Thank you so much for coming to find out about Katie and her work. Did you see a show? If so, thank you very much for that too.
It’s A Girl! is Katie Arnstein’s trilogy of shows comprising Bicycles and Fish, Sexy Lamp and Sticky Door. You don’t have to have seen one to enjoy the others, nor do you need to watch them in order – but if you have watched all three you will know there are a few little ‘Easter eggs’ written in. The It’s A Girl! team is a gorgeous bunch of human beings who want you to have a good time at the theatre whilst supporting women. Do you want to say something to us about the show? If you didn’t manage to grab a drink with us in the bar, then please do get in touch via our contact form. And if you saw and liked the show? Please shout about us on social media, tell your friends, come again, we’d love to see you.
If you didn’t see a show yet, but would like to, please see our upcoming shows for opportunities to catch Katie in action, or contact us to subscribe to our mailing list. (We nearly never use it).
TICKET FUND
We are so very glad to be able to offer a ticket fund to our current shows. Should you wish to book a (free) ticket using the fund, please contact us via our contact form. Should you wish to contribute to the ticket fund you can do so at paypal.me/sexylamp – you will need to sign in to your own paypal account. If there is money left over in our ticket fund after current performances, rest assured it will go to offering free tickets for future shows.
Katie Arnstein // Writer and Performer // The It’s A Girl! trilogy
Katie Arnstein is a multi-award-winning writer and performer from the West Midlands. Her feminist, storytelling trilogy It’s a Girl! is made up of Bicycles and Fish, Sexy Lamp and Sticky Door. Arnstein’s work has won Pleasance Pick of VAULT Festival, Show of the Week at VAULT Festival twice, an Offie Commendation and has been featured in The Guardian’s Top 15 Edinburgh shows now touring.
She has been shortlisted for The Future of Theatre Award by The Evening Standard in association with TikTok 2021 and The Popcorn Award 2020.
Other writing includes Half Acre as part of Popelei’s Press Play season which has been nominated for a 2020 Offie and Embarrassed for Popelei’s Women in Lockdown which was included in The Guardian’s Best 8 monologues of lockdown. She has recently been a member of the 2021 BBC Writer’s Room Coventry Voices. Arnstein did her Gold Duke of Edinburgh at school and that was so hard she is still telling people about it. The Guardian wrote “Arnstein is a performer primed for greatness” whilst her Grandad Ron said she is “daft as a brush.”
Ellen Havard // Director // The It’s A Girl! trilogy
Recent Credits include: Sexy Lamp, by Katie Arnstein, Edinburgh Festival 2019 & Vault Festival 2019; Ad Libido, by Frances Bush, Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh Festival 2018 & Vault Festival 2018, Snow Mouse, Travelling Light in co-production with the egg, Bath. Ellen has been both associate and assistant director including National Theatre, Stratford East, Bristol Old Vic and Propeller. Ellen was Resident Director, National Theatre Studio 2017-2018 and is an Associate Director for NT Connections. Ellen is also, coincidentally, a legend.
Beccy D’Souza // Producer // The It’s A Girl! trilogy
Beccy is creative producer and actor based in Nottingham. She is a member of The Party Somewhere Else collective, who are committed to showcasing and championing women and non-binary led work and are current participants in the Perform Europe initiative. Beccy is particularly keen to support and tell stories which amplify voices that otherwise might be quieted. She particularly enjoys working with ‘new writing’ (it’s an in joke, it’s also true) or finding new ways to tell old stories. Recent acting credits include the West End transfer of The Son at The Duke of York’s Theatre (understudy), and Kindertransport and Sara Pascoe’s Pride and Prejudice at Nottingham Playhouse. She is part of the Stage One, Bridge The Gap cohort, a training programme for commercial producers.
Yasmeen Arden // Associate Director // Sticky Door [Pleasance]
Yasmeen is Artistic Director at Small Truth Theatre. Most recently, she collaborated to create the Kensington Karavan, a micro theatre festival in a retro caravan, commissioning and directing new work by, amongst others, Emma Dennis-Edwards, Abi Zakarian, Jessica Butcher and Sid Sagar. This went on to become the treble OnComm winning Digital Caravan Theatre series. Her production of MUM by Juliet Cown at Playground Theatre was cut short due to the pandemic. Aleks Sierz said of her production of Caterpillar at Theatre503 and Stephen Joseph Theatre “the standards of writing, directing, design and acting are uniformly very high. Most of all, however, this is a great story, brilliantly told”, it gained an Off West End Award nomination and was selected as a Reader’s Favourite of 2018 in the Guardian. Yasmeen’s production of Nest by Katie Warner, was described as ‘one of the highlights’ of VAULT Festival 2018 in The Guardian. Directing credits include the award winning The Three Sillies (Arcola Theatre / Somersault / Tour) Poking the Bear by Chris Bush, Elexion by Chloe Todd Fordham (Theatre503), Over The Hill There’s Something Better by Sharon Clarke (New Diorama), Dead Yard by Matthew Turner (Playwrought / LAB, Arcola) We Are Beautiful by Brian Eley (Catalyst Festival) as well as site specific work such as On The Line by Aled Pedrick for Ivy House / Merge Festival / Platform Southwark and The Unfortunates for Watford Palace Theatre. Yasmeen is currently developing Tapestry by Chloe Todd Fordham and Christopher Hogg’s Drum and Bass musical Casey and Corey.
Holly Ellis // Lighting // Sexy Lamp and Sticky Door [Pleasance]
Holly trained at LAMDA. She previously worked with the “Its A Girl!” trilogy team for Sexy Lamp at Pleasance, Edinburgh (2019). Her most recent productions include: Tokyo Rose (Southwark Playhouse and touring) Hotter (Soho Theatre), Swimming (White Bear Theatre) Dance (Kings Head Theatre) Lousia and Jo and Me (Golden Goose Theatre) and The Boy with the Bee Jar (Hope Theatre). For more of her work please see www.hollyellislighting.com
Andrew Hollingworth // Stage Manager and Sound Designer // The It’s A Girl! trilogy
Andrew trained as an Actor at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts. He is the Artistic director of Buckle Up Theatre and has written and produced a handful of plays. His play ‘Bump!’ featured at VAULT Festival in 2018. Andrew has been involved in all of Katie’s productions as a tech operator and sound designer.
Anna Kezia Williams // Original Design // Sticky Door
Trained at Wimbledon College of Art.Theatre includes set design for Chalet Lines- The Bridewell Theatre, Blood Wedding- The Bread and Roses Theatre, Great Expectations-Merton Arts Space, The Buskers Opera-The Park Theatre, STUD- VAULT Festival, The Crucible- Royal and Derngate Theatre, The Happy Prince- The Place. Television includes set assistant for BBC Sports Relief, BBC, and prop maker for SickNote, King Bert Productions, SKY, as well as concept artist for Kano, Santander, and Halifax. Most recently she has worked as the Experience Designer for Lollipop Ltd., designing immersive experiences including The Grid, ABQ and The Bletchley, as well as designing Hunger at The Arcola Theatre.
Rachel Sampley // Original Lighting Design // Sticky Door
Rachel is a London based lighting and video designer. Credits include: The Great Gatsby (West End). VAULT Festival 2020 shows include: The Wild Unfeeling World, The Archive of Educated Hearts, Cassie and the Lights, Bible John and V&V. Other recent credits include: Mathilda and the Orange Balloon (DH Ensemble), Bible John (Pleasance London), Misterman (New Wimbledon), Silk Road (Trafalgar Studios 2), Nele Needs a Holiday (Latitude Festival), and Scheherazade and 1001 Nights (Sadler’s Wells).
Dan Goldman // Director // Bicycles and Fish
Daniel trained in theatre at Escuela Andamio 90 (Buenos Aires) and École Jacques Lecoq (Paris). Directing credits include: Frankenstein (Inside Out Theatre, Beijing), Oedipus at Colonus (Cambridge Arts Theatre), Camasca (Teatro Britanico, Lima), Thebes Land (Arcola), James Rowland’s Songs of Friendship (Vault Festival, EdFringe, UK / International Touring), John Hinton’s Scientrilogy (EdFringe, UK / International Touring), The Dragon (Southwark Playhouse), Waheri Wanawake Wa Windsor (Shakespeare’s Globe, National Theatre of Kenya, International Touring), Fuente Ovejuna (Southwark Playhouse), You’re not like the other girls Chrissy (Edfringe, Bush Theatre / Co-directed with Omar Elerian), Fucked (Old Red Lion, Edfringe) and Richard III (Southwark Playhouse / Co-directed with Donnacadh O’Briain) & 4.48 Psychosis (ORL / Arcola)
Simon Jefferis // Digital Producer // The It’s A Girl! trilogy
Jason Drake // Production Archive Footage
Harrison Bates // Press Photography and trailer production // Sticky Door
Lizzie Leech // Designer // Sexy Lamp
A huge thanks to: Arts Council England, Redbridge Drama Centre, Nic Connaughton and Pleasance Futures, Dan Goldman, Beth Shouler, Liz Johnson, The Party Somewhere Else Collective and anyone who has supported Katie’s work along the way. Special thanks to Dame Minouche Shafik. Thanks for the inspiration, and for giving the door a shove.
Katie Arnstein 