Theatre-Making

no there there

Idealists, entrepreneurs, and fraudsters alike dress themselves for the job they want, not the job they have. Is it really as simple as stepping into the same shoes of the person you admire in order to have the life you want?

Charlie finds herself in two worlds: a tiny hospital room and huge galaxy of self-help and internet inspiration. She is drawn under the spell of internet influencers and gurus who offer her insights into their worlds. Like these internet idols, Charlie invents an Instagram character – Cha Cha – who becomes a huge star by merely pretending that she already is one.

Can Cha Cha help Charlie? How much time does she have left and what will she do with it? In no there there, Autopoetics brings the internet to life to help Charlie ask, who can really teach her how to set herself free?

Autopoetics presented no there there at the NAFA Studio Theatre, 151 Benoolen Street, Singapore 189656, 13 – 15 June 2024.

no there there was created by Chelsea Crothers, Laura Hayes, and Maiya Murphy and performed by Chelsea Crothers, Laura Hayes, Maiya Murphy, Nora Samosir, and Natalie Linn Titus.

Photography by Crispian Chan

Provenance

A new play, written by Laura Hayes, created and performed by Autopoetics about the things in our life and what they mean to us. Drama Centre Black Box, Singapore, 2018.

Alice’s hoarding disorder is worsening, her home is increasingly dilapidated, and her financial difficulties are escalating. With increasing desperation, Alice’s daughter, Agatha, fails to persuade her mother to move into a care home. Amongst Alice’s chaos, Agatha discovers a potentially valuable piece of art. Selling it to Caroline could solve their problems but just might send Caroline’s own life into a tailspin. How can they all prove its provenance?

Provenance explores the value we give to things and people, and the connection between art, beauty, relationships, and commerce. Should a beautiful piece of art’s worth depend on where it comes from? What happens if the balance in our relationships with people and with things tilts too far in one direction?

Photography by Jacob Paint

Briefing

Mercurial Productions presented Briefing, an adaptation of Doris Lessing’s Briefing for a Descent into Hell at the Camden People’s Theatre in April 2006.

Directed by Avye Leventis. Created and performed by Laura Hayes, James Turpin, Sarah Maguire, Loren O’Dair, George Mann, and Nir Paldi.

‘a tremendously moving play … breathlessly fast-paced and gripping in the extreme.’ Camden New Journal, Josh Leob.

Female of the Species

Union Theatre, June 2001.

Created and performed by Neon Grannies: Laura Hayes, Ceni Bennett, James Ley, Antonia Windsor, and Vincent Manna.

‘Female of the Species’ by the delightfully named Neon Grannies Theatre Company, is, in turn, a sexy physical theatre piece in the style of Frantic Assembly, a bittersweet comedy reminiscent of Anthony Minghella, and a “This Life”- style twentysomething drama… This is engaging stuff’.
Time Out. Andrew Aldridge.

My Father He Ate Me

Colour House Theatre, March 1999.