About Us | Workie Ticket TC

ABOUT WORKIE TICKET

OUR AIMS

Produce work which reflects current social issues
Celebrate Women’s Theatre
Promote Diversity
Push Boundaries
Provide new and exciting opportunities for North East Creatives
Make lush theatre for lush audiences.

The term Workie Ticket is a Geordie colloquialism, which means someone who likes to push one’s luck- a chancer or a cheeky trouble-maker. When JoJo Kirtley was a young lass, her Grandad Joe would call her, “a proper little workie ticket” and the nick-name stuck. So, when thinking of a name for her theatre company, it seemed the perfect choice and in 2017, Workie Ticket Theatre was founded.

Our mission is to shake things up, be bold, push our luck within the theatre world and empower people through our work.

AIMS

JoJo Kirtley

Founder & Co-Artistic Director

“It’s hard being a woman in terms of what is happening in the current climate, but also I think there is a gap in the market for what we do and how we do it- working with women and encouraging them through theatre to tell their stories. Now is the time to speak up and speak out.”

A writer, producer, facilitator and founder of Workie Ticket Theatre Company, JoJo Kirtley has been working for over a decade to create real social impact through theatre. Her work has been performed at The Lowry, Contact Theatre, The Exchange, (North Shields), Live Theatre and the 24:7 Theatre Festival. She is passionate about developing work within local communities to create a platform and raise awareness of issues that affect women in the North East region. JoJo is also a qualified teacher with a MA in Theatre Studies. She balances running Workie Ticket with being a mother and working for various women's organisations in the North East.

JoJo was recently awarded a Churchill Fellowship to investigate how theatre is globally used as an effective tool to combat gender-based violence. After exploring successful theatre practices worldwide, and with a view to Workie Ticket's current and future projects, including The Wrong Type with Northumbria University, JoJo aims to share these international practices within the UK and implement her findings into Workie Ticket's ethos and practice.

Ashlea Sanderson

Co-Artistic Director

Ashlea's journey with Workie Ticket began in 2019 and over the past five years, she has been an integral part of our team as an actor, administrator, producer, and facilitator. After graduating with a First-Class BA (Hons) in Acting from Rose Bruford College in 2002, Ashlea worked extensively in theatre, voiceover, and film both in London and her native North-East and is a qualified teacher with 20+ years experience working with young people.

From Summer 2024, she will develop our educational offering, connecting with businesses and educational establishments to create more impactful workshops and projects.

Ashlea is deeply committed to championing women's issues and improving lives through the transformative power of drama and theatre. As a survivor of domestic abuse and Family Court, she has been crucial in developing our current project, "The Wrong Type," in collaboration with the University of Northumbria.

OUR ASSOCIATES

Dr Alice Cree

Alice is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the School of Geography, Politics & Sociology at Newcastle University. Her research, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, focuses on the value that theatre has in exploring gendered military stories and narratives. As part of the Women Warriors project, Alice attended our weekly workshops and will have ongoing involvement in order to conduct her research.

Sarah Hughes

Sarah trained at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts graduating in 2003. She then worked as an actress for ten years. The thought of treading the boards now fills her with a dread akin with doing a sky dive! Since having her children, Sarah has focused on writing her blog @pearlsofkiddom and was lucky enough to become a regular Huffington Post contributor. Sarah is now focusing on what she calls her optimism enterprise ‘The Good Thing Is Though’. As part of our Womxn Up? project, Sarah has written and performed 'Above her Pay Grade' as well as presenting our Womxn Up? podcast series alongside our founder, JoJo Kirtley!

Corinne Kilvington

Since graduating from the University of Northumbria in 2002 Corinne has worked extensively across the region as a Director, Actor and Facilitator, founding Theatre Space in 2012 with an aim to bring theatre to places and audiences in Sunderland that wouldn't normally have access to it. She can generally be found leading youth theatres, delivering theatre in education and directing the work that TSNE creates, from Shakespeare to contemporary theatre. Recent directing credits include the northern premier of 'Wild East' by April de Angelis, the regional tour of 'Treasure Island' and the play your own adventure version of a historical crime 'The Butchers Tale'. She has worked with Workie Ticket on several occasions including Womxn Up, and Hear Her Roar and is over the moon to be back with them again.

As well as her theatre work, she feels it's important to contribute to the wider life of Sunderland and as such is a trustee of the Royalty Theatre and part of the management team at Young Asian Voices.

Charlotte Ryder

Charlotte Ryder is a North East based actor, writer and director who trained at Newcastle Theatre Royal’s Project A (graduating in 2017), but she has been performing professionally since the age of 8. Since then, she has worked as an actor in numerous stage and screen projects as well as working in voiceover and radio work, including voicing the character Heather in the audio-drama podcast Middle:Below. Charlotte is currently directing her own gothic short story anthology podcast CURIOS produced by Tin Can Audio. She made her directorial debut in 2019 directing the spoken word theatre show SPARK written and performed by Sarah Grant. Charlotte has recently finished filming on ITV’s crime drama series VERA and CBBC’s show The Dumping Ground and has also worked on short films including the horror anthology Lore [Couch Potato Films], Hypocrisy Of Democracy [Passionedia/DB Media] and has featured in sketches with North East Comedy Hot House for Channel 4. Charlotte was an incredible Assistant Director on Magnolia Walls and is going to continue her work with Workie Ticket as a Director for our upcoming project "Walk the Line".

Studio 26

Studio 26 is a recording studio, audio production and live sound company based in Northumberland. Owned and operated by Matt Dunbar & Lauren Sanderson, Studio 26 has previously worked with musicians from across the North East including Holly Rees, No Fox and Aley V. Studio 26 also specialise in developing, creating, editing and producing podcasts, audio plays and soundscapes for the likes of The National Trust, Ayont Arts and the RSPB. We have loved working with Matt & Lauren on our podcast series for Womxn Up?

VOLUNTEERS

Sarah Sanderson

Special mention must go to the founder of Workie Ticket TC. Sarah is a Family Worker and mother of two. She is passionate about supporting Workie Ticket TC’s mission to empower North East communities. She helped JoJo from the very start and we are all very grateful. Sarah is a non-executive director of Workie Ticket Theatre.

MEET THE TEAM

GALLERY

PRESS & REVIEWS

See what some of our actors, writers and audience members think about our work...

KARIN YOUNG

Writer

“Workie Ticket Theatre Co is an important new addition to dramatic storytelling in the North East. 'Hear Her Roar', their first production, commissioned a series of short plays written by new and established writers, providing a fresh and exciting night upstairs at the Bridge Hotel. The show was attended mostly by people who weren’t regular theatre goers, which was great and different, and feedback was incredibly positive. The production was in conjunction with Newcastle Women’s Aid, and the whole thing had a compelling campaigning feel. We need to bring new audiences into theatre. This will happen through dynamic, funny and challenging new writing, often best performed in more informal spaces. Hear Her Roar achieved all this in spades. Writers, actors and artists are keen to get involved with this great new venture. We want and need a Workie Ticket.”

LISA WHIP, THE GUARDIAN

Review: Readers Favourite Theatre

Above a pub, in Newcastle, overlooking the Tyne, nine pieces of new writing written mainly by women, about women and women’s issues, played to a sold-out Geordie audience. Brought to us by brand-new theatre company, Workie Ticket, whose aim was to raise money and awareness for Newcastle Women’s Aid by staging stories about domestic violence, sexuality, abortion, pregnancy, bullying and the Durham teaching assistants strike action. Hear Her Roar had passion, heartache, love and solidarity.

Click here to read the full article.

LUCIA WYLES

Director

“My time with workie ticket has been extremely rewarding. The company is so refreshing and forward thinking. I love that they embrace disability (as in me) ! And that they are inviting to all who need a voice in today's society. They provide an open door policy to all and treat all their members as equal, valuable people. I love Workie Ticket because they gave me the opportunity to grow and participate within a company that promotes and celebrates women in the community as a whole.”

CHRIS IDDON

Actor

"I consider myself very lucky to have been a part of Hear Her Roar as both times I've had the privilege of working on powerful scripts with hugely talented actors and directors. Workie Ticket has achieved with Hear Her Roar, what all good theatre should, questioning what it means to be human, specifically through the eyes and experiences of women. Jo has created an environment of exploration and discovery which provides a safe, creatively fertile arena in which stories that illuminate the everyday and the hidden lives of women who face prejudice, abuse and the challenge of simply being women in a male dominated world.I know Workie Ticket will continue to champion new writing, emerging and established artists and exhilarating theatre as long as Jo along with many others, wish to give a voice to the unspoken.Thank you Jo, Workie Ticket and all of the talented creatives I have had the honour to meet, work with and observe".

MHAIRI LEDGERWOOD

Writer

“I was really impressed by JoJo as a producer. She kept in touch with me throughout her process and kept me updated as to developments during the rehearsal process. As I couldn't be involved with rehearsals due to work commitments, I was really grateful to JoJo that she did this. I've also been impressed with how Workie Ticket has brought in a whole new audience, and for the money raised so far for charity. A really worthwhile project and I hope it continues.”

PRESS