Morning
Sun

The story

‘Morning Sun’ focuses on Claire and Sylvia, who grew up together in a small religious village in England. At the age of twenty-one, Sylvia left the repressive climate of her hometown to seek her fortune elsewhere and later enjoyed fame as a writer of literary novels. Claire stayed on to keep the family farm running after her older brother died in an accident. Now, thirty-three years later, the two women meet again. In an attempt to explain what drew them so closely together at the time and ultimately drove them apart, we learn that both women were, indirectly, always involved in each other's lives.

‘Morning Sun’ explores the ways in which we’re bound to how and where we grew up, and most of all, how a first love can become a blueprint for all our subsequent relationships in life.

Dramatis personae

• 
  Claire

  Leila Gray

  About Leila

  Leila is a British-Iranian actress who trained in London at the Actors' Centre and later studied the Meisner technique with teachers in Amsterdam and Berlin. She now runs her own Meisner technique studio. She is also developing projects that invite people to engage with the climate and biodiversity crisis and laugh at the same time. So far it's been a bit like trying to get people to walk and stand still simultaneously: impossible. (But she's still trying.)

• 
  Sylvia

  Hansje Görtz

  About Hansje

  Hansje is a Dutch actor based in the Netherlands, known for her grounded stage presence and strong instinct for character. Trained at The Mulholland Academy and currently continuing professional performance training, she has experience across theatre, film, television, and commercial work within the Netherlands, in both Dutch- and English-language productions. She is valued for her sense of humor, professionalism, collaborative spirit, and responsiveness to direction.

• 
  Edy

  Jacquelyn Poplar

  About Jacquelyn

  Jacquelyn Poplar is an actress, writer, and director. Recent projects include Secondhand Furniture (co-author, director) and Little Women (co-director) for Bird Brain Theatre, Spamalot (director) for Happily Ever After Productions, and Couch (co-author, director) for Leiden English Theatre. She will be appearing as Gertrude in Bird Brain Theatre's upcoming Hamlet. Jacquelyn has an MFA in Acting from Penn State University, and is currently working on completing her Lessac Training certification. Her new acting and body/voice studio, Poplarts Studio, will be opening soon.

• 
  Varying roles

  Anna Murton

  About Anna

  Anna has over 35 years' experience in theatre as an actor, clown, director, writer and teacher/trainer, working in both the UK and the Netherlands. Recent credits include directing Cauldron Performing Arts' sell-out She Kills Monsters; playing Nanny Ogg in InPlayers' Wyrd Sisters; and appearing as Maia in Tellus Theatre Company's London run of their philosophical comedy, Night Train. She has also performed with Happily Ever After Productions in Avenue Q (Lucy T. Slut, 2022 & 2025), Chicago and Chicago Revival (Matron Mama Morton, 2023), and Heathers Revival (Ms. Fleming, 2025), and is currently directing their upcoming production of Spring Awakening (The Musical).

• 
  John

  Keith Day

  About Keith

  Keith is originally from Oldham in the North of England, and currently works as a Drama teacher at the British School of Amsterdam. He has been in the Netherlands for over ten years, and in that time he has performed in a variety of English language productions, including The Wolf & Cinderella's Prince in Happily Ever After's production of 'Into the Woods', Algernon in QETC's 'The Importance of Being Earnest', and appeared in many productions by InPlayers. Keith collaborated with Strike Me Pink on multiple projects, such as ‘Calamus’, ‘Dancing with Daffodils’ and as a director/writer for the short play ‘Hunk’d’.