Joining the cast... Amalia Vitale and Sam Clark

We are pleased to announce our final two cast members, Sam Clark and Amalia Vitale.

AMALIA VITALE

Amalia graduated last year from the Birmingham School of Acting, representing the school in her final year at the Carleton Hobbs Awards for radio performance. Since then, she has been involved in a variety of projects, which include playing the principal role in a music video for the band Mr Disfit with Frogg and Peach Productions, and performing in the chorus show ‘The Death of Patroclus’ at the Arcola Theatre at the end of last year. Earlier this year, she has performed and written with the comedy sketch group 1OtherPleaseSpecify with Hurlström co-founder Tom Hurley and she has just finished performing in a co-written piece, ‘Cluedough’, at the Cockpit Theatre. Amalia’s most recent film credits include Pilar in short film ‘Canteen’ and Doris in ‘Consumed’, for Unusuality Productions. This summer, she is off to the Theatre Royal (Bath) to understudy for Jessica in the play ‘Hysteria’, by Terry Johnson.

SAM CLARK

Sam was raised in Jersey, but relocated to London to train as an actor at the Central School of Speech and Drama.  Throughout his training, he performed in a variety of exciting roles, including: Toby Belch (Twelfth Night), Garry Essendine (Present Laughter), Laertes (Hamlet), Follywit (A Mad World – The Thomas Middleton Project), Fat Man (Thin Man/Fat Man) and Marcel (Rememberance of Things Past).  Upon graduating, Sam landed a place in the ensemble of Complicite’s ‘A Dog’s Heart’ at the ENO and went on to be cast in the West End transfer of the National Theatre’s ‘War Horse’, in which he continues to perform through to 2013.  Sam began working with Tom on the early stages of ‘Waiting For Space’ in 2009, performing shorter extracts at CSSD and the Roundhouse.  He is very excited to be able to continue to collaborate on the project in its hour-long format.

Joining the cast... Emily Jane Kerr and Ryan Wichert

We are excited to announce the addition of the wonderfully talented Ryan Wichert and Emily Jane Kerr to our cast.

EMILY JANE KERR

Originally from Hertfordshire, Emily graduated from the Central School of Speech and Drama’s 3-year Acting course in 2010.  Whilst training, Emily performed in a variety of roles, including: Celia (As You Like It), Flo (Picnic), Queen Margaret (Richard III), Poncia (The House of Bernada Alba), Lane (Road), and Nelly Windrod (The Rimers of Eldritch).  Receiving training in classical and modern text, Laban, Meisner, Stanislavski, and clowning has given Emily a wealth of experience to prepare her for the world of acting.  This culminated in her selection to represent Central in the Sam Wanamaker Festival at Shakespeare's Globe.  Meeting Josefine at the festival was an added bonus to an already incredible experience.

Since graduating, Emily has performed in a number of prestigious venues, including the Arts Theatre and the Hampstead Theatre. Most recently, she toured the UK with ‘A Midsummer Night's Dream’ for the Young Shakespeare Company.  Emily is super-excited to be part of the ‘Waiting for Space’ team. Having seen the script come together from working with Tom through the early stages of development, she's really looking forward to being part of the complete production.

RYAN WICHERT

Ryan trained at the Drama Centre London, where he worked with Philip Hedley and James Kemp.  Since graduating, he has worked on various films including the upcoming British feature ‘Demon’, as well as playing the lead in a new series for German TV.  Ryan has also been producing and acting in his own web comedy series ‘Points of You’, which will be aired in 2012. Theatre credits include: ‘As You Like It’ (White Bear Theatre), ‘Click’ (Riverside Studios), ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ (Courtyard Theatre), ‘In the Jungle of Cities’ (SplitMoon Theatre Company). ‘Project 7’ (Hampstead Theatre), ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ (Cochrane Theatre).  This is Ryan's first collaboration with Hurlström, since meeting Tom at the Drama Centre, and he is excited to be a part of this unique and fresh project.

More about... Tom and Josefine

TOM HURLEY

Tom graduated last year from the two year acting course at Drama Centre London, prior to which he  trained for two years in ‘Acting for Collaborative and Devised Theatre’ at the Central School of Speech and Drama, under Complicite’s Catherine Alexander.  In the past year, he has been fortunate enough to work on a number of exciting projects, including his role as Christian in the forthcoming feature film ‘Island’ and Satchel in a short run of Philip Ridley’s ‘Brokenville’ at the Calder Bookshop Theatre.  In October last year, Tom was thrilled to be one of the 20 actors selected for the National Theatre’s annual Poel Event in ‘Speaking English Classic Drama’.  This involved a series of workshops on the Olivier stage, led by Barbara Houseman, Lyndsay Posner, Jeanette Nelson and Henry Goodman.  At the end of the year, he then went on to play the lead role in a rehearsed reading of new play ‘Still Young’ at the BAC.

Over the summer, Tom will be spending some time in Bristol, playing a main role in the feature film ‘Brief Intermission’, but before he gets to that he’s very excited to be working on ‘Waiting For Space’ with Josefine.  With all members of the team so heavily involved in the project, he is particularly looking forward to embracing the collaboration that will allow his quirky little play to come to life.

JOSEFINE BERGSTROM

Josefine studied at Cygnet Training Theatre in Exeter, graduating in 2010.  Having completed her foundational acting training in Sweden, she was drawn to Britain for its vibrant and exciting theatre and playwrights.  At Cygnet, she performed in a wide range of plays, such as ‘Macbeth’ (Lady Macbeth), ‘The Tempest’ (Alonso), ‘The Music Lovers’ (Baptiste), ‘The Mistress’ (Samantha), ‘Blithe Spirit’ (Ruth), ‘Women of Troy’ (Cassandra and Helen of Troy) and ‘Doctor Faustus’ (Mephistopheles).  In her final year, she was delighted to be chosen for the Sam Wanamaker Festival and had an amazing experience performing at Shakespeare’s Globe.  It was there that she first met Emily, who was also performing at the festival.

After graduating she has been involved in a number of stage and screen projects.  Highlights include touring as Alice in ‘Alice in Wonderland’ and playing Bruise in a run of Philip Ridley’s ‘Brokenville’, where she first met Tom.

Her inspiration for acting is drawn from Stanislavski, Brecht and more recently Ivana Chubbuck. However, the desire to tell a story and to be truthful has always been there from the start and is what fuels her passion for theatre.  With ‘Waiting for Space’, the actors have the challenge of tackling multiple roles and Josefine is particularly excited about bringing these characters to life as both a performer and a co-director.

How you can help...

Our funding page is now online! Please donate as much as you can so we can get the show up and running for the end of June showcase performance.

http://www.wefund.com/project/waiting-space

 

Waiting For Space... Hopefully not waiting much longer!

Earlier today we set up our facebook page.  You can find us at www.facebook.com/WaitingForSpace  This coming week should be full of some exciting developments, as we begin to announce our cast of six actors and set up a funding page to beg for your money (because why wait for Christmas to be generous?).  We hope you are enjoying your bank holiday weekend, but in case you are not, here is a photo of Josefine and Tom impersonating a rockhopper penguin at London Zoo:

As I'm sure you'll agree, a proud moment shared by all!

Research Retrospective

We've had a great time exploring what we want to do with the show and recently had the pleasure of spending a day wandering around Tate Modern, checking out the exhibits.  Particularly inspiring was the Kusama exhibition, whose theme of a journey into self-oblivion was resonant with the themes we are exploring in Waiting For Space.

Josefine enjoying some Kusama...

... and Tom getting carried away by a little Boetti.

Hello... and Welcome!

We are Tom Hurley and Josefine Bergström.  Not long out of drama school, we both met each other while rehearsing at the National Theatre Studio and decided to form a production company together to collaborate on future projects.  Currently, we are working together on a new play, 'Waiting For Space', which will be performed with a cast of six actors later this year.  In this blog we are hoping to post updates on our progress with the project and eventually updates on the different ways in which you might be able to get involved.