Heart Wall
By Kit Withington
7 Apr to 16 May
Holloway Theatre (Bush Theatre's main space)
Details
Venue
Holloway Theatre (Bush Theatre's main space)
Dates
7 Apr to 16 May
Running time
1 hour 20 minutes
Price
£10.00 to £35.00
About
“It’s funny what people do and what they tell. We’re all hiding bits of ourselves. The bits we’re not proud of. I can see that now.”
It’s Friday night and Franky is back at her local pub for the first time in years. Pints are poured, Motown music drifts from the tinny speakers, and karaoke starts at eight. It’s reassuringly familiar. Like nothing’s changed.
But, haunted by grief, Franky’s family are quietly unravelling around her. Her dad is hiding himself away, and buried family secrets are leaking through the cracks in every room.
A bittersweet, tender exploration of the long tail of grief and the fickleness of memory, Heart Wall asks where we go when the walls start closing in and home has become somewhere you don’t know.
Written by Bush Writers’ Group alum Kit Withington (As We Face The Sun) and directed by Katie Greenall (COMMUNION).
A Bush Theatre production. Co-commissioned with Oldham Coliseum.
Cast
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Rowan Robinson
Franky
Rowan studied at RADA, and was the winner of the Sir Alec Guinness Award in 2022. She is known for her TV roles in Brassic (SKY), A Knight of the…
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Rowan Robinson
Franky
Rowan studied at RADA, and was the winner of the Sir Alec Guinness Award in 2022.
She is known for her TV roles in Brassic (SKY), A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms (HBO), Passenger (ITV), and A Cruel Love: The Ruth Ellis Story (ITV). She stars in Kenneth Brannagh’s feature film A Haunting in Venice (20th Century).
On stage she has been seen in A Taste of Honey at the Royal Exchange Theatre, and most recently When We Are Married, at the Donmar Warehouse.
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Deka Walmsley
Dez
Deka Walmsley is a British film, TV and stage actor. Theatre credits include: Ghosts (Lyric Hammersmith); Roots/Look Back in Anger; Enemies (The Almeida); Fisherman’s Friends: The Musical (Hall for Cornwall); A Midsummer Night’s Dream, As You…
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Deka Walmsley
Dez
Deka Walmsley is a British film, TV and stage actor.
Theatre credits include: Ghosts (Lyric Hammersmith); Roots/Look Back in Anger; Enemies (The Almeida); Fisherman’s Friends: The Musical (Hall for Cornwall); A Midsummer Night’s Dream, As You Like It, The Tempest (Shakespeare’s Globe/ Tour); An Enemy of the People; Wonderland (Nottingham Playhouse); Macbeth, The Pitmen Painters (National Theatre/Tour); Secret Heart (Royal Exchange); Cyrano (Bristol Old Vic); Home Shetland (National Theatre of Scotland); Their Very Own and Golden City (Royal Court); Playing with Fire (National Theatre); Keepers of the Flame (RSC); Bones (Hampstead Theatre); Andorra; Stars in the Morning Sky (Northern Stage); Billy Elliot; Cooking with Elvis; Blood Brothers (West End).
Television credits include: Forever Home; Truelove; Deceit; The Bastard Son & The Devil Himself; The Thief, His Wife and the Canoe; Vera; Three Girls; Our Friends in the North; Nature Boy; Ticket to Ride; Rebus; Waiters; Breeze Block; Grease Monkey; 55 Degrees North; Waking the Dead; Dirty War; Inspector George Gently.
Film credits include: Blue Jean; A Banquet.
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Olivia Forrest
Charlene
Theatre credits include: Little Death (Theatre 503), Much Ado About Nothing (National Theatre), Two Into One (The Mill at Sonning). TV credits include: Falling (Channel 4).
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Olivia Forrest
Charlene
Theatre credits include: Little Death (Theatre 503), Much Ado About Nothing (National Theatre), Two Into One (The Mill at Sonning).
TV credits include: Falling (Channel 4).
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Sophie Stanton
Linda
Sophie Stanton is a fixture on national television, film and on the UK stage, and has made notable appearances in over 40 of the biggest television shows of the last…
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Sophie Stanton
Linda
Sophie Stanton is a fixture on national television, film and on the UK stage, and has made notable appearances in over 40 of the biggest television shows of the last two decades, including Eastenders, King Gary, Endeavour IV, The Halcyon, My Mad Fat Diary, Gimme Gimme Gimme, Prime Suspect, A Touch of Frost, Ashes to Ashes, New Tricks and Where The Heart Is. Most recently, Sophie played regular roles in FX’s highly anticipated serialisation of The Full Monty for Disney+, and in The Killing Kind for Paramount+.
Sophie has also appeared in numerous plays at the National Theatre, the Donmar Warehouse, The Almeida – Diyan Zora’s Roots being her fourth Almeida show – and for companies including the Royal Shakespeare Company and Paines Plough. Her most recent credits include East is East (National Theatre); As You Like It (RSC), The Taming of The Shrew (RSC); The Fantastic Follies of Mrs Rich, as Mrs Rich (RSC), Ink (The Almeida), The Tempest (Donmar Warehouse), Henry IV (Donmar Warehouse & St Ann’s Warehouse NY).
Her film appearances include Una, Me Before You, Shadowlands, Grow Your Own, Beautiful Thing and Cheerful Weather for the Wedding.
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Aaron Anthony
Valentine
Theatre credits includes: A Christmas Carol, A Doll’s House (Sheffield Crucible); Cymbeline, Macbeth, Much Ado About Nothing (Shakespeare’s Globe); The Motive and the Cue (National Theatre); Yellowman (Orange Tree Theatre); Shakespeare in Love (West End); Twelfth Night, Billy Liar (Royal Exchange Manchester); Lose…
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Aaron Anthony
Valentine
Theatre credits includes: A Christmas Carol, A Doll’s House (Sheffield Crucible); Cymbeline, Macbeth, Much Ado About Nothing (Shakespeare’s Globe); The Motive and the Cue (National Theatre); Yellowman (Orange Tree Theatre); Shakespeare in Love (West End); Twelfth Night, Billy Liar (Royal Exchange Manchester); Lose Yourself (Sherman Theatre); Romeo & Juliet (Insane Root); A View from the Bridge, Macbeth (Tobacco Factory Theatre); ’Tis Unmanly Grief (Theatre N16); Human Emotional Process (Chaskis/Arts Theatre).
Television includes: The Blame, Emmerdale, Midsomer Murders, Father Brown, The Pact, The Other One, Shakespeare & Hathaway, Doctors, Outlaws, Witless, Holby City, Behind Her Eyes, Delicious.
Short Film includes: I, You and Silent Phantom.
Creatives
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Kit Withington
Writer
Kit Withington
Writer
Kit Withington is a playwright from Manchester.
Kit was a member of the Soho Theatre Writers’ Lab in 2018, and her play Scrap was shortlisted for the Tony Craze Award. Kit was part of the Emerging Writers’ Group at the Bush Theatre in 2021. She has also been part of both an Intro Group and a Long Form Group at the Royal Court.
In 2021 she wrote Our Moon Under Water for Edition 6 of the Royal Court’s LIVING NEWSPAPER. In 2023 Kit’s play AS WE FACE THE SUN was produced by The Bush for their 18-25 young company. In 2025, her first radio drama Nearly Light was Highly Commended for Best Single Original Drama at BBC Audio Awards.
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Katie Greenall
Director
Katie Greenall
Director
Katie Greenall (she/they) is a director, theatre maker, and writer based in NE London/Manchester, specializing in new writing, solo autobiographical work, and youth/community projects. They are Associate Director (Creative Exchange) at the Royal Exchange Manchester, and previously Associate Director at the Bush Theatre, where she also led the Young Companies. Notable directing credits include COMMUNION, As We Face the Sun (Offie-nominated), ANTHEM, Pass It On & Back Up! (Bush Theatre) and We All Know How This Ends and here, here, here (Theatre Royal Stratford East). They were also the Associate Director on Barcelona at the Duke of York’s Theatre.
As a writer, Katie was part of the Roundhouse Poetry Collective and a Resident Artist (2018-19). She has been long-listed for the Channel 4 Screenwriting Course, alumni of the Soho Writer’s Course and was a finalist for the Popcorn Award in 2023. Her solo show FATTY FAT FAT won the VAULTS Origins Award (2019) and had a sold-out run at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Their current solo show BLUBBER explores body image through synchronised swimming and whales, and after a critically acclaimed run at Summerhall in 2024, will tour nationally and internationally in 2026.
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Hazel Low
Set & Costume Designer
Hazel Low
Set & Costume Designer
Hazel Low is a performance designer and collaborator across theatre, live art and spatial design.
Recent Credits include: Playfight (Paines Plough, Roundabout and UK Tour); The Glorious French Revolution (New Diorama Theatre); Blubber (Summerhall); The Legend of Ned Ludd (Liverpool Everyman); succession theme is my ringtone (Rose Theatre); Tiger (Omnibus Theatre); Bonfire (Derby Theatre, Sheffield Theatre, Non Such); As We Face The Sun and Pass It On (Bush Theatre); Who Killed My Father (Tron Theatre and Scottish Tour – co-design with Blythe Brett); Splintered (Soho Theatre); Brilliant Jerks (Southwark Playhouse); Paradise Now! (Bush Theatre -co-costume designer and design associate); I, Joan (Shakespeare’s Globe – design associate); Bogeyman (Pleasance Queendome);The Magic Flute (Royal College of Music – co-designed with Rosie Elnile); Trainers (Gate Theatre – design assistant).
Spatial design projects include NDT Broadgate (design associate) and the Royal Court’s pop up bar Court in the Square in 2021.
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Jatinder Chera
Casting Director
Jatinder Chera
Casting Director
For the Bush: Miss Myrtle’s Garden, Lavender, Hyacinth, Violet, Yew, The Real Ones, A Playlist for the Revolution, Sleepova, The P Word.
Other theatre includes: Marriage Material (Lyric Hammersmith); Scenes from a Repatriation, G (Royal Court); The Comeuppance (Almeida); The Flea, Samuel Takes a Break, Multiple Casualty Incident (The Yard); Sweat (Royal Exchange).
Awards include: Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre, Sleepova and The P Word.
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Mateus Daniel
Movement Director
Mateus Daniel
Movement Director
Mateus Daniel is a Movement director, Choreographer and facilitator from south London. He has built a love and curiosity for telling stories physically that express themes of culture, change and transitions, and has used his experiences within dance and theatre to influence his current gothic lyrical style. His work can be seen on various leading UK stages, magazines and films and his personal projects thematically take on a melodramatic, gothic perspective. In addition Mateus was a 2022 nominee for Best Choreographer or Movement Director for The Black British Theatre Awards.
Movement Director credits include: Passion Fruit (New Diorama); Chicken Burger and Chips (Brixton House); The Boys Are Kissing (Theatre 503); Vardy v Rooney: The Wagatha Christie Trial (Ambassador Theatre); Our eyes look to God (Festival d’Aix-en Provence); What I hear I keep (Talawa Theatre); As we face the sun (Bush Theatre); TERRA XYZ (Wonderland magazine); TRIBE (Young Vic); Stranger Things: The First Shadow (Phoenix Theatre), No More Mr Nice Guy (Broadway theatre/Bristol Old Vic); Communion (Bush Theatre); Vitamin D (soho theatre); Purgatory (Donmar warehouse); B*tch Boxer (Watford Palace Theatre); a practical guide on how to save the world… (Tara Theatre); spectacle of the surreal (V&A Museum); How to win against History (Bristol Old Vic).
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Esther Taylor
Costume Supervisor
Esther Taylor
Costume Supervisor
Esther is a Fashion Stylist working on commercial and editorial projects. She studied Textile for Fashion Design at Manchester School of Art and has worked for brands like Getty Images, Nike, John Lewis, Jack Wills and ASOS. She is excited to join the world of costume for the first time for Not Your Superwoman at the Bush.
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Mwen (they/them)
Sound Designer and Composer
Mwen (they/them)
Sound Designer and Composer
Mwen is a multifaceted artist, working as a theatre sound designer and composer, music producer, and live performing artist. Their creative practice blends the realms of music technology, electronic music, live sound, and performance.
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Simisola Majekodunmi
Lighting Designer
Simisola Majekodunmi
Lighting Designer
Simisola Majekodunmi trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts (RADA) with a degree in Lighting Design.
Theatre credits include: The Ballad of Hattie and James (Kiln); A Taste of Honey, Electric Rosary (Royal Exchange); Metamorphosis (Frantic Assembly, UK Tour); I, Daniel Blake (Northern Stage & UK Tour); Choir Boy (Bristol Old Vic); Es & Flo (Wales Millennium Centre); Sound of the Underground, Is God Is, Living Newspaper (Royal Court); Family Tree (Belgrade Theatre & UK Tour); Treason: The Musical in Concert (Theatre Royal Dury Lane); J’OUVERT (Theatre503/West End); Starcrossed (Wilton’s Music Hall); A Christmas Carol (Shakespeare North Playhouse); Nine Night (Leeds Playhouse); Human Nurture (Sheffield); The Wiz (Hope Mill Theatre).
Dance credit includes: Dark with Excessive Bright (Royal Opera House); Traplord (180 Studios); The UK Drill Project (Barbican); Born to Exist (Netherlands and UK Tour); AZARA – Just Another Day & Night (The Place); Puck’s Shadow (Watford Palace).
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Ryan Hay
Production Dramaturg
Ryan Hay
Production Dramaturg
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Ellie Fulcher
R&D Dramaturg
Ellie Fulcher
R&D Dramaturg
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Deirdre O’Halloran
Dramaturg Support
Deirdre O’Halloran
Dramaturg Support
Deirdre O’Halloran was the previous Literary Manager at the Bush Theatre, working to identify and build relationships with new writers, commission new work and guide plays to the stage.
At the Bush she’s dramaturged plays including Olivier Award winners Baby Reindeer by Richard Gadd and The P Word by Waleed Akhtar, Lava by Benedict Lombe and An Adventure by Vinay Patel.
Deirdre was also previously the Literary Associate at Soho Theatre, where she worked as a dramaturg on plays including Girls by Theresa Ikoko and Fury by Phoebe Eclair-Powell. She led on Soho Theatre’s Writers’ Lab programme and the biennial Verity Bargate Award.
As a freelancer, Deirdre has also been a reader for Out of Joint, Sonia Friedman Productions and Papatango.
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Titilola Dawudu
Original Dramaturg
Titilola Dawudu
Original Dramaturg
Titilola Dawudu was the previous Associate Dramaturg at the Bush Theatre, heading up the Literary department. She worked with the Artistic Director and Associate Artistic Director to commission and nurture news plays and ideas, working closely with writers, managing writing groups and the talent development pipeline.
Titilola was the dramaturg for an early iteration at Ovalhouse of Tyrell Williams’s award-winning play Red Pitch. She dramaturgically supported some of the RSC’s 37 Plays winners, most notably Dreaming and Drowning by Kwame Owusu.
Titilola co-created and edited Hear Me Now Audition Monologues for Actors of Colour with Tamasha, published by Oberon Books. Hear Me Now Volume Two was published in August 2022 by Methuen Drama. As a writer, Titilola has written for Theatre Royal Arojah in Abuja, Nigeria, Theatre Peckham, Ovalhouse, Beyond Face and Soho Theatre.
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Chloe Stally-Gibson
Production Manager
Chloe Stally-Gibson
Production Manager
Chloe is a freelance production manager and former associate artist of Zoo Co Theatre Company and ChewBoy Productions.
Her recent work includes: Shifters (Bush & Duke of York’s); Punch, A Face In The Crowd (Young Vic); Perfect Show For Rachel (Barbican); Tender, This Might Not Be It, Insane Asylum Seekers (Bush); Playhouse Creatures (JCTP); Silence (Tara Theatre).
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Chloe Wilson
Company Stage Manager on book
Chloe Wilson
Company Stage Manager on book
Chloe Wilson’s theatre credits include: Potted Panto (Apollo / The Core, Corby Cube); Trainspotting Live and Oi Frog and Friends! Live (UK Tour); August in England (Bush); Afterglow and Straight White Men (Southwark Playhouse Borough); Operation Epsilon (Southwark Playhouse Elephant), Disruption (Park); The Social (North England Tour).
Stage Manager credits include: Echo Land (R+D) (Rich Mix); Nevergreen (Poplar Union); A Silver Bell, Liminal, Clean @17 and Death and Dancing (Kings Head); The Mikado (The Maltings); Juliet & Romeo (The Gatehouse).
Assistant Stage Manager credits include: Windfall (Southwark Playhouse); L’Enfant Prodigue and Passion, Poison and Petrifaction (Susie Sainsbury, Royal Academy of Music).
Her credits while studying include: Stage Manager for The Wolves, Colossal and Chigger Foot Boys. Deputy Stage Manager for Spring Awakening and After Mrs Rochester. Assistant Stage Manager for Boudica and A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
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Rhea Cosford
Assistant Stage Manager
Rhea Cosford
Assistant Stage Manager
Rhea Cosford studied Drama at Queen Mary University of London before going on to train in Stage and Events Management at Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama.
Stage management theatre credits include: 2:22, A Ghost Story (Criterion); Trade (Pleasance); Walk Right Back – The Everly Brothers Story (UK Tour); Phantasmagoria (Kali /Southwark); What Would Jarvis Do? (Omnibus); Multiple Casualty Incident (Yard).
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Aino Teppo
Stage Management Placement
Aino Teppo
Stage Management Placement
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