Craig Byrne: Composition, Sound Design

Craig Byrne is a composer, sound designer, actor and director with over 20 years experience working in theatre, street arts, film and digital media. Craig has worked on over 50 theatre productions as a sound designer and composer, particularly in contemporary circus and outdoor performance. He has collaborated with fine artists for installation work and also has been a sound recordist on over two dozen short films.

As an actor/musician he has been a company member of Cartoon De Salvo, Strangelings and London Bubble, as well as numerous short engagements with companies around the UK and Europe.
In recent years he has developed a close relationship with Bamboozle Theatre Company, creating and touring work for special needs audiences. As well as travelling around the UK this work has taken him to China, Australia and Egypt where the performances have been combined with training and seminars for teachers, artists, academics and medical professionals.

As a director, Craig has created several shows for Dead Leicester (a comic storytelling company celebrating the city.)

Daniel Philipson: Lighting Design & Company Stage Manager

Daniel Philipson, an emerging Theatre Maker and Lighting Designer from South Africa, holds an Honours Degree in Dramatic Arts from the University of the Witwatersrand. He recently debuted as a lighting designer for the Off-West End production of Tinderella at the Union Theatre, gearing up for a 2024 tour.

He led a revue-style production of Bare: A Pop Opera, where he took on roles in design, direction, and production. Daniel also showcased his abilities as a stage and lighting designer in the production of Hallelujah.

What distinguishes Daniel is his profound appreciation for the live element of theatre. For him, the beauty lies in unpredictability, cherishing those moments when things take an unexpected turn. His work reflects his ability to find artistry even in the midst of the unplanned.

For media inquiries, interviews, or further information, contact Daniel Philipson: - Social Media: [@offthegridcreative]
- Email: Daniel@offthegridcreative.com

Gareth Watkins: Writer/Performer

Originally from the South Wales Valleys,Gareth Watkins is an actor, writer and director who has spoken Welsh since childhood. After studying English at Swansea University, he was awarded a scholarship to study acting at the Academy of Live and Recorded Arts, London, and then worked extensively in theatre, film and television.

 

In parallel, he began developing experimental improvised and devised theatre, which led him to study with the MA Theatre Lab at RADA. He has since written two plays: Boy for Life, on the lasting effects of gay conversion ‘therapy’ and The Gentleman of Shalott, his radical reimagining of Tennyson’s poem The Lady of Shalott as a neuro-queer dystopia. He recently published A to B: Conversations on Common Ground.

 

Selected theatre credits: The City and The Town (Rikstearten, National Theatre of Sweden/Hull Truck/Matthew Linley); Triptych (De Oscuro, Wales Millennium Centre, Chapter Arts); Iesu! (Theatr Genedlaethol Cymru - National Theatre of Wales); The Brothers (The Glasgow Citizens).

 

Selected television credits: Heartbeat, Enid & Lucy, Nuts and Bolts (ITV); Jack of Hearts, Pobol y Cwm (BBC).
Selected film credits: My Feral Heart (Dull Boy Pictures); The Secret Life of Michael Fry (Film 4 and Endor); and the soon-to-be-released Blue (Hidden Art Films).

Pete Gomes: Director 

Pete Gomes was born in London to Goan and Burmese parents, and is based in London at Studio Voltaire. He is a transdisciplinary artist working across media art, moving image, sound, music, performance, installation & 2-d work. His work has consistently operated between extensive collaborative and solo performance practices, alongside the ongoing utilisation and staging of cameras as an integrated and essential component of each performance work. This formed the basis for his recently completed doctorate: Unit Model – an improvisatory agential performer camera practice.

This ongoing performer-camera exploration in the form of moving and performance for gallery and screen work includes an extensive international exhibition history including The Tate Modern and the Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona.

 

Selected commissions including 5 major for Shobana Jeyasingh Dance (Phantasmaton [2001], Hinterland [2002], Faultline [2007], Dev Kahan Hai [2012], Translocations [2014]); installation commissions from Furtherfield (Cycle of Purposes SR1 [2012]); Rose Lee Goldberg and Performa Biennial in New York (Performa 09); solo retrospective screening and performance at Whitechapel Gallery curated by Ian White (2004); commissioned performances for Architectural Association (2001) ICA (2003)

Audio-visual collaborations including Michael Nyman, Scanner, Throbbing Gristle; and his performance work Stedelijk Drawing is held in the Stedelijk Museum permanent collection.

Rebecca Hayes Laughton: Producer

Rebecca Hayes Laughton is a BBC trained Producer and Project Manager, who now also works in community and fringe theatre on projects for social change. TV studio manager credits include Have I Got News For You, Graham Norton and Ant & Dec. BBC Commissioning work includes titles for the award-winning Storyville documentary strand.

Having led a Leverhulme Foundation funded arts project in the Calais refugee camp in 2015, she is currently Executive Producer for the long-running Women for Refugee Women programme at the Southbank Centre London. Projects include Hear Her Singing in collaboration with the Hayward Gallery and women in the Yarls Wood immigration detention centre, and my body is/my body is not, a performance project at Southbank Centre with the Rosa Foundation. She is a freelance producer for the BBC Acquired Documentaries commissioning team, a Visiting Lecturer on the Mountview MA in Creative Producing and a trustee of Green Shoes Arts in Dagenham.

Stephen Stephenson: Set Design

Steve is 59 years old, born in and lives in London, with an arts foundation and BA in 3D design. He has been an artist all his life but also spent 30 years on the frontline in the London Fire Brigade.

He usually makes art about grim topics, which have included disease, horrific experiences, gambling and terrorism. More often than not he uses found objects to build with and from, resulting mainly sculptural pieces, and some flatwork. Alongside his own work he has worked for the last 15 years constructing and creating works for the Summer and Winter balls at Chelsea Arts Club. This usually involves building oversize props related to whatever theme a given ball has, usually made from his favourite material, found cardboard. When planning props, he can often be heard stating ‘go big or go home’.