TAP ROOT BY ASHLEY MILNE
PRODUCED BY TEASTAIN THEATRE | Longlisted for the women’s prize for playwriting 2024
12 - 17 February 2025
The Glitch
Lower Marsh, Waterloo, London
Content and Age Advisory
This show is aimed at ages 15 + with adult content
If you would benefit from knowing more about specific content and themes in Tap Root, please read our content & theme list linked here.
The government releases youth custody data monthly on this website.
As of May 2024, 510 children in the UK are incarcerated.
“There is no particular regime, training or education for 18 to 21 year olds whilst in prison. The result is that many spend most of the day locked up in their cells doing nothing. As a whole, young adults are overlooked in every aspect“.
Tap Root will be a part of the resurgence of this huge and necessary discussion about the treatment of young people in and after prison.
![OLD DRAFT - Tap Root prod pack [draft 1].jpg](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/09dd95_f0022d44f2b14392a9624cae1c223a2c~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_448,h_252,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/09dd95_f0022d44f2b14392a9624cae1c223a2c~mv2.jpg)
The boy you see on the bus.
A name picked by the British government.
A balance that is starting to tip.
After a childhood spent incarcerated, he’s keeping his head down.
Between waitering at TGI Fridays, avoiding fines on his library card, and cultivating a workplace romance, his head is just about above water.
But when an all-too-familiar story hits the headlines, it threatens to bring the life he’s trying to build for himself crashing down.
Will he survive the government’s - and his own - attempt to cover up who he really is?
Is there a path back to a normal life after the things he’s done?
a bold new piece by ashley milne
developed and produced with teastain theatre
Content and Age Advisory
This show is aimed at ages 15 + with adult content
If you would benefit from knowing more about specific content and themes in Tap Root, please read our content & theme list linked here.
Tap Root's Development
Initially developed for a workshop reading at The Glitch in 2023, Tap Root has established a small and dedicated audience and a passionate creative team.
Stages of development to date:
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Pinch of VAULT 2023: rehearsed reading performances with two sold out audiences of 30 at The Glitch
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Longlisted for Women’s Prize for Playwriting: 2024
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Week of research and development with in-kind rehearsal space at National Theatre Studio in 2024
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First performance at The Glitch's new space in February 2025
Creative Team
Written by Ashley Milne, Performed by James Chetwood
Directed by Rebecca McGreevy, Associate Director Jessy Roberts
In 2022, Rebecca McGreevy and Jessy Roberts collaborated with writer Ashley Milne to create Untitled Sparkly Vampire Play for a 3 week run at the Omnibus Theatre. Ashley Milne’s recent shows have exploded onto the stage, exploring obsessive teenage girldom, staring into the void of the end of the world, compulsory heterosexuality and the feeling of being young and entirely alone.
This collaboration also then went on to develop and produce Thirst (Omnibus Theatre’s 96 Festival and Vault 2023), where we worked with actor James Chetwood and now forms the start of team Tap Root.
Tap Root is the newest show by this team. Going into production in 2025, the team is currently expanding.
