Biography

Biography.

Or, Now we get professional (or is that personal?)

Bryony J. Thompson was born in California and after a brief sojourn in Milton Keynes, she ended up in Seattle. Which is where she says she's from. Although she grew up in the US, Thompson is actually Irish (and has the passport to prove it). Since Thompson did not have a TV as a child, her parents spoke with funny accents (they were born in Kenya and Zimbabwe), and was "un-schooled" (look it up) 'til the age of 12, her cultural references are somewhat eclectic (we're talking Fawlty Towers, American Girl Dolls, Tintin, and Anne of Green Gables).

Thompson studied drama (mostly acting and costume design) at Bennington College, in Vermont (that's still in the US, by the way). While at Bennington (which includes some lovely alumni such as Alan Arkin and Peter Dinklage), she studied with Kirk Jackson, Dina Janis, Kathleen Dimmick, Roberta Levitow, Jennifer Rohn, and Jean Randich. Oh, and Justin Theroux (look him up) told her she was a good actress.

While at university, Thompson's theatre credits included Tiresias/Eurydice in Antigone, Bernarda in The House of Bernarda Alba and Daisy in In Arabia We'd All Be Kings. Since then, she has appeared in Midsummer Night's Dream, Reduced Macbeth, Reduced Romeo & Juliet, and Baggage Claim. 

Since moving to London in 2011, Thompson wrote and performed her own one woman show Sit Down & Shut Up, directed and designed the Rosemary Branch Theatre's in-house Romeo & Juliet. For the Rosemary Branch, she also adapted, directed and designed two versions of Jane Eyre, the second of which went on tour in 2014. Also in 2014, Thompson directed the world premiere of Spirit Harbour by Lliam Paterson (Composer in Residence at Scottish Opera) at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, the Rosemary Branch Theatre and Tet A Tet Opera Festival and costumed designed Helen Tennison's production of Wuthering Heights (Rosemary Branch and tour) and directed pluck. Productions' inaugural production, The Cow Play by Ed Harris. In 2015, Thompson adapted, designed, and directed Pride & Prejudice at the Rosemary Branch as well as directing F.A.N.Y. for Anonymous Is A Woman Theatre Company, a play about the intriguing women who drove ambulances in WW1, which toured the midlands and was showcased at the Actors Church in Covent Garden in May. In June 2015, she designed at constructed the costumes for Honey Tongued Productions Twelfth Night for Midsummer Scene in Dubrovnik, Croatia. Towards the end of 2015, she costumed Greg Freeman's Empty Vessels at the Rosemary Branch. In 2016, she remounted her production of Jane Eyre for the third time with a totally new cast. She also directed a new play for pluck. Productions, Venus Quarry, by Damien Hasson, which was showcased as part of Catford Upon Avon at the Broadway Theatre, Catford. As her last project produced by the Rosemary Branch, Thompson wrote a new adaptation of Jane Austen's Persuasion, performed at the Rosemary Branch, the Vera Fletcher Hall, and the Brockley Jack Studio Theatre. In June 2016, she designed and constructed costumes for Honey Tongued Productions Hamlet for Midsummer Scene in Dubrovnik, Croatia. This year, Thompson did the costumes for Drama Studio London's 19th Century Block, Red Bear's Montagu by Greg Freeman at the Tabard Theatre, and returned to Dubrovnik for a third season with Honey Tongued Productions, this time with A Midsummer Night's Dream. Most recently, she designed costumes for Thark and Women of Twilight at Drama Studio London (performed at the New Diorama and Camden People's Theatre). She was an Artistic Associate at the Rosemary Branch Theatre from 2011-2016, where she took tickets, reorganized stuff, let people in, and did a fair amount theatre painting. Now, she is a freelance director and costume designer. Generally, Thompson is working towards putting together Good Work and Getting People To See It (which also happens to be a possible title of an as-yet-unwritten show, so please don't steal it but no hard feelings if you do). If you work in the arts, you probably know what that means.

Oh, and she is aware that photo is blurry. 

Thompson is married and lives in London with her husband, where she works on her life skills and every now and again turns their living space into a design studio or a wreckage site, depending on who you ask.