Edie’s House
Sisters Frankie and Tigs haven’t seen each for over 20 years. Now they are thrown back into each other’s lives, when a woman they can barely remember leaves them an unthinkable gift in her will. Forced back to the street where they spent their childhood, they find themselves in the house that was their safe-haven. Edie’s House. And now it’s all theirs. Sorting through a lifetime of belongings, they realise they don’t know anything about the woman who took care of them all those years ago. Nor do they know anything about the sister they now stand face to face with.
By piecing together the remnants of Edie’s life and her crumbling house, they attempt to piece their relationship back together, too. But re-connecting brings back childhood memories, some of which would be easier left forgotten. And both have plans for a house, which has a plan of its own.
Is blood thicker than mortar?
Edie’s house explores themes of sisterhood and home, with underlying themes of addiction, class divide, the care system, the cost of living crisis and current care measures provided for the elderly.
R&D phase scheduled for Spring 2026
Tigs
She’s bright, she’s positive, she’s anxious.
Tigs was adopted shortly after being placed in care. Separated from a sister she barely remembers, Tigs grew up with a loving home and family.
An upbeat, go-getter, she is bouncing through life, keeping herself as busy as she can in order to avoid the increasing anxiety at the corners of her mind.
During the R&D we want to ensure our characters are three dimensional, believable and flawed. In week three, we will investigate their sense of identity and how their different childhoods have shaped their outlook on life. We will look closely at both characters’ communication styles and how to represent them in the script.
Frankie
She’s tough, she’s talented, she’s angry.
Having been taken into care as a child, she remained within the care system until adulthood.
Now, a skilled carpenter who enjoys her own independence, Frankie remains haunted by the ghosts of her past.
We want to ensure that the representation of care leavers and the care system is authentic in the play. In the first week of the R&D we will be conducting workshops with care experienced individuals and artists, using methods such as Forum Theatre and live script feedback to develop this theme.
The House
An old, run-down house that was once a save haven for Frankie and Tigs.
Now left to them in the will of a woman who looked after them as children, the house memories, clues and reminders of a childhood that both girls have tried to leave behind them.
During the R&D we will explore how set design can be used as an active storytelling telling component and how the identity of the house can be developed to personify as another character in the play.
Every event we host is designed with intention, from the atmosphere we create to the way each session flows.
Olivia Baker- Co- creator
Olivia is an actress and theatre-maker, with credits in London and across the UK.
As a theatre-maker, Olivia has brought numerous productions to fruition, including: There’s a Dead Body in my Living Room at The Vaults Festival (co-producer), Chum-o-logues at The Southwark Playhouse (actress and co-producer); Light at Midnight’s Faustine at The Hope Theatre (producer); Laundry at The Space Arts Centre (actress, co-creator and producer); It’s a Playception at The Hope Theatre (actress, co-creator and co-producer); Scripts for Supper’s Jekyll and Hyde (assistant director); Mayblood by Coco Maertens, scratch performance at The Cockpit Theatre (director).
Credits as an actress include: Nurse in Netflix’s The Witness (2026), Atty in Three Chairs and a Hat’s Mrs Pack (Edinburgh Fringe Festival); Irene Adler in Scripts for Supper’s Sherlock Holmes (Ivy Café Marylebone); Hamlet in The Oxford Shakespeare Company (US) Hamlet (open air – Marienlyst Castle, Denmark); Mrs. Engel in the London transfer of Haymarket! (The Actors Church).
Creative Team
Jade Dowsett-Roberts- Co- Creator
Jade Dowsett-Roberts is an OffWestEnd nominated, Working class actress and theatre maker from South East London. She has over 14 years experience as a drama practitioner, devising plays for theatre’s and companies across London including London Bubble Theatre, Half Moon Children’s Theatre, The Old Vic, The Young Vic and Unicorn Theatre. Jade has 10 years experience as a carer, and her passion lies in elevating the unheard voices and stories of the working class community which she proudly represents. Jade Co-wrote, Co-Produced and performed in sell out theatre production LAUNDRY (Styx Theatre 2018, The Space Arts Centre 2019).
Credits: Stage; The Big O (Vault Festival 2023 & The Kings Head 2023, OffWestEnd Nomination 2023 “Lead Performance in a Play”),Chum-O-Logues (Southwark Playhouse 2022), This Wounded Island (Theatre 503 2019), LAUNDRY (The Space 2019, STX 2018), The Suit Parallel (Young Vic) Screen; Call the Midwife series 14 (2025), Marching Powder (Dir. Nick Love 2025) How to do Heartbreak (Dir. Jack Douglas, 2025), The wounds We Keep (Dir. Owain Astles, 2024) For Good or Ill (Dir. Madeleine Moore 2023); Essex Girls (Dir. Yero Time-Biu 2023).
Georgie Staight- Director
Georgie is a freelance theatre director with a passion for new work. She's worked on large scale productions on the West End and venues across the UK. Previously, Georgie was joint Artistic Director of new writing company Flux Theatre for 6 years. She enjoys collaborating with writers from early stages in the development of new work.
Georgie is an Associate Director at The Watermill and Theatre Directing Associate at Mountview.
As Director: Instructions for A Teenage Armageddon, (Garrick Theatre, original production at Southwark Playhouse nominated for 4 OffWestEnd Awards) Wizard of Oz, Camp Albion & A Christmas Carol (Watermill Theatre), Queen Mab (Actors Church, nominated for an OffCom Award), Eigengrau (Waterloo East Theatre), D-Day 75 (Watermill Theatre, 101 Outdoor Arts & Greenham Trust), CHUTNEY (Bunker Theatre, nominated for 4 Off-West End Awards), Into The Numbers (Finborough Theatre), Dubailand (Finborough Theatre, nominated for an Off-West End award).
Associate director: Hamlet (National Theatre, dir. Rob Hastie), Operation Mincemeat (West End & Broadway, dir. Rob Hastie), Dawn French is a Huge Tw*t (West End & U.K. Tour, dir. Michael Grandage).
Ed Harris- Dramaturg
Ed is an award-winning playwright and dramaturg. His other plays include The Cow Play, What the Thunder Said (winner of The Writer’s Guild Award for Best Play for Younger Audiences), and Never Ever After (shortlisted for the Meyer-Whitworth Award). His new play Strangers Like Me ran as part of the National Theatre’s connections programme in 2023. Ed is a Royal Literary Fellow and is on attachment to The National Theatre.
Laura Bay- Script Advisor
Laura is an actress, published writer and creator based in East London. As an associate artist of The Big House theatre company, Laura works with young people coming from the care system or on the verge of social exclusion, to help them realise and pursue their dreams. Laura was the recipient of a DYCP grant from The Arts Council, allowing her to pursue her writing projects. Her poetry anthology G’ryhme: not poncey, just poetry was published in 2019. She has lived experience of the play’s themes as a care leaver.
Sorcha Corcoran- Set Designer
Sorcha is a 5x OffWestEnd Nominated set and costume designer. She has worked regionally and in Europe. Her focus is on new writing, opera, youth theatre and physical and devised theatre.
Recent credits include: Baby Box (York Theatre Royal), No Strings Attached (Kings Head Theatre), Salome (Southwark Playhouse), Fever Pitch, (The Hope Theatre), How To Find Your Name (English Touring Opera), Khojaly (The Union Theatre), Doctor Faustus (The Southwark Playhouse), Hamlet (The Southwark Playhouse), Closure (Home Theatre Manchester).
Adam Annand- Script advisor
Adam is a participatory theatre maker, facilitator and member of the Cultural Learning Alliance advisory panel. He is CEO of Speech Bubbles, a charity which began as a local project at London Bubble Theatre and is now an established, industry recognised national programme. Speech Bubbles uses theatre to provide children with a joyful, creative space where they can develop their own unique communication. In spring 2024, Adam became the author of his first debut book “That’s my story” which details the theory and practice of Speech Bubbles.
Marie Vickers- Project Management mentor
Marie is Artistic Director and Co-CEO of London Bubble Theatre Company. As Artistic Director of London Bubble Theatre Company, Marie leads the team in developing and delivering theatre programs for children, young people and adults. With a purpose to create theatre that matters to the community and for a fairer society, her skills in strategy, planning, execution and evaluation have seen the company progress as Southwark's leading community theatre company. In the last year alone, London Bubble has gone on to win several prestigious awards, including Southwark's Business Excellence: Outstanding team award and London Youth Awards: Inspiring young change makers in theatre from to name but a few.
Marie is passionate about supporting the development of young theatre makers and artists. She offers support in various forms for theatre companies, individuals and project based development. She is proud to be supporting Jade and Olivia for the R&D of Edie’s House.
Lucy Bradshaw- Finance management mentor
Lucy Bradshaw is Executive Director and Co-CEO of London Bubble Theatre. She holds advanced skills as a Producer into the corporate sector, coordinating multi-million pound consortium bids. Realising she missed the creativity of theatre making, she sought out London Bubble. Her various employment hats at Bubble have seen her support the organisation across the company, from administrator to project coordinator, lead for coordination and evaluation and now Executive Director.
Lucy thinks of her role as supporting the unique jigsaw puzzle that is London Bubble’s charitable, theatre and business components to come together as a whole. She values understanding people’s strengths, supporting them to develop and express themselves, whether in a professional or participatory capacity.
Photographer Credit
@Siennalorrainegray