Horla Productions was founded in 1999 by Alistair Green (artistic director), Dave Roberts (associate director) and Joanna Volinska (literary manager). 

Jeanne Davis ‘The Guru’ was our stage manager and Martin Hearn soon joined our ranks as an associate director during our Rose and Crown years, 2000 – 2003.

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The Rose and Crown Theatre, an intimate 50-seat venue, with its stand-up comedy and fringe theatre traditions going as far back as the blurry mists of… 1980s saw appearances by Eddie Izzard, Richard E Grant and Mark Kermode. Our predecessors and friends at the venue – the dynamic GRiP Theatre staged early work by Chris Chibnall.

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Located in Hampton Wick on the Richmond/Kingston, Greater London/Surrey borders, The Rose and Crown was a vibrant venue which attracted a loyal local following. During Horla’s three-year residence we were also supported beyond measure by Ken Gibson (the venue owner), Richmond Drama School directors and students and Theatre Studies exchange undergraduates from US Universities.

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Our memories of The Rose and Crown, a floor above a traditional English pub, are rose-tinted for sure. The people we met and worked with, and the freedom to experiment we enjoyed there, were a springboard which took our work other venues: The Greenwich Playhouse, Battersea Arts Centre, Bridewell Theatre, New Wimbledon Theatre Studio, Cannizaro Festival and for our three final productions, the newest/freshly refurbished (at the time) West End theatre: Trafalgar Studios! Our youthful energy took us from the South-West edges of Greater London to Whitehall, a few doors down from 10 Downing Street, at the foot of Trafalgar Square, a stone’s throw from Buckingham Palace a shortcut along the Mall and just next door to a Weatherspoons pub for a fairly-priced after-show drink.  We’ll never again be as happy to work on Christmas Eve or Boxing Day as we were then.

The following crew and regular performers made the journey possible:

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• Tracey Waller (resident stage & costume designer)

• Ben Pickersgill (resident lighting designer, theatre engineer)

• Jane and David Whitworth (Richmond Drama School directors)

• Vanessa Lucas-Smith and Jonathan Langford (musical directors)

• Carole Carpenter (musical director, performer)

• Laura Villasenor, Mandy Wright (Richmond Drama School graduates, stage managers)

• Alison O’Neill (stage manager)     

• Alison Ward

• Chris Courtenay

• Fiona Aldridge

• Philip Buck

• Kate Lush

• Dominic Currie

• Becky Naylor

• Sean Pritchett

• Other talented contributors are mentioned on the catalogue page.