A semi-professional theatre company, which puts on contemporary plays and new writing in and around the Bristol area, has now been running for four years and is about to present its latest production.
Misplaced Theatre was created with the idea of bringing back actors to the stage whose acting careers had been put on hold for a variety of reasons. The company also support younger actors/writers at the start of their careers by giving them opportunities to work with a committed team of producers/directors looking to bring interesting, high-quality theatre to the arts scene in Bristol and beyond.
The four co-founders all met for the first time on a Shakespeare summer school at the Bristol Old Vic; Ciaran Corsar is an actor and had been working with the White Rabbit Theatre Company in Switzerland and was new to Bristol; Amy Tanner, an acting tutor, was looking to enhance her teaching skills; Norberto Bogard, who is primarily New York-based, had been working as a journalist for many years before deciding to pursue an acting career; Joanna Butler already had a vast amount of experience as a singer/actor and director but was keen to try something different in Bristol. While working on ‘A Midsummer’s Night’s Dream’ at the Summer School, the four immediately bonded and setting up a theatre company seemed a natural progression.
The first Misplaced production was Decadence, a satirical study of 1980s Thatcherite Britain, by Steven Berfoff. It received excellent reviews and inspired the team to keep up themomentum and they followed this up with Tender Napalm, Life in the Theatre, Doubt and Switzerland. With Norberto working on projects in Mexico and Joanna focusing on her music and writing, Ciaran and Amy, who both live in St Andrews/Montpelier, took the reins, and they are now in intensive rehearsalsfor their next production, A Bright New Boise by Samuel D Hunter.
The play explores themes of family, faith and fundamentalism and the desire for connection set in the confines of the Hobby Lobby Store in Idaho.
Describing how the play came about, Amy, the play’s director, said, “I saw this play performed by LAMDA students in London in 2024. One of our network, Robert Furey, was the assistant director. It left a powerful impression on me, so I am really excited to have the opportunity to put this on in Bristol. It is a great play for actors as Hunter has created such interesting complex characters, each with a full inner life of their own. We are lucky to have Louie Wanless as our assistant director. Louie starred in our last play, Switzerland and is now very much part of the Misplaced family.”
Cast members of A Bright New Boise are: Tyler Landry as Will, Maya Hingorani as Anna, Jack Parrott as Alex, Jaleelah Galbraith as Pauline and Rhys Myhill as Leroy. It is on from April 14-18 at the Alma Tavern Theatre, Clifton.
You can buy tickets on the Alma Tavern website: https://www.almatavernandtheatre.co.uk/