William Shakespeare, Jane Austen and Sir Walter Raleigh are among the host of characters with local connections whose Hampshire lives and adventures have been brought to life by Rachel and Cecily O’Neill. Here they discuss the joys and challenges of using words and music to stage the stories of these and a host of other fascinating characters in churches, halls and other venues around Winchester and Southampton.
2TimeTheatre is a young and innovative Hampshire theatre company that works with local talent and tiny budgets to revitalise the work of long dead writers as well as producing brilliant original work telling the hidden stories of women. The photographs below are from their 2018 performance of the world premiere of ‘Sir Walter’s Women’
Cecily O’Neill
Cecily is the founder and director of 2TimeTheatre.
Adaptations for 2TimeTheatre include Meeting Miss Austen, Winchester Festeival 2017, and Venus and Adonis, Winchester Festival 2016. She had Jane Austen and The Waterman, co-written with Philip Glassborow, performed October 2017.
Cecily works extensively in theatre and is the author of a number of influential books on drama education, including Drama Words (1995). Children’s fiction includes Miss Macdonald had a Zoo (1991) and Tim and the Wolf (1986), both published and broadcast by the BBC. Her recent production, A Fruitful Season: Keats in Winchester, was staged in July 2019.
Rachel O’Neill
Rachel O'Neill is managing director of 2TimeTheatre. Since graduating in Drama, she has had an extensive career in marketing and communications across a range of industries from dance label Gee Street Records to online giant AOL.
Rachel has attended several play-writing courses including those run by Angie Street, Amy Rosenthal and Shaun McCarthy. Her work includes Playing with Clouds, co-written with Sian Radinger, and Sir Walter's Women, directed by Alice Kornitzer, which received its premiere at The Great Hall in Winchester, 14 & 15 September 2018. Her most recent play, Tilly and the Spitfires, was performed at the NST City Space as part of the Make It SO Season, 2019.
Want to discover more?
Watch 2TimeTheatre in production today by visiting their video gallery, they are also on twitter @2timetheatre