A gripping story laced withgenuine warmth and vicious comedy.Six people spiral towards destruction over one night in Manchester.Once lost, can faith, friendshipand love ever be recovered?

Written by acclaimed new playwright Conor McKee and directed by MEN Award winning Wyllie Longmore Thrasher is a beautifully sharp drama about betrayal and lost innocence.

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Conor McKee Productions

has created and developed

new writing across the North

West and elsewhere, recently

taking on two national tours.

Over the years, we have

refined an actor involved

method of script

development. This uses

a cast and director to

investigate and hone the

writer’s text. This method

of scrutinising the script

enables the writer to uncover

the truth of what they have

written and to identify where

they want to proceed in

future drafts.

The process has culminated

in the production and touring

of Burnt and Thrasher and

work has begun on further

writer development schemes.

For further information,

visit www.conormckee.com

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Conor McKee is a playwright from Northern Ireland, living and working in the North West of England. His previous play Burnt showcased at Contact, Manchester and toured nationally. Thrasher is produced in association with The Royal Exchange and will tour to Camden People’s Theatre in London. Conor was 2009-2010 writer on attachment to Tinderbox.

Screen credits include writing and directing work screened at theExposures National Film Festival and script editing on projects funded by Screen Yorkshire and Virgin Shorts. Conor has taught writing and delivered workshops across the North West and inLondon. He is Chairman of the new writing service Scriptworks.

Wyllie is an extremely accomplished actor and teacher of acting who is developing a strong reputation as a director. Awards forhis stage acting include two MEN Theatre Awards and he hasconsiderable experience in radio and television. As well asco-founding the Arden School of Theatre, where he was the first Head of Acting, Wyllie was Chairman of Contact from 1997-2007 and is currently on the board of The Royal Exchange Theatre.As an actor, Wyllie has worked in rep across the country and with the National Theatre. He is a passionate supporter of new writing and has worked with the writer for a number of years, most notably on the development and production of Thrasher and Burnt.

Kay is the Deputy Head of Lighting at The Royal Exchange Theatre and has been working in the industry and designing for 16 years. Design credits at the Exchange include Single Sex, Galka Motalka, Cracks in my Skin, Straw Girl, The Adoption Papers, The Baby and Fly Pie, Pub, Making an Exhibition of Ourselves, Spinach, and Plain Jane. An Artistic Associate and company Lighting Designer for Theatr Pena in South Wales, designing their productions The Trojan Women and The House of Bernanda Alba. Kay spent a challenging 3 months last year working with the RSC on their London Season at The Roundhouse.

Michael has performed as a solo, chamber, orchestral and jazz musician across Europe and South America, and recently toured Holland, Spain, Brazil and Great Britain with violinist CristinaAnghelescu. A live performance of Michael playing his solo work has been broadcast on BBC Radio. In the UK, he has performed his pieces at venues including Royal Academy of Music, Royal Northern College of Music, Queen’s Hall (Edinburgh Festival), Bridgewater Hall, Manchester Cathedral, Purcell Room and St James Piccadilly. Previously, Michael wrote and performed a live soundtrack for Burnt. He is currently composing and performing as part of a chamber group, funded by the European Union to promote the work ofcontemporary classical composers. The project includesperformances in London, Paris, and Bucharest. He regularlyperforms across the UK with his successful Jazz trio.

Conor McKeeWriter and Producer

Wyllie LongmoreDirector and Dramaturg

Kay Harding HaynesLighting Designer

Michael Cretu Composer

with Jane Leach,Set Designer and Architect

There are many similarities between set design and architecture. Both involve the understanding of physical space. Both involve listening to the client’s demands and translating their functionaland aesthetic requirements into spatial and physical solutions. I qualified as an architect in 2003 and studied Theatre Design aspart of my training in Barcelona. I have previously been involvedin amateur dramatics and have maintained a keen interest in setdesign, but have never had the opportunity to put this to practisein my professional work.

Architecture is very demanding in the technical requirements of structure, insulation and protection from the rain. Every design has to fit these basic requirements alongside the function of thebuilding. Often these practical demands and the costs of meeting them restrict the possibilities for aesthetic and emotional impact. With set design you are free of these concerns and can instead focus on creating a world of imagination, atmosphere and emotions. The brief for a set is the series of events and emotions described by the script. This provides creative challenges to support the audience in their suspension of disbelief. Thrasher is a complicated play to design for as there are so many different scenes and locations and the scenes change so fast. In architecture you are used to designing things that will last for hundreds of years, so to move from that to scenes that may last for a minute or two is very different. Working with Wyllie has been a good introduction to designing for the stage. We used a subtractive approach to design, throwing all the possible ideas out there and gradually reducing down until we reached the least number of elements necessary. In meetings, Wyllie listens calmly and is receptive to all ideas. Then quietly says a few words that gently guide the design down the paths that are best for the production and what he is trying to create onstage. As a designer, you get the freedom to express all your ideas and then gradually shape them in partnership to what the play requires. The key to our approach has been that the text and actors are the medium to explain everything. There is no decorative clutter in the set, no furniture that cannot be suggested by the action and dialogue. The feeling for the set was intended to be ephemeral and evocative, using abstract imagery and colour in the set and costume to evoke emotions and to reflect ideas about the characters and their actions in the play.

At its best architecture touches on the world of the imagination, however, only a few clients focus so fully on the aesthetic andemotional design elements which are essential to set design. I think that the world would be a better place if these principals were more often applied to our everyday architecture.

More information about Jane and her work can be foundat www.i-architect.co.uk

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Ryan trained at the Manchester Met School of Theatre, where he achieved a First Class BA(Hons) Degree in Acting. Thrasher is his first production with the company.

Theatre: The Signalman, Eight (The Lowry), FirstStage, Great Expectations (Library Theatre), Raving Beauties (Studio Salford/The Dancehouse) Hindle Wakes, The Play Thing, In Extremis, Blue Remembered Hills, Victory (Capitol Theatre), A Clockwork Orange,A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Edinburgh Fringe).

Radio and Voicework: The Moss Witch (Comma Press Films),Buffalo Bill and Little Matty Dyer (BBC Radio 4), If I Were You(Library Theatre).

Corporate and Commercials: Face2Face (Phaebus Media) Meet Jo Stephenson (ImpAct Universal), Irwin’s Bakery (The Gate Films) Dignity (Enlightenment Interactive).

Claire trained at the Manchester Metropolitan School of Theatre.She previously worked with the company on the showcasingand national tour of Burnt.

Theatre: Twelfth Night (Cotton Grass Theatre Company),Burnt (North West Tour/ Tara Arts Theatre), Words Smith Festival(Oldham Coliseum), Pub (Royal Exchange Theatre), The Killingof Sister George (Lowry Theatre), Watching Stars (24/7 Festival),Hamlet (Demi-Paradise Productions/Lancaster Castle),A Midsummer Nights Dream (Feelgood Theatre), Fair (Fink on Theatre/Contact Theatre), Romeo and Juliet, Of Mice and Men (Manchester Actors Company).

Television: Emmerdale (ITV), AWOL (Kindle Entertainment). Claire does a lot of work with new writing, including script development,rehearsed readings; working closely with the event Scriptworks. Claire is an associate member of Fink on Theatre.

Since leaving Hollyoaks where Darren played Spencer Gray for two years, he has been working consistently on theatre projects around the country. Darren has worked with the writer and director for a number of years, appearing in After the Blood Rush, Prince of the Morning and Burnt, as well as the in progress extract of Thrasher performed at The Royal Exchange Theatre’s Blue 5. This year Darren has been touring again playing Romeo in Romeo and Juliet andGuy of Gisborne in Robin Hood at outdoor venues for Page-2-Stage Productions.

Theatre: Les Hommes dans Robes de Chambre, The Men inDressing Gowns (Men in Dressing Gowns Ltd), Burnt (ConorMcKee), Mother Goose (The Thwaites Empire Theatre).

Television: Hollyoaks (C4).

Ryan Greaves

Claire Disley

Darren John Langford

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Cathy appeared in Thrasher for Blue 5 festival at the RoyalExchange Theatre in 2007 and enjoyed it so much she came back! Cathy grew up in the Yorkshire town of Huddersfield. She trained at Manchester Metropolitan University and since graduating has enjoyed working with some highly respected companies such as Action Transport, M6 Theatre, Cheshire Rural Touring Networkand Eturia Theatre.

Theatre: Innit - the musical (The Lowry), Speedating at the (The Comedy Store), Scorcher (Julie Wilkinson). Cathy will be appearing in the comedy British film PULP starring John Thompson laterthis year.

For more information and release date visit www.pulpthemovie.com

Katie is an experienced actor on stage and screen.This is her first production with the company.

Theatre: Of Mice and Men (Manchester Actors Company),Moving Pic- tures and Other works by Cathy Crabb (Caravanette Productions), Can’t Stand Up For Falling Down (Northern Quarter Theatre Company), Raving Beauties (Broken Echo TheatreCompany), Contre Coup (Second Nature Theatre Company), Daisy Pulls It Off (Urban Stage), Vagina Monologues (University of York).

Television and Short Film: Coronation St (Granada), The Duke(Blue Feather Films), The Caller (Teabelly Productions), Notice (Empty Road Productions).

Zoe has most recently appeared as Lady Anne in Richard III atSt George’s Hall Liverpool for Liverpool Shakespeare Festival.Other theatre credits include Lion ‘Boy In Darkness’ directed by Kim Pearce, Annabel in the 5 star reviewed ‘Waking Up’ at Manchester’s Notpartof Festival and Greta in Schmucks Theatre’s site responsive holocaust production at Longsight’s Victoria Baths. TV and filmcredits include the newly released ‘Kill List’ and ‘John Carter of Mars’ for Pixar. She co-runs Hazel Tree Productions and appeared as Lady Anne in their production of ‘Will’s Winter Warmers’, as well as Celia in As You Like It and Clown 1 in Hamlet. She previously worked with the writer on After the Blood Rush at The 24:7Theatre Festival.

Cathy Shiel

Katie McArdle

Zoe Thomas

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Declan trained at Bretton Hall.

Theatre: Paul Robeson Knew my Father, The Butterfly Lion,Bill’s New Frock, A Christmas Carol, Souls, Sleeping Beauty,The Emperor and the Nightingale, Grimm Tales, Merlin and the Cave of Dreams, Holes, Sinbad: The Untold Tale, Lisa’s Sex Strike, The Recruiting Officer, Our Country’s Good, The Jungle Book.

Television: A&E, To Play The King, Mersey Beat, Grease Monkeys, The Story of Tracey Beaker, No Angels, Max and Paddy’s Road to Nowhere, Conviction, Big Dippers, Waterloo Road, Shameless.

Radio: The Past is a Foreign Country, City of Spades, A Parandero is Missing, Hard Times, Cake,Yaa Asantewaa: Warrior Queen,Hadji Murat, Richard III, The Pilgrim’s Progress, The Ipcress File,The Pallisers, Dead Heading the Roses, Little Miss Chatterbox.

Thrasher is his first production with the company.

Marcus is an experienced recording and mix engineer. For the last four years, he has been working freelance producing music from Jazz to Metal and Country to Brass. This is his second timeworking with the company, having previously recorded and mixed the violin and double bass overture for Burnt.

As a freelancer, Marcus has undertaken sound technician work from FOH at festivals to orchestra micing and cueing soundeffects. Previous clients include Royal Northern College of Music,Futureworks, Reading Festival, the band Wu-Lyf, and 80Hertz Studio.

Originally trained in musical theatre, Leann was lured into stage management some time ago and never looked back. Credits include: Desperate to be Doris (Lip Service, UK Tour), After Troy (Lifeblood, Shaw Theatre, London), Three Men in a Boat (Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds, Rural and National Tour), Casanova(Told by an Idiot, UK tour) Fosse (NETworks Presentations, UKand Athens), Sooty Izzy Wizzy Holiday Show (JB Entertainment and Events, UK Tour) Second From Last in the Sack Race and Now You See It (Rumpus, Chesterfield Pomegranate), two seasons of weekly repertory with Bridge Theatre as well as several major pantomimes, rural tours, fringe shows and work with performance artists.

On stage, Leann has been seen as a large orange bear, William Shakespeare the scrap metal dealer and Bob the Builder.

Declan Wilson

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Leann YoungCompany Stage Manager

Marcus AlexanderSound Engineer

Writer and Producer - Conor McKeeDirector and Dramaturg - Wyllie LongmoreSet and Costume Designer - Jane LeachLighting Designer - Kay Harding HaynesComposer - Michael CretuDramaturg - Linda Brogan

Lee - Ryan GreavesJenny - Claire DisleyColin - Darren LangfordVic - Cathy ShielChloe - Katie McArdleFrank - Declan WilsonWoman - Zoe Thomas

Stage Manager - Leann YoungAssistant Producer - Robin MacDonaldAssistant Producer (PR and Marketing) - Kirsty FoxPR Consultant - Rhiannon Butlin

Graphic Design - Richard GibbsRehearsal Photography - Tracey GibbsWeb Design - Graham Smith

Sound Engineer - Marcus Alexander Double Bass - Michael CretuViolin - Graham ClarkGuitar - Ulrich Elbracht

Cover Photograph - Jason CrouchModel for Cover Photograph - Kaite Boltain

Writer on Attachment - Adam LoweWriter on Attachment - Joanne SherrydenDirector on Attachment - Ekua BayuDirector on Attachment - Mairi MacFarlane

Thanks for all the professional support to Steve Brown, Keith Broom, Vanessa Waters, Vicky Bloor, Richard Morgan, Meriel Pym and all at the Royal Exchange Theatre. Thanks for help and advice to Anne-Marie Crowther, PANDA, Yvonne Sewell and Richard Hall. Thanks for the help in development to Jason Crouch, Ed Jones, Charlotte Goodwin, Chris Wright and acast of thousands. Thanks for production supportto George and Kathryn Leach and Micheal McKee.

Very Special Thanks to Linda Brogan. Linda workedas Conor’s mentor and dramaturg on Thrasher for some three months, helping to turn the rough extractperformed at Blue 5 into a strong draft of a full length play. On the way she taught him the patience,procedures and methods of reflection that hada formative effect on him as a writer. Linda has beenpublished at least twice - Conor read and enjoyed What’s in the Cat and Black Crows during hermentorship - and she recently won a Fringe First award. When Linda started to mentor Conor, she said that rather than trying to teach him to write a play she would try to make him a playwright. He thanks her for that and wishes her every success for the future.

This play is dedicated to familiesof all shapes and sizes.

Further information, clips, pics and moreavailable at www.conormckee.com

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conormckee.com

The Studio, Royal Exchange TheatreThe Studio is the Royal Exchange Theatre’s award winning fullyflexible space dedicated to new and innovative performancepremiering in the Northwest. It’s a space where our originalcommissions are realised, where the most distinctive andimaginative touring companies are presented and where ourpioneering work with communities in Manchester finds expression. The Studio programme further supports our long standingcommitment to regional artists and our collaborations with both emerging and established companies in the UK.