I conducted a short quiz on the book. Each correct answer, of which there were many, won an Alonzo badge. Following the quiz, the children were able to turn the tables on me and ask any questions that they wanted to. I then finished the session by introducing them to one of Alonzo’s relatives, My Scandalous Sister Sophia – a terribly badly behaved little girl, who I am certain had little in common with the angelic nippers of Virgo Fidelis! ;-)

In the afternoon I had the privilege of sitting in on illustrator Garry Parsons' wonderfully engaging workshop with the older pupils. Then, at the end of the day, we both had the chance to chat with the children and say hello to their parents, whilst signing the books that Adriana from the marvellous Tales on Moon Lane bookshop had sold.

Lots of photographs were taken, all of which I am certain were absolutely hideous! I don’t consider myself to be the most photogenic of people at the best of times, but yesterday I was sporting crazy hair, a shiny face and scrunched up eyes (we were outside, staring into the sun) on top of everything else! I can only hope that the incriminating pictures will all end up locked in a deep, dark vault somewhere, never to see the light of day again...

I must offer particular thanks to the Deputy Headmistress, Mrs Pollard, and to VFPS parent, family friend and all-round fantastic person, Isabelle Blake-James, who organised the whole day. It was a real pleasure to visit Virgo Fidelis and I look forward to returning at some time in the future. :-)

And A Good Time Was Had By All!

Yesterday I had the privilege of visiting Lytton House, the Junior Department of Putney High School, and giving a reading of Uncle Alonzo’s Beard to the Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 children, before answering their questions about the book, My Freaky Family (the series that Alonzo belongs to), publishing and writing in general. I also had the chance to introduce them to Great Uncle Fred – another member of the family – and his most unusual pet!

The girls were a delightful and enthusiastic audience – very attentive during the readings and full of interesting questions afterwards. I’m only sorry that there wasn’t enough time to answer all of them before the session was over! I definitely got the impression that there were more than a few budding authors, illustrators and future publishers out there... :-)

At the end of the afternoon, it was a lovely surprise to be presented with a beautiful bouquet of flowers and three wonderful thank you cards – created by the girls themselves – which are now sitting proudly on the shelves above my writing desk.


Many thanks indeed to both Miss Brennan and Putney parent Gill Mais for organising the whole event, and to all the girls for making me feel so welcome. I look forward to visiting again soon...