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JENNIE LEE:
​TOMORROW IS A NEW DAY
​a play by Matthew Knights​

Picture

From Lochgelly to the House of Lords. 
A new play about the first Minister for the Arts and founder of The Open University.  


Jennie Lee was born in Lochgelly, Fife in 1904, and became the youngest ever female MP for North Lanark in 1929 at the age of 24, before she could legally vote! After the death of her husband Nye Bevan the founder of the NHS she fought to protect his legacy and went on to become the first ever Minister for The Arts and founder of The Open University.

This is a story about fighting to be true to your ideals in a world which wants to crush them.

Jennie Lee: Tomorrow is a New Day is a play by Matthew Knights produced by Knights Theatre, supported by Creative Scotland, OnFife and The Open University in Scotland.

Developed in Fife and online since 2019, this world premiere of the play was presented in Jennie’s birthplace of Lochgelly to mark what would have been her 120th birthday on 3 November 2024 and then moved to the historic Carnegie Hall in Dunfermline.

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Images of Jennie Lee circa 1930/1973 provided by The Open University archive

Gallery

Production Photos by Robin Mitchell

Jennie Lee: Tomorrow is a New Day
Creative Team

Matthew Knights - Playwright​

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Matthew is a playwright based in Arbroath and Artistic Director of Knights Theatre. ​​His writing for theatre includes We Are The Builders (rehearsed reading, Traverse Theatre), Strange Meeting (Words, Words Words, Traverse Theatre), NEWSBOY (Tron Theatre, Festival of Politics), Fortress Europe (Tron 100 Festival, Tron Theatre) and The Ballad of Ewan MacColl (rehearsed reading, Tron Theatre, Dundee Rep). He is a graduate of the MSc Playwriting at The University of Edinburgh. ​​

Matthew is also a creative writing tutor and has delivered social history themed workshops in partnership with North Lanarkshire Council, Angus Alive, Leisure & Culture Dundee, Fife Council, East Lothian Council and many others.

Emma Lynne Harley - Director

Photo of Emma Lynne Harley director
Emma Lynne Harley is a queer, working-class, multidisciplinary theatre maker, director, writer and performer from Dunfermline now based in Glasgow who makes vibrant cross-genre work. They are a Lyceum L20 alum, co-producer of Play Full Theatre, and co-director of award-winning Siren Theatre Company.  Previous work as a director includes: For Better, For Worse by Jill Franklin; Jennie Lee: Tomorrow is a New Day by Matthew Knights; their play Sex, Drugs and a Cup of Tea; Lost in Music by Kim Moore and Nicholas Bone (assistant director, Scottish Tour); Angela by Mark Ravenhill (assistant director, Lyceum Soundstage/BBC Radio Four). Their work as a maker/performer includes TXT ME: Cyber Showcase and Online Protest (Siren Theatre and The Gaiety) a verbatim music-theatre show about women and femme’s safety, and Walking on Eggshells (Lyceum Wonder Festival), an autobiographical cabaret-theatre show about living with Complex-PTSD. They perform regularly as a cabaret artist around Scotland, and currently write with The Prescription medical humanities group, associated with the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons in Glasgow.

Trish Mullin - Actor

Photo of Trish Mullin actor
Trish graduated from Glasgow University and then trained at the RCS. She has worked in Theatre, Television, Film and Audio Books.  Her Theatre credits include Macbeth (Bard in the Botanics), Jane Eyre (Bard in the Botanics), REaD (Tron Theatre), The Lost Ones (Vanishing Point) Home (NTS) Breadmakers (Theatre Works), The Gates (Confab), Loving Burns (Edinburgh Fringe).

Her Film and TV credits include Sunset Song (Terence Davies), Perfect Sense (David McKenzie), Up There (Zam Salim), Taggart (STV), Rebus (BBC), Still Game (BBC), Dear Green Place (BBC), Wedding Season (Disney +) The Buccaneers (Apple TV).

Kit Laveri - Actor

Photo of Hana MacKenzie actor

Kit is a Scottish actor and writer based in Glasgow. She is a graduate of New College Lanarkshire, receiving her BA degree in Acting in 2023.
 
Theatre credits include: Cinderella (Hopscotch Theatre Company/The Brunton); The Lady of the Loch (Simply Surreal Theatre); Macbeth (New College Lanarkshire); Crisis: A Rallying Cry (Kick the Door/Traverse Theatre).  Television credits include: Karen Pirie (ITV/World Productions)

George Docherty - Actor

Photo of George Docherty Actor by Scott Cadenhead
George was born and raised in Glasgow and is a graduate of the RSAMD. 

Film & TV include: Outlaw King (Loudon Productions/Sigma Films); Payback (HTMTV); Scrotal Recall (Clerkenwell Films); Fried ( Bwark Prods/BBC); The 39 Steps; Para Handy; Trev and Simon Show (all BBC). Dear Green Place (Effingee Productions)

Theatre includes: Jack and the Beanstalk (Perth Theatre); After the Cuts (Raw Materials);  Wonderland (Fear the Panda); Lewis Capaldi Goes Tropical; Philoctetes; A Terrible Beauty; The Pipes! The Pipes!; Voices In The Dark; Serov's People (all A Play, a Pie and a Pint); Much Ado About Nothing; Othello; King Lear (all Glasgow Rep); Arsenic And Old Lace; The 39 Steps; Dear Brutus; Communicating Doors (all Pitlochry Festival Theatre); This View Of Life (Glasgow Citizens'); Sir Harry Lauder Monologue (Low Parks Museum); The Demon Barber (Perth Theatre); Green Forms (Mad Cow Productions); The White Chapel Murders (Theatre Fusion); The Accidental Activist (Tu Meke Productions); Beasts (Becoming Theatre); Magic (WhizzKids Productions); The Dawn (Theatre Nomad); 12 Angry Men (Theatre Fusion); A Night Of Improv (Live Theatre Scotland); Grave Lands (Old Red Lion); The Crucible (Glasgow Arches).

Production Team Credits
Artistic Director/Writer: Matthew Knights
Associate Producer: Lisa Nicoll
Production Manager: Camilla O'Neill
Director: Emma Lynne Harley
Cast: Kit Laveri, Trish Mullin, George Docherty
BSL Interpreter: Karen Forbes
Dramaturg: Nicola McCartney
Set & Costume Designer: Ali Maclaurin
Lighting Designer: Stevie Mackie
Sound Designer/Composer: Ross Somerville
Technical Manager: Ed Wright
Stage Manager: Riona Gilliland
Vocal Coach: Kirsty Strain
Music Coach: Alan Gibson
Filming: Daryl Cockburn
Photography: Robin Mitchell
Social Media & Communications Officer: James Coutts
Press & PR: SM Publicity
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  • HOME
  • ABOUT
    • DONATE
  • JENNIE LEE PLAY
  • EWAN MACCOLL PLAY
  • PREVIOUS WORK
    • ANGUS VARIETY NIGHT!
    • MARY BROOKSBANK
    • (RE)WRITING HISTORY