Welcome to London’s freshest multi-arts festival, from the OFFIE winning ChewBoy Productions.
From May 22nd - 28th, we took over the Lion and Unicorn Theatre in Kentish town with some of the weirdest, whackiest flavours from early-career companies, dynamic new writers of all ages and bold screen work from some of the most exciting filmmakers in town.
We worked in association with Gutter Street, Visability Film Festival, Proforca Theatre and Yellow Hat Productions amongst others to support the creation of integrated live performance events with a focus on the surreal, the abstract and experimentation.
For a limited time you can watch the full festival at the link below. So, buckle in friends. This one was a bigg’un…
Start your ChewFest experience right with an introduction to the festival from ChewBoy’s co-founders Hal Darling and Georgie Bailey. Join us for a multimedia taste-test through space, time and existence to learn more about what the week has in store for you, audience member.
Stage the Page | 20:00 - 21:30
5 performers. 6 new plays. Enjoy some of the freshest new writing on the block from a wonderful array of early-career playwrights, performed by a troupe of 5 performers in a rehearsed reading event like no other.
Featuring Premieres of:
SKIN by Jaisal Marmion | PRIVATE VIEW by Lee Lauren | THOR OF TRELLICK TOWER by Shez Chung-Blake | YARN by Caroline Lezny | MORRIS BOYS by Ted Tooley | WHO CUT OFF THEIR TALES/TAILS? by Yaz Nin
The Adaptation Game | 19:30 - 21:00
Join Visability Film Festival for ‘The Adaptation Game’ - an evening of transmedia storytelling, in association with Yellow Hat productions, as part of Chewfest 2022 at the Lion & Unicorn Theatre.
This experimental evening marks a new chapter for Visability, one where they'll be breathing new life into some of their favourite films of the past two years by adapting them for the stage!
As usual, they’ll be shining a light on some vital topics, continuing the company's commitment to using film (and theatre) as a tool for positive societal change. So, strap in for an innovative, one of a kind evening.
The Magic Number | 19:30 - 21:00
Threeeeee, is a magic numberrrrr!
On Wednesday, we’ll be bringing you 3 extract performances from 3 brand-new companies creating whacky, experimental work.
The companies joining us at ChewFest 2022 are international theatre company Borderline Confrontational, Muddy Puddles who focus on bringing life to queer stories and new-writing company White Noise Theatre.
Featuring Premieres of:
13 Children by Borderline Confrontational
Thin Air by Muddy Puddles
PlantGays by White Noise Theatre
Back 2 Back | 19:30 - 21:00
Long-time collaborators ChewBoy Productions and Proforca Theatre team up to bring you a revival of the multi-award-winning surreal comedy TETHERED, the acclaimed Before Feel by James Lewis and a brand-new play from David Brady, By Your Side in a triple-bill evening of innovative theatre.
Note: One ticket will give you access to watch all 3 of these fantastic plays.
Gutter Street Nights | 19:30 - 21:30
Gutter Street is a theatre company and artist collective creating original plays and stories all set in their interconnected theatrical world. They create work where the fantastical meets the gritty, reflecting our own world through a cracked and stained mirror.
Gutter Street Nights is an event where five creatives are challenged to write either a song, speech or poem based around a specific theme. The nights are open to performers and non performers alike, with an aim to create a comfortable, supportive environment for everyone to share their work and try something new. Join us for a night of new writing, a little pub quiz and if you fancy a go, jump up on our open mic at the end!
Fondue with Chew: A Finale Event Thing | 19:30 - 21:00
To culminate the festival, we’ll be providing you with an evening of anarchy. Chaos. Good vibes and fun. 'Cus that’s what we all need right now, right?
Join Georgie and Hal from ChewBoy Productions and some very special guests to celebrate live performance's return, to chat about everything and anything, and maybe even try and break some world records…all with chocolate fondue.
working in association with...
GUTTER STREET NIGHTS
PROFORCA THEATRE
VISABILITY FILM FESTIVAL
YELLOW HAT PRODUCTIONS
meet our creatives...
ChewBoy team
Lucy Betts | Director & Festival Producer
Selwin Hulme-Teague | Director & Festival Producer
Hal Darling | Festival Producer & Videographer
Chloe Stally-Gibson | Technical Director
Georgie Bailey | Festival Producer
meet our creatives...
Stage the Play | Monday 23rd
Yaz Nin | Writer | Who cut off their tales/tales?
Yaz Nin is a writer and playwright. Born in Kibris raised in Tottenham/Haringey, Yaz is interested in exploring political and feminist narratives. Who cut off their tales/tales? | Two children in an unnamed country set a glue trap and wait for feed. A short political play with a cry for displaced and persecuted Muslims across the globe.
Jaisal Marmion | Writer | Skin
Jaisal is a Bristol-based playwright and graduate of the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. He moved to the UK after growing up in Goa, India. His work is primarily concerned with questions of race, multiculturalism and stories related to the Indian and Irish diasporas. Skin | Skin is a piece about diversity in theatre and my feelings about it as a person of colour. It’s about the importance of affirmative action, but also the paradoxical way in which it forces artists of colour to perform their identity; the sense that you’re almost commodifying or fetishising your difference for public consumption.
Caroline Lezny | Writer | Yarn
Caroline Lezny is a writer for performance based in London where she is pursuing her MFA in Writing for Stage and Broadcast Media at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. Caroline is a magna cum laudegraduate of the University of Notre Dame where she served as Artistic Director for the Pasquerilla East Musical Company. Yarn | She is trying to get rid of him without unraveling. He is tangled up in her. Loneliness, grief, and a wool-knitted house.
Shez Chung-Blake | Writer | Thor of Trellick Tower
Shez Chung Blake is a poet, writer, teacher and theatre maker based in London. Inspired by the vibrant lights and extremes of her home city, Shez Chung Blake’s writing reflects and articulates the frustrations of navigating London life. She was long listed for the New Voices in Poetry prize in 2019 and is a recent graduate of the Theatre 503 Spring Writers programme for Playwrights. Thor of Trellick Tower | A thought- provoking short play about women’s rights, male dominance, superheroes and the realisation that sometimes our dreams reveal more to others than we are ready to process to ourselves. It’s Tuesday and the children are late out of class - again. At the gates two friends pass the time by unpicking a dream from the night before. Surreal fantasy? Frustrated sex dream? The conversation quickly becomes a juggling act of negotiating school gate rivalries, tardy supply teachers and suppressing the unsettling nightmare reality lurking in tower.
Lee Lauren | Writer | Private View
Lee is a South London based writer and theatre-maker. In 2021 she graduated from RCSSD with an MA in Writing for Stage and Broadcast Media. She has had short works performed at the Ivy House, Peckham Springs, RCSSD studio, Above the Stag, Wimbledon Book Festival and the Golden Goose. Private View | Millie meets Guy and he seems nice. Then Guy takes Millie to his place of work and things quickly sour.
Ted Tooley | Writer | Morris Boys
Ted Tooley is a graduating Actor Musician from Rose Bruford College, originally from Sheffield. This is their first play, after only discovering a passion for it recently.
meet our creatives...
The Adaptation Game | Tuesday 24th
Sam Briggs | Visability Co-Director
Sam is the founder and co-director of Visability Film Festival. As a writer he has contributed to award winning music videos, had two short films funded by South West Surrey Domestic Abuse Outreach Service, and written extensively for immersive fiction on mobile app. Having undertaken a university module in Adaptation & Transmedia Storytelling, he's excited to use this knowledge to bring some of Visability's best short films to the stage.
Maddie Gray | Yellow Hat Co-Founder
Maddy is the co-founder and co-artistic director of Yellow Hat Productions. She trained as an actor and theatre maker and her performer credits include The Batman, Doctors, Riches, Endless Second and Hot Lane. Her directorial credits include The Pillowman and Wind in the Willows. As an assistant producer for the Jolly Good Production Company she has worked on various theatre and filmed projects but also works as an independent producer on short films.
Theo Toksvig-Stewart | Yellow Hat Co-Founder
Theo is the co-founder and co-artistic director of Yellow Hat Productions. As a writer he is currently developing an original comedy-series with Two Rivers, writing an episode for season two of The Beaker Girls for CBBC, and adapting Douglas Coupland’s “Microserfs” for Radio 4. His theatre work has been staged across the country.
Kieran Stringfellow | Writer/Director | Bulldog
Kieran is a writer/director based in Manchester and is the founder of Block B Films. His latest short film, Tow Truck was made with the support of the BFI Network, with funds from The National Lottery. BULLDOG | After spending the night in a cell, a rough sleeper has a score to settle - Using the harsh realities of homelessness in the UK to challenge our expectations of rough sleepers. Adaptation | Set after the events of the Bulldog film, Property Investor Louise looks for a rough sleeper she can pay to carry out an unsavoury act.
