Synopsis: Moscow, August 2018. The World Cup has just ended, and it has been a roaring success. Free Metro travel. Parties in the square. The police, the ones with guns, they were smiling! People finally saw that yeah, it’s okay over here and no, it doesn’t snow in the summer, it’s actually very warm. And wait, did we mention it was an incident free event? But when an old woman walks into a bank, she is conned into taking out a high interest loan which she immediately forgets all about. A catastrophic series of events are set in motion… with only her cat Sally to bear witness.

Cast Breakdown: 2M, 1F
The play is narrated by three storytellers: A, B and C, each with their own personalities and opinions. As the piece progresses, they take on more and more responsibility for one of three main characters:
A – plays an old woman (82 years)
B – plays a young man (25 years)
C – plays a debt collector (59 years)
A, B and C also all play a cat called Sally (18 years)

Set/Costume Requirements: None – this play could be staged with no set or costume. For the premiere production, designer David Allen covered the entire set in a garish, monotonous, distinctly Soviet carpet. As the play progressed and the story and characters became more ‘real’, carpet squares opened up to reveal dressed spaces beyond the walls of the set, building towards a semi-realistic version of the old woman’s apartment in the final scene.

Website: http://www.roxyjoycook.com/

Agent: Kara Fitzpatrick @ 42

Play Service: Concord Theatricals Ltd.

Bio: Roxy is a half-British, half-Russian writer and director from London, working across theatre and TV.
A Woman Walks Into a Bank is her first play and was shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Playwriting 2021, longlisted for the Verity Bargate Award and Bruntwood Prize (both 2022), before winning the Theatre503 International Playwriting Award 2023. Roxy directed the premiere production later that year, which enjoyed a sell out run and extended in a first for the venue.
Roxy previously worked as a director of new writing for five years: highlights include associate directing Jon Brittain’s Olivier award winning Rotterdam for four years, working with Rob Drummond on The Majority at the National Theatre, directing the premiere of Michael Ross’ Happy to Help at the Park Theatre, and running Zut Alors Theatre.
Alongside writing, Roxy works as a script editor and development executive in TV.
Roxy studied at Edinburgh University and Mountview.

A Woman Walks Into a Bank at Theatre503, London. Photos by: David Monteith-Hodge