The Glue

Caroline is a freelance theatre director and educator from Nottingham. Her acclaimed work has toured nationally and internationally, including Ian Hislop and Nick Newman’s The Wipers Times, which had two runs at The Arts Theatre, West-End. Following her production of Bleak Expectations at The Criterion Theatre in the West-End in May 2023, Caroline directed a world premiere of Sadie Hasler’s new play Killing Jack at The Queens Theatre Hornchurch. In Feb 2023 she won an Offie Award for her production of Sleeping Beauty. 

Caroline specialises in the dramaturgy and directing of new writing. She currently teaches and mentors early career theatre directors in her role as Course Leader: MA Directing Programme at LAMDA. 

She studied English and Drama at Bristol University before training in directing at The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. Early in her career she was an Associate Director at Salisbury Playhouse, Interim Artistic Director at NYMT, staff director at The National Theatre, Associate Director on The 39 Steps at the Criterion Theatre and Associate Director to Katie Mitchell.

Isley Lynn is an American-born, London-based playwright and poet. They won the ‘Charles Wintour Most Promising Playwright Award’ at the Evening Standard Theatre Awards 2023 for their play The Swell, which opened to great acclaim as part of Tom Littler’s first season at the Orange Tree Theatre and was also nominated for Best New Play, Best Director and Best Production at the 2023 Offie Awards.

Their play Skin a Cat was awarded Pick of the Year at the Vault Festival 2016 and its production at The Bunker later that year led to four nominations for Off West End Awards including Most Promising New Playwright and Best New Play; it then toured nationally in 2018.

Other credits include: The War of the Worlds (New Diorama Theatre 2019, international tour 2021); ‘Canace’ in 15 Heroines (Jermyn Street Theatre 2020); Albatross (Paines Plough and the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama at Bute Theatre and Gate Theatre 2018); The Swell (HighTide First Commissions play reading 2018); Sie und Wir (Us and Them) for Werk X in Vienna (2016); Tether (Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2015); and What’s So Special (as part of The Get Out at the Royal Court Jerwood Theatre Upstairs 2014). Her play Bright Nights was a Script6 winner at The Space in 2014.

Contains depictions of sex and relationships, manipulation and power dynamics within intimate relationships and mental health struggles. Use of explicit language and microaggressions throughout.