ANN HENNING JOCELYN

      Ann Henning Jocelyn grew up in her native Sweden and finished her education in England. She had an early playwright debut in Sweden while completing a degree in Drama, Art History and English. After two years at drama school Studio 68 in London, she worked as assistant to legendary director Charles Marowitz and appeared in a number of productions at his Open Space Theatre in London.

      Naturally bi-lingual, she subsequently went on to translate plays, films and books, working with authors such as Ruth Rendell, Kazuo Ishiguro and Joanna Trollope. She also spent the best part of a year collaborating with film star Ingrid Bergman on the autobiography My Life. She became the Chairman of the Translators’ Association in England and served several terms on the Society of Authors’ Committee of Management. In Ireland, she was on the board of the Society of Playwrights.

      Since the mid 1980s, after marrying fellow-author the Earl of Roden, she has been based mainly in the West of Ireland, where her home Doonreagan has provided the inspiration to write eight books and three more stage plays. Her interest in horses soon brought her into close contact with the people of Connemara, and her Connemara Whirlwind Trilogy, featuring her own stallion Cuaifeach, hit the bestseller list in 1990. Still selling in Irish bookshops, the trilogy is well established as a classic and remains a popular exam project in Irish schools. It represents Ireland in the UNESCO International Youth Library.

      Ann Henning Jocelyn always kept up her ties with the theatre: in 1996 she was appointed Artistic Director of the International Women Playwrights’ Conference at University College Galway, and the following year she became writer-in-residence of the newly founded Connemara Theatre Co., which produced her plays Baptism of Fire, The Alternative and Becoming The Tree. Baptism of Fire travelled as far as Pernik, Bulgaria, and The Alternative was seen around Ireland and at the Belfast Fringe Festival. For many years she was an adjudicator of The O.Z. Whitehead national playwriting competition. Her more recent translations into English of internationally renowned playwrights like the Norwegian Jon Fosse and Swedish Henning Mankell have won much acclaim.

      In Sweden and Ireland, she is also well known for her career as a broadcaster, writing and presenting her own material. Keylines and Keylines for Living, compilations of her inspirational ‘thoughts for the day’, broadcast regularly in both countries, have been published in nine countries to date, including India and China. Extracts have appeared in numerous anthologies.

      Her play Doonreagan, about Ted Hughes and his lover Assia Wevill has been performed at Jermyn Street Theatre and ADC Theatre in September/October 2013.

       CAST

      Maev Alexander (Meg)

      Maev Alexander trained at the Royal Scottish Academy and after a year at The Citizens’ Theatre in Glasgow joined The Royal Shakespeare Company to play Perdita in The Winter’s Tale, Susan in Arden of Faversham and to understudy Dame Judi Dench. Television credits include Jasmine Bligh in Jack Rosenthal’s The Fools on the Hill, Polly Cockpurse in Evelyn Waugh’s Scoop and Mrs. Fred in the Sir Michael Horden Christmas Carol. She played Christine Russell in two series of Sutherland’s Law, Jen-Jen Quilly in three series of Holding the Fort and WPC Sandra Williams in many episodes of The Gentle Touch and sidestepped her acting career to present the news desk on That’s Life. Maev has also been seen guesting in episodes of many TV series including EastEnders and most recently played a psychopath in Doctors. Her feature films include Charles Rennie McIntosh, Comfort and Joy and Death Defying Acts with Catherine Zeta Jones and Guy Pearce. Her radio work includes Mrs. Elton in Emma, Janet Ilchester in The Adventures of Harry Richmond, Arabella Logan in Confessions of a Justified Sinner and most recently Mother in two series of The Emma Stories. In regional theatre the length and breadth of Britain she has played everything from Cleopatra to a French poodle. Recent work includes Miss Brodie in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, The Marquise de Merteuil in Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Mother in Eurydice, Mrs. Alving in Ghosts and Maud Gonne in a new play about WB Yeats. She has toured extensively for Bill Kenwright, in the Sir Peter Hall production of An Ideal Husband, The Chalk Garden and The Constant Wife and transferred to The West End in the Martin Shaw Man for all Seasons. Maev also holds the record as the longest serving Mollie in the world’s longest-running production, The Mouse Trap.

      Cornelius Garrett (Andrew)

      Cornelius has worked in theatres up and down the country. Productions include Macbeth, Tamburlaine, Twelfth Night, The Government Inspector, Arden of Faversham at Glasgow Citizens’ Theatre; Romeo and Juliet at Newcastle; Afore Night Come with the RSC; Merchant of Venice and Marino Faliero at The Young Vic, London; Time and the Conways, The Winter’s Tale, Duchess of Malfi,