John Livesey  








About
Theatre
Film
Writing




Tending


by El Blackwood

There are 400,000 nurses in the NHS today. This is their story.

Based on over 70 interviews, Tending offers a heartbreaking, hilarious and very human look at the experience of those on the frontline of our health service.

Tending is a love letter to our National Health Service, created with the community who hold it up.

Press:
★★★★★ ‘Truly extraordinary’ – Scottish Field

★★★★★ ‘Compassionate…beautiful, and master-crafted’ - British Theatre Guide

★★★★ ‘One of the most timely plays of the Fringe’ - The Scotsman

Winner of the Sit Up Award for Social Impact
Winner of the Derek Award, Fringe 2024


Debut:
Edinburgh Fringe, August 2024

National Tour:
Brixtin House, Brixton
Theatre Royal, Bath
North Wall Arts Centre, Oxford
Riverside Studios, London

Writer: El Blackwood/ Director & Dramaturg: John Livesey/ Lighting Designer: Ros Chase/ Score: Sarah Spencer

Amphibian


by  Vida Adamczeski

Put your hands over your ears. Take a deep breath. Can you hear that?

The babble of your gut.
The garbled pulsing of your heart.
In the very swamp of you, something is growing.

Vida Adamczewski’s lyric play explores the strange negotiations of a woman and her body as they shudder through pregnancy, girlhood, and growing up

Press:
‘Dazzlingly inventive, alarming’ - Charlie Gilmour

Winner of the UEA New Forms Award 2022

Debut:
King’s Head Theatre, 2021

Transfer:
Bold Tendencies, 2022

Writer: Vida Adamczewski/ Director & Dramaturg: John Livesey/ Producer: Isabelle Hayden/ Score: Louis Grace


Heather


by  Thomas Eccleshare

Can you separate a story from the story-teller?

A children’s book becomes a surprise success but its reclusive writer remains in the shadows. Slowly, a secret begins to emergs: a disturbing truth that might just change everything.

 Heather is a riveting play by Thomas Eccleshare, interrogating our understanding of identity, celebrity and the power of stories. It is guaranteed to keep you guessing and leave you on the edge of your seat.

Presented as part of Playdoh: StoneCrabs Young Director’s Festival

Theatre:
Southwark Playhouse, 2021

Writer: Thomas Eccleshare/ Director: John Livesey/ Video Designer: Dan Light/ Lighting Designer: Ros Chase


I’m Not Here
Right Now


by  Thomas Eccleshare

‘She knows because she saw him... even if she can never prove it‘
Claire Sahakian knows she has seen something in the mountains: a huge figure emerging from the blizzard. But can she trust her own perceptions? And how far will she go to fight for what she believes?

This is a thrilling story about competing realities: fact and fiction, doubt and conviction. It is an edge-of-your-seat-thriller, a family drama, a snowy fantasy, and a theatrical provocation.

Presented at the Guildhall School of  Music and Drama


Theatre:
Guildhall School, 2022

Writer: Thomas Eccleshare/ Director: John Livesey/ Video Designer: Dan Light/ Assistant Director: Laura Henderson-Child / Producer: Izzy Hayden


random


by  debbie tucker green

Mum cooks, Dad sleeps. Sister hustles. Brother is late to School.

Another normal day in the life of one family. Until it isn’t. By lunchtime, one random act has changed everything, forever.

A  revival of debbie tucker green’s powerful 2008 play about knife crime. Featuring a stand-out debut by Franscesca Amewudah-Rivers

Press:
 ★★★★ ‘impeccably staged...Francesca Amewudah-Rivers has the entire theatre in the palm of her hand’ – Within Her Words

★★★★★‘poignant and essential’ - Broadway World

Shortlisted for the National Student Drama Festival 2020

Debut:
Burton Taylor Studio, 2017

Transfer:
Seven Dials Playhouse, 2019

Writer: debbie tucker green/ Director: John Livesey/ Lighing Designer: Jonathan Chan/ Producer: Sade Clarke