All the world’s a stage
“Art is supposed to change the way people think, isn’t it? And that’s about how you tell a story.”
Interview: Sue Wilcock / Martine Silkstone, Suffolk Director Magazine
Pictures: Warren Page, Pagepix
Joanna Carrick talks to Suffolk Director
Joanna Carrick knows a thing or two about talent.
As an Actor, Writer and Director she has plenty of her own to bring to the table of course, but more importantly, as Founder of the award-winning Red Rose Chain, she has also spent decades building a theatre company where everyone has the opportunity to discover and explore their creative talents, whatever their age or background.
While many business leaders struggle to establish a work/life balance, for her it all blends together into one, life-long passion.
Born into a theatrical family, she started to share that gift aged just 16, teaching drama classes to children during the summer holidays. Today, that youth group has now been joined by the Gold Chainers (for young people with learning difficulties), and The Avenue Community Theatre (for adults with disabilities and those struggling with mental health and addiction).
She says: “The philosophy behind Red Rose Chain is that theatre and drama should be accessible and available to everybody. That goes right back to the early days when we decided we didn’t want to charge for participation; we wanted to make sure anyone could get involved. That’s really important to me and the whole identity of Red Rose Chain. And that has a knock-on effect I think, of building a great, creative community.”
Established in 1990, that growing community now has a state-of-the-art, purpose-built home set within the grounds of Gippeswyk Hall in Ipswich. Red Rose Chain also tours other venues, provides storytelling workshops in schools and, of course, there is the hugely popular Theatre in the Forest which sees them perform Shakespeare in the open air at Sutton Hoo each summer. They pride themselves on having an egalitarian attitude to theatre, presenting everything in a way that will entertain and capture the imagination.
“We want to produce things that are going to interest and inspire people,” Joanna explains with passion. “Art is supposed to change the way people think, isn’t it? And that’s about how you tell a story. As a director, I have to see the bigger picture and, more importantly, put the right people together on stage. When I look to cast an actor, it’s about being able to express an emotional connection. They have to embrace both the tragedy and comedy of a scene and be able to project that with boldness and with courage.
“Then you’ve got a truly talented, creative person.”
At first, the infant…
Joanna was born in Romford, Essex in January 1968, and the theatre was in her blood from the very beginning.
Her father, the actor Antony Carrick, was on stage at The Queen’s Theatre, Hornchurch as she entered the world and proudly announced her birth to the assembled audience – after which the local newspaper dubbed her ‘The Queen’s Baby’.
At the age of six, the family moved to Pin Mill in Suffolk, living on the River Orwell where Jo would swim and play as a child. There, her father continued as a freelance actor and director, while her mother taught drama from the house, gaining a reputation for helping people overcome stammers and anxiety.
Jo’s earliest memories are of rehearsal rooms and actors – Sir Anthony Hopkins was a good friend of the family, having been directed by Antony in ‘A Winter’s Tale’. Perhaps unsurprisingly, and despite an occasionally intense home life, she always wanted to be an actor too – but her formal education came first.
Once the family had moved into Ipswich, Jo was enrolled at Ipswich High School where she found it incredibly disciplined, with a lot of pressure on exam results.
Understandably, she didn’t really enjoy her time there but says that looking back, it taught her to be driven, organised and thorough – a part of herself she rather likes now. She also made some good friends and enjoyed reading ‘The Complete Works of Shakespeare’ in her spare time (as you do).
“I was obsessed – a real Shakespeare geek,” she smiles. “Now it’s just part of my language and I could recite hours of different plays. In fact, people have been known to text me when they’re doing pub quizzes.”
A handy tip for anyone who has her number!
Putting all her knowledge and experience to good use, Joanna started her entrepreneurial journey aged just 16 with a children’s drama club at Ipswich Town Hall. Over the summer holidays, she would teach her young students an Agatha Christie play which they would then perform for their families.
“It wasn’t hard to fill the spaces,” she says. “People want things for their kids to do in the holidays, don’t they? I earned good money and that was my first experience of directing.”
Summer over, she then started Ipswich School Sixth Form, where she studied English, History and Classical Civilisation. Here she also met her first boyfriend, but in the run up to final exams she was revising up to 16 hours a day and in real danger of burnout.
As school finished, and after years of academic pressure, she was ready for a break.
More lovely and more temperate
Fortunately, Joanna’s mother, Julie, was Italian and the family had a flat in the south of Italy. Eager for adventure, Jo finished her A Levels and went to stay there for the summer before university. Now 18, with long blond hair and the Amalfi coast on her doorstep, she was finally free and having an “outrageously brilliant time”.
“I spent a lot of time up in the mountains and it was wonderful,” she remembers fondly. “I learned so much and it was massive for my growth and independence.”
Reluctantly, she returned to England to begin an English degree at Cambridge University. Her grandmother had attended Girton College in the 1920s and was one of the first women to be admitted onto a degree course. With pressure to follow in her footsteps, and encouraged by her family and school, Jo enrolled at Churchill College where she was already ahead of the game, having read many of the recommended books.
But she found it rather quiet and uninspiring after her adventures abroad.
“Everyone used to say Cambridge is the best place to go if you want to be an actor, because you’ll meet all these people and it’ll be really exciting. But I found it all a bit lame and just wanted to get back to Italy.”
She returned to the flat in the Italian mountains whenever she could over the next three years, while still running her summer drama clubs to earn extra money while studying.
What’s in a name?
Aged 19, Joanna bought her first house in Tuddenham. Her mother was keen for her to invest in property, but it was just before the housing market crashed and with negative equity, she left university tied to a mortgage, feeling isolated and like she had “missed the boat” for her career.
Needing to earn a living, she called on her previous experience teaching children and established a drama studio in Ipswich where she ran courses for young people.
The first shoots of the company we know today were starting to grow.
Then, in 1990, Jo organised a Shakespeare marathon to raise funds for a student who was unwell. From that event, Red Rose Chain was born – named using a quote from the Bard himself.
“It’s from the poem ‘Venus and Adonis’. Venus wrapped the God of War in a red rose chain, representing love overcoming hate. I liked that symbolism.
“Slightly kinky though, I know,” she laughs.
It was small scale and tough going at the start, but they did many good performances, including a piece called ‘European Revolution’ which allowed Jo to flex her writing muscles for the first time.
Nevertheless, aged 22, she still felt unfulfilled.
“Then I did something amazing,” she smiles.
Journeys end in lovers meeting
Despite working hard just to pay her bills, Joanna managed to save a small amount every week – she had a plan. By 1993, she had saved enough to enrol at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in London.
She says: “It was really exciting, because for once it wasn’t all about the future; I just wanted to enjoy the experience – every single second of it.”
For the next year, she stayed in the city during the week to study for her Advanced Diploma in Creative Theatre, then returned home at the weekends to teach and earn money.
This special time in her life is also when she met her now husband, David Newborn, and they started to date. Having fallen in love, when the course came to an end and she was heading back to Suffolk and Red Rose Chain, she asked David if he would like to join her – he said yes.
The rest, as they say, is history.
Together, they worked on their own productions while still auditioning for acting roles and performing in plays around the country.
In 1995, after a proposal over a takeaway curry, the couple were married. They welcomed a son, Ted, in 2005 and this year they celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary.
To thine own self be true
In 1997, after a few years of balancing acting work and their own theatre company, Joanna and David decided it was time to go all in.
Jo recalls: “We were chatting on a walk around Fynn Valley and we both said it was time to focus on Red Rose Chain rather than the freelance work.
“That was a really important decision, because it meant that all our time and energy could be spent growing the business, rather than earning money on an hourly basis.”
Wasn’t that scary?
“I think you have to follow your heart, because that passion is going to propel you forward. If there’s a part that’s holding you back, then it’s wonderful to let it go. It might feel like a bit of a risk at the time, but it’s always going to be the right decision.”
With a renewed energy, they produced a play called ‘Sparkleshark’ that was entered for the BT Connections National Theatre Scheme and later performed at the Cambridge Arts Theatre. Soon after, their show ‘Pericles’ was selected for the National Student Drama Festival.
Those two productions really launched the newly invigorated Red Rose Chain, and Jo says it felt great to be in the driving seat creatively. Being independent they don’t receive any core government funding, but that allows them the freedom to work how they want to and produce stories that are special to them.
A wave of project-based funding and new commissions followed. Now based in a room over a water softener shop – “we were hitting the heights” – they started to work on issue-based drama that was going to change people’s thinking. One of them – ‘The Review’ – was made into a movie as well and won the Department of Health award for improving the lives of young people. It was even selected for film festivals in California.
Today, their work is more audience-focused, with Joanna writing historical plays like ‘The Ungodly’, which debuted in Suffolk to rave reviews last year and has now been taken to both London and Off Broadway.
Her talent is in presenting stories from the past in a way that reflects society today. That same talent is used to adapt old works and make them more accessible for modern day audiences.
Shakespeare for example…
Summer’s lease
In 2000, Red Rose Chain began its journey to present ‘Theatre in the Forest’ – their hugely popular outdoor, summer production.
It started with an Arts Council grant to take theatre into unusual places, and a play performed in Rendlesham Forest about the famous UFO incident. The following year they did ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’, and its popularity grew from there.
After 12 years at Rendlesham, they moved to Jimmy’s Farm, then the Covid pandemic saw them deliver ‘Twelfth Night’ online, with the actors performing at home using green screens, along with numerous props and costumes. The individual films were then edited together and presented on YouTube. More than 5,000 people tuned in to watch the opening night and they raised £25,000 in donations.
This was just part of their response to Covid, which also included online writing and drama workshops, and play readings.
Today, their summer Shakespeare productions are hosted at Sutton Hoo – Joanna’s favourite venue so far – and they enjoy an audience of around 10,000.
There’s place and means
While their outdoor production was proving a huge success, the growing theatre company found itself in need of a new home after a promised waterfront building fell through.
In 2005, they found the perfect place at Gippeswyk Hall – a Grade II listed Tudor building in the centre of Ipswich. With Jo writing a new play about Ann Boleyn and obsessed with that period in history, it seemed like it was meant to be.
“It was great right from the beginning,” Jo recalls. “At first we had a prefab-type building on the back of the hall where we used to rehearse, then we were able to apply for funding for a new theatre which was amazing.”
With £1m from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, they designed and built their ideal performance space. It was an exciting time, but not without its challenges.
“Having a large injection of capital can cause disruption in a business because you take your eye off your main activities,” Joanna explains. “Having such a big project to manage caused a lot of instability for us, but now we’re back on top of everything and the theatre is just beautiful.”
It took two years to complete, but The Avenue Theatre opened in 2015 and celebrates its 10th birthday this year.
The play’s the thing
Red Rose Chain has now established itself firmly on the local and national theatre scene, and is known for delivering a vibrant professional and community programme.
At its heart are the core creative talents of Joanna and her team, but while the work they are doing is creative, the business remains very structured and organised – perhaps a throwback to Jo’s high school days.
“A lot of people think that artistic work is quite haphazard, but I assure you it isn’t. I lead the team and we have a meeting pretty much every day. We have a board with a list of tasks for today and then what everybody’s doing this week, with another showing everything we have to achieve after that. So, we know exactly what everyone’s doing, who needs support, and we can share any concerns. We have to be really coordinated in order to make it work.”
She also has an “incredible” pool of professional actors with whom she collaborates on a regular basis. Having worked together for many years, they find a “safety” together, where the atmosphere is relaxed and everyone feels able to contribute to the creative process.
So, what’s next?
“We have a cottage in Blythburgh and love the Suffolk coast, so lots of walks and picnics on the beach – whatever the weather,” she smiles. “I like swimming in the sea too.”
“With Red Rose Chain, the money is still tough and though we are doing OK, we need to make sure we are on top of that for the year ahead. We have just taken ‘The Ungodly’ to New York and who knows where that may lead. It’s exciting because our work is really starting to resonate with people on a bigger scale.
“Meanwhile, our next show will be Theatre in the Forest and ‘Hamlet’, which is my favourite Shakespeare play. It’s comedy and tragedy mixed together, which is life, isn’t it?
“That’s really what makes us human and that’s where the magic happens.”
Editors note:
We were shocked and saddened to hear the news that the lovely Joanna Carrick of Red Rose Chain passed away on Monday 12th January 2026 following a short illness.
We were honoured to be able to tell Jo’s story here in the ‘Talent’ issue of Suffolk Director, published in June 2025 – and what a talent she was.
A huge loss for both local and national theatre, but her legacy will live on through her writing, her students and the positive impact she had on the whole community.
Our sincere condolences to her family, friends and everyone at Red Rose Chain.
