ABOUT US
Elegy formed in 2018 at Italia Conti Acting, and have been making new writing ever since.
We make small intimate shows about big sprawling ideas, which have a universal, ongoing relevance. Crossing boundaries of politics, race & gender; questions about the nature of the human experience and the age old questions of living. Our performances are vivid, visceral experiences, melding spoken word, drama, & multimedia techniques to create atmospheric pieces with an emotional core. We spend a long time developing our scripts, then work on them as an ensemble. Elegy has a small core team, consisting of Matthew Gouldesbrough, Carol Lesley-Green, Hannah Morrision, Alamo Perez, and Patrick Medway, and then has a network of associates.
Our first play was developed over two years. It began as a collection of poems, which evolved into a multi-media, part live cinema, part live theatre production about the transition into adulthood, first loves & long distance relationships! Our second work ‘Holy Land.’, an extremely topical excavation of the dark side of the internet and human nature, toured nationally (finishing with a two week run at EdFringe 2019) to critical success, being nominated for several awards and winning The Special Recognition Prize at the Write for the Stage Awards 2019. Our most recent work ‘Truth/Reconciliation’, played for a brief, but critically successful run, over two separate (covid complicated forced) weeks at the Old Red Lion Theatre in London, receiving rave reviews and winning an OffComm award from the Offies. Our work tends to retain a certain poetic language; and recently over the pandemic we have been playing with digital media to explore ways to reach new audiences.
Artistic Director Matthew Gouldesbrough was also the company director, and part of the Bobby Award Winning Conti Ensemble production of the Laramie Project that played at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2017.
In addition, the company runs a semi regular scratch night, ‘HATCH’ at the Golden Goose Theatre in Camberwell, where it curates the freshest new writing, music and poetry to produce new writing nights for up and coming early career creatives, to give them a chance to showcase and network.
MATTHEW GOULDESBROUGH
Matthew trained as an actor at both Rose Bruford and Italia Conti Acting, as well as spending time with the National Youth Theatre of Great Britain. He has performed in the West End and around the country, and founded Elegy. His interests lie in new writing and asking uncomfortable questions of the status quo.
CAROL
LESLEY-GREEN
Carol trained as an opera singer at the Royal Academy of Music, and has worked internationally as an award winning soloist, as well as running her own opera company 'Heart of England Opera' before making the move into teaching. Her interests lie in supporting young artists and she works for the company in a support role; we are very lucky to have her!
PATRICK
MEDWAY
Patrick trained as an actor and performed across the country before making the move in to directing. His shows have been seen in London venues as well as theatres across the nation. Recent directing work includes new writing pieces “DMC” by Amy Kitts, and “Shadow Folk” by Kate Donnachie. His interests lie in new writing and developing pieces from the page with writers.
ALAMO
PEREZ
Alamo is a London based actor who trained as an actor at Rose Bruford. His interests lie in re-imagininge classic works, particularly those of Chekov and Shakespeare.