Glory Whispers

Glory Whispers by Sonya Hale and The Monkey by John Stanley are part of Homecomings - a festival of new work by prisoners and ex-prisoners about getting out and going home by Synergy Theatre Project in association with Theatre503.

Franc Ashman (The Royale, Bush Theatre; Our Ajax, Southwark Playhouse), Rachel Finnegan (Red Velvet, Tricycle Theatre; Death Comes to Pemberley, BBC) and Dominic McHale (Coronation Street, ITV; Bridget Jones) will bring alive Glory Whispers by Sonya Hale.

This tense domestic thriller begins with a whispered name and leads to a reunion charged with hope, deception and the spectre of addiction. An unexpected meeting with Glory brings hope to Mina; if she can stay clean and Glory can bring up a kid then maybe even mad Jonno can fix up and they can be a family again. But sacrifices, secrets and survival can get in the way of your dreams.

Danielle Flett (Doctor Faustus, Duke of Yorks; Vera Vera Vera, Royal Court), Morgan Watkins (Silent Witness, BBC; Suffragette), George Whitehead (Love’s Labour’s Lost, Oxford Shakespeare Company) and Daniel Kendrick (Fury, Soho Theatre; Call The Midwife, BBC) have been cast in The Monkey by John Stanley.

John Stanley paints a darkly comic portrait of dishonourable thieves bound together by addiction. Tel’s left Bermondsey behind and only robs the occasional drum now. He prefers dealing in moody clobber from Deptford. But he’s got a screw loose and word’s out he’s a soft touch. Thick-Al owes him a monkey and he has to revisit old hunting grounds to collect.

Synergy creates ground-breaking work which harnesses the energy, instincts and life experiences of prisoners, ex-prisoners and young people at risk of offending. Synergy bring original stories from unheard voices to the stage and offer fresh insights into the criminal justice system.