Biography

Biography.

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. 

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 and 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. In 2017, she designed costumes for Thark and Women of Twilight at Drama Studio London (performed at the New Diorama and Camden People's Theatre). In 2018, she retuned to two projects, Midsummer Night's Dream in Dubrovnik (the same production with some alterations) and Thark, this time performed at the Drayton Arms Theatre (for which the director, Matthew Parker, was nominated for an Off West End award). She also continued costume work at Drama Studio London, notably for The Glove Thief, Mr Burns A Post Electric Play, and Wolves. In 2019, she costumed more shows for DSL and returned to directing Much Ado About Nothing for Shakespeare's Wanderers, which toured various open air venues. She also costumed Jekyll and Hyde for Arrows and Traps (which received 5 star reviews). 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 (among a thousand other important things that go into running a small pub theatre).

Since the beginning of 2020, Thompson has allowed her artistic work to take a back seat while focussing on raising her daughter. 

Thompson now lives in Scotland with her husband and daughter, who has a dress-up box to rival many a small theatre back-stash (if that back-stash was mostly princess dresses).