EDIFYING EDDY
A New Play by Carolyn Scott-Jeffs
PYGMALION AND MY FAIR LADY, WE ALL THINK WE KNOW THE STORY, BUT WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THE ROLES ARE REVERSED?
HELLO AND WELCOME!
Thank you for attending this workshop performance of our new play Edifying Eddy by Carolyn Scott-Jeffs.
Carolyn conceived the play in 2018 and the first read through took place in Melbourne (Derby… not Australia) in July 2019 with Tom Roberts and Lizzie Wofford.
In May 2020 we received some funding from the Sir Barry Jackson Trust to develop and produce a small scale workshop production of Edifying Eddy at The Hub.
Nicky Cox joined the team in July 2021 as our director and after numerous cancellations due to… you know… we’re finally here at The Hub at St Mary’s to share this play with you!
Thank you for being here, for supporting local theatre makers and venues and brand new work. We hope you enjoy the show.
Love,
Team Unruly Regiment x
Plot summary
Mel is an impoverished, young, creative writing lecturer on a temporary contract at a prestigious Midlands University, whose life is spinning out of control. Eddy is a middle-aged, unemployed ex car-worker from the Black Country with old-fashioned views. Sparks fly when Mel is assigned as Eddy’s personal tutor in Carolyn Scott-Jeffs’s funny and touching contemporary examination of class, equality, and politics in higher education.
about edifying eddy
Edifying Eddy is a contemporary comedy that puts the Greek myth of Pygmalion into a modern context. In the myth Pygmalion is a sculptor who falls in love with his statue. Shaw’s 1913 version, Pygmalion, was set in London and cast a man in the role of creator giving life to a woman through his superior knowledge and skill. Lerner and Loewe adapted Shaw’s stage play into the famous, much-loved musical, My Fair Lady, in 1956; and Willy Russell provided a Liverpool setting for his take on the story, Educating Rita, in 1980, still using a man as the educator. Pretty Woman continued the man as educator theme in 1990 with a later musical adaptation currently playing in London’s West End. Carolyn Scott Jeffs has written a much needed new telling set in the Black Country that reverses the roles for a modern audience.
Cast And Creatives
Tom Roberts - Eddy
Tom trained at Mountview Drama School, London.
TV work includes 5 seasons as ' Tony' in 2point4 Children for BBC 1. ‘Chris Wright’ in EastEnders, Casualty , Holby City , Hustle, Doctors , Waterloo Road, Brookside, Boon and The Bill . He appeared as ‘DS Flanagan' on Emmerdale and most recently 'Scott Emberton’ in Coronation Street .
Films include ‘ The Bradford Riots’ ( Channel 4 Films ) ‘ Oh Mary , This London’ ‘ The Casebook of Eddie Brewer’ and ‘ Doreen: The Movie’
Theatre includes ‘ Blood Brothers’ ( West End ) , ‘Fiddler on The Roof’ ( Plymouth Theatre Royal ) ‘ Kes’ , ‘Death of A Salesman’ ( Birmingham Rep ) ‘The Three Musketeers’ ( UK Tour ) ‘ Misconceptions’ ( Bolton Octagon ) ‘Bouncers’ ( tour ) ‘Changing Rooms’ ( tour) ‘ Intimate Exchanges’ ( Cheltenham Everyman ) ‘Frankenstein’ , ‘ April in Paris’ , ‘ Educating Rita’ ( Lichfield Garrick ) ‘ The Holly and The Ivy’ ‘ On Golden Pond’ and ‘ The Verdict’ ( national tours )
Extensive radio work includes drama for BBC Radio 4 as well as several stints on The Archers.
Pantomime seasons include shows in the UK and Singapore.
Tom provides narrations for various TV documentaries , including ‘ Extraordinary People’ for Channel 5 and ‘ Crimes That Shook Britain’ for Sky TV. His voice can also be heard advertising all sorts of products from Sofa Sales to Classic FM!
Tom lives in Lichfield with his pooch, Charlie and happily admits to being a fan of Walsall Football Club.
Lizzie Wofford - mel
Lizzie trained at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts and with the National Youth Music Theatre. She played Izzy Blake on The Archers for 6 years and continues to work as a voice actor for commercials, audiobooks, video games and audio drama.
She has worked in theatres across the UK including London’s West End.
Theatre credits include: The award winning Fanny A New Musichall (VAULT Festival & Lichfield Garrick); Sam Snape and the Curse of the Chillesford Chough (Eastern Angles); The Three Little Pigs (Dorking Halls); Best of the West End (Royal Albert Hall); Camelot (London Palladium); Girlfriends (Bishopsgate Institute); Jack and the Beanstalk (Derby Arena); Letters to Emma & Aladdin (Lichfield Garrick); The Quite Remarkable Adventures of the Owl and the Pussycat (Belgrade); The Grand Tour (Finborough) and Sweeney Todd (Rose Kingston & Village Underground).
Lizzie grew up in the West Midlands and was a member of both Lichfield Youth Theatre and the Garrick Young Rep. She co-founded Lichfield-based theatre company The Unruly Regiment with Carolyn Scott-Jeffs.
Lizzie works extensively with West End in Schools, performing shows, running workshops and, teaching dance and Shakespeare in primary schools across the UK. She regularly sings for the LMTO Ensemble and can often be found with Apocalypse and Ultimate Recreation working on their live, immersive events.
Lizzie is a keen rock climber, can legally tow a caravan and lives in North London with her tiny terrier, Tawni.
@lizziewofford
Carolyn Scott-Jeffs - Writer
Carolyn is a Lichfield based writer.
Her work for Radio 4 includes: Angel of New Street, Square Circle Triangle (nominated for the Richard Imison Award), Tarnished Wings, 21 Conversations with a Hairdresser, 15 Ways to Leave Your Lover, and Jesus, The Devil and a Kid Called Death.
She has written several episodes of the BBC1 serial Doctors and lectures in playwriting and story design at Loughborough University.
As a dramaturg she recently supported London Theatre Workshop’s musical Judy (West End).
Her stage plays include Having it All, Wenches, Out in the Garden (Finborough Theatre, London) Tarnished Angel (Finborough Theatre, London), Elephants, Fanny a New Musichall (winner of Best Production, Birmingham Fest), Wolfie and the Showgirl (winner of Best New Work, Birmingham Fest), Don’t Put Your Daughter on the Stage, and Letters to Emma.
Carolyn was born in Walsall and has a strong connection to the Black Country. She lived in West Bromwich for twenty-five years and attended the local comprehensive school.
Nicky Cox - DIRECTOR
Nicky works as a freelance director and has worked most recently as an Assistant Director at the Royal Shakespeare Company on Tartuffe, Three Letters, Kingdom Come and A Midsummer Night’s Dream - A Play for the Nation, where the Mechanical scenes including the role of Bottom where played by amateur actors from The Bear Pit, a company Nicky continues to work with.
Recent productions for The Bear Pit include The Norman Conquests, The 39 Steps, One Man, Two Guv’nors, Toad of Toad Hall, Brief Encounter, The Hound of the Baskervilles.
She has also directed Finding Fairies: Titania’s Dream (Compton Verney), Signifying Nothing (Shakespeare Stripped) Macbeth, Twelfth Night, Love Bites (Westcountry Theatre Company) A Winter’s Tale, The Crucible, Mother Courage, A Christmas Carol, Henry V (Stage One Youth Theatre) Man to Man (Wooden Fish Theatre Co, Cork) and assisted on Much Ado About Nothing (Westcountry Theatre Company) performed at the Minack Theatre, Cornwall.
Nicky is currently an Education Associate Practitioner for the Royal Shakespeare Company, as well as working as a Freelance Events Host with clients including Historic Royal Palaces, Stratford Literary Festival, Emma Bridgewater’s Festival in a Factoryand the RSC. She has also worked as an actress, touring schools and open air venues across the South West.
THANK YOU’s
A huge thank you to the following people for their support in getting Eddy to the stage it’s at now!
Bea Allenfor generously prompting the cast in the early stages of the mammoth script learning process.
Emily Bestow for her assistance with set and costume design and for her artfully coffee stained cardboard boxes.
Anthony Walters for the food, wine, excellent company and for generously allowing us to use his shed as a rehearsal venue.
The Hub for their support and providing us with a brilliant venue!
