The Lezzwood Players are a quirky bunch of queer women from the Brighton area who are on a manic mission to create unique entertainment for broad-minded audiences in the Brighton area and beyond.
Contact us at: lezzwood@gmail.com (or via our facebook page)
Our shows are created from original scripts by our very own warped genius Catriona Norrish. Kate not only writes all our scripts but hams it up splendidly on stage too.
All our shows are musicals (using the term loosely) with songs lurching from complete originals to more familiar tunes – whatever seems most ludicrous at the time. Words and new tunes are written by Dungareen Jean – but realised (orchestration, production) by Deb Fisher (see below). Dungareen Jean was asked to direct “The Lezzwardians” (yes, the one we had all the complaints about). She is unlikely to be given the opportunity again.
Sets are designed and props are begged, borrowed or stolen and assembled by our resident rag and bone duo, Blondie Gibbs and Jane Walker. At one point their home appeared to contain the entire contents of a stately manor. Karate expert Blondie also designs the zany posters and programmes for all our shows, whilst French impersonator Jane is a dab hand with sticky-back plastic and old washing-up liquid bottles.
Sensational seamstress, Sophie Kay, literally has us all in stitches by preparing costumes for our shows. This material girl is a bit of a Madonna herself, and has yearned to be given serious dramatic roles but nonetheless is habitually cast as a dumb brunette.
Cathy Beaumont (as seen on Grimebusters) looks after Lezzwood Admin and makes a very serviceable cream tea. Cathy is the very epitome of amateur dramatics. Narrowly missing out on the lead role for Andrew Lloyd-Webber’s show “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Essex” Cathy has brought her unique acting skills to Lezzwood – the West End’s loss is our gain!
For Lezzby Avenue we were overjoyed to welcome Jo and Sarah McKinney-Green to the troupe. Kiwi Jo has used her events experience and has co-directed two of our subsequent shows with Kezia (see below, who luckily speaks the same language). Sarah has raised the dramatic tone of our productions as her previous roles have been with credible and prestigious theatre companies.
Before Sarah joined us, we often had to call upon the talents of some other people who could actually act. It did always rather show the rest of us up, but we felt it improved the audience experience*.
Kezia Bibby was born in New Zealand and studied at the Dick Van Dyke Academy of Vocal Acrobatics. Here she perfected a cut-glass English accent interspersed with cockernee. Kez’s appearance in “The Lezzwardians” earned her the title of Pearly Queen of Peckham Patcham. Kezia is currently on a break from the Lezzwoods but we hope she will be back soon!
Bobalina Jones had become rather typecast as a teenager after “Lezzington Towers” and “The Lezzwardians” due to her youthful appearance and boundless energy. However, she actually went to school with Judy Dench. After someone finally noticed that she is the only person in the cast who can dance we put her in charge of choreography ! Bobs is currently on a break from the Lezzwoods but we hope she will be back soon!
Promotion and Publicity were traditionally arranged by our sultana of spin and award-winning Drag King, Jen Grant of Diva Destinations. Jen has now left Brighton so sadly isn’t able to take part in the shows – but she is awfully missed!
*These wonderful people have included: Ruby Beaumont, Jess Trundle, Rosy Ellis, Lou Bolden-Flett, Robin Holmes and Bryony Nurse.
Behind The Scenes….
Music and sound effects are cobbled together by our resident (and very gorgeous) nerdy techie, Deb Fisher. Most of her time is spent dealing with the frequent crashes of the over-worked Auto-Tune when recording songs with the cast, and unravelling self-knitting audio cables.
In the past we have been indebted to the hard work and ingenuity of Stage Managers, Lisa Hardie and Tiffany Biddle. Now that they have moved on the cast sadly have no time to panic and weep between scenes.
Other Credits
And last, but certainly not least, we thank Max Beaumont (son of Cathy) for his competent and totally unflappable assistance on the technical side; Evan Wilkinson for filming “Murder at The Lezzwood Saloon” and “Lezzington Towers” (his video clips can be seen elsewhere on the site); and Jennie Wilson, Jo Weatherall, Emma Jackson, Jo McKinney and Sarah Green for their help with prompting and front of house activities.
Other honourable mentions go to Martin Oakley from The Barn Theatre, Southwick, who was an absolute star helping with lighting and set for “The Lezzwardians”, Tash Rankin who helped with choreography, and to Vic Bolden-Flett who acted as reserve techie for our L-Fest show. Judith Jackson has also helped us out in the past with set design and construction.
Cathy Johns appeared as Dolly Partem in the very first lezzwood production of “Murder at The Lezzwood Saloon”. Cathy has now retired from hamming it up on stage and and it’s a great loss to comic theatre.
Claire Wilson also appeared in “Murder at The Lezzwood Saloon” adding a little bit of glamour to the cast!
Our wonderful photos from “The Lezzwardians”, “Lezzby Avenue”, “Adventures of the Starship Lezzerprise” and a “Comedy of Lezzers” are by Hannah Brackenbury