About

The award-winning GOYA theatre company present this Playbill Pick of the Fringe.

Rom-coms, pop songs, writer’s block and relationships collide in this witty and moving musical piece from the award-winning GOYA Theatre Company.

Alex is a songwriter struggling with writer’s block. Stevie is an actor auditioning for a rom-com. When they bump into each other after many years, their worlds come crashing together.

Will they fall in love “properly” – as seen in Richard Curtis’ 2003 mega-smash Love Actually? Or is that just for straight people?

 

“The punchlines are whip smart and one after the other… exceedingly clever, candid and fun” Playbill

“Will definitely make you laugh and may even make you cry.” Broadway World

“Disarmingly touching… Woof and their team at GOYA are a unique voice” The Stage

“Woof’s writing is funny, fresh, and exciting… with varied and catchy music” Lost in Theatreland

“A work of collective genius” EdFringe Review

“Mark my words, Sam Woof is going to be a strong voice in musical theatre in years to come” Musical Theatre review

Tickets are £15 and include a glass of wine or soft drink. 

Sam Woof is a theatre-maker based in London. They are the artistic director of the award-winning GOYA Theatre Company and were named one of The Stage’s Fringe Five at the 2023 Edinburgh Festival.  Sam was the resident assistant director at the Orange Tree in 2023 and assisted on The Swell (Olivier-nominated) and The Circle (also Theatre Royal Bath Tour). Sam has an MFA in Theatre Directing from Birkbeck College London.

As writer/director, credits include: Satyrs (Royal Academy of Music); Four Felons and a Funeral (Birmingham Hippodrome); Sex with Friends and Other Tiny Catastrophes (North Wall Arts Centre); Don’t Shoot the Albatross (Vaults Festival). Assistant director credits include Enron (Oxford Playhouse); Something in the Air (Jermyn Street Theatre) and Top Hat (The Mill at Sonning). They were the winner of the JMK’s August O’Neill Award in 2024. Sam is currently working on a play about the body, a musical retelling of Alice in Wonderland and a book about the French philosopher Jean Baudrillard and his travels in America. 

Tomas Howells is a Director and Dramaturge from London. His past work for theatre includes: Jacob Wants His Grandad (Nottingham Playhouse); S/he (WoLab, Bunker Theatre); The System: a festival of work by young people and Katzenmusik (Royal Court Theatre). Tomas participated in the 2020 edition of the ETC’s European Theatre Academy. His upcoming projects include a contemporary version of Strindberg’s Miss Julie. His film directorial debut A Casting Room premiered in 2020.

This OT tradition of lunchtime plays harks back to when a group of actors adopted a room above the Orange Tree pub, always performing at lunchtime when there was daylight, and placing chairs around the edge of the room to create a space in the round. Audiences have always spoken about the OT tradition of a lunchtime play so highly, that we want to bring them back!