Skip to main content

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

9 Nov 2019 – 2 Feb 2020 Choose Dates & Book

Overview of the production

The London Theatre Company by special arrangement with Elliott & Harper Productions and Catherine Schreiber, presents the much-celebrated Leeds Playhouse production of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

Step through the wardrobe this winter into the magical kingdom of Narnia for the most mystical of adventures in a faraway land. Join Lucy, Edmund, Susan and Peter as they wave goodbye to wartime Britain and say hello to a talking Faun, an unforgettable Lion and the coldest, cruellest White Witch.

This critically acclaimed production reunites director Sally Cookson with designer Rae Smith, writer in the room Adam Peck, movement director Dan Canham, puppetry director Craig Leo, lighting designer Bruno Poet, sound designer Ian Dickinson and music by Benji Bower all of whom originally brought the show to life in 2017 breaking box office records at Leeds Playhouse.

"A huge-hearted show that has rough magic dancing in its bones"

Metro ★★★★★

"An absolutely spell-binding return to Narnia"

The Telegraph ★★★★
Choose Dates & Book

Ticket Prices
Ticket from £15
Premium tickets available

Length 
Approx 2hr 30min including a 20 minute interval

Group Family Rate 4+
Tickets up to £69.50 reduced to £45 each during Tuesday – Thursday performances (excluding 23 Dec – 2 Jan) when at least 4 tickets are in your basket and you use the promocode ‘FAMILY’

Schools rates available
Tickets reduced to £22.50 for Tuesday – Thursday performances exc Christmas holidays, email groups@bridgetheatre.co.uk to reserve your group today

Additional information
Recommended suitable for age 6+
Children under 5 will not be allowed in the auditorium including babes in arms
Booster seats will be available from the cloakroom for a refundable £5 cash deposit

Please note there will be strobe lighting used in this production

Access Performances
Captioned – Saturday 11 January 2.30pm
Audio Described – Saturday 25 January 2.30pm

 

We'd love to keep you up to date with our news and productions

Additional content

From the programme

The First Morning

Robert Butler

It was the first morning of rehearsals for The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe and 40 actors, stage managers and musicians were sitting in a circle in the foyer of the Bridge Theatre. Everyone introduced themselves – ‘puppeteer’, ‘ensemble’…

More →
A man in a fur coat strides forward, in front of a large lion puppet

Everyone Knows Narnia

Ella Risbridger

Everyone knows Narnia, or some version of it. Even if you’ve never read CS Lewis (maybe you saw the 1980s BBC adaptation of The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe, or the big-budget blockbuster) you probably know Narnia: the land where it’s “always winter…

More →
In the centre, an eccentric-looking man, in a long white coat, surrounded by four young people, all in 1940s dress

'Evacuate Forthwith'

Julie Summers

From today’s perspective, a situation where upwards of a million families would agree to send their children away from home, to strangers in the countryside, or even abroad, for an unknown period is almost unimaginable. Yet during the Second…

More →
Top

Cast

Femi Akinfolarin
Peter

Femi Akinfolarin

Training Bird College, Brit School of Performing Arts.

Theatre includes Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at the Palladium;
Man of La Mancha at the Coliseum; and Doctor Dolittle on UK tour.

Television includes Breaking of the Bands, and contestant in Off By Heart Shakespeare.

Short film includes Rumet.

Music video includes dancing in ‘Little Ones’ and in Alfie Boe – ‘As Time Goes By’.

November 2019

Emily Benjamin
Ensemble / Puppeteer (Understudy White Witch / Mrs Macready / Mrs Beaver)

Emily Benjamin

Training Performance Preparation Academy, Guildford.

Theatre includes Bat Out of Hell – The Musical at Manchester Opera House, London Coliseum, Ed Mirvish Theatre Toronto and Dominion, London; and Princess Pearl Zog: Live! on UK tour.

November 2019

Omari Bernard
Maugrim

Omari Bernard

Training Central School of Ballet, Millennium Performing Arts and Identity School of Acting.

Theatre includes Bodyguard in the West End and on tour; Fame on UK tour; Starlight Express in Germany and Asia tour; Prodigals at the Edinburgh Fringe and Coventry; and the Cat in Dick Whittington at New Wimbledon and Bristol.

Television includes The Merry Widow, Porgy and Bess Two Boys and Castor and Pollux
for English National Opera.

Film includes Aladdin, Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again and Ready Player One.

November 2019

Amber Cayasso
Ensemble / Puppeteer (Understudy Maugrim)

Amber Cayasso

Training Body Work Company 2018 and workshops with leading choreographers. 

Theatre This is her professional stage debut.

She is a member of the HipHop company, Elementz Entertainment.

November 2019

Sebastian Charles
Ensemble / Puppeteer (Understudy Aslan)

Sebastian Charles

Training East 15 Acting School. Nominated for the Spotlight Prize, 2014.

Theatre includes War Horse for the National Theatre on tour; Narrator in Sleeping Beauty for English National Ballet; A Clockwork Orange for Action to the Word at Park Theatre; Puck in A Midsummer Night’s Dream at National Theatre’s River Stage and at Latitude; The Selfish Giant at the Arcola; Gobsmacked The Show on international tour; Club Red for Highly Sprung Performance Company; Humming Bird for Imagineer; and 60 Hugs for Frantic Assembly.

Film includes Half Moon Investigations and Doctors.

November 2019

Andro Cowperthwaite
Ensemble (Understudy Mr Tumnus)

Andro Cowperthwaite

Training Drama Centre London.

Theatre includes Salome and Dido, Queen of Carthage for the Royal Shakespeare Company; Electra; Golden Boy and Corpus Christi.

Singing/songwriting includes a world tour with the band Jungle; and festival appearances at Glastonbury, Coachella and Later… with Jools Holland. 

Film includes Cold Blow Lane, The Plant and Abstract.

November 2019

Nicky Cross
Ensemble / Puppeteer / Fight Captain

Nicky Cross

Training Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts. 

Theatre includes 002 for Secret Cinema’s Casino Royale; Joey/Topthorn Puppeteer in War Horse at the National Theatre and on UK tour; Private Dick Whittington at the Belgrade Coventry; One Man, Two Guvnors and Deadly Nightcap at Theatre Royal Windsor; An Ideal Husband and Pool’s Paradise at The Manor Pavilion, Sidmouth; Ben and Holly’s Little Kingdom for Fiery Angel/The Limelight Group/UK tour; and Junket for The Miniaturists at the Arcola.

Film include The Dog Thrower! and Waking David.

November 2019

Laura Elphinstone
White Witch / Mrs Macready

Laura Elphinstone

Training Guildhall.

Theatre includes Young Marx at The Bridge; Rutherford and Son at Sheffield Crucible; My Country (also on tour), Jane Eyre (also Bristol Old Vic), Pains of Youth and Women of Troy at the National Theatre; Romeo and Juliet (as Mercutio) at the Rose Kingston; The White Devil and The Crucible (also West End) for the RSC; Virgin and Heartbreak House at Watford Palace; If you don’t let us dream we won’t let you sleep, Love and Information, Breathing Corpses and Country Music at the Royal Court; Chalet Lines at the Bush; Utopia at Soho/Live Newcastle; Top Girls (also Trafalgar Studios) and A Month in the Country at Chichester Festival Theatre; Bedroom Farce at West Yorkshire Playhouse; Far from the Madding Crowd for English Touring Theatre; Glass Eels at Hampstead; Scenes from an Execution at Hackney Empire; Tom & Viv at the Almeida; Lysistrata at the Arcola; and Pictures of Clay at Manchester Royal Exchange.

Television includes Game of Thrones, Line of Duty, Chernobyl, My Country, Vera, The Trial: A Murder in the Family, Call the Midwife, Wendy & Peter, Esio Trot, The Suspicions of Mr Whicher, Holby City, Doctors, My So Called Life Sentence and Tess of the d’Urbervilles.

Film includes Military Wives Choir, Peterloo, Leave to Remain and The History Boys.

Radio Winner of the Carleton Hobbs Radio Award 2004.

November 2019

David Emmings
Schrödinger / Ensemble / Puppeteer

David Emmings

Training Central School of Speech and Drama in Collaborative and Devised Theatre.

Theatre includes Tao of Glass for MIF/Improbable; The Magic Flute for English National Opera/Complicité; Grimm Tales at the Unicorn; Wings at the Young Vic; The Missing Light at the Old Vic; War Horse and Elephantom at the National Theatre; Sleeping Beauty and A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Bristol Old Vic; Something Very Far Away for Make Mend and Do; Father Christmas at the Lyric Hammersmith; and The Confetti Maker at New Diorama.

Film & television include Sherlock Holmes, The Ruth Ellis Files, The Homeless Polar Bear, Alice and Mime Poker.

Writing includes BUCKETS for Bike Shed Theatre/Applecart Arts and Centenary Buffett for Theatre Royal Plymouth/Exeter Phoenix.

November 2019

Shalisha James-Davis
Susan

Shalisha James-Davis

Training National Youth Theatre.

Theatre includes Romeo and Juliet at Shakespeare’s Globe; If We Were Older and Our Country’s Good at the National Theatre; and The Wolves at Stratford East.

Television includes The Split 2, Alex Rider, Industry, Silent Witness, Next of Kin, Vera and Class.

Film includes Bay of Silence, Mary Queen of Scots and Night Out.

November 2019

Linford Johnson
Ensemble / Puppeteer (Understudy Peter / Edmund)

Linford Johnson

Training Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts. 

Theatre includes As You Like It (for NT Public Acts), War Horse (on UK and international tour) and Pinocchio for the National Theatre; Much Ado About Nothing for Northern Broadsides; The Rise and Fall of Little Voice at Park Theatre; The Tempest and Macbeth for Iris; Hair for Hope Mill; Showboat at Sheffield Crucible and in the West End; Alice’s Adventures Underground for Les Enfants Terribles; Territory at the Lowry; Macbeth for Out of Joint; The Meeting at the Pleasance, Islington and Edinburgh; The Night of 1000 Stars at the Royal Albert Hall; The Martyr at Soho Theatre; Peter Polycarpou – Songs of My Life at the Garrick; and West End Heroes at the Dominion.

November 2019

Wil Johnson
Aslan / Professor Kirk

Wil Johnson

Theatre includes Sweat at the Donmar Warehouse and in the West End; Glengarry Glen Ross on UK tour; Leave Taking at the Bush (Offie Award for Best Supporting Actor 2019), Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead at the Old Vic; King Lear at the Royal Exchange Manchester; A Wolf In Snakeskin Shoes at the Tricycle, The Great Goat Bubble at Druid, Galway; Serious Money at Birmingham Rep; Torn at the Arcola; Redundant at the Royal Court; Othello at the Royal Lyceum Edinburgh; A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Taming of the Shrew at the Southern Shakespeare Festival, USA; The Queen and I in the West End; and Fuente Ovejuna at the National Theatre.

Television includes Carnival Row, Outlander, Vera, Lewis, Waking the Dead, Hetty Feather, The Five, Clocking Off, Moving On, Babyfather, Cracker, Waterloo Road, Anna Lee and Teaching Matthew.

Film includes Macbeth, Anuvahood, In a Better World, Adulthood, Yes!, Midnight Breaks, Dead End and Babymother.

November 2019

Keziah Joseph
Lucy

Keziah Joseph

Training Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. Winner of the Carleton Hobbs Bursary Award 2016; she became a member of the BBC Radio Drama Company.

Theatre includes Mr Gum and the Dancing Bear at the National Theatre; Sweeney Todd at Liverpool Everyman; The Paper Man for Improbable/Soho Theatre; Dick Whittington at the Lyric Hammersmith; As You Like It at Regent’s Park Open Air; The Jungle Book on UK tour; Kanye The First at HighTide festival; and Silver Lining at the Rose, Kingston, and on UK tour.

Short films include Hush.

Radio includes The Confidential Agent, Watership Down, The Thickness, Jezebel, Wild Things, Northanger Abbey, Assata Shakur: The FBI’s Most Wanted Woman, The Mother, Doctor Who – Cold Vengeance and Doctor Who – Antillia the Lost.

November 2019

John Leader
Edmund

John Leader

Theatre includes A Monster Calls at The Old Vic; Henry IV Parts 1 & 2, Henry V, Doctor Faustus and Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons: A Reimagining at Shakespeare’s Globe; The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe at Leeds Playhouse; Peter Pan and War Horse at the National Theatre; Chigger Foot Boys for Tara Arts; Running Wild at Regent’s Park Open Air; Romeo and Juliet at the Orange Tree; Beasty Baby for Theatre Rites/Polka Theatre; and Alice’s Adventures Underground for Les Enfants Terribles.

November 2019

Mitch Leow
Ensemble

Mitch Leow

Training Millennium Theatre College, London.

Theatre includes The Lion King at the Lyceum; Miss Saigon and Aladdin at the Prince Edward; Barnum at Chichester Festival Theatre; Bent at Toy Factory Theatre Ensemble, Singapore; and Hungry at TheatreWorks Singapore.

Opera includes Turandot at the Royal Opera House; and Madam Butterfly at the Coliseum.

Television includes The Sound of Musicals, Behind the Scenes for Disney’s The Lion King and Aladdin, and Olivier Awards presentations for Miss Saigon and The Lion King tribute for Tim Rice.

Film/short film includes War and Miss Saigon (Live) for Cameron Mackintosh Ltd.

November 2019

Nathan Louis-Fernand
Offstage swing (Understudy Mr Beaver)

Nathan Louis-Fernand

Theatre The Lion King in the West End; Sleeping Beauty at Hackney Empire; Carousel for Opera North; Man in the Mirror on UK tour; and Oliver! for Cameron Mackintosh Ltd.

Music video includes Nuuxs Snowflakes.

Film includes Street Dancer 3D.

November 2019

Mei Mac
Ensemble / Puppeteer

Mei Mac

Theatre includes A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Regent’s Park Open Air; Wolf Totem for Handspring and National Theatre Studio; Under the Umbrella for the Belgrade Coventry; The Apology and Thatcher in China for Yellow Earth and NT Studio; Jackie the Baboon for Brunskill and Grimes; Redemption for NT Studio;  Romeo and Juliet for Papergang; 101 Dalmatians, The BFG and Open House at Birmingham Rep; Summer Times at Leeds Playhouse; Peter Pan in Scarlet at Oxford Playhouse/New Vic Theatre; Snow Child for York Theatre Royal; Mononoke for Studio Ghibli international tour; Wild Swans at the Young Vic; Nowhere to Go at the Roundhouse; and Backbone Bistro at the Bush.

Film & television include My Country, Faa Iheihe, The Upgrade and Interns.

Movement direction Resident at Stitchin’ Fiction; Zen for Yellow Earth; Oliver for Backbone; Response to: Orange Polar Bear at Birmingham Rep; and Gwei Mui / Ghost Girl for Jen Tang.

November 2019

James McHugh
Offstage swing

James McHugh

Training Laine Theatre Arts.

Theatre includes Wicked in the West End; Tarzan for Disney; and Grease, directed and choreographed by Gary Lloyd.

November 2019

Stuart Neal
Mr Tumnus

Stuart Neal

Theatre includes The Producers at the Royal Exchange Manchester; 42nd Street and Lord of the Rings at Theatre Royal Drury Lane; The Grinning Man at Bristol Old Vic; The Winter’s Tale and Harlequinade for Kenneth Branagh Company; Carousel on national tour for Opera North; Finding Neverland for American Repertory Theatre, and Curve Leicester; Macbeth for NY Park Avenue Armory, and Manchester International Festival; Follies for Opéra de Toulon; West Side Story for the RSC at Sage Gateshead; Pippin at Menier Chocolate Factory; Little Shop of Horrors at Kilworth House Theatre; Cowardy Custard on national tour; A Christmas Carol at Leeds Playhouse; The Pros, The Cons and a Screw at Derby Theatre; La Cage aux Folles at the Playhouse; Piaf at the Donmar Warehouse; Evita at the Adelphi; Aladdin at the Old Vic; Mary Poppins at the Prince Edward; and Cats on national tour. 

Short films include Artemis Fowl, Cinderella, and Les Misérables.

November 2019

Dean Nolan
Mr Beaver

Dean Nolan

Theatre includes Billionaire Boy for the Nuffield Southampton/tour; Kneehigh’s Brief Encounter and Steptoe and Son both in the West End; Sweeney Todd, Fiddler on the Roof, The Conquest of the South Pole and Romeo and Juliet all for Liverpool Everyman; Big Fish at the Other Palace; Baddies for the Unicorn; Measure for Measure, The Oresteia, Tis Pity She’s a Whore and Knight of the Burning Pestle for Shakespeare’s Globe and Wanamaker Playhouse; and The Winter’s Tale at Regent’s Park.

Film & television include the upcoming series Quiz, Flack, Will, London Road, Pan, Macbeth and Ashes to Ashes.

November 2019

Helen Parke
Ensemble / Aerial Captain (Understudy Susan)

Helen Parke

Theatre includes Satyagraha for LA Opera; and The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe at Leeds Playhouse.

Circus theatre includes Paper Memories for Jabuti Theatre; In C for the British Paraorchestra and Extraordinary Bodies; Khoj for Cirque Bijou and Nutkhut; Standing on the Shoulders of Giants for Upswing; Bianco for NoFit State; The Last Waltz for The Invisible Circus; and Lola for Bilbao Festival of Contemporary Theatre and Dance.

November 2019

Beverly Rudd
Mrs Beaver

Beverly Rudd

Training LAMDA.

Theatre includes Anna Bella Eema at the Arcola; Dead Dog in a Suitcase (UK and international tour), Brief Encounter (Lowry and Haymarket Empire Cinema and national tour), and Tin Drum (UK tour) for Kneehigh; Peter Pan, The Beggar’s Opera and Into the Woods at Regent’s Park Open Air; James and the Giant Peach at Leeds Playhouse; Much Ado About Nothing at the Royal Exchange Manchester; Soho Cinders at the Soho Theatre; The Little Mermaid at Bristol Old Vic; Acorn Antiques the Musical on UK tour; Girls Just Want to Have Fun for Limelight/Fiery Angel; The Magistrate at the National Theatre; Days of Significance for the RSC/Tricycle; Titus Andronicus for Paradoxos; and The Hole Story for Paines Plough.

Television includes Trollied (series regular); Twirly Woo, The Function Room, Coronation Street, Shameless, Him & Her, Inn Mates, Scallywagga, Guantanamo Phil, Octavia, and No Angels.

Film includes Mad, Bad & Sad and Service.

Awards include RTS Award for Best Performance in a Comedy for Massive.

November 2019

Offstage swing / Dance Captain

Tinovimbanashe Sibanda

Training Bird College

Theatre includes Jesus Christ Superstar at the Barbican Centre; Strictly Ballroom at the Piccadilly; Jesus Christ Superstar at Regent’s Park Open Air; and Cinderella and Peter Pan at the Marlowe, Canterbury.

November 2019

Millicent Wong
Ensemble / Puppeteer (Understudy Lucy)

Millicent Wong

Training Royal Central School of Speech & Drama.

Theatre includes The King of Hell’s Palace at Hampstead; Pah-La at the Royal Court; Forbidden City and Portrait of an Empress for Singapore Repertory Theatre; Beauty World for Dick Lee Entertainment; and Hanuman for Imitating the Dog.

Television includes Dracula.

November 2019

James Gow
Musician

James Gow

Training BA in Music from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.

Music He has performed with or alongside several bands including Lunch Money Life, Cocos Lovers, Molly’s Lips, Eleven Magpies and Three Cane Whale. He also performs as a solo artist as Flames Pow.

Theatre includes The Flying Lovers of Vitebsk, Dead Dog in a Suitcase (and other love songs), Tristan & Yseult and Brief Encounter for Kneehigh; 100: UnEarth for WildWorks; James and the Giant Peach at Leeds Playhouse; Ugly Chief for Victoria Melody; and Siyanda, Protector of Plants for Theatre-Rites.

November 2019

Tim Dalling
Musician

Tim Dalling

Training Tim Dalling has been performing, clowning, songwriting and making theatre and music since he left Glasgow School  of Art in 1982. 

Theatre includes work with Kneehigh, including Dancing Frog and Dead Dog in a Suitcase; James and the Giant Peach and A Christmas Carol with Northern Stage; and La Strada in the West End.

Music For 25 years he was the kilted fall-guy in the internationally renowned comedy-folk trio The Old Rope String Band; and he performs as a solo songwriter in his one-man show Aye, Coyote!

November 2019

Harry Miller
Musician

Harry Miller

Training The Academy of Contemporary Music, graduating in 2018. 

Theatre includes Peter Pan at the National Theatre; and The Merry Wives of Windsor at Theatre Royal Bath. 

Music Composed music for UK touring productions of Richard III and Oedipus & Antigone for Beyond The Horizon; he also tours the country with his own solo music project, having supported artists such as Syd Arthur, Nick Harper and Noah and The Whale’s Matt Owens.

November 2019

Pat Moran
Musician

Pat Moran

Training California Institute of the Arts (USA), earning a Performer/Composer dual focus MFA. 

Theatre He has worked extensively as a theatre multi-instrumentalist and music director. Recent work includes Brief Encounter, Tristan & Yseult and 946: The Amazing Story of Adolphus Tips for Kneehigh; Hireth for O Region; A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Shakespeare’s Globe; Sleeping Beauty at Bristol Old Vic; and An Audience with Meow Meow at Berkeley Repertory Theatre. 

Music He was resident composer/lyricist/musical director/multi-instrumentalist for the San Francisco Mime Troupe from 2007–2013. He is an active composer currently working as a solo artist and with the projects PM Syndicate, Yesterday’s Camel and Unreliable Witness.

November 2019

Creative Team

Director

Sally Cookson

Sally Cookson trained at LAMDA and worked as an actor for ten years before embarking on a freelance directing career. 

Theatre For the Old Vic, London, A Monster Calls (Olivier Award-winner; devised, based on the novel by Patrick Ness).

For Elliot & Harper Productions and Leeds Playhouse The Lion,The Witch & The Wardrobe (devised, based on the novel by CS Lewis). For the National Theatre Jane Eyre (devised, based on the novel by Charlotte Brontë) and Peter Pan (nominated for Olivier; devised, based on the novel and play by JM Barrie – both co-productions with Bristol Old Vic). For Kenny Wax Productions La Strada (devised, based on the film by Fellini), Hetty Feather (nominated for Olivier; devised, based on the novel by Jaqueline Wilson), and We’re Going On A Bear Hunt (devised, based on the book by Michael Rosen). For The Rose Theatre Kingston Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare. For Bristol Old Vic Theatre School Trojan Women, adapted by Brendan Kennelly.

She is an Associate Artist at Bristol Old Vic where productions include Jane Eyre, Sleeping Beauty, Peter Pan, Treasure Island, The Boy Who Cried Wolf, Papa Please Get the Moon for Me, Clown, Strange Case, Pericles, Pains of Youth, and The Visit. 

Her numerous collaborations with Travelling Light theatre include Strictly Balti by Saikat Ahammed, The Ugly Duckling (devised, based on Hans Christian Andersen), Boing! (devised), How Cold My Toes (devised), Shadowplay (devised), Cloudland (devised, based on the book by John Burningham), Lenny by Francis Monty, and Bob the Man on the Moon (devised, based on the book by Simon Bartram). 

For Tobacco Factory Theatre One Hundred and One Dalmatians (devised, based on the book by Dodie Smith), Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves (devised, based on Arabian Nights), and Cinderella – A Fairytale (devised, based on Brothers Grimm; nominated for Olivier Award). 

For Scamp Theatre Stick Man (devised, based on the book by Julia Donaldson).

For Freckle Theatre Tiddler and Other Terrific Tales (devised, based on the book by Julia Donaldson).

November 2019

Designer

Rae Smith

Theatre includes recently at the National Theatre Translations, Barber Shop Chronicles (also BAM, Roundhouse and world tour), and This House (also West End and UK tour); Girl from the North Country at the Old Vic, in New York and in the West End; Rosmersholm, The Night of the Iguana, and The Goat or Who Is Sylvia in the West End; and Stella at Brighton Festival, Hoxton Hall and Holland Festival. Other designs for the National Theatre include War Horse (Tony and Olivier Awards), Wonder.Land, The Light Princess and Pillars of the Community.

Opera includes Pelleas and Mellisande for Scottish Opera; Cavelleria Rusticana and I Pagliacci at the Met, New York; Benvenuto Cellini for English National Opera; Rusalka at Glyndebourne; and The Ring Cycle, which won the Grand Prix for outstanding achievement in opera, at Opera du Rhin.

Dance includes The Tempest and Prince of the Pagodas for Birmingham Royal Ballet; and The Rite of Spring and Petrushka for Fabulous Beast. Future work includes Paradise and Nozzi di Figaro for Aix en Provence.

Other work includes live drawing for War Horse in Concert with the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall.

www.raesmith.co.uk

November 2019

Composer / Music Director

Benji Bower

Theatre as composer/music director, includes A Monster Calls at the Old Vic; Tom and Varmints at Sadler’s Wells; The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe at Leeds Playhouse; Peter Pan and Jane Eyre at the National Theatre; Hetty Feather in London and on tour; We’re Going on a Bear Hunt for KW & NB Ltd; Outpost for Green Ginger; Romeo and Juliet for the Rose Kingston; Sleeping Beauty, Jane Eyre, The Boy Who Cried Wolf, Peter Pan, Treasure Island, Papa Please Get the Moon for Me, Strong Case and Aesop’s Fables for Bristol Old Vic; 101 Dalmatians, Cinderella, Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, Bob the Man on the Moon, Lost and Found and Ugly Duckling for Tobacco Factory/Travelling Light; Orpheus and the Furies and Table of Delights for Damfino; Pirate Gran, Toddler and Other Terrific Tales and Stick Man for Scamp; and A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings for Little Angel/Kneehigh.

Film & television Composing includes Faster Harder Stronger, Rude Britannia, Comics Britannia, The Wonder of Animals, Castles, Countryfile, The Sky at Night, Panorama, Cult of a Suicide Bomber, Wind Farm Wars, Hollyoaks and Weekend Retreat.

Music As a musician, he has worked with Bonobo, Alice Russell, 100 Strong, Kneehigh Theatre, Mark Pritchard and Jermaine Clement. With Underscene he has recorded Sulston Connection, Pacific Heights, New World Disorder, Fingers and Thumbs and Return of the Wob.

November 2019

Writer in the Room

Adam Peck

Adam Peck is a playwright and dramaturg. He has been an Associate Artist at Bristol Old Vic since 2013.

Theatre includes A Monster Calls at the Old Vic (Olivier Award for Best Family and Entertainment); The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe at Leeds Playhouse; the OFFIE-winning and Olivier Award nominated Cinderella: A Fairytale, 101 Dalmatians and Bonnie & Clyde at Tobacco Factory Theatres; Igloo, Sleeping Beauty, Medusa, The Boy Who Cried Wolf, Minotaur and Only at Bristol Old Vic; Father Christmas at the Lyric Hammersmith and Septimus Bean & His
Amazing Machine
 at the Unicorn.

Dance  includes Tom and Varmints at Sadler’s Wells; Fagin’s Twist for Avant Garde Dance; the My First Ballet series (2014-17) for English National Ballet.

November 2019

Movement Director

Dan Canham

Dan Canham is a contemporary performance maker and choreographer. Through his company, Still House, he makes socially engaged work that foregrounds under-heard stories and celebrates those performing at its heart.

Still House works 30 Cecil Street and Of Riders and Running Horses have toured extensively throughout the UK and internationally. His latest, SESSION, is an outdoor dance event made in collaboration with 25+ young performers in Tottenham. Commissioned by LIFT Festival, it
premiered at LIFT 2018 before undertaking two UK tours. 

As a movement director, his credits include A Monster Calls at the Old Vic/Bristol Old Vic; Peter Pan and Jane Eyre (also Bristol Old Vic) at the National Theatre; The Lion, the Witch & The Wardrobe at Leeds Playhouse; Romeo + Juliet at the Rose Theatre Kingston; 101 Dalmatians for Tobacco Factory Theatres; Shooting with Light for Idle Motion; and Once Upon a Time for Aga Blonksa. 

As a performer he has worked with DV8 Physical Theatre, Kneehigh Theatre, Fabulous Beast Dance Theatre, Punchdrunk and the National Theatre. 

www.stillhouse.co.uk

November 2019

Lighting Designer

Bruno Poet

Theatre includes A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Julius Caesar at The Bridge; Amadeus for Royal Danish Theatre; The Convert at the Young Vic; Stories, Saint George and the Dragon, Frankenstein, London Road, Timon of Athens, Treasure Island, Light Shining in Buckinghamshire, From Morning to Midnight and Travelling Light at the National Theatre; Fortune’s Fool and Sweet Bird of Youth at the Old Vic; Coram Boy at Bristol Old Vic, Midnight’s Children and The Two Gentlemen of Verona for the RSC; Tina: The Musical, Miss Saigon (also Broadway, Japan, and UK tour) and From Here to Eternity in the West End; The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe for West Yorkshire Playhouse; Oklahoma! for Grange Park Opera; and Carousel for Opera North.

Opera & ballet  include The Unknown Soldier for the Royal Ballet; Akhnaten at the Metropolitan Opera House New York; The Merry Widow, Akhnaten, Aida and Carmen for English National Opera; Il Trovatore in Turin and for Royal Danish Opera; Don Giovanni for Shlomo Lahat Opera House; Marco Polo at Guangzhou Opera House; Carmen for Bregenzer Festspiele; Connectome, Other Stories and Les Enfants Terribles for the Royal Ballet; Otello, The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagony, I Due Foscari, Don Giovanni and La Donna Del Lago at the Royal Opera House, Al Gran Sole Carico d’Amore for Salzburg Festival; Don Giovanni, The Marriage of Figaro and Carmen for Den Norske Opera, Freischütz, Cavalleria Rusticana, Il Pagliacci and The Cunning Little Vixen for Royal Danish Opera; and Macbeth and Trovatore for Opera Monte Carlo.

Concerts include Bjork’s Cornucopia at The Shed, New York & Sigur Ros’ 2012–13 & 2017 World Tours.

Awards His design for Rusalka at Sydney Opera House won the Australian Green Room Award. He won Olivier Knight of Illumination and whatsonstage awards for lighting Frankenstein at the National Theatre.

November 2019

Sound Designer

Ian Dickinson for Autograph

Ian Dickinson has been a member of the Autograph design team since 2009.

Theatre includes recently the UK tour of A Taste of Honey; Europe, Elegy, Roots and The Weir at the Donmar Warehouse; Small Island, Angels in America (also New York), Translations, Husbands and Sons, Common, Evening at the Talk House, The Red Lion, Rules for Living, This House (also Chichester and West End), A Taste of Honey, Emil and the Detectives, Port and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (for which he received an Olivier Award) at the National Theatre; Company, True West, Heisenberg and The Nether in the West End; Hangmen at the Royal Court (also West End and New York); Fatherland at the Lyric Hammersmith and Royal Exchange Manchester; The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe at West Yorkshire Playhouse; Junkyard at Bristol Old Vic; Fracked! at Chichester and on UK tour; Before I Leave at Cardiff; Before the Party, Uncle Vanya, Children’s Children and Mrs Klein at the Almeida; Love’s Sacrifice for the RSC; The River on Broadway; A Midsummer Night’s Dream, All My Sons and To Kill a Mockingbird at Regent’s Park; and The Machine in Manchester and New York.

November 2019

Puppetry Director

Craig Leo

Craig Leo is a South African theatre designer, puppeteer and performing artist. He trained in circus arts, performing with the Zip Zap Circus which led to a role in the Sun City Circus Extravaganza, Baletsatsi. Collaborating with colleagues, he formed the acrobatic theatre company Myth, and toured Austria and Germany.

As performer and designer, he has worked with top South African theatre-makers including Magnet Theatre, Jazzart Dance Theatre, Mothertongue Project, Janni Younge Productions and Handspring Puppet Company. Productions include Medea, Bolero, Rain in a Dead Man’s Footprints, Cargo, Partly God, The Flower of Shembe, I Turned Away and She Was Gone, City of Paradise, The Firebird and Womb of Fire, Heart of Redness, The Visit and Antigone.

His collaboration with Handspring Puppet Company includes Tall Horse, Il Ritorno d’Ulisse for William Kentridge, Franco Dragone’s House of the Dancing Water, Or You Could Kiss Me, Olifantland, and War Horse at the National Theatre and beyond. He has continued his relationship with the National Theatre as Associate Director of Puppetry for War Horse.

As a performer his recent work includes Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons: A Reimagining for Gyre and Gimble/Shakespeare’s Globe.

November 2019

Aerial Director

Gwen Hales

Training In 2018, Gwen Hales gained a Masters degree in Circus Directing.

Previously an aerialist, street performer, fire-eater and clown, she has travelled the world performing with traditional and contemporary circuses. She now works as a freelance circus director, choreographer, and mentor, collaborating with circus and theatre companies and specialising in work that crosses the boundaries between skills and narrative. 

Theatre includes recently, as aerial director/circus consultant, Peter Pan for Bristol Old Vic/National Theatre/Troubadour; The Borrowers for the Tobacco Factory; Angels in America at the National Theatre; Hetty Feather in the West End and on tour; and as co-founder/performer Flown by Pirates of the Carabina (winner of the Total Theatre Award for Physical Theatre).

November 2019

Wigs, SFX, Hair & Make-up

Susanna Peretz

Theatre includes Noises Off at the Garrick Theatre; A Midsummer Night’s Dream, A Very Very Very Dark Matter and Julius Caesar at The Bridge; Hedda Tesman and Plenty at Chichester; Death of a Salesman at the Young Vic; Ghost Stories at the Lyric Hammersmith; Peter Pan at Regent’s Park; The Last Ship on UK tour; Pity, Prudes, Gun Dog, Girls and Boys, Road, How To Hold Your Breath, Linda, Birdland, The Nether, The Kid Stays In The Picture, Anatomy of a Suicide, The Twits, X and Hangmen (also West End) at the Royal Court; Don Juan in Soho and The Exorcist in the West End; Machinal, The Game, Mr Burns, Medea, The Treatment, Carmen Disruption, Mary Stuart (also West End), Oresteia (also Trafalgar Studios) and Hamlet (also West End) at the Almeida; Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead at the Old Vic; The Grinning Man at Bristol Old Vic/Trafalgar Studios; Wings at the Young Vic; Everybody’s Talking About Jamie in the West End; The Humans at BAM, NY; Bugsy Malone, Tipping the Velvet, City of Glass and Jubilee at the Lyric Hammersmith; The Way of the World, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie and Teddy Ferrara at the Donmar Warehouse; and Witness for the Prosecution at London Court House.

Opera includes A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Aldeburgh Festival; Alice in Wonderland, Where the Wild Things Are, Dark Mirror and Curlew River at the Barbican/US tour; The Illuminated Heart at Lincoln Centre NY; Greek for Scottish Opera/Festival Theatre, Edinburgh; and Rigoletto on Irish tour.

Film & TV includes The Show, Electric Dreams, In The Dark Half, His Heavy Heart, Jimmy’s End, Showpieces and Skeletons (BAFTA Nominee and Michael Powell Award-winner).

Other work includes collaborations with Alan Moore on his comic book series Providence and the multimedia project As Big As the Sky with artist Ai Weiwei. Her work has also been exhibited at Sprueth Magers Art Gallery.

November 2019

Associate Director

Sarah Fielding

Sarah Fielding is a freelance circus and theatre director, and also co-director of the Invisible Circus. Directing credits for the company include The Happiness Machine (2012), The Last Waltz, a commission for Showzam at the Blackpool Winter Gardens (2013), and Under the Dark Moon, which played at Bristol Old Vic in 2014 and 2015. She has run several projects with the Young Creatives at the Roundhouse, and completed a RYTDS placement at Bristol Old Vic in 2015-16, which included assisting Sally Cookson on Sleeping Beauty. She  worked on a directing placement with Wildworks on Wolfs Child, and worked as associate director on The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe at Leeds Playhouse, in 2017. She ran SpaceCraft, an artist’s development programme exploring site-responsive performance, and has most recently been directing performances on Brunel’s ship SS Great Britain, and a production of Robin Hood with the Bristol Old Vic young company. She has performed with Duckie at the Barbican, Trash City at the Roundhouse, Carnesky’s Ghost Train in the Blackpool Winter Gardens and numerous shows with the Invisible Circus. She also plays with the band The CarnyVillains.

November 2019

Revival Designer

Tom Paris

Theatre design includes Draw Me Close (also Young Vic) and All Kinds of Limbo at the National Theatre; Hansel & Gretel at Bergen National Opera; Summer in London at Theatre Royal Stratford East; Into the Woods at RADA; Gianni Schicci and Les Mamelles de Tirésias for RCS; Judy! at the Arts; West Side Story for RNCM; Bring it On: The Musical and Saxon Court at Southwark Playhouse;
A Christmas Carol on UK tour; Alice at Salisbury Playhouse; Noye’s Fludde for Iford Arts/Salisbury Playhouse; Faust and Carmen for Winterbourne Opera; and Mack & Mabel at Greenwich Theatre.

He also designed the interactive exhibitions Enter Wonder.land & Costume at the National for the National Theatre.

As associate designer to Rae Smith: Wonder.land at the National Theatre/M.I.F./Châtelet; Cavalleria Rusticana & I Pagliacci at the Metropolitan Opera; The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe at Leeds Playhouse; The Tempest for Birmingham Royal Ballet; Pelléas et Mélisande for Scottish Opera; Nightfall at The Bridge Theatre; and Girl from the North Country at the Old Vic/Public Theatre.

As assistant designer to Katrina Lindsay (Harry Potter & The Cursed Child), Rob Howell (Matilda, Ghost, Private Lives), Robert Jones (Kiss Me Kate, The Wizard of Oz), Bob Crowley (The Little Mermaid, Once), Hildegard Bechtler (Good People) and Miriam Buether (Sunny Afternoon).

www.tomparis.co.uk

November 2019

Associate Lighting Designer

Matt Daw

Associate Sound Designer

Andrew Josephs

Associate Puppetry Director

Gareth Aled

Casting Director

Jill Green CDG

Theatre includes, in the West End, Dear Evan Hansen, Touching The Void (also Bristol Old Vic and tour), War Horse (2015–2020; also tour), The Curious Incident of the Dog In The Night-Time (2015–19; also international tour), Kinky Boots (also UK and Ireland tour), Disney’s Aladdin, Jersey Boys (also UK and Ireland tours), Young Frankenstein, Beautiful – The Carole King Musical (also UK and Ireland tour), La Strada, Show Boat (also Crucible Sheffield), The Scottsboro Boys (UK Casting; also Young Vic), The Producers (and UK tours) and Fosse.

Also The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe at Leeds Playhouse; The Lion King on tour 2015–16; Lazarus at King’s Cross Theatre and Jane Eyre on UK tour 2017 and at the National Theatre.

Workshops include recently Roman Holiday, What’s New Pussycat, Famous Five, The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe, Becoming Nancy and Pink Floyd’s The Wall (Workshops 2 and 3).

November 2019

Fight Directors

Rachel Bown-Williams & Ruth Cooper-Brown of RC-Annie Ltd

UK’s leading Dramatic Violence Company.

Theatre includes [BLANK] at the Donmar Warehouse; Macbeth, Hedda Tesman (with Headlong/The Lowry) and Plenty at Chichester; King John, Measure for Measure, As You Like It, The Taming of the Shrew, Tartuffe, The Duchess of Malfi, Salome and Snow in Midsummer for the RSC; The King of Hell’s Palace at Hampstead; Peter Pan, Anna, When We Have Sufficiently Tortured Each Other, Common, Ugly Lies the Bone, Peter Pan, The Threepenny Opera, The James Plays (co-production with National Theatre of Scotland and Edinburgh International Festival) and Cleansed at the National Theatre; Troubadour at White City Theatre; Noises Off at the Lyric Hammersmith and West End; The Night of the Iguana, Emilia and True West in the West End; Wife at the Kiln; Hobson’s Choice at Manchester Royal Exchange; King Hedley and The Village at Theatre Royal Stratford East; Orpheus Descending, The Rise and Fall of Little Voice, Uncle Vanya, Insignificance, Jumpy, My People, All My Sons, Aristocrats and Salt, Root and Roe and A Chorus of Disapproval at Clwyd Theatr Cymru; All My Sons, A Monster Calls, Woyzeck and Wise Children (for Wise Children) at the Old Vic; Macbeth, Emilia, Othello, The Secret Theatre, Boudica, Lions and Tigers, Much Ado About Nothing, Twelfth Night, The White Devil, Comus and Imogen at Shakespeare’s Globe; The Little Matchgirl at Bristol Old Vic / Shakespeare’s Globe; A Very, Very, Very Dark Matter at The Bridge; Company for Elliot & Harper in the West End; Europe at Leeds Playhouse; Close Quarters for Out of Joint / Sheffield Theatres; God of Carnage, The Price, Switzerland and Dusty at Theatre Royal Bath; Hogarth’s Progress and My Brilliant Friend at the Rose Kingston; Girl on a Train, Sunshine on Leith, The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe, Barnbow Canaries, Great Expectations and Richard III at Leeds Playhouse; and A Clockwork Orange at Liverpool Everyman.

November 2019