Val's Writing

Val's writing is in the form of prose poems, plays, public speaking presentations, and dialogues for company performances... more

Charity Benefits 

The Live Literature Company has proudly presented successful fundraising performances supporting national and local charities... more

Work by Val Doulton

Valerie Doulton:

Founder and Artistic Director of The Live Literature Company... more

Support Us 

Do you have a passion for performance and believe it should be accessible for all? Please support our performances, and become a member of The Live Literature Company today... more 

Welcome to The Live Literature Company

We bring words to life with love and laughter at affordable prices.

The Live Literature Company is a Performance company unique in fusing theatre, literature, and the humanities in performance works of excellence. Our performances are of both Contemporary and Classic writing, and also include site-specific and combined arts work.

We perform extensively in the UK and internationally. 

Commemorative Battle of the Somme Recital, July 2016

Our commemorative Centenary Battle of the Somme recital, In Parenthesis by David Jones, devised by Valerie Doulton, performed at The British Library with a site specific 

performance at Jones's grave in South London, July 2016.

Above Left: Val laying the French blue cornflowers of remembrance on David Jones' grave before our performance in the chapel at Brockley and Ladywell Cemetery.

Above Right: David Jones's frontispiece for In Parenthesis, with concert pianist Tessa Uys at the piano.

Above: (from left to right) Tessa Uys, actors Dave Fishley, Seiriol Tomos, and Nicholas Farrell.

The Company's celebration performances of Charlotte, Emily, and Anne 

by Douglas Verrall

In celebration of the 200th anniversary of Charlotte Bronte's birth, Val directed Douglas Verrall's play about the Bronte's at the National Portrait Gallery and the Victoria and Albert Museum. Performances April and June 2016.

Above: The Bronte Company with Val. Left to right: Robin Miller, Niamh Cusack, Maeve O'Sullivan, Val Doulton, Louise Bangay, Wendy Morgan.

Above: The three Bronte Sisters. Left to right: Wendy Morgan as Emily, Niamh Cusack as Charlotte, Louise Bangay as Anne (at the V&A, Lisa Eichhorn played Charlotte).

The Company's World Premiere performance of The Shoemaker's Wonderful Wife

by Federico Garcia Lorca. Great Spanish writer killed in the Civil War.

In April 2015, as part of the celebration for Peter Brook at the Victoria and Albert Museum, Val directed a new translation, by Jesus Montero, of The Shoemaker's Wonderful Wife.

Top: Richard Hansell as the Shoemaker

Above: Rosie Sheehy as the Shoemaker's wife. 

Photos by Simon Annand.  

The New Spring Without FGM Performance evening at Amnesty International May 1st 2014.

The Company's first Forum Theatre performance evening was held in collaboration with Amnesty International's Creative Writer's Group. The evening included a performance of Val's prose poem First Love, a tragedy about cultural misunderstanding, performed by Madeleine Oaten and Tony Hasnath.

The readings included passages from contemporary Arabic Literature written against FGM. Talks against FGM were given by Yvette Robbin-Coker from Forward (the leading UK organisation against FGM), and London Assembly member Jennette Arnold AM OBE. Music for the programme included Siphiwo singing Hope (featuring a message of Hope from Nelson Mandela). The post-show discussion with the audience was chaired by David Maidment OBE. 

Visit our blog to watch a mobile phone recording of First Love performance filmed by a member of the audience. 

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The Banqueting House, Whitehall, 2010.

Val devised and directed celebration performances for writer, John Milton's 400th anniversary.

This combined arts programme included spoken word, song, dance and William Blake's visual images for Paradise Lost.

The programme included a dramatic dialogue between Cromwell, King Charles I, King Charles II, and Milton's internal and external voices, written by Val especially for The Banqueting House.

Top: Lucy Casson as Eve.

Above: Dave Fishley as Satan.

Above: Margo Cargill speaking Milton's sonnets on blindness.

With thanks to Simon Annand (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) for taking many of the photos that appear on this site and to Grainne White for creating the logo and banner for The Live Literature Company.

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The British Library and The Nehru Centre 2011

Our celebration performances of Rabindranath Tagore's The Post Office for his 150th birth anniversary.

Written in 1912, The Post Office, is a play rich in symbolism and allegory. In 1917, upon seeing the play for the first time in Calcutta, Gandhi was spellbound. Tagore went on to win the 1913 Nobel Prize for Literature. 

The Post Office mixes simplicity with sophistication, its universal appeal has made it a world classic.

The Live Literature Company production of The Post Office was performed by:

Edward Halsted, Nicola Tagoe, Amerjit Deu, Lawrence Anthony, Harmage Singh Kalirai, and children Jyoti Goel and Noah Brooks.

Directed by Valerie Doulton.

For the film edit of Tagore's 'The Post Office' performed at The British Library click here.