April De Angelis

Specially commissioned by the British Film Institute and Channel 4, this pseudo-biography shows how Aristophanes became the father of political satire and why his theatrical innovations are still staples of the contemporary theatre.

El Barco is the newest tapas restaurant in fashionable Walthamstow Village, and it's Kerry Jackson's pride and joy. Wearing her working-class roots as a badge of honour, Kerry navigates the local characters in a bid to make the business a success – without losing herself in the process.

It’s the swinging (16)60s, and ‘the merry monarch’ Charles II is on the throne. After violent civil war, England’s theatres have finally reopened and, for the first time, women are allowed to perform in public. In the West End, grande dame Mrs Betterton (Anna Chancellor) rules the roost. But there’s a new face in town: an orange-seller with dreams of stardom. From dressing-room camaraderie to bitter rivalry, April De Angelis’ gloriously exuberant, bawdily funny and deeply poignant play celebrates five women grabbing this newfound freedom and making their way in an unfamiliar world. But at what price?