Tributes paid to theatre company founder

Tributes have been paid to the founder of an Ipswich theatre company.

Joanna Carrick, 58, the founder and creative director of the Red Rose Chain theatre company, died on Monday after a short illness, the group announced.

Carrick, who was also a playwright, launched the company in 1990 hoping to make theatre inclusive and accessible for all.

"She will be hugely missed and the legacy of her work will live on in the lives of the countless people whose lives she touched so deeply," the company said in a statement.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with her husband David, her son Ted and the whole of the Red Rose Chain family."

The company has carried out educational work with prisoners and drug addicts and is known for its Theatre in the Forest productions at the Sutton Hoo National Trust site near Woodbridge.

Carrick had championed accessible theatre, and in 2024, she told the BBC that "belonging to an artistic community can be life-saving for somebody with disabilities, disadvantages, mental health diagnosis".

She was discussing the end of £500,000 in funding for arts and museums by Suffolk County Council, and said she still wanted theatre to be used to break down "barriers".

Podcaster and founder of the Suffolk Theatre website, Georgy Jamieson, who met Carrick when they were both teenagers, described her death as a "complete shock".

She said: "We know her for her directing and her writing with Red Rose but she was mesmerising as an actress.

"Her legacy with Red Rose Chain and what they've done; we're so lucky to have Red Rose, to have a company like that, that is so truly inclusive when it comes to theatre.

"It was never about the limelight with Jo, she just wanted to help people."

Jamieson added: "She was an immense talent."

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