The Creative Team & Cast

Creative Team

Director : Nina Hajiyianni

Composer : Martyn Harry

Writer : Finegan Kruckemeyer

Designer : Bek Palmer

Producer : Miranda Thain

Stage Manager & Lighting Designer : Nick Kent

Assistant Stage Manager : Adrian ‘Mitch’ Mitchell

Projection Editor : Kate Sweeney

Puppetry Consultant : John Barber

Artwork : Caroline Thaw Publicity

Design : Kelly Atkinson

Photography : Mark Savage & Sylvia Selzer

Freelance Media Consultant : Nicky Harrison

Filming : Ian Paine

Learning Resource : David Wheeler

Workshop Leaders : Jonathan Ainscough and Amy Mitchell

Pianist / Repetiteur : Ian Buckle

Electric Guitar : Jamie Wesley

Orchestral Manager : Stacey Watton

Conductor : Jonathan Williams

The Cast

John Biddle : Bobby Rogers / Accordion / Ensemble

Theatre includes: Romeo and Juliet (Night Light Theatre), The Nutcracker, Alice Through The Looking Glass (Theatre Royal Bath), Alice (Sheffield Crucible), The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (Dukes Lancaster), We All Fall Down, The Shelter, The Ignatius Trail (en masse theatre, UK and overseas tours), Little Miss Jocelyn Live Shows (Soho Theatre). Film/Television includes: Peacock Season, The Amazing Dermot (Channel 4). Radio includes: Four series of The Diaries of Samuel Pepys, In The Family (both BBC Radio 4).

As a singer, John has worked regularly as a soloist and with various choirs, including those of Westminster Abbey, the London Oratory Schola, and the Dmitri Ensemble.

As Composer/Musical Director: The Gift and the Glory, Sabbat (Dukes, Lancaster), A Comedy of Errors, The Animated Tales of Shakespeare (Theatre Royal Bath).

John is also part of comedy double-act Jollie, with which he has performed at Pleasance Edinburgh, the Lyric Hammersmith, and Leicester Square Theatre.

Luci Briginshaw : Mrs Rogers / Nurse / Piano / Ensemble

Luci Briginshaw studied voice and piano as part of her Bmus at King’s College London, gaining a distinction for her Advanced Performance final recital, and winning the Adam Prize for the highest recital mark. She then went on to gain the LRSM with distinction, and to complete the Morley College Opera Performance Course in 2010, for which she performed the complete roles of The Queen of the Night (Magic Flute), Suor Genovieffa (Suor Angelica) and Olympia (Tales of Hoffmann).

Last summer, Luci played The Queen in Mantissa Opera’s production of The Magic Flute, and, in the same month, Adele for Brent Opera’s Die Fledermaus. So far this year, she has played Clorinda in La Cenerentola for Brent Opera, and The Queen in The Magic Flute for the New London Opera Players. As soon as Luci has finished scaring children in My Mother Told Me Not to Stare, she is off to the Buxton Festival to sing with Bampton Opera in The Marriage of Figaro.Luci currently studies singing with Raymond Connell and stagecraft with Alma Sheehan.

Darren Clark: The Man

As a performer, composer and musician Darren has worked with numerous theatre companies in the UK including Paper Balloon, Scrawny Cat and Quicksilver amongst others. He has worked as a songwriter in collaboration with the UK Arts Council and one of Darren’s original stories ‘Raven Boy’ is currently being produced as a play by Infectious Theatre in London, generously supported by Jackson’s Lane Theatre and Arts Council England.

Darren is also looking forward to his next commission as the composer/songwriter for Finegan Kruckemeyer s new play ‘Zachary Briddling’ being produced by Paper Balloon at the Pegasus Theatre in Oxford. When he is not performing or writing in theatre, Darren sings with his folk pop band ‘Columbus Giant’ at UK festivals and London venues such as the Royal National Theatre.

Eva Karell: Emily Ives/Violin

Swedish soprano Eva Karell graduated with honours from the Royal College of Music, London in 2009, where she studied with Patricia Rozario. Recent performances include Bach’s Mass in B Minor in the Petersfield Music Festival. Upcoming performances includes Bach’s Kantate 51 and St Johns Passion. Eva has travelled throughout Germany, Sweden and the UK performing as a soloist in works including; King Arthur and Come ye Sons of Art (Purcell; both for the London Händel Festival), Lutheran Mass in A minor and solo Cantatas BWV 202 and 51 (J. S. Bach); Stabat Mater (Pergolesi); Dixit Dominus (Händel); Quo Vadis (Dyson), Nelson Mass, Missa Sancti Nicolai and The Creation (Haydn), and Beethoven’s Mass in C. She has recently recorded medieval and baroque music for the Listening Gallery at the V&A Museum, London, and has been the recipient of the Royal Music Academy of Stockholm’s Youth Prize, and the First Prize in the RCM Early Music Competition. She frequently gives recitals of Dowland, Campion and other English renaissance composers with lutenist Katalin Ertsey.

Eva was part of the original ensemble of My Mother Told Me Not to Stare and is delighted to be reprising her role as Emily.

Andrew Sparling: Mr Rogers/Mr Allen/Clarinet

Andrew Sparling has sung with Lavender Hill Opera, the English Opera Singers, and in recital in England and France. In 2009, he sang Escamillo (Carmen) at the Bob Hope Theatre, Eltham, with the Ferrier Operatic Society. He is a member of the contemporary music ensembles Lontano, Apartment House and Ensemble Exposé. Solo performances have included festivals in London, Huddersfield, New York and Belfast. A CD of solo and chamber music by living composers was released in 2004 on NMC’s Artists Series and a new solo disc is due for release on Lontano Records Ltd (Lorelt). Andrew also performs on baroque and classical period instruments. He took part in two BBC TV drama-documentary series: ‘The Genius of Mozart’ and ‘Beethoven’ – in the former he acted the role of clarinettist Anton Stadler. He has played principal clarinet with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment at The Royal Opera House and Glyndebourne.

Nina Hajiyianni: Director

Nina Hajiyianni is Artistic Director of Action Transport Theatre (ATT) a leading new writing company for young people based in Ellesmere Port in the North West of England. She is chair of TYA UK and an Executive Committee member of ASSITEJ, a global children’s theatre association with centres in over 80 countries.

Nina’s past work includes large-scale community plays, opera, object theatre and site-specific work in museums and outdoor spaces. Her work explores total theatre experiences by placing equal emphasis on image, sound and the spoken word as a way of creating new and compelling languages for story telling.

Martyn Harry: Composer

Martyn Harry is University Lecturer at Oxford University and is the music fellow of St Anne’s and St Hilda’s colleges there. He studied composition with Alexander Goehr at Cambridge and music theatre with Mauricio Kagel at Musikhochschule, Cologne, on a DAAD Scholarship. His works have been performed by, amongst others, the London Sinfonietta, Northern Sinfonia, the Opera Group, Broomhill Opera, Eos, the Allegri Quartet, Piano Circus, the Reg Vardy Band, the New Music Players and the BBC Singers. They have also been broadcast on BBC Radio 3, Classic FM, NDR 3 and WDR 3.

Martyn has created a new work for his Majesty’s Sagbutts and Cornetts titled ‘At His Majesty’s Pleasure’ which will premiere in New York in July 2012 and has recently completed a new orchestral piece which will be premiered at the Barbican Centre in June 2012.

Finegan Kruckemeyer: Writer

Finegan has had 53 commissioned plays performed on five continents. This year 20 works play worldwide, with seasons in Argentina, Australia (two works at the Sydney Opera House), China, England (four national tours), Germany, Ireland, New Zealand, Scotland, and the United States – at invited programmes New Visions New Voices (JFK Center for the Arts, Washington), New Plays for Young Audiences (New York University), and the IPAY American Showcase (his fourth consecutive IPAY work).

He was an inaugural recipient of the $160,000 Sidney Myer Creative Fellowship, and also received the 2010 Rodney Seaborn Award, 2009 Children’s AWGIE Award, 2008 Best Children’s Playwright and 2007 Best Playwright Oscarts, 2006 Jill Blewett Award, and 2002 Colin Thiele Scholarship. Finegan has spoken at conferences/festivals around the world, with his paper The Taboo of Sadness published. He is committed to making strong and respectful work for children, which acknowledges them as astute audience members outside the plays, and worthy subjects within.

Bek Palmer: Designer

Bek has worked as a Theatre Designer since graduating from LIPA and later studied Post Graduate Theatre Design at Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. Previous set and costume designs include; Angel and The Night Pirates for Theatre Hullabaloo, Godfather Death for Warhorse Theatreworks, A Midsummer Night’s Dream for British Touring Shakespeare, The Provoked Wife for The Courtyard Theatre, the opera Cendrillon for Sherman Theatre, Cardiff and Dr Korczak’s Example Birmingham Young Rep Company. Bek regularly works as Assistant Designer for Theatre Alibi and specialises in designing and makeing puppets.Other work includes Assistant Designer on Mr Benn for Tall Stories, installation artist for Punchdrunk on The Duchess of Malfi and work ing as Wardrobe Mistress for Qdos Pantomimes and onboard production shows on the Cunard fleet of ships.

Miranda Thain, Creative Producer (Theatre Hullabaloo)

For Theatre Hullabaloo:

Creative Producer : Miranda Thain

Operations Manager : Sarah Fanning

Tour Coordinator : Diann Allenby

Communications Officer (Maternity Cover) : Phil Douglas

Development Worker : Amy Mitchell

Takeoff Festival : Coordinator Hannah Clarke-Stamp

Finance Officer : Pamela Turnbull