Are You Waiting To Be Found?
‘The boys’ are missing. And answers are fading fast. This new dark comedy, at turns menacing and hilarious, moves from jokes, quarrels, and musical interludes to a startlingly disturbing climax.
When the seemingly benign Mister David Barclay receives hazy new intelligence on the boys’ last known whereabouts, his band of would-be 'detectives' are impatient to get out and start looking.
Their weapons skills are a strength … detectorist skills less so. But something's stopping them from acting on the intel – is it ineptness, brain-washing, or fear of what finding these 'others' might really mean for themselves?
And Mister David’s refusal to share the names of the missing doesn’t help.
Out there, it’s a 'noir' world of full moons, distant music, cherry blossom trees and a ‘past’ that’s tantalisingly close to being retrieved.
To tell this story as old as time, the production combines digital projections and an originally commissioned soundscape with old-time music hall motifs. It’s a tale of being lost, losing those we love, and forgetting who we loved in the first place.
Who are Pickpocket?
We’re based in Bolton, Greater Manchester, and Peckham, London. No – there isn’t a ‘north-south divide’ as far as we’re concerned!
This will be our first piece of public work together. However, as individual company members, we've all made public-facing work as theatre-makers, musicians, filmmakers, actors, sound designers and writers.
Whilst our work is rooted in great storytelling traditions, we also explore sound & soundscapes as a narrative impetus, and experiment with the relationship between live and recorded performance.
Frances Piper O' Farrell
I worked as a Film Editor and Director at the BBC for many years. I then moved into the wonderful world of Higher Education, teaching theatre and literature, and directing and devising work with students, and professionally. I recently took a Postgraduate Diploma in Acting, and whilst on that course met some brilliant and multi-skilled performers and creatives. From that, Pickpocket Theatre was born. I’ve also recently appeared in ‘Hamlet’, and in ‘Market Boy’, both at The Cockpit in Marylebone, and my most recent TV commercial was for Macmillan Cancer Support
Lloyd Peters
Lloyd is a professional actor, writer and director with over 45 years experience. Born in Leeds he went on to study at Manchester University and is now based in both London and the North. His acting and writing work have been broadcast all over the world and his passion for creating original work has been strengthened in the present cultural and political climate. His commitment to produce new exciting, provocative drama and comedy remains undiminished. See Lloyd's webpage here.
Daniel Brindley
Daniel is an award winning actor from London most known for playing ‘Ben’ in ‘Butterfly, Lost’ which is now streaming on Amazon Prime. Other theatre credits include Hamlet in ‘Hamlet’ and will be playing Duke Orsino in a tour of Twelfth Night in the summer of 2026. Alongside acting he also writes and produces his own work.
Click here to see Butterfly, Lost on Amazon Prime.
Mabel Grayson-Hayburn
Mabel is an Actor and Theatre Technician who has been working in amdram theatre companies for the last 6 years. She did a BTEC in performance and production arts at Richmond upon Thames college, where she discovered a love for the technical side of theatre in addition to her acting career. After her BTEC she went on to complete a two-year acting course at The Bridge Theatre Training Company both acting and assistant stage managing. She then went to produce, direct and star in the Camden fringe in 2025. Currently she is improving her skills in writing and technical theatre through workshops and masterclasses.
Angus Vaughan
I trained at The Bridge Theatre Training Company in London, where I've played Barnado, Prologue & MC in Hamlet, Romeo in Romeo & Juliet, and Thomas Putnam in The Crucible. I have a baritone voice, and I'm experienced in stage combat. Screen acting also played a big part in my training, but my greatest love is for the stage! Alongside, I've worked for several years as a chef in Michelin starred kitchens - so it's out of the frying pan and into the fire for me!
Rosa Hendrie
Hi there! My name is Rosa I’m an actor and writer! I’ve been performing for most of my life at places like Montage Theatre Arts, The BRIT School, RADA and The Bridge Theatre Training Company. I’m trained in red nose clowning, improvisation, musical theatre and stage combat. I’ve recently finished a production of Romeo and Juliet where I’ve had the honour of playing Juliet.
Wai Yan Ki
Zita is an actor and writer from Hong Kong, now based in London. She graduated from The
Bridge Theatre Training Company in July 2025 and has since performed in plays such as
‘London Pride’, at Jacksons Lane Theatre, and in the documentary ‘The Trail of Michael
Jackson’ on Channel 5. She recently started her own theatre company The Yokai Collective,
and her new writing ‘Say IT’ made its debut in April 2026 with The Proforca Theatre Company.
She’s trained in advanced stage combat, impro, clowning and acting for camera..
Emily Santos
I have just graduated from The Bridge Theatre Training Company in Camden. Whilst on the course I played Tybalt in Romeo & Juliet and Francisco in Hamlet (The Cockpit, dir. Mark Akrill), and Irina in Three Sisters (Arts House, dir. Eva Feiler). I have especially loved Stage Combat, gaining Advanced Skills in both Armed and Unarmed combat! I’m a mezzo soprano, and I sing regularly with a church worship team giving me consistent experience in
live vocal performance. Being from a Brazilian/UK family I speak both English & Portuguese.
Theatre & Performance
.jpeg)
PICKPOCKET Theatre is what you might call a company of poachers.
Old stories and forms are up for grabs, for re-appropriating and re-imagining. That’s what we think theatre does best.
So that’s our mission – to create new work that riffs on (apparently) ‘traditional’ narratives and storytelling forms and invites the audience to ‘wonder’ about the world again.
To really wonder: who are ‘we’ and what old stories might we allude to, riff on, and tell differently in our own worlds now, today.
Our Mission
Film, TV & Digital
Training & Workshops
Our workshop focuses upon memory and recollection, and the challenges of staging ‘interiority’. Using story-telling techniques (and song) we’ll involve all participants in building several short (1 – 3 minute) pieces of performance work in which the story stays the same, but the telling of it depends on which elements of the base ‘narrative’ each participant chooses to focus on – or, in fact, which elements are most memorable to them.
Snippets of text, music and audio recordings will be used to construct differing versions of reality or truth – so demonstrating that there is no one answer to the question of how we recollect and play out ‘our’ individual truths.
Frances has recently undertaken training with Theatre de Complicite, and will be joining Frantic Assembly’s International Professional TRAIN week in July 2026. Lloyd and Frances have between them some 40 years’ worth of teaching, mentoring and directing experience in Further and Higher Education. Please contact us if you would like a ‘taster’ storytelling workshop – ideal for BTEC, A Level and Undergraduate Theatre and Perfomance students. Our rates our highly competitive.
