The Queens of Cups
The Queens of Cups was founded by Grace O’Keefe and Erin Holland in 2020. Bonded by a passion for creating funny, entertaining, yet challenging work that champions woman voices, they first harnessed their Big Pussy Energy™ with their one woman show, Bad Teacher.
After two five star, sell-out runs at Underbelly for EdFringe, another sold out run at VAULTs, and a script for a TV-pilot adaption, Bad Teacher finished its journey this October at the Pleasance.
The Queens of Cups also curate and host a new writing night, New Moon Monologues, which began in online monthly instalments in 2020 and has evolved into an annual night of comedy, theatre and music with an emphasis on acts that are going to Edinburgh Fringe. They were commissioned by Theatre503 to write a feminist Pantomime. The Queens also perform as a musical comedy duo, with bangers including ‘Girls Don’t Poop’ and ‘Uranus is in Retrograde’.
Summoning Sondheim
Summoning Sondheim is a cabaret comedy séance that uses the power of musical theatre to summon us theatre kids’ Lord & Savior, Stephen Joshua Sondheim (the Joshua is important).
Musical theatre bitches and real life witches, Grace O’Keefe (co-creator of five-star EdFringe sell-out Bad Teacher) and Jordana Belaiche (West End Credits: Little Cosette in Les Misérables, Jane in Mary Poppins, yes, really) host this silly little spooky séance. Their goal? To summon Sondheim’s spirit in order to write the perfect musical.
This campy love letter to Sondheim is a testament to his legacy as both one of the world’s greatest artists and as a mentor to so many writers, exploring what it means to make art (after all, art isn’t easy!), the lack of a female musical theatre canon and how we “Summon Sondheim” everytime we’re in a theatre.
Summoning Sondheim will premiere as a Work in Progress on Feburary 14th and 16th at the Glitch as part of A Pinch of VAULT.
Bad Teacher
Bad Teacher had a five-star, sell-out run at Underbelly for EdFringe 2022 and 2023 and a sell-out run at VAULT Festival 2023. It was selected for Pleasance London’s Best of the Fringe Programme and will have a run at the end of October 2023 in their main house.
“The play is fast-paced, crude but also allows us to see the person behind the job, and the vulnerability of the students. Both performance and direction are perfectly executed, and you couldn’t ask any more from a performer.” ★★★★★ from North West End
“the best Marlon Brando impression I have ever seen”- ★★★★ from London Pub Theatre
“I want her to be my teacher and my best friend.”-★★★★★ from Lost in Theatreland
“The landscape of Bad Teacher is not so much “if you don’t laugh, you’ll cry,” so much as it is “you’re going to cry anyway, so you may as well laugh as much as possible in the meantime.” And with a piece as riotously funny as Queen of Cups’s play, the laughter is guaranteed.” ★★★★ from The Reviews Hub
“The show acts as a hilarious reminder that teachers are entirely human, which is an often-forgotten fact by parents, governments, and students themselves” ★★★★★ from Theatre Scotland
Written and performed by Erin Holland and directed by Grace O’Keefe, The Queens of Cups draw upon their years as 20-something teachers in Bad Teacher, a dark comedy about the trials and tribulations a 20-something female teacher faces in a London-based Sixth Form College.
Lobster Frock
Lobster Frock’s brand new, fictional museum adventure is based on their genre-defying digital theatre piece with the same name. Drawing on the extraordinary real-life experiences of South London women, it is a powerful, local story of hope, courage, and humanity – and a heartfelt tribute to mothers.
Tackling themes on aging, isolation and loneliness, Blueprints Museum has been created in collaboration with Lewisham and Southwark communities aged 65+ from The Albany and Age UK.
Through surrealist design and immersive theatre, Lobster Frock’s multicultural cast will catapult you into the dilapidated, remnants of a mystery woman’s life to try and answer the question, who is she?
Supported by and is in partnership with Age UK Lewisham-Southwark, MOCA London and Meet Me at The Albany
