Taking the Stage 2024 - Fifty Cups of Tea

Subika Anwar-Khan is a writer and actor who was part of The Royal Court and Hampstead Theatre’s writing programmes. She has developed scripts with Paines Plough, Curve Theatre, Tamasha, Belgrade Theatre, Birmingham Rep, The Roundhouse, Nabokov and

Drywrite. Her plays have been produced by Kali theatre (**** The Independent) and the Vault Festival (**** Exeunt Magazine). She was the writer and performer of solo show Divided, commissioned by Camden People’s Theatre. Echo is Subika’s second solo show, first performed at Taking the Stage in 2022 and has since been developed with Tara Theatre. Subika is published in Hear Me Now Vol.2 and was a contributing writer for audio drama Beneath Our Feet (Spotify, Apple podcast).

Subika has appeared in plays Indigo Giant (UK Tour) Hear me Now (Theatre503), Mephisto (A Rhapsody) (Gate theatre), Julie (National Theatre), 60 Miles by Road or Rail (Royal and Derngate) and Ok Tata Bye Bye (Curve theatre). She has also appeared in TV shows Eastenders (BBC), Goldie’s Oldies (Nickelodeon) and Bafta winning feature film After Love (BFI). www.subikaanwarkhan.com

Caroline trained at the Birmingham School of Speech and Drama graduating with commendation in 2003. She toured the UK with ‘Macbeth’, ‘Aladdin’, ‘The Little Mermaid’ and ‘Field of Dreams’ and completed a 6 month tour of Austria with Vienna’s English Theatre in ‘A Perfect Match’. She performed at the Edinburgh Fringe in a one woman play ‘From Me To 3792’ setting up Next Page Productions en route with the sole purpose to produce new writing using only local talent. She produced, acted and toured in ‘Rose Cottage’, ‘Invisible’ and ‘Calling For Help’ in Midlands tours. A highlight was performing as Joan Sims in ‘Funny Faces’, directed by Rosemary Hill, and she is delighted to have the opportunity to work with Rosemary again. Caroline is also an Associate Producer with the Royal and Derngate Generate Scheme.

Caroline trained at the Drama Studio in London after working as an English and Drama teacher in Leicestershire. She also works as a director and producer regularly creating her own work as well as playing classic roles such as Mrs Alving in Ghosts by Henrik Ibsen, Susan in Bed Amongst the Lentils and Irene Ruddock in A

Lady of Letters by Alan Bennett. She has enjoyed playing many Shakespearean roles such as the Nurse in Romeo and Juliet and Lady Macbeth.

Last year she played the Mysterious Visitor in her own play Darlint

Peidi which toured the UK and was funded by the Arts Council. For TV and film she has worked for the BBC Open University working on educational videos and multi media projects, as well as making short films playing a variety of characters. Caroline also works for many companies doing roleplay and voiceovers.

Jess Inchbald is a trained actor from the Guildford School of Acting, an alumna of the National Youth Theatre, and an emerging producer. During the pandemic, she stepped away from the industry to start a business in a different field, but returned to her true passion at the beginning of this year. Recently, Jess was offered a nine-month tour abroad with the White Horse Theatre Company, Europe’s largest professional educational touring company, but chose to focus on theatre opportunities in the UK, particularly in London, where she feels most at home.

Jess has trained to an advanced level in stage combat with the Actors Combat Theatrical Training School, receiving a professional recommendation in Broadsword from renowned fight director Kev McCurdy. She also trained locally at the PWA Academy of Performing Arts from a young age, performing in various productions in the Milton Keynes area before continuing her training at Guildford.

Jess is thrilled to be performing in “Fifty Cups of Tea”, a new play by Rosemary Hill, at Taking The Stage. As an emerging producer, she is preparing for her first production, *Romeo and Juliet*, set to debut in a fringe venue in May 2025, where she will also play Juliet.