CASUAL ENCOUNTERS

Looking for a Casual Encounter?

James and Jennifer Rogers. Professional Couple. Open-minded, within reason, seek likewise. Can travel, but have lovely house if you want to come to us. Surrey area. No pets.


Thank You 

Thanks to Emma Burton of Talk About Productions for sound and light at Camden The Norbiton and Dragon pub for rehearsal space, Andy Smith, Joolz Connery, Jane Marcus, Waleed Marzouk and Gytha Lodge for use of their photos in our promotional material, and Mark Boutros for assorted stand-in roles at early rehearsals. Also thanks to Jon Constant for his rehearsal photos, and Lee Moran for posters, flyers and programmes. Finally, thank you to Sandy Easby and Barry Rocard for being part of NoLogo for the 2013 production.

A black comedy about wife swapping and other inappropriate behaviour

James and Jennifer Rogers have been seeing a marriage guidance counsellor. When she tells them they should try something new, James decides this can only mean one thing - wife swapping. Not that he’d want the neighbours to know, and to keep his new hobby a secret he’s been trawling the internet to find a suitable couple for their first causal encounter.

What he and Jennifer haven’t realised is that not everyone tells the truth online. They might be about to find this out the hard way when Peter and Annette Morgan enter their house.

Production History 

The one-act version of Casual Encounters was premiered at Buxton Festival Fringe in July 2013 and went on to achieve a sell out run at Etcetera Theatre, Camden as part of Camden Fringe 2013. Updated for 2014 the play was performed at Henley Fringe and London Theatre Workshop in July, before a hugely successful run at theSpace at Surgeons Hall for Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2014, leading to the transfer of the play to The Courtyard Theatre where it will be performed in September 2014.


2014 cast are Joanna Pope, David Scott-Lucas, Sean Meyer, Catherine Houston Eyers, and Lucia Coward. Joanna and Lucia took over from Sandy Easby and Barry Rocard after the 2013 run. For  biographies of the current cast click here For Sandy click here, and for Barry click here
 
Earlier Productions
Casual Encounters was originally written for SEDOS 6 plays 7 Days project, where writers met actors one Sunday, and were given till the following Thursday to write a 15 minute play. Directors and actors got together on Friday and the plays were performed on Saturday.
 
It was also performed by OHADS at ArtRichmond's 2013 new writing festival at the Orange Tree, Richmond. The judging panel, including Richard Bean, writer of One Man, Two Guv'nors, described the play as ‘terrific, very funny with lots of good gags. More than that, it made brilliant use of the gags to achieve and support the three act structure.'
 
An extract of the play has been published in UEAs 2012 Scriptwriting Anthology.