BLACKOUT SONGS

Blackout Songs by Joe White.

A darkly comic romantic tragedy about love and addiction.

Creative Team

Lois Mackie (ALICE)

Lois trained at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. Her TV Credits include playing ‘Chris Goulding’ in Coronation Street, ‘Sky’ in M.I.High (CBBC) and Lois also starred as ‘Frankie’ in the Web Series ‘Out of it’.
Lois toured her sell out one woman show ‘BEST GIRL’ in which she was nominated for Best Actor at the GMCR Fringe. Her other theatre credits include : Miss Julie, The River (Elysium Theatre Company) Vignettes, Romeo & Juliet (HER Productions) Lifeboat by Catherine Wheels (West Yorkshire Playhouse & Scotland Tour) The Room Upstairs (Theatre West), Playing with Shakespeare (Theatre Royal Plymouth)

Ashley O’Brien (CHARLIE)

Ashley has just finished playing 'Tybalt' in ROMEO & JULIET at Manchester Royal Exchange - director Nicholai La Barrie. Recently graduated from LAMDA where his final performances included FAUSTUS: THAT DAMNED WOMAN, UNCLE VANYA and THREE SISTERS.

Sam Holland-Bunyan (DIRECTOR)

Sam (Birkbeck MFA Theatre Directing | Royal Exchange Theatre Manchester) has worked alongside leading Theatre Directors, Makers and Practitioners as an Assistant Director whilst making her own work as a Theatre Director/Theatre Maker and Visual Artist in the UK and internationally. Her theatre company The Hungry Actors focused on harnessing performers physicality and ensemble led work.  Her solo show ‘Am I Losing my Mind or Just my Figure' won the Pick of Pleasance award and a London transfer.

Lauren Ellis-Stretch (MOVEMENT DIRECTOR)

Lauren is a Welsh, multi-disciplinary theatre maker.
Her practice spans playwriting, producing, and directing inspired by collaborative creative practices, embodied movement and new-writing.  In movement direction her work is guided by somatic and trauma-informed teachings.  She has worked independently in fringe theatre across Manchester and with organisations across Wales including Theatr Clwyd, Sherman Theatre, and The Riverfront Theatre.

Laurie Bayley-Higgins (ASSISTANT DIRECTOR) 

Laurie is a director and writer based between Manchester and London. His most recent work ‘The Santa Ana’ was performed at Contact Theatre as a part of Word of Warning’s ‘Emergency 23 Festival’ and is heading to C-ARTS at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe this summer. Other recent work includes co-creating Handle with Care, a multimedia devised piece made in collaboration with Contact Theatre, co-directing Bundle of Joy by Imogen Chillington at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2022, and directing Simon Longman’s Gundog as a part of HIVE MCR’s Manchester in Fringe Theatre Awards 2022. Laurie was recently the Observing Director on Josh Roche’s 2024 production of Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest at Manchester’s Royal Exchange Theatre. He is a first class graduate of the University of Manchester’s Drama and English Literature degree, and is due to begin an MFA in Theatre Directing at Birkbeck, University of London this September.

Tom Sutcliffe (LIGHTING & SOUND TECHNICIAN)

This is a script in hand amateur production by arrangement with Nick Hern Books