TJ&M (TwoJens&Me) was formed at the end of 2018. Three friends who met at the Rep's Adult drama classes, all decided that they wanted to create a piece of theatre. They were Jennifer Mayo, Jenny Northam & Michael Harris.
Michael had just published a novel 'Escape from Marriage' which told the story of a man who became the victim of domestic abuse, so the three decided that they would choose that as their subject.
Michael had never written a play before but agreed to give it a go - just over a week later the three met in Michael's flat for the first reading of the play which is now called A Matter of Law.
It went on to win 'Best New Piece' at the 2019 festival.
Jennifer took the direction assisted by Jenny and did an amazing job. Michael ended up acting in it!
During the preparations for the festival, Michael wrote the next play 'For Those We Leave Behind'. Sadly Jennifer due to the Covid and increasing family and work commitments was not able to direct this time, and Jenny while staying linked to us felt that she needed to step down from the management team.
So Michael took on the role of Director as well as the writer.
Then in March 2020, we were all set to put FTWLB on stage at the YMCA, but sadly Covid had other plans. The show was put on ice.
During the lockdown, he persuaded other actors to make Online versions of both plays using Zoom and virtual backgrounds to film the actors.
Finally, as we started to come out of the lockdown, we started to get the show ready for the 2021 Birmingham Fest. Sadly the 2020 Festival got canceled.
The show played to good-sized audiences and it was very well received.
During the lockdown, Michael wrote the play for 2022's Festival 'Four to Jump'.
The Future is bright and we have only just started.
We are a truly diverse theatre company that believes that the part fits the actor, we do not discriminate for any reason, and believe in equality for all races and genders. This is very important to us.
We have now staged three shows on stage and two online, the first AMOL was just under the hour, and the second FTWLB was a full-length 2-hour show. The 2022 Festival show was a shorter piece 'Four to Jump'. We have now submitted a new play "Trapped" to this year’s festival.
Then in May 2022 - AMOL Was Back!
In 2022 we revisited a play outside of the festival window at the Blue Orange Theatre. We brought a full version of A Matter of Law to the stage in May 2022.
This powerful play draws attention to the issue of Domestic Abuse and in particular Male Domestic Abuse.
Birmingham Fest 2023:
As we said this year's Festival show is 'Trapped' one man's struggle with his own mental health.
We are just waiting to hear what dates we will be on stage.
It tackles Mental Health which as we all know is on the rise. Thomas Rodgers has mental health issues brought on by a car crash in which he was the driver.
This clever and moving one man show, allows us to see into the troubled mind of Thomas.
The theatre company is always on the lookout for sponsors for our shows, this could be in money, or maybe services provided. Every little helps us to make the impact we are doing.
Other Show??
There are many irons in the fire, some hot some ready to warm up soon.
So, watch this space.
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