Photographs, Mad Jacks Theatre, 2024

Following a sellout run, Cherry's debut play returns produced by Mad Jacks Theatre at The Space Theatre.

June, Sydney and Bea are busy balancing school, family, and friendships, when their lives are thrown into disarray by the death of their Nan. In the face of an impending funeral, they turn to old family photographs in an attempt to navigate their grief.

Through interweaving monologues, these three sisters grapple with life, death, loneliness and the dizzying trials and tribulations of teen life. What do we reach for in times of change? What do we begin to remember when things start falling away?
"Eckel's impressive script, skilfully builds a play from monologues that interweave shared experiences of grief and loneliness...​ sensitive and moving, whilst managing to portray, with endearing humour, the woes of grief and girlhood." Rosa Georgiou, Broadway Baby
​'Photographs' was performed at The Space Theatre, directed by Sam Smith, and featured Neave Matthews as June, Florence Chevalier as Sydney, and Rachel Matthews as Bea.

Tea + Photographs, Burnt Orange Theatre, 2023

"So I found this photo... I want to ask about it. But I don't"
Cherry's debut play, 'Photographs', was featured in a double bill of two new plays, produced by Burnt Orange Theatre, exploring growing up and grief with the beautiful, heartfelt honesty that comes from a young person’s perspective. 

'Photographs' follows teen sisters, June, Sydney, and Bea, as their lives are thrown into disarray in the run-up to their grandmother's funeral, exposing their strained familial relationships and struggle to understand their own identities. It is a heartfelt exploration of growing up, grief, and the horrifying revelation that your parents are people too.

'Photographs' was performed at Barons Court Theatre, directed by Sam Smith, and featured Neave Matthews as June, Florence Chevallier as Sydney, and Eve Wilson as Bea.

'Alice' Tour, Anegada Theatre, 2022

“At the end of the tunnel we arrive here, an inner sanctum of endless adventure.”
Alice is an artist. Alice wants to create new work. Alice doesn’t want to create the work she feels pressured to create. Will Alice find a path to create work her way?
'Alice' is a 50 minute poetical theatre piece by Anegada Theatre Company, reimagining Caroll's classic and asking how to be a female presenting artist in a new and confusing wonderland. It has toured to Nottingham New Theatre and The Empty Space Manchester, and will soon be making it's final stop at the Lion and Unicorn Theatre as part of the Camden Fringe Festival. Cherry plays the dual role of Hatter and Absolem.

'Alice' was written by Tara Anegada and directed by Zoe Smith
"I have seen many Fringe productions and I have to say this is the strongest casting I have ever witnessed, the cast of four are phenomenally talented and polished who would fit in any professional staging as established actresses."

Noah's Ark: The Cabaret Show at the End of the World, Canal Cafe Theatre, 2022

Noah's Ark 'The Cabaret Show at the End of the World' is a cabaret show that showcases young and emerging artists aiming to provide a platform to create work in response to the climate crisis. It featured drag, spoken-word and comedy. Cherry wrote and performed spoken-word in exploring capitalist responses to climate change, with the focus on empowering small and community focused activism.

​Noahs Ark was funded by Boundless Theatre as part of their Boundless Accelerator Programme.

Cece's Speakeasy, Apples and Snakes, 2021

As global temperatures rise, the quality and quantity of our crops decreases. In the not-so-distant future, coffee bean production will halt – caffeine will become extinct. By 2050 there will be no more chocolate. Step forward into 2031… Welcome to Cece’s Speakeasy. A place for truth-seekers, chocolate lovers and coffee drinkers. For adventurers. For those with a story to tell and those who want to listen. A place to indulge in the forbidden delights of an espresso martini, devour a hot chocolate and just kick back, relax and immerse yourself.
Set in a future world where coffee and chocolate are nearly extinct, Cece’s Speakeasy was an immersive poetic experience where storytellers, poets and musicians share new work exploring hope and action during the climate emergency. Cherry wrote and performed her own pieces for Cece's as one of their young activists, mentored by Kat Francois.

Cece's Speakeasy was conceived by Zena Edwards and Lisa Mead and produced by Apples and Snakes in association with Jazz re:freshed and The Albany. Cece's Speakeasy was commissioned by Season for Change, a nationwide programme of artistic and cultural events that celebrate the environment and inspire urgent climate action.

Dear Little Me, Viable, The Bread and Roses Theatre, 2021

Dear Little Me is a short play about growing up, family, and identity. It explores memories, nostalgia, expectations, and frustrations through spoken word. It was recorded live at the Bread and Roses Theatre in Clapham and streamed as part of Viable, a streamed scratch night celebrating fringe theatre and the performance industry.  

Dear Little Me was written and performed by Cherry Eckel
"lyrical and vivid moment of storytelling... delicately written and intuitively performed"  Ask The Ushers

U R NOT ALONE, Boundless Theatre, 2020

You wake up in a cold, windowless room. You don't recognise where you are. You are alone.
U R NOT ALONE was an immersive online escape room exploring fear and isolation. Created by our Advisory group (led by Cherry Eckel, Clíona Malin, Emilia Hargreaves & Fin Ross Russell), this experience was the opener of Boundless Happenings, a project aiming to explore digital spaces as a theatrical experience, offering interaction, connection and community when coming together in live spaces has been restricted.​

Epidemic, Burnt Orange Theatre & Imperial College London, 2020

EPIDEMIC aimed to bring together research and performance, in partnership with the Patient Experience Research Centre at Imperial College London. Five groups were given a piece of research about COVID-19 from various stages of the pandemic, and created a short film, incorporating their personal experience with elements of the research. 

​The project was initiated and managed by Fola Afolabi, supported and facilitated by Burnt Orange and Holly Mazur, and funded by The NIHR Applied Research Collaboration Northwest London.

Photographs & Tell Me I'm Pretty, Burnt Orange Theatre, 2019

Written, directed and performed by young people, ‘Stories’ guides its audience through a collection of tales, an anthology of experience told through the words, voices and actions of teenagers today. Navigating loyalty, boundaries, conflict and selfhood, ‘Stories’ offers an authentic look at the highs and lows of young minds today, reminding us all of the magic we create when we give people the power to share their experience.
'Stories' was an evening of short plays exploring the theme "Matters of the Young Mind" led by young people. Cherry directed 'Tell Me I'm Pretty', by Alice Gulliver, and wrote 'Photographs' which was praised in a four star review by Chris Omaweng
Burnt Orange Theatre aims to provide young people with professional theatre experience.
"The final story, ‘Photographs’ by Cherry Eckel, was a case of saving the best for last (…) The pictures themselves remain unseen to the audience, reliant entirely on descriptions in the script, which are detailed enough to engage the imagination without indulging in pedantry or coming across as too laborious in illustration" Chris Omaweng, LondonTheatre1

Termination, Caspa Arts Scratch Night, 2019

A government facility. A citizen. Ten minutes left. A show exploring life, death, and what comes next. Directed by Kayla Feldman and performed by Izzi Richardson at the Phoenix Arts Club.

Project Lockdown, Contact Manchester & Fameus Antwerp, 2019

Project Lockdown was a project that brought together artists from four different companies from four different countries across Europe to collaborate. The artists were locked in museums across Antwerp and given 24 hours to create, inspired by their surroundings, and perform during the annual Museumnacht.  Cherry spent her 24 hours in Sint Paulus Church to create a short piece about faith during World War One.

Ramping Up, Battersea Arts Centre Homegrown Company & Contact Young Company, 2019​

Having inherited a future they don’t necessarily want, in a country fragmented by beliefs and paralysed by confusion, what do the next generation have to say about this mess we’re all in? What barriers, invisible or otherwise, exist in their lives and is Brexit affecting them for better or worse? Now their lives are in the hands of clowns, what should our young people do? Laugh? Cry? Or fight? This is Britain’s Spring. It’s a new dawn and the sun is rising… just, no-one knows the landscape it’s about to shine on. One thing is for sure – everything is Ramping Up.
'Ramping up' brought together young creatives from Battersea Arts Centre's Homegrown Company in London and Contact Young Company in Manchester. Together they worked with David Cumming (Kill the Beast, Spitlip, Stage Debut Award winner) to create a show that combined theatre, rap, spoken-word, and singing, around the issue of accessibility, and how this would be affected by Brexit. This show premiered at Battersea Arts Centre in April 2019 at their annual Homegrown festival and then transferred to the Bread Shed in Manchester in May.
​"Steeped in hilarious metaphors and powerful singing, Ramping Up: Scratch leaves me chuckling about the devastating fact of Brexit.(...) Ramping Up: Scratch also includes poignant messages from all of the individuals on stage. With personal stories, spoken word poetry, rap and singing, we feel the actors’ hearts and souls in this production.(...) Overall, Ramping Up: Scratch is a highly amusing show that addresses a current issue the audience can easily connect to. It feels nice to have an evening laughing about Brexit, rather than worrying about what it means. A strong performance from all and a brilliant collaboration." 
 - Madeline Lee, A Younger Theatre

VOTES, Battersea Arts Centre Homegrown Company, 2017 & 2018

'VOTES' explored politics, protests, and the vote from the perspective of young people who were voting for the first time or were not yet old enough to vote. The play was inspired by the 100th anniversary of the 1918 Representation of the People Act. 'VOTES' combined movement, verbatim theatre, and spoken word. 'VOTES' was devised by the company, led by Selina Thompson, Eleanor Henderson, and Bridget Minamore, running once in October 2017 and again in April 2018, for the Homegrown Festival.

Parallel Yerma, Young Vic, 2016

Directed by Genesis Future Director Award winner and director of  Ivan and the Dogs (Young Vic, 2019), Caitriona Shoobridge, Parallel Yerma was a parallel production of the Young Vic's main house show, Yerma. Lorca's tragedy explores womanhood, relationships, and mental health. This ensemble production consisted of a young, all-female cast.