(banner photo by Stephen Vance, with Simon Vance)
(photo by Karla Hargrave, with Nican Robinson)
HUNTING LOVE
A suicidal Aphrodite encounters a life-loving Narcissus …eager to escape his stony fate. A young girl tries to escape her incomparable mother. In Hunting Love, myth transforms across a generation as four souls strive for intimacy in a landscape defaced by wars, literal and metaphorical. a new version of this play with music is in development at 3GT in San Francisco through the 2023-2024 Brady Fellowship. see more
MIND THE GAP
One Woman. Three Characters. Trapped in a Public Toilet!
“Mind the Gap! refers to gaps of all kinds. The famous alert heard in the London Underground, the gaps in the doors of American public toilets, the gaps in translation and expectation – particularly in cross cultural families such as both my family of origin and the family I created with my ex-husband (who is from Guatemala). Mind the Gap! explores the idea of public and private spaces, the public and private self. One approach I took to writing….was to view important events of my life in things that happen in the bathroom – or should appropriately happen in the bathroom. Essentially, the drama of my life as viewed between the gaps in the door of a public toilet!” – (from an interview with playwright/performer Susan-Jane Harrison) more on the inspiration of public toilets
“American public toilets have something in common with the London Underground…” Performed at the Auckland Fringe March 2020! Scheduled to be performed in San Francisco in April 2020 at Amplify baWTF in San Francisco (cancelled due to Covid-19)
with Susan-Jane Harrison, photo by Tara Ranchhod
TODAY I LIVE
Can desire transcend time? A man and a woman living centuries apart in the same flat gradually become aware of one another. This mysterious sexual charge permeates their work and their sleep, driving them to distraction and inspiration. Today I Live has been developed through the RADA alumni programme, and at The RADA Festival in London 2016, and with support of 3GT in San Francisco, 2022 via the Brady Fellowship.
(with Vissey Safavi, Richard Cotton & Loz Keystone – 1st photo left to right)
ALASKA: A RADIO PLAY
Frank prepares to meet the mysterious Winona 
Dean and Frank have a moment alone
ALASKA: A RADIO PLAY
Boy meets girl in a crowded bar. In a parallel universe, romance is not always what it seems…”
Shades of 1950’s genre science fiction slant towards satire. “Alaska” explores the conflicting roles of women in the media, and the potential of a socially conservative state to use genetic advances to isolate those with ‘undesirable traits’. Starring the much-awarded actor Michael Sheen.
Touched
In a futuristic version of our world, touch of any kind is illegal unless specifically consensual. But the rules around this are as ever, contradictory. Originally written for radio in 2013, “Touched” is a surprisingly pre-cognitive examination of social distance, isolation and fear of contact. A scientist and an anthropologist, unknown to each other and living in the same apartment building, act on their longing for contact in two very different ways, leading them to a dramatic face to face encounter. Developed by 3GT in San Francisco as part of the Brady Fellowship in 2023.
with Carlos Aguirre & Radhika Rao
ANONYMOUS
“Accidental porn tourist in a technological abattoir:
Oh soft porn where have you gone? You died with barely a wet gasp. Soft angled suggestions rimed with the rust of yesterday’s raunch… Of thee I sing. Accidentally.”
“Anonymous” is a devised theatre dance piece directed by choreographer Iu-Hui Chua, assistant direction and text by Susan-Jane Harrison, in collaboration with undergraduate women performers at University of California, Davis, with funding from the Penguin Foundation Ltd and the Department of Theatre and Dance at UC Davis. “Anonymous” was performed in the Spring of 2013. Anonymous explores issues of sexuality, wounding and identity in young women’s lives, reflecting difference and diversity of attitude within this demographic, while touching on an intergenerational shift between these women and their older counterparts.
Voiceover and text by Susan-Jane Harrison for opening of “Anonymous”
DIVIDED
“There’s something that doesn’t make sense. Let’s go and poke it with a stick.” – Dr. Who
An interdisciplinary science fiction oddity, exploring gender identity, genetically altered fruit flies, and aliens with a penchant for earth candy. Performed and devised by musician Dan Cato, choreographer Iu-Hui Chua, actor-writer Susan-Jane Harrison. “Divided” was performed in 2012, funded by a grant from The Consortium for Women and Research.
Text and Voice Susan-Jane Harrison, with the voice of Will Brooks
