Faye Castelow, Amalia Vitale, Natasha Jayetileke, Debra Gillett in Pandemonium by Armando Iannucci. Photo: Marc Brenner.
We started 2024 with a sell-out season of PANDEMONIUM by Armando Iannucci, directed by Patrick Marber at Soho Theatre. This was a funny and tragic look at the Covid years and the shenanigans of the Conservative government.
Spring saw us co-produce PRINCESS SMARTYPANTS with the Wardrobe Ensemble for children ages 5 and upwards. We played in London, Bristol and Newbury and the Wardrobe Ensemble will be touring the show again in Spring 2025.
We’re still looking for trustees to join us on our board and if you’re interested please do get in touch at Judith@waywardproductions.co.uk.
We’re thinking ahead and look forward to sharing our plans in the New Year.
Meanwhile, at Wayward this winter we’re reading Water by John Boyne, Happiness Falls by Angie Kim, Booker prize winner Orbital by Samantha Harvey and My Family by David Baddiel.
‘Having led an acclaimed theatre company for many years and from my own contribution as a trustee, I know how important a Board of Trustees is and how supportive a Board can be. We are a very small company and want to engage a group of talented and creative individuals who can help us on our journey as we grow’ Judith Dimant
Wayward is looking for new people to join its Board of Trustees.
We currently have three founder Trustees, who represent a wealth of knowledge across different sectors and have supported us since we became a charity in 2019. They are: Elizabeth Loudon, Author Keerthi Kollimada, Executive Director & Joint CEO National Student Drama Festival Marcus du Sautoy, OBE FRS, Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science at the University of Oxford.
We’re interested in meeting new people who want to use their experience and skills to support the company.
About Wayward
Wayward is a theatre production company founded and led by producer Judith Dimant. It’s a venture following her career as Producer at Complicité for over 25 Years. We’re particularly interested in adapting books – both fiction and non-fiction – for the stage.
Wayward launched in 2019 with its inaugural production of GRIEF IS THE THING WITH FEATHERS by Max Porter, directed by Enda Walsh, starring Cillian Murphy. It played in London and New York.
Most recently we produced PANDEMONIUM by Armando Iannucci, directed by Patrick Marber, which played a seven-week sell-out season at London’s Soho Theatre.
“Not only a pointed, playful political pantomime, butalso a document of our times, it’s unimpeachable.” The Guardian ⭐⭐⭐⭐
2024 is a busy year with an adaptation of Babette Cole’s children’s book PRINCESS SMARTYPANTS co-produced with The Wardrobe Ensemble, and a revival of PANDEMONIUM.
In the past three years Wayward has produced the following: GRIEF IS THE THING WITH FEATHERS read by author Max Porter at the Union Chapel, London and livestreamed worldwide SHIFTS for BBC Radio Winner of the Life in Covid 19 award, UK Audio Production Awards 2021 THE LANGUAGE OF KINDNESS based on the book Christie Watson, directed by Sasha Milavic Davis & James Yeatman (London, Warwick, Tunbridge Wells) Winner of a 2022 OFFIE award
Wayward is a company limited by guarantee and a registered charity. We receive project funding from Arts Council England for appropriate projects, as well as support from trusts and foundations and individuals.
The Role of the Trustee
As a member of Wayward’s Board of Trustees your role is to support, advocate and listen. This can mean offering advice, helping the company make new connections, representing us externally or asking difficult questions. You don’t need direct experience of working in the theatre.
As a Board member, you are legally a Company Director of Wayward Productions Ltd. This means that, together with the other Trustees, you are responsible for ensuring that we comply with:
company law
employment law
health and safety legislation
equal opportunities It is also the Board’s collective responsibility to make sure that the company remains solvent and that we don’t do anything that might place our funds, assets or reputation at risk. Board meetings Trustees meet every three months. Meetings last about two hours, and usually take place in London or remotely.
Meetings are scheduled and agreed by all, so it should be possible to find dates that suit everyone. You don’t have to attend every meeting but it is strongly encouraged, and if you can’t be there in person we’ll try and make it possible for you to attend remotely.
We send out board papers before each meeting, usually including an agenda, minutes from the previous meeting and financial papers.
If you’re thinking of joining us but worry that you don’t have sufficient financial knowledge, we can offer extra support understanding the finance papers.
Away days Once a year we also have an ‘away day’ which we spend together somewhere nice and think and discuss in more depth issues the company is facing.
Other activity In addition to Board meetings and away days, we sometimes ask our Trustees for help in specialist areas. For example, one of our Trustees has knowledge of Commercial Producing and we might ask her for extra help with a commercial transfer of a production.
The best Board members are the ones who are well informed and have a good understanding of our work, so we also hope you’ll come to see our shows and attend other events whenever possible.
If you’re interested in joining us and if you would like further information please do contact Judith Dimant at judith@waywardproductions.co.uk https://www.waywardproductions.co.uk/ @wayward_productions X @waywardprods. Registered charity number 1186473
Patrick Marber, Judith Dimant and Armando Iannucci outside Soho Theatre. Photo: Jack Jeffreys
We are thrilled to have started rehearsals for Pandemonium: Being a Scornful Account of the Activities of Mr Boris Johnson and ‘Others’ during the Pandemic and its Aftermath by Armando Iannucci and Directed by Patrick Marber. Our company of actors, The Pandemonium Players, are Faye Castelow, Paul Chahidi, Debra Gillett, Natasha Jayetileke and Amalia Vitale.
The irony is not lost on us, that as we sit in the rehearsal room with Armando and Patrick cutting, changing, rewriting while on our televisions the Covid Inquiry is playing out in a similar vein. It’s rather alarming.
“I wanted to write something furious and energetic about the past three years. Pandemonium is partly about us wanting those in charge to be up to the job, to be heroes, and the anger that started building when the news of the drinks parties began to emerge. And yes, I wanted to write something funny (don’t forget, we also had Liz Truss!). Laughter is a great release, and my aim is for the audience to have a good time and a good laugh, but I also hope it helps people process the tumultuous and crazy time we went through.”
Armando Iannucci
Lastly, at Wayward this winter we are reading Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid, I Strongly Believe in Incredible Things by Rob Auton, Atomic Habits by James Clear, In Memoriam by Alice Winn, The Bullet That Missed by Richard Osman, Gormenghast by Mervyn Peake and Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson.
Back: Tinuke Craig, Teri Ann Bobb Baxter, Natasha Brown (author), Gloria Obianyo, Tanika Yearwood. Front: Mimi M Khayisa, Dipo Baruwa-Etti. Photo: Dan Balfour.
We’ve just completed a workshop on Natasha Brown’s award winning debut novel, Assembly. We spent a week working with a stellar group of artists including writer Dipo Baruwa-Etti, director Tinuke Craig, movement director Ingrid Mackinnon and performers Teri Ann Bobb-Baxter, Mimi M Khayisa, Gloria Obianyo and Tanika Yearwood starting to adapt the novel, which was published in 2021 to universal acclaim. Supported by Arts Council England.
“An elegiac examination of a Black woman’s life and an acerbic analysis of Britain’s racial landscape. Brown’s rhythmic, economic prose renders the narrator’s experiences with breathless clarity, especially the steady, gnawing stream of racial and sexual harassment she faces. Assembly is a smart novel that takes risks with the questions it raises.”
The New York Times
And we’ve also just spent some time in a room with Tracy-Ann Oberman, Annabel Arden and others, exploring the life of Licoricia of Winchester – the life of a remarkable Jewish Businesswoman in Medieval England.
And at Wayward this Autumn, we’re reading Oldladyvoice by Elisa Victoria, Days Like These by Brian Bilston, Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Rooney, Confessions of a forty-something ###k up by Alexander Potter, Where to now, Blue? by Adrien Stoutenburg and Tyger by SF Said.
