Rebecca Manson Jones

Artistic Work

Below are some key productions that I have directed over the last 15 years. This page is intended as a snapshot of my work and is far from a comprehensive archive!

On The Beach (2023-24)

A bald South East Asian man with a beard wears an elaborate netted costume and extends a lit up orb, like a giant pearl.
A South East Asian man in a bright yellow hat and colourful dungarees invites an audience member to smell a fragrance.
A white woman in colourful dungarees and a blue cap holds up a shell-shaped fan, in front of a projection of the sea.
A white woman in colourful dungarees and a blue cap goes rockpooling on a theatre set, in front of a mast with a rockpool projection.
Two performers gaze out into the distance as if looking to the horizon. The man holds the waist of the woman, as she leans forwards like a figurehead of a boat.
Various production photos featuring Kali Chandrasegaram and Sophie Holland (photo credit: Claude Graham)

A multisensory, participatory Spare Tyre show, On The Beach brings the myth and magic of the beach to older people living with dementia and their carers. The show is inspired by the history of beaches as a working environment, all the stories and practical skills from net-mending to boatbuilding, varnishing, fishmongering, sail-mending, knitting and gutting.

The meeting of the natural environment and human endeavour that has through the ages and across all civilisations taken place on beaches offers a plentiful sensory playground, ripe for participatory theatre made for and with older people

In 2023, the production toured to Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch and nearby care homes and community groups in the London Borough of Havering, in partnership with Havering Changing.

In 2024, the production is embarking on a 7 week national tour, including to MAST Mayflower Studios (Southampton), Norfolk and Norwich Festival, Hoxton Hall (London), and car homes in the New Forest, Gosport, the Isle of Wight and North Yorkshire.

Cast: Kali Chandrasegaram and Sophie Holland

Direction & Concept: Rebecca Manson Jones
Design: Jens Demant Cole
Associate Artist: Lisa Muten
Sound Design: Ilā Kamalagharan
Movement Direction: Kali Chandrasegaram
Producer: Claude Graham / Nur Khairiyah
Production Manager: Beatrice Galloway/ Crin Claxton Touring & Participation Director: Pia Richards Glöckner Technical Stage Manager: Lucy Ventham/ Tallulah Harris Access Support Worker: Lara Marshall

For Spare Tyre: Executive Producer – Amanda Castro, General Manager – Rose Chorlton
(Where two names are given, the first represents the 2023 creation and production, and the second represents the 2024 tour)

MORE INFO ON THE SPARE TYRE WEBSITE

We Will Be Happy Here (2021-22)

A performer encourages a participant to touch a lit up wall with various lead shadows.
A performer with a fringe and ponytail wears a clear face mask and cream costume. Paper props hang in the foreground, framing her.
A participant reaches towards a white blind with shadows and lighting, guided by a curly-haired performer.
A participant sits in a cabin space which is lit up green with video projection.
Production assistant checks the lighting on set, casting multi-coloured shadows on the wall behind.
Production photos, featuring Yolande Bramble-Carter and Jasmine Shigemura Lee (photo credit: Patrick Baldwin)

An multi-sensory Just Jones & Spare Tyre production of music, sights, sounds and tactile stimuli made with and for learning disabled people.

The 2021 production was made with Bangladeshi Parents and Carers Association in Tower Hamlets, and then performed with Kingston Mencap, Uniting Friends and The Spring Arts & Heritage Centre.

The 2022 production was part of the Lewisham London Borough of Culture and was made with Lewisham Mencap and Adult Learning Lewisham, then performed at the Albany Centre.

Cast: Yolande Bramble-Carter, Jasmine Shigemura Lee, Sophie Holland, Jazmin Qunta
Director & Concept: Rebecca Manson Jones
Associate Director: Jenifer Lunn
Designer: Jo Paul 
Lighting Designer: Guy Hoare
Sound Designer: Alice Theobald
Producer: John Holmes / Claude Graham
Production Assistant & Exhibition: Neelam Chhara
Stage Managers: Lucy Ventham / Grace Hans
More info on the Spare Tyre website

An Enemy of the People (2013)

A white man in red mayoral robes speaks with a white woman with short hair and blazer. Other cast members watch on, amused by the interaction. There is a blue cityscape in the background.
A brunette woman sits casually in a chair whilst a smiling Black woman stands beside her. On the table between them is a toy car.
Two performers are physically fighting, faces contorted in anger. One person watches on in the background, shocked.
A woman with short brown hair holds her fist up in victory, besides a smiling man on a laptop.
Four performers sit and stand across the stage, each absorbed in their own worlds, with a blue sky and black skyline in the backdrop behind them.
A young Black girl looks unsure as she listens to a young white man in glasses who sits next to her. The man gazes ahead as he clasps a hat in his hands.
A young
Production photos of cast, featuring Sarah Malin as Doctor Stockmann (photo credit: Geraint Lewis)

A co-production between JustJones & the Albany Centre, and the first UK winner of the Ibsen Scholarship. An interactive adaptation, this production is set in a close-knit fictional town clinging to the coast of the UK by its fingertips. When Doctor Stockmann discovers that her ethical business is contributing to deforestation, she assumes that everyone will want to put things right. It’s a no brainer right? Wrong.

Sister and brother discover that they are bound by blood and divided by philosophy. At the public meeting, where the cast are joined by our chorus of local people, whose voices will be heard? Who is right?

You the audience decide, and the cast perform the ending that you choose.

“There’s something exhilarating about the freedom with which Manson Jones operates” – The Public Reviews
“You cannot help but feel involved – innovative adaptation a powerful production” – Exeunt
“Just Jones & tackled these issues with verve and gusto, The public meeting scenario of the second half was a masterstroke” –  Bristol Post
Cast: Elizabeth Elvin, Rupert Holliday Evans, Samuel Lawrence, Sarah Malin, Yana Penrose, Matt Ray Brown, Lawrence Stubbings joined by a “chorus of the people” in each tour location
Director and Adaptation: Rebecca Manson Jones
Designer: Jens Demant Cole
Lighting Designer: Neill Brinkworth
Sound Designer: Rich Walsh
Associate Director: Jennifer Lunn
Creative Associates: Heidi Dorschler, Jon Nash, Bryn Holding

A Doll’s House (2009)

A stern looking white man in all black gazes at an older woman, as she places her palm on his chest. She wears orange period dress.
A white woman in a blue dress dances with abandon in front of a white piano. A Black man in purple period dress watches on.
A woman in a blue dress gazes into the distance, her face in profile.
A Black man in purple suit sits on a white chair in front of a colourful pile of presents.
A family is seated in a period living room with a small Christmas tree in the middle. The children open presents whilst the adults talk.
A bearded man in a purple suit sits in a chair in front of a white piano.
Two women sit in the middle of the stage, surrounded by a white living room and brightly coloured presents. They wear a blue and orange dress, respectively.
A woman in a blue dress holds a stack of colourful presents in front of a white door and a fir tree.
A wo
Production photos of cast, featuring Clare Calbraith as Nora (photo credit: Toby Farrow)

In 2009, I directed Henry Ibsen’s A Doll’s House at Exeter Northcott, during my tenure as Creative Director. I was particularly drawn to the play’s themes of debt and deceit, and it’s status as a real watershed in theatre history.

“Rebecca Manson Jones takes a decisive approach to Ibsen’s compelling drama ….This absorbing production of Ibsen’s play marks an impressive debut” – The Stage
“Thrilling, engaging, vibrant theatre” – Mid Devon Gazette
“I was left thrilled and empowered by Exeter Northcott’s interpretation” – Express and Echo 
Cast: Clare Calbraith, Pieter Lawman, Rupert Holliday Evans, Heidi Dorschler, Wendy Brierley