(she/xyr)

Emma Frankland is an award-winning writer, performer and theatre maker, originally from Cornwall in the UK.

Visually stunning and playfully destructive, her practice contains strong imagery which is often messy, intense and celebratory. Recent work has centred issues of gender and identity (published by Oberon Books as “None of Us is Yet a Robot - Five Performances on Gender Identity and the Politics of Transition”).

“Emma Frankland is the punk rock angel of your dreams and nightmares…” (The Stage)

Emma’s diverse collection of work includes We Dig (a show which literally demolished Ovalhouse theatre with a company of trans women and femmes); an anarchic adaptation of Don Quijote which was featured in the British Council Showcase and Gender Messy - a show for young people created with her son, Joey.

She also works as a director and dramaturg and has collaborated with many artists including Rachel Mars, Travis Alabanza, Harry Clayton Wright and with multiple organisations in the UK and around the world including the Young Vic, Buddies in Bad Times, Stratford International Festival, the BBC and Marlborough Productions. Her work has been performed around the world and she has performed live in Sao Paolo; Rio de Janeiro; Jakarta; Toronto; Belfast; Paris and throughout the UK.

“This is a body of work that is not only about trans identities and gender fluidity but in which these things become catalysts for an expansive exploration of the kind of lives we want to lead and the kind of world we want to live in. This is vital and extraordinary work” (Andy Field, Forest Fringe)

(he/they)

Mydd Pharo is an award-winning Designer, Director and Visual Dramaturg working in theatre, opera, TV, Film and live event, creating both intimate and epic scale installations and productions throughout the UK and internationally. His work primarily focuses on immersive and interactive audience experiences and expands both conventional performance spaces and discovered ones.

He is Artistic Director of Wildworks, an international site-specific theatre company specialising in large-scale performances in unusual locations.

Mydd studied Theatre Design at Wimbledon School of Art and Fine Art Installation at Falmouth College of Arts.

Mydd has exhibited selected works at the V&A Museum London.

He has also designed works for:

Kneehigh Theatre, Wildworks, The Globe, The Royal Court, Punchdrunk, 1418NOW, NationalTheatre, National Theatre Wales, National Theatre Scotland, Battersea Arts Centre, Lyric Hammersmith, Young Vic, Paines plough, Stratford East, The Eden Project.

(he/him)

Andy Kesson is a theatre historian and teacher who works with experimental, fringe and mainstream theatre companies and practitioners, from Emma Frankland to the Royal Shakespeare Company. He has led research projects on the earliest English playhouses (BeforeShakespeare.com), the history of bears in England (BoxOfficeBears.com) and the contemporary performance of early modern plays (GalateaProject.org), and runs the education platform ABitLit.co. He is the author of John Lyly and Early Modern Authorship, the editor of essay collections on print popularity and early English theatre, and works across the fields of literature, performance, archaeology, ancient-DNA analysis, animal studies and queer, trans and disability studies.

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Vicky is a choir director and choral composer based in West Cornwall.

In the mid 90’s they accidentally formed The Singing Nuns and have worked with choirs ever since. They have been Musical Director on several WildWorks projects and have recently composed for Re-Voice, a collaboration with theatre director Agnieszka Blonska, exploring intangible cultural heritage. In 2023 Vicky will be Musical Director for John Lily’s Galatea. They direct three choirs and their passion is getting everyone to sing even if they think they cannot!

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Duffy is an Associate Director for this production, having worked with them in their R+D two years prior. Duffy is an established BSL consultant / translation support in both theatre and TV/film industry. Duffy worked on several Shakespeare productions such as RSC’s As You Like It / Taming of the Shrew / Troilus and Cressida. Duffy is currently on tour: ELF & DUFFY: HEIST - a comedy show featuring mime, BSL and visual vernacular (VV).

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Nemo is a London-based British East Asian writer and theatremaker. In their many lives they stage manage trans and BESEA shows, write audio dramas like Trice Forgotten, plays like zaazaa and [The Cobbled Streets of Geneva], musicals like ASIAN PIRATE MUSICAL, and they are a PhD candidate, researching race and gender in Les Misérables. nemomartin.com

(she/her)

Aneesa Chaudhry is a woman with a huge zest for life, all that it can offer & all that she can offer to it! She is one of few British Asian women singing on the jazz & world music and LGBTQ+ scene, making waves with her voice and performances.

“Aneesa Chaudhry showed the audience exactly how accomplished a musician, singer and performer she is. The Brunswick was packed to the rafters’ James Ledward, GScene

Aneesa trained as a Barrister and loves helping people find their inner voice. She is a passionate Confidence Coach for Speakers & Singers developing skills with their voices & performances. She is the musical director of 5 community choirs, including 3 charities: Rainbow Chorus, (the largest and longest running LGBTQ+ choir in the South of England), RC+ Monthly Choir and Martlets Hospice Good Vibrations Choir, St Wilfrid’s Hospice Choir and Local Vocal Parents Pub Choir. She helped to set up the European Queer Choir and was the first MD to lead singers from across Europe in performances in front of over 7000 people at the USA GALA choirs festival after only 10 hours of rehearsal.

She has a huge passion for helping people to make a BIG difference in their own lives and the lives of others.

'I loved every second of your workshop! I didn't know I could achieve so much so quickly and your direction and enthusiasm made for a magical experience. I particularly enjoyed singing in 4 part harmony and improvising - something I never knew I could even do!’ A Lieberherr, Switzerland

aneesa@aneesachaudhry.com

(they/them)

As Creative Captioner and Video Designer: A Dead Body in Taos (Bristol Old Vic and UK Tour); The Solid Life of Sugar Water (Orange Tree Theatre & JMK Award); Endurance (Jenny Jackson); Midnight Movie (Royal Court, with Joshua Pharo); Future Bodies (RashDash, with Joshua Pharo)

As Video Designer: The Crucible, This Beautiful Future (Yard Theatre)

As Lighting Designer: The Burnt City (Punchdrunk, as Lighting Associate); Belonging (Tangled Feet); Let Loose (Unicorn Theatre and English National Ballet); Dirt, WOW EVERYTHING IS AMAZING, Fire in the Machine, Phenomena: a Beginner’s Guide to Love and Physics (Sounds Like Chaos); Voodoo (Project O); punkplay (Southwark Playhouse)

Born and bread in Buenos Aires Argentina, Maria Eva Russo is a textile artist and researcher with over 25 years of experience in the creative industries working as a wardrobe professional. She studied Film at Buenos Aires University and has a Master's in Sustainable Design from the University of Brighton, where she also worked as a research assistant for an Interreg project. Eva supervised the shows onboard of the Cunard Liners and Celebrity Cruises and led their wardrobe teams for nearly a decade. She also taught at the summer workshops of the Central School of Speech and Drama in London for several years, and her textile work has been published in Vogue UK as well as exhibited in Norway and Spain.

Wildworks is the UK’s leading landscape theatre company. From our base in Cornwall wemake site-specific theatre with communities locally, nationally and internationally. We reach audiences and collaborators all over the globe. Everyone is invited.

Our work attracts people who do not go to the theatre. We’re to be found on beaches and woodlands, car parks, nightclubs and disused quarries, anywhere from derelict department stores to medinas, and from refugee camps to castles.

Collaboration and partnerships are central to our process. The lived experience of local people is at the heart of our work and without their participation, the work cannot happen.

Our process starts with a conversation, often with marginalised communities, who help us shape the telling of everyday human stories in ways that are familiar and re-imagined.

We started in Cornwall, and that remains our emotional and physical home. Many of our company members and associates live here and we draw inspiration from Cornwall’s extraordinary natural and post-industrial landscape. We continue to build on Cornwall’s long history of working outdoors, turning Cornwall’s lack of infrastructure into a positive, by working in the landscape rather than traditional theatre venues.

Our practice is shaped by the defining features of Cornwall: a place in which artists naturally collaborate across artforms and with communities; a peninsula somewhere on the edge that looks outwards to the world.

Our work is predominantly site-specific live performance with elements of exhibition, audio/visual, digital media and film. We tell universal stories in ways that are highly visual, making use of diverse media. Our productions resonate and are enjoyed by people across all ages and cultural backgrounds. An important part of our purpose is to support the next generation of landscape theatre makers and artists.

Everything we do is measured against our values; human, brave, fluid and experimental.

Marlborough Productions is a catalyst for queer culture and community.

We are a leading UK producer of queer-led, intersectional performance, parties, heritage and radical community gatherings

Led by Creative Director Tarik Elmoutawakil and Executive Director David Sheppeard, Marlborough Productions is a pioneering organisation that advances equality and social justice through producing intersectional queer culture.

Over the past ten years, Marlborough Productions has been recognised nationally & internationally for commissioning innovative new work from extraordinary artists, reclaiming spaces to create and share culture and developing communities.

Our Values

Queer – centring intersectional experiences of identity and how this relates to privilege and/or oppression

Decolonial – committed to challenging white supremacy and supporting anti-racist action

Rigorous – realising cultural projects to the best of our ability to ensure enriching experiences.

Caring – working with artists and communities in an accessible way that prioritises People

Responsive – welcoming critique and striving to do better

Joyful – recognising the importance of joy for all LGBTQIA+ people in a world that often tries to rob us of it.