© Copyright Kathryn O'Reilly 2017
KLINK KLANK ECHOES
(a full length play) had a staged reading at The Tristan Bates Theatre in 2009 was part of Team Angelica's Louder Than Words Festival
Curated by Rikki Beadle-Blair & John Gordon
Director: Hannah Eidinow
Cast: Gary Carr, Kathryn O'Reilly, Eloise joseph, Anthony Welsh
"Klink Klank Echoes" is a romantic tragic drama – raw, lyrical and written almost entirely in verse.
An sensual, intense, passionate rhythmic exploration of all-too-human mistakes and the hearts we break when we bet all we have at the crap-table of love.
...Charlene falls in love with Dean but finds herself rapidly losing touch with her mates and losing touch with herself as she's pulled further down a slippery slope of lies and self-loathing, with tragic consequences."
"This exciting work by first-time writer Kathryn O’Reilly is a jarring and vividly powerful piece which establishes her as an exciting new voice in theatre". Andrew Alty
"The moment I started reading the first draft of this play I was swept up - in it's rhythm, it's swagger, it's natural flow. How can such a dramatic, shocking play be so seductive, so sexy, so beautiful..? This play has alchemy - Kathryn has a unique voice. Truly inspirational!" Rikki Beadle-Blair
"I enjoyed it immensely. I enjoyed its freshness. I liked the rhyming. I liked its pace. I liked the pace of the narrative and the relationship detail" Simon Stephens
Photography by Rikki Beadle-Balir
SCREWED
Premiered at Theatre503 4 week run 2016 - Published by Nick Hern Books
Ticking time-bombs Luce and Charlene are 30-something binge-drinking soul mates. They clock in after heavy a night out on the tiles, popping caffeine pills and downing miniatures on the factory floor, boasting about last night’s sexual conquests.
When you are living for today it's hard to think about tomorrow.
A gripping portrait of the destructive friendship between two women, pushing themselves to their limits.
Director: Sarah Meadows
Produced by KOR Productions & Maeve O'Neill
Dramaturg Neil Grutchfield
Designer Catherine Morgan
Lighting Designer Jammie Platt
Composer Benedict Taylor
Stage Manager Polly Heinkel
Assistant Director Monty Leigh
Cast: Derek Elroy, Eloise Joseph, Stephen Myott-Meadows, Samantha Robinson
Supported by the Arts Council England, The Richard Carne Trust, Joanna Bacon, John Stanley. With thanks to Out of Joint
I won the original poetry writing competition at LAMDA in 2007 with her poem 'Him and Me' and with Gary Carr in 2008 with her poem 'Klink Kank Echoes'.
I have performed my poetry at various poetry nights and venues including...Bolton Octagon, Lyric Lounge, The Vibe Bar, Bar Music Hall, Lyrical Lift festival, Brockley Max Festival, Conscientious Objectors day as part of Anna Scher Peace Pebbles in Tavistock square, Last days of Decadence with Sistova productions for the Endometriosis Charity and she has performed at Theatro Technics with Clean Break for Oxfam.
And been a featured poet for Apples & Snakes and performed for many charities and organisations up and down the country.
Klink Klank Echoes has also had further development with Bolton Octagon Theatre directed by Elizabeth Newman
CAUGHT
A 5minute play had a reheasred / staged reading as part of Team Angelica's BOOM! Festival at The Bush Theatre ~ April 2014
Director: Rikki Beadle-Blair
Cast: Kathryn O'Reilly and Jacqui-Lee Pryce
SCARRED
Started with a rehearsed reading of three scenes at Hampstead Theatre scratch night
Director: Jessica Swale
Cast: Danny Sapani, Lorna Stuart, Lisa Kerr
Then a full reading & went into development with Out Of Joint
Director: Blanche McIntyre
Cast: Carey Mulligan, Phil Davis, Celia Imrie, Johnny Harris, Emma lowndes,
Matthew Needham
REHEARSED READINGS / DEVELOPMENT
POISONED POLLUTED
Old Red Lion Theatre - 4 Week run 2019 - Published by Nick Hern Books
Director Lucy Allan
Cast Kathryn O'Reilly, Anna Doolan
Producers Kathryn O'Reilly & Anna Doolan
Associate Producer RUA Arts
Movement Director Sophie Shaw
Designer Mayou Trikerioti
Sound Designer Nicola Chang
Lighting Designer Benny Goodman
Stage Manager Hester Blindell
Rehearsal & Production photography Robert Workman
Supported by Clean Break
PLAYWRITING
"Screwed has a vulgar vigour and an emotional energy that throbs like an inflamed sex organ. O’Reilly writes convincing dialogue and has added variety and pace to the storytelling by using monologues and choral passages” Aleks Sierz - My Theatre Mates
“A witty look at female friendship in a broken society. O’Reilly has a great ear for the scrappy rhythm of everyday speech. An assured debut, at times sharply observed and bruisingly funny ” Tom Wicker - Time Out
“O’Reilly’s explicit dialogue pulls no punches...Packed with raw energy and frighteningly believable...O’Reilly’s play is both funny and disturbing, showing lives that lie behind the statistics that tell us of increasing alcohol problems among women. It is a piece of new writing rich with promise” Stephen Bates - Thebeastspen.com
“Highly impressive, very authentic writing, combined with great acting made for an altogether very unpleasant and yet strangely compelling play” Terry Eastham - LondonTheatre1
“Kathryn O’Reilly has really done a wonderful job on her debut play, it is youthful and full of fire. It’s funny because it is so entirely true...I couldn’t ask for more from a play, there are explorations of lifestyles, relationships, diversity and killer dialogue” Bethany Dickinson - A Younger Theatre
“O'Reilly has a brilliant ear for the visceral venality of their chat in all its swaggering hollowness...O'Reilly's writing produces some gorgeous passages of overlapping dialogue... A bolshy, brutal bit of theatre” Ian Foster - There Ought To Be Clowns
“This is actress and writer Kathryn O'Reilly's first play and there's much that's promising about it. Throughout there's an impressive attention to rhythmic dialogue, the script establishing a breakneck pace that rarely lets up. On top of that there's a nicely disciplined use of time and space” London City Nights
“O’Reilly’s produced a choppy, off-beat script that allows the friends to fall into a familiar routine and bounce off each other in a way that’s both funny and oddly touching...
Screwed is a hard-hitting play... Kathryn O’Reilly’s decision to explore this social trend with a focus on female characters is refreshing” Liz Dyer - Theblogoftheatrethings.com
“Wonderfully biting dialogue and excellent performances from the cast of four easily seduce the audience” Theplaysthething.com
“The promising early scenes of Kathryn O’Reilly’s play have a poetic staccato quality. Her sentences are like one-inch punches – blam, blam, blam – giving you a real sense
of the machine of these women’s lives” Natasha Tripney - The Stage
“Funny, vulgar and just a bit scary. Screwed at Theatre 503 really hits you with everything it can in this new work by Kathryn O'Reilly....
It is unnerving and at times horrifying to watch two ladies go on a self-destructive rampage. But there is something about the piece that seems so appropriate for our times. Self-destruction, promiscuity, dead end jobs and alcoholism. It is all presented
here in a subtle and delicate way” Paul In London
“Kathryn has written such a hard hitting, not only in your face but in your ears blast of a play..It’s an amazing debut play for it’s authentic and vivid picture it paints of modern day hedonism and it’s pitfalls” Lesley Strachan - Wandsworth Radio
“Screwed pulls no punches in its representation of the ladette lifestyle; it contains
coarse language and is not for the fainthearted or easily offended.” Rhiannon Evans - WestendWilma“
A funny and at times brutally frank look at lives going nowhere...The relationships between the two girls is beautifully observed by playwright Kathryn O’Reilly and the writing is bouncy and quirky” Siân Rowland - London Pub Theatre
SEVERED
R&D - Rehearsed Reading Soho Theatre 2019
Director: Jelena Budimir
Produced by KOR Productions & Maeve O'Neill
Dramaturg Neil Grutchfield
Cast: Maggie Steed, Jonanna Bacon, Barbara Peirson, Linda Clark
Photography by Robert Workman
Funded by the Arts Council England, The Richard Carne Trust, and supported by Clean Break, Out of Joint & So and So
POETRY / SOPKEN WORD & MUSIC
Production Production photography Sophie Mutevelian
CAUGHT
Had a staged reading at Bush Theatre as part of Team Angelica's Boom! Festival
Curated by Rikki Beadle-Blair & John Gordon
Director: Rikki Beadle-Balir
Cast: Jacqui-Lee Pryce, Kathry O'Reilly
POETRY / SPOKEN WORD
"This is a must-see play addressing the dark truth behind cycles of drug addiction" Islinton Tribune
"The poetic writing combines with physical performances to create a moving story of sadness and lost hope" Grace Wood, The Stage
"A couragous piece of theatre" Theatre News
"Superbly written dark play" Stage Door
"Hard-hitting but moving two-hander examining the scars and childhood abuse and trauma" Claire Roderick, Fairy Powered
"Movement director Sophie Shaw has choreographed a series of lyrical movements which symbolise key moments during the sisters' relationship aloowing O'Reilly and Doolan to showcase their talent" Lucy Bacon, Islington Tribune
SHORT FILM
LYRICS
Klink Klank a short film written by Kathryn O'Reilly
Directed by Robert Reina.
Executive Producers Toni Darlow & Kathryn O'Reilly.
Producer Kathryn O'Reilly. Toni Darlow, Fiona Gilbert
Music composed by Alex Holland & Tas Emiabata
Starring Kathryn O'Reilly and Gary Carr, Fiona Gilbert, Robbie Telfer
with James Atherton, Jack Baldwin, Toni Darlow, Chris Fenwick, Andrew Forbes, Steve Giles, Nathan Ives-Moiba, Lisa Kerr, Paddy Knowles, Jacqui Lee-Pryce, Jim Stevenson, Lorna Stuart
Photographed & Edited by James Marcus-Tucker
Make Up Jess Buchanan
Sound Juliet Plumptre
Production Assistant Vince Tycer