Lu Kemp is a theatre director and dramaturge.
Education and training She trained on the Laboratory of Movement course at L'École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq, Paris, and with Anne Bogart’s Saratoga International Theater Institute in New York. In March 2016, she was appointed as Artistic Director of Perth Theatre in Scotland.
Credits
Theatre + Original run Title Author Cast Synopsis Production company NotesRef. – How to Tell the Truth Chris Dunkley Philip Ralph, Damien Goodwin and Daniele Lydon A story about life behind the headlines Stephen Joseph Theatre – Almost Blue Carlo Lucarelli adapted by Chris Dunkley Benjamin Duke and Eddie Kay Simon, is blind and suffers from synaesthesia, through which he experiences sound as colours. Alone in his room he surfs the airwaves with his audio-scanner, through which he follows the trail of a murderer with a cold, green voice. Riverside Studios, Hammersmith Winner: Oxford Samuel Beckett Theatre Trust Award 2005 – Beautiful Cosmos Rob Evans, Lu Kemp, Ben Lewis and Sophie Fletcher Beautiful Cosmos is set in the apartment of a woman who suddenly finds herself alone. Through her job as a sex text messager she begins to pick up strange messages from truckers, astronauts and a teenage Arizonan boy. Through it all she can't stop hearing the words and remembering the movements of her lover. Theatre by Design / Tron Theatre, Glasgow – Pinocchio Rob Evans Ben Lewis Royal Theatre, Northampton – If That's All There Is Lucinka Eisler, Giulia Innocenti and Ben Lewis A surreal, comic look at the strain of organising a wedding, how much we're prepared to endure to find love and happiness, and whether we can ever really know one another. Inspector Sands Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh Winner Edinburgh International Festival Fringe Award 2009 – One Thousand Paper CranesOne Thousand Paper Cranes, Lauren Paxman, The Stage, 11 August 2011 Abigail Docherty Veronica Leer and Melody Grove The true story of two fun-loving Japanese girls who tried to change their destiny by folding pieces of paper. Sadoko and her best friend Chiziko were just two years old when an atomic bomb was dropped on their home town, Hiroshima. Ten years on, a once energetic Sadoko is dying of radiation poisoning and Chiziko is desperate to save her. Tron Theatre, Glasgow – Julia Innocenti and Rosalind Sydney Eastwood Park Theatre, Glasgow – Imaginate Festival, Church Hill Theatre Studio, Edinburgh – Assembly George Square, Edinburgh The Next of It John McCann A black comedy, set in County Armagh, about family secrets and the legacy of silence. An old blind woman is digging her grave. She enlists her teenage granddaughter to dig with her, to the disgust of the girl's mother who bans the girl from returning. However, the girl does go back the following day to help her grandmother and in so doing, learns the secret which has driven the family apart with silence and reproaches for as long as she can remember. Stellar Quines / Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh – Room Abigail Docherty Melody Grove Sarah never leaves her flat. Watching the world outside from her window, she dreams up fantastic experiences and adventures without stepping outside her front door. But today a stranger has come to visit her and he is determined to pull her into the real world again. Sarah, however refuses to leave... Tron Theatre, Glasgow – The 13 Midnight Challenges of Angelus Diablo Carl Grose John Nicholson, Sandy Grierson, Dominic Lawton and Julia Innocenti A hilarious tale of an unsuccessful actor who sells his soul to the devil in return for an acting part. Royal Shakespeare Company at Latitude Festival – Encourage the OthersAlmeida encourages the others this weekend, Susan Elkin, The Stage, 29 July 2011 John Donnelly Grace Adewale, Stephanie Afari, Alexander Austin, Akuc Bol, Caitlin Fitzgerald, Isabelle Holland, Dina Ibrahim, Russie Miessi, Renais Mejeh, Liah Tecle, Josie Roughneen, Joey Jarossi, Maia Clarke and Cedric Belato Almeida Theatre22 October - 11 November 2014 Bondagers Sue Glover Cath Whitefield, Pauline Lockhart, Wendy Seager, Jayd Johnson, Charlene Boyd, Nora Wardell A tale of female bonded farm labourers in the Scottish Borders. Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh
Radio plays + Date of first broadcast Play Author Cast Synopsis StationRef. 14 January 2003 A Rose for Chopin Lorraine McCann Richard Greenwood, Michael Perceval Maxwell, Noreen Leighton, Vivienne Dixon and Michael MacKenzie Devastated after his split from George Sand, Chopin visits Scotland. Escape from Parisian gossip is welcome, but the attention of the locals is not. BBC Radio 4 Afternoon Play 17 March 2003 Little Black Dress: What to Wear in the Absence of Light Hannah McGill Read by Jo James Camilla opens her eyes to find she has not, as she has hoped, achieved eternal peace, but rather appears to have landed in her very own personalised hell – the parental home. BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week 18 March 2003 Little Black Dress: The Difference Sian Preece Read by Aled Pugh Mark's band are given a shot at fame, and his younger sister is on hand to create their look. BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week 19 March 2003 Little Black Dress: Alma Martyr Susie Maguire Read by Susie Maguire Radiating success, Midge wants to give her old friends a day out to remember. They deserve it. BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week 20 March 2003 Little Black Dress: Dancing in the Dark Rosemary Goring Read by James MacPherson Helen is surprised by the effect a little black dress has on her normally inattentive husband. BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week 21 March 2003 Little Black Dress: Les Pompes Funèbres Susie Maguire Read by Gayanne Potter Kate has been prepared for the death of her father, but not for his dying in France. How does one display grief in a foreign language? BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week 31 March 2003 The Life Trainer Sophie McCook Julie Austin, Carol Ann Crawford, Janette Fogo, Steven McNicoll, Jenny Ryan and Nick Underwood Kelly is staring down the barrel of her thirtieth birthday. Life is making her panic. If only she could do it all again, she'd make the right choices, especially in love. When Kelly meets Faith, a personal Life Trainer, Faith offers her the opportunity to redo the bits she got wrong the first time around. Given the chance - would you? BBC Radio 4 Afternoon Play 3 July 2003 The Chronycle John Hancox Juliet Cadzow, Alec Heggie, Irene MacDougall, Keith MacPherson and Clare Yuille In the final years of his life, Charles Rennie Mackintosh was living in obscurity in France with his wife Margaret MacDonald. As Mackintosh rediscovered the joy of painting, Margaret, also an artist, was trying to come to terms with the tragic loss of her sister, Frances. BBC Radio 4 Afternoon Play 8 December 2003 – 19 December 2003 One Man's Justice Akira Yoshimura Read by Nicholas Farrell The Potsdam Agreement, which was signed the previous August, bought the war to an end and humiliation and economic depression to Japan. Having received a cryptic message from an ex-colleague, Takuya Kiyohara is compelled to return to his former headquarters to receive instructions. BBC Radio 4 Book at Bedtime 8 January 2004 Bampot Central Christopher Brookmyre Douglas Henshall, David Begg, Richard Gordon, Murdo MacLeod, Sheila Donald, Monica Gibb, John Paul Hurley, Tony Kearney, Steven McNicoll, Michael Moreland, Gayanne Potter and Paul Young It's the Edinburgh Fringe, not Parlabane's favourite time of year. To add insult to injury, Parlabane has just walked into one of the worst conceived armed robberies he's ever had the pleasure to attend.