Bella Heesom - Writer, performer
As a writer and performer, Bella Heesom makes brave work with unflinching personal honesty, exploring our common humanity in all its flawed fragility and beauty.
Bella trained at LAMDA, before which she studied philosophy at The University of Cambridge.
Acting credits in theatre include: Pandora in The Woman In The Moon (Rose Theatre Bankside & Glastonbury Festival), Shaniqua & Vaz in Happy Ending (a one woman play written for Bella by Kay Adshead), Mia in SexLife and A in 69 (PEEP, Assembly Gardens), Jaime Ann Riley in I Am Sad You Are Dead Mrs T (Theatre 503) and Zainab in Mathematics of the Heart (Winner - Best New Play, Brighton Fringe & transferred to Theatre 503) Everweather in Everweather (Papercut Theatre, Latitude Festival) .
Acting credits in film & TV include: Samantha in The Final Haunting; Alisha Tate in Collider; Yasmin's Nurse in 24: Live Another Day.
Bella is an Associate Artist at Ovalhouse Theatre, where she is developing her next play with Donnacadh O'Briain, Rejoicing At Her Wondrous Vulva The Young Woman Applauded Herself.
'Bella is a prestigious talent as writer, maker and performer.' -- Owen Calvert-Lyons, Head of Theatre and Artist Development, Ovalhouse
Eva Alexander - Actor
Eva Alexander graduated from the University of Bristol with a BA honours in Theatre, Film & Television, followed by a postgraduate diploma in acting from Drama Studio London.
Theatre credits include Hermia in Midsummer Night’s Dream (RNT Education), Worlds Apart & The Wizard of Oz (RSC) Eliza Doolittle in Pygmalion (Tour de Force) Penelope in The Odyssey (London Bubble) Juliet in Romeo & Juliet and Olivia in Twelfth Night (Globe Players Company) Hero in Much Ado About Nothing (Changeling Theatre Company), Sofia in Two Sisters & a Piano (Riverside Studios & on tour).
TV credits include guest spots in Cuffs, Dr. Who, Eastenders, Casualty, Hotel Trubble, Topsy & Tim, Doctors (all for the BBC) as well as series regular in two seasons of The Mysti Show and Hounded (also BBC).
Film includes Annetta in Franco Zeffirelli’s Sparrow, Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows part one - as the moody headphone wearing Italian waitress in the infamous café fight scene.
She’s happiest fooling around as Mariela Frushtuupulu, her heavily moustached Sardinian alter-ego (you can see her in action on her website: www.evaalexander.com).
Eva is represented by Jennifer Lyons Literary Agency in New York City for her writing. Her debut novel is due for release in May 2017 by Kensington Publishing Corp. NYC.
Donnacadh O’Briain – Director
Donnacadh’s recent productions include Always Orange by Fraser Grace for the RSC; and a transfer of his smash hit production of Rotterdam by Jon Brittain, which was awarded an Olivier Award for Outstanding Acheivement in an Affiliate Theatre.
Donnacadh is artistic director of Natural Shocks for whom he created the unique cross art form pop-up theatre PEEP, which featured at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2012 & 2013 as well as the Latitude Festival. For NS he has also directed productions of Leo Butler’s The Early Bird (Finborough, London & Project, Dublin), ‘an imaginative tour-de-force’, Sunday Times; Between Life and Nowhere (Theatre Delicatessen), ‘dazzlingly playful aerial show’ Time Out Critics Choice and a revival of his award winning production of Mathematics of the Heart (London’s Theatre 503).
Other recent projects include: Easter Rising and Thereafter, Lesere by Ashley Holloway (Both Jermyn Street Theatre) Tempest (BOVTS/Redgrave Theatre),The Poet, the Lover and the Lunatic(National Portrait Gallery); Anonymity (National Portrait Gallery) Balzac’s Eugenie Grandet (Assembly – Edinburgh Fringe) and Harold Pinter’s Betrayal (Theatro dell’orologio, Rome). He directs and teaches acting at major drama schools, including RADA, LAMDA, and Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.
Link: www.donnacadhobriain.co.uk
Anna O’Grady – Composer
Anna has been writing her own music on the piano since she was 11. She composed an original soundtrack for a feature length documentary 'Fishbowl' by Stacey Gregg and played/composed piano pieces for productions during her acting training at LAMDA. She also plays the drums, the guitar and the saxophone.
Anna trained at LAMDA. Theatre credits include Pygmalion (Bath Theatre Royal and UK no. 1 Tour), Children of the Sun (National Theatre), The Guinea Pig Club (York Theatre Royal), Our Father, Time Of My Life (Watford Palace Theatre), Family Business (Watford Palace Theatre and Oxford Playhouse). TV credits include Holby City (BBC) and Doctors (BBC). Film credits include Complicit (Channel Four), Black Pond (BAFTA nominated).
Anna has also written and performed her own comedy as part of sketch-group, Mrs Biscuit.
Keegan Curran - sound and video designer
Keegan has worked in theatre and live events for the past 9 years, from production managing open air music festivals with The White Horse Project in East Lancashire to being an audio engineer on an array of corporate music events. Since graduating from The Bristol Old Vic Theatre School as a Sound Designer in 2014, Keegan has been based at Tobacco Factory Theatres whilst taking on various freelance endeavours throughout the country. Previous sound designs: ‘Where we are’ - The Egg, Theatre Royal Bath, ‘Infinity Pool’ - South West Tour, ‘The lion, the witch and the wardrobe; a musical’ – The Redgrave Theatre, Bristol; ‘Blue Stockings’ and ‘The Winters Tale’ – Tobacco Factory Theatres, Bristol.
Elizabeth Harper - Designer
Elizabeth has recently graduated from the MA Theatre Design course at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. Prior to this, Elizabeth graduated from Nottingham University in 2011 with an MA in Ancient Drama and its Reception, focusing on the stagecraft of Greek Tragedy and its influence on the modern stage. During her time at university,Elizabeth worked on many shows for the award winning Nottingham New Theatre including Bluebird by Simon Stephens, which was then performed at the National Student Drama festival in 2011.
As well as theatre design, Elizabeth works an artist and has created pieces for several London hotels as well as private commissions. Recent theatre design work includes Costume Designer for The Grand Gesture (Tobacco Factory Theatres), The Boy on the Swing (Brewery Theatre), Set Designer for The Heresy of Love (Bristol Old Vic studio).
CHRISTOPHER NAIRNE - Lighting Designer
Recent theatre work includes: Teddy, Johnny Got His Gun and Our Ajax (Southwark Playhouse); Around the World in 80 Days (Cambridge Junction & The Tobacco Factory, Bristol), Lionboy (Complicite - Tricycle Theatre & world tour), Little Light (Orange Tree Theatre), Coolatully (Finborough Theatre), Sense and Sensibility (Watermill Theatre, Newbury), The School for Scandal (Park Theatre & Theatre Royal, Bury), Dracula (for Theatre Royal Bath), Fiesta: The Sun Also Rises (Trafalgar Studios), Shallow Slumber (Soho Theatre) and A Dish of Tea with Dr Johnson (Out of Joint - Arts Theatre & UK tour).
Opera includes: Vivienne (Linbury Studio, Royal Opera House); Facade/Eight Songs for a Mad King and The Impresario (Melos Sinfonia); The Adventures of Count Ory (Blackheath Halls Opera); Belshazzar (Trinity Laban Conservatoire); Albert Herring and La Calisto (Hampstead Garden Opera); Albert Herring (Surrey Opera); The Cunning Little Vixen (Ryedale Festival Opera); La Bohème (OperaUpClose; 2011 Olivier Award winner).
Edinburgh fringe 2016 run - underbelly
matthew lister - producer
Matt is an independent theatre producer, executive producer of Bucket Club and current Farnham Maltings Producing Fellow. He has recently produced the award winning shows, Lorraine & Alan and Captain Morgan, and regularly tours work nationally. Matt has six years experience of bringing shows to the Edinburgh Fringe, and alongside My World Has Exploded A Little Bit, he will be working on Bea Roberts' Infinity Pool and Bucket Club's Fossils in August 2016.
camden fringe 2015 RUN - TRISTAN BATES THEATRE
ESH ALLADI – ACTOR
Esh trained at LAMDA.
Theatre credits include: The Beaux Stratagem (dir. Simon Godwin) Dara (dir. Nadia Fall), Behind the Beautiful Forevers (dir. Rufus Norris), From Morning to Midnight (dir. Melly Still), Romeo and Juliet (dir. Bijan Sheibani) all at National Theatre, War Horse Prom (Royal Albert Hall), Boxer Beetle (Rich Mix), Wind in the Willows at Birmingham Rep
On television Esh has appeared on the BBC television drama 'Frankie'.
Radio credits: Death and Dying, Dementia
STEFANIA PROCTER - STAGE MANAGER
Stefania trained in Professional Stage Management at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, and since graduating in 2014 has been Stage Manager on ‘An Elephant in the Garden’ (The Northcott Theatre, Exeter and The Brewery, Bristol) and Deputy Stage Manager at Guildford School of Acting’s Showcase. She been Assistant Stage Manager on a variety of shows including ‘Sleeping Beauty Pantomime’ (Perth, Scotland), ‘Sam Wanamaker Festival 2014’ (Shakespeare’s Globe), ‘The Wedding Singer’ (The Lowry, Manchester), ‘Parade’ Musical (The Crescent Theatre, Birmingham) and will be ASM on ‘The Graduate’ at The Crescent in September.