QUINTESSENCE, written and performed by award-winning actor Emily Carding, features an AI robot programmed to re-start humanity after an ecological disaster on Planet Earth, with the complete works of Shakespeare as its guide to the human spirit. Originally commissioned by the London Science Museum, the play debuted at Brighton Fringe festival where it won the fringe review’s Outstanding Theatre award. Susan Luciani directs, bringing her signature epic-scale stylised visuals and soundscape to the production.

QUINTESSENCE is the perfect introduction to Shakespeare brought to life from the page to the stage, with 14 extracts from Shakespeare's plays and sonnets featuring in the play. Performer Emily Carding expertly morphs from the AI robot to some of Shakespeare's most iconic characters in Winter's Tale, Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Henry V, As You Like It, Julius Caesar, Richard II and The Tempest.

Following QUINTESSENCE there will be a QnA with director Susan Luciani and her TALES FROM SET talk where she'll share her stories of working on some of the biggest film sets in the industry; Star Wars VII, Harry Potter and Narnia to name just a few, as well as her experiences writing and directing her own films, plays and live performances. From the ice fields of Iceland to the deserts of Africa and the Middle East, Susan has filmed on six continents around the world and has created her own stories with a host of celebrated actors including Benedict Cumberbatch, Joanna Lumley, Charles Dance and Liam Neeson. Her work has won multiple awards, reaching an audience of over 1 billion people, in 85 countries worldwide. Her films have broadcast on SKY and BBC TV and headlined at International Film Festivals.

In this talk designed for schools audience, Susan Luciani shares her advice for getting started in the industry as well as her own process of script development and how she creates impactful storytelling experiences for the audience in film and on stage from those words on the page.