The Live Literature Company was founded in 2002 by Valerie Doulton, Producer, Artistic Director, Writer and Teacher of Performance Studies. The LLC is dedicated to bringing forward and communicating the Artistic Heritage of the UK and the world, both classic and contemporary.

We create opportunity and accessibility through our diverse casting ethos, and by communicating big ideas for everyone through our high quality performances.

We bring words to life, with love and laughter, at affordable prices. We also have a committment to the next generation through our extensive educational work.

The Company's 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.

Image on left (from left to right) concert pianist Tessa Uys, actors Dave Fishley, Seiriol Tomos, Nicholas Farrell. Image on right shows David Jones's frontispiece for In Parenthesis behind Tessa at the piano.

Image above, Val laying the French blue cornflowers of rememberance on David Jones's grave before our performance in the chapel at Brockley and Ladywell Cemetery.

The Company's celebration performances of Charlotte, Emily and Anne by Douglas Verrall directed by Valerie Doulton at The National Portrait Gallery and The Victoria and Albert Museum, for the 200th anniversary of Charlotte Bronte's birth, performances April and June 2016.

Top image, the Bronte company with Val. From left to right Robin Miller, Niamh Cusack, Maeve O'Sullivan, Valerie Doulton, Louise Bangay, Wendy Morgan. Below on left Niamh Cusack as Charlotte Bronte (at The V & A Lisa Eichhorn played Charlotte). On the right the three Bronte sisters, left to right Wendy Morgan as Emily, Niamh Cusack as Charlotte, Louise Bangay as Anne.

The Company's World Premiere performance April 2015 of The Shoemaker's Wonderful Wife, by Federico Garcia Lorca. Great Spanish writer killed in the Civil War.

Directed by Valerie Doulton, in a new translation by Jesus Montero, as part of the celebration for Peter Brook at the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Above photo of Richard Hansell as the Shoemaker and left photo of 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 held at Amnesty International. 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 Arab Literature written against FGM. Talks against FGM were given by Yvette Robbin-Coker from Forward and Jennette Arnold AM OBE. Music for the programme included Siphiwo singing Hope (featuring a message of Hope from Nelson Mandela).  

The discussion with the audience after the performances 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. 

International Work

Byron at Monserrate Palace, Sintra and Verona, Italy. First Love by Samuel Beckett, which opened at The National Theatre and toured to Berlin for The International Beckett Festival before Val founded the Company.

Image above, Rufus Wright and Madeleine Worrall in Byron in Love by Anne Fleming on the Company's site specific tour to Sintra, performed two days after the 200th anniversary of Byron's visit to Monserrate Palace.

The British Library and The Nehru Centre - The Post Office by Rabindranath Tagore. Great Indian writer and Nobel laureate.

Celebration for Tagore's 150th Birth Anniversary 2011.

Written in 1912, The Post Office, rich in symbolism and allegory, is a play about man's passionate cry for spiritual freedom. Gandhi was spellbound by the play in Calcutta in 1917. Mixing simplicity with sophistication, its universal appeal has made it a world classic.

Live Literature Company performances were given by Edward Halsted, Nicola Tagoe, Amerjit Deu, Lawrence Anthony, Harmage Singh Kalirai, with 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.

The Banqueting House, Whitehall. 2010.

Combined Arts Milton Anniversary Programme - Spoken Words, Song, Dance and Visual Image - devised and directed by Valerie Doulton.

These performances included a script written by Val especially for The Banqueting House, in the voices of Cromwell, Milton’s inner and outer voices, and the voices of King Charles I and King Charles II. 

Images above, top left Lucy Casson as Eve, image on right Dave Fishley as Satan, and below Blind performer Margo Cargill speaking Milton's sonnets on blindness.

Recent Student Work

The Live Literature Company are proud to support the work of our next generation of talented young performers. Please see our Education and Community page for details.

The Live Literature Company's Introduction to Shakespeare for children - ran in 2014 and 2015 as part of Shakespeare Week launched by The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. To see our film featuring Deaf Actor Lee O'Brien as Romeo see Primary School link for The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust's website.

To keep up to date with the latest information and news about the company and our forthcoming performances, please become a member and so register for our quarterly newsletter. 

With thanks to Simon ( 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 for The Live Literature Company. Google+