ABOUT US
Illumine Theatre is a collaboration between Cardiff playwright Lisa Parry and award-winning director Zoë Waterman. We make theatre with new writing at its core, theatre which reveals stories hidden in plain sight – stories all around us that we are too busy to notice. We aim to encourage debate, make theatre for everyone and reach out to overlooked audiences with our work.
We formed Illumine in early 2016 after more than a decade of working together intermittently on various projects, notably at Theatre503, the Arcola and Arch468.
Lisa Parry
Lisa's play THE MERTHYR STIGMATIST was jointly produced by the Sherman and Theatre Uncut in Spring 2021 and released as a digital download, gaining four and five star reviews. The play is published by Nick Hern Books. The Stage called it “searing” and “stylish, tense [and] taut” and The Guardian “deeply moving” and “theatrical magic”. It was previously shortlisted for Theatre Uncut’s inaugural Political Playwriting Award in 2019, a prize supported by the Sherman, Traverse and Young Vic.
Lisa was a writer in-residence at Theatr Clwyd in 2020 and her work has been staged by leading new writing companies in the UK and USA, including Dirty Protest, The Miniaturists and PopUp Theatrics. Her work has been produced at: The Barbican, The Other Room, Wales Millennium Centre, Chapter Arts, Theatre 503, The Arcola, TACT Studio (Broadway, NYC), The Arches, Bridewell Theatre London and Martin E Segal Theatre (NYC).
Lisa has spoken extensively on various panels regarding feminism and theatre and also science and theatre, notably giving a talk for TEDx in Cardiff. She previously worked as a news journalist on regional and national titles and was an associate editor (theatre) on Bare Fiction Magazine.
Zoë was the recipient of the New Wimbledon Theatre’s Emerging Directors Award 2007. She received an MFA in Theatre Directing from Birkbeck College. She was the Associate Director of the New Vic Theatre 2018-19.
Theatre includes: 2023 (Illumine, Chapter); INTEMPERANCE, TABLE, PLAYHOUSE CREATURES and THE KITCHEN SINK (The New Vic, Stoke-on-Trent); THE RUBENSTEIN KISS, AMY’S VIEW and AFTER MISS JULIE (Nottingham Playhouse); JACK AND THE BEANSTALK, DICK WHITTINGTON and SLEEPING BEAUTY (Theatr Clwyd); THE RISE AND FALL OF LITTLE VOICE, REMARKABLE INVISIBLE, THE VERTICAL HOUR, ENLIGHTENMENT and SHINING CITY (Theatre by the Lake, Keswick); THE BOGUS WOMAN (Theatre by the Lake, Keswick and UK tour); SWAN SONG: AN EVENING OF MUSIC AND SONG (The Swan, RSC); CINDERELLA, ALADDIN, SLEEPING BEAUTY and JACK AND THE BEANSTALK (Loughborough Town Hall); THE DEMAND (Shooting Fish Theatre Company); SLEEPING BEAUTY and ALADDIN (The Maltings, Berwick-Upon-Tweed); THE PROMISE (New Wimbledon Theatre Studio); A KIND OF ALASKA (Edinburgh Fringe Festival).
As Associate Director: to Lucy Pitman-Wallace on MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING (Malmö Stadsteater) and JOKING APART (Nottingham Playhouse, Salisbury Playhouse) and to Giles Croft on ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT (UK tour). Assistant directing includes 2012-13 at the RSC, assisting Gregory Doran on THE ORPHAN OF ZHAO.
Zoë Waterman