The Players

Amanda Lawrence

Performer

Amanda trained at Bretton Hall. Her work in theatre includes ‘The Wooden Frock', ‘Tristan & Yseult' and ‘Brief Encounter' for Kneehigh; ‘The Firework Maker's Daughter' and ‘Playing the Victim' (at the Royal Court) for Told By An Idiot; ‘Joshua's Egg' for Theatre Centre; ‘Hello You', ‘Ubu Roi', ‘The Cherry Orchard', ‘Fascinations from the Crowd', ‘27' (Total Theatre Award), ‘Hamlet', ‘Fallen Angels', ‘The Pleasure Dome' and ‘Face to Face' for Fecund Theatre, ‘Haharmonics' for Why Not Company; ‘Why The Whales Came' for Theatre Alibi; ‘More Grimm Tales', ‘Animal Farm', ‘The Ballroom of Romance', ‘A Clockwork Orange' and ‘Grimm Tales' for Northern Stage; and ‘The Tempest' and ‘Dr Faustus' for Compass. TV and film includes ‘The News Never Sleeps', ‘Casualty', ‘Tabloid TV' and ‘Andout'.

Andy Brodie

Performer

Cornish born Andy has appeared around the world for ten years as part of the infamous ‘Rhythm Doctors' show band with appearances as diverse as a supermarket in Amsterdam and the Montreal ‘just for laughs' festival.

Following that came more globetrotting with comedy cabaret duo Slim and Slam. Writing credits include the text and music for the last three Christmas productions at Exeter Phoenix Theatre. Appearances for Kneehigh include ‘The Bacchae' and ‘Skulduggery'.

Andy Williams

Performer

Andy's work for Kneehigh includes ‘Brief Encounter', ‘A Matter of Life and Death' and ‘Nights at the Circus'. Other theatre credits include ‘The Play What I Wrote', ‘Grimm Tales' (New Victory Theatre, NY, and Sydney Festival), ‘More Grimm Tales', ‘Jungle Book', ‘As I Lay Dying' and ‘Twelfth Night' (Young Vic), ‘Comedy of Errors' (RSC UK and international tours), ‘Perfect Pitch' and ‘April in Paris' (Basingstoke), ‘Perfect Days' (Library Theatre), ‘Custer's Last Stand' and ‘Vampire' (Secret Agents Theatre Company), ‘Perfect' (Contact Theatre) and ‘Bouncers' (Hull Truck). Film includes: shorts ‘Shoulderhead', ‘Cowbrain', ‘The Colour of Funny', ‘The Killer Comic' and ‘Hypnodreamdruff'. Television includes: ‘Ghost Squad', ‘Waking the Dead', ‘Grown Ups', ‘Midsummer Night's Dream', ‘Casualty', ‘Doctors', ‘Touching Evil', ‘The Bill', ‘London's Burning', ‘Wire in the Blood' and ‘Nightmare TV'.

Anna Maria Murphy

Writer

Anna first started writing for theatre to avoid playing a dog in a Kneehigh ‘Wild Walk.' Writing for the company includes ‘Don John', ‘The Bacchae', ‘The Red Shoes', ‘Tristan & Yseult', ‘Skulduggery', ‘Doubtful Island' ‘Ghost Nets', ‘Women Who Threw the Day Away', ‘Telling Tales', ‘Wild Bride' (The Shamans) and the film ‘Flight'. She has also written for Theatre Alibi, Platform 4, Brainstorm Films, The Eden Project, and several plays for Radio 4.

Annie Siddons

Writer

Annie wrote Rapunzel.Other past work includes the Passion of Jesus Christ for Bristol Old Vic Youth Theatre, Steepholm for BBC, Blazing New World, House, One Last Surviving, for Young Blood, Omphale and xuaxua tcs. Current work includes 1984 with Blind Summit, the Separate Room with Marisa Carnesky, The Great Ghost Rescue for Teater Sagohuset, Flygirl, and the Party (Peggy Ramsay Award). She also plays flute in two baby folk bands.

Bec Applebee

Performer

Bec trained at Liverpool University and the Fooltime Theatre School. She has since performed in many of Kneehigh's shows, including the recent productions of ‘The Red Shoes', ‘Pandora's Box', 'Wagstaffe the Wind-up Boy' and ‘A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings' in Malta, Cyprus and Cornwall. Bec's film work includes ‘Wormy Close' and ‘The Virgin, The Carpenter & The Wardrobe'. Bec has also played on two albums for the Cornish band Dalla, ‘A Richer Vein' and ‘More Salt'.

Carl Grose

Writer

Carl has performed in many Kneehigh shows including ‘Don John', ‘The King of Prussia', ‘The Riot', ‘Pandora's Box', ‘Quick Silver' (which he also wrote), ‘Wagstaffe the Wind-up Boy' and ‘Nights At The Circus'. Other writing credits for the company include ‘Tristan & Yseult' and ‘The Bacchae' (with Anna Maria Murphy). He has also written for BBC TV and Radio. He co-founded the Cornish company o-region, which is currently touring Nick Darke's final play, ‘Laughing Gas'. Carl is currently working on two new plays - ‘Grand Guignol' for Plymouth Theatre Royal and ‘49 Donkeys Hanged' for the National Theatre Studio.

Charlie Barnecut

Performer

A founder member of Kneehigh, Charlie's acting work for the company includes ‘The Bacchae', ‘The Riot' and ‘Wolf'. Radio performances include ‘Island Tales' by Scavel an Gow (Radio 4, July 2004), ‘The Moon is Mine' by Angela May (Radio 4, 2003), ‘Hooked' by Nick Darke (Radio 4) and ‘The Birds' by Daphne du Maurier  (BBC 7). Charlie is also a full time organic farmer.

Craig Johnson

Performer

Craig has performed in many Kneehigh shows including ‘Wolf', ‘Fish Boy', ‘Wild Jam', ‘Quick Silver', ‘Skulduggery', ‘The Bacchae', ‘Tristan & Yseult', ‘Journey to the Centre of the Earth' (which he also directed) and ‘Cymbeline'. Before joining Kneehigh Craig worked as a musician, puppeteer and performer in places ranging from New York City to the Shetland Islands. He has also directed shows for the Eden Project, and currently runs his own company, Squashbox Theatre, which performs in Cornish schools.

Dan Canham

Performer

Dan Canham trained at the University of Exeter. His previous theatre credits include To Be Straight With You for DV8 Physical Theatre,  A Matter of Life and Death, Tristan and Yseult and The Bacchae for Kneehigh Theatre, the title role in Faust for Punchdrunk and the National Theatre, Mother Savage for Travelling Light Theatre Company and West of Nowhere, a site-specific piece he co-created with Laura Dannequin for Theatre Bristol's Why Do You Practice On The Outside? Festival and Bristol Old Vic's Mayfest.

Dave Mynne

Associate Artist

Dave has been an integral member of Kneehigh since it's inception 30 years ago and has worked in many different guises. Dave has been a performer, a prop maker and tour booker. He is now Kneehigh's graphic designer, responsible for designing all Kneehigh's print, posters and programmes. Dave makes a long-awaited return to the stage in Kneehigh's upcoming ‘Don John'

Dom Bilkey

Sound

Dom attended The Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff and after graduating in 2004 started his professional sound career. His engineering credits include ‘Jamaica Inn' (Salisbury Playhouse), ‘The Bacchae', ‘Tristan & Yseult' and ‘Cymbeline' (Kneehigh Theatre). Design credits include ‘The Railway Children' (Sevenoaks Playhouse) ‘Carry On Down the River' (New Theatre Works ‘Wagstaffe the Wind-up Boy' and ‘Rapunzel' (Kneehigh Theatre) and ‘Souterrain' - Cornwall (WildWorks).

Dominic Lawton

Musician/Performer

Dominic studied performance writing and digital arts at Dartington College of Arts and graduated in 2006. He was a member of the National Youth Theatre for 6 years. Dominic worked on Hanging Around (2004) and also co-wrote the music to Antigone at Hell's Mouth (2005), both collaborations between the National Youth Theatre and Kneehigh Theatre. His other work for Kneehigh includes ‘A Matter of Life and Death' and ‘Cymbeline'. Dominic is a singer, rapper and electronic musician. He co-founded Arkane, an alternative hip hop group based in London and was the front man for Gentlemen Rebels, a funk/hip hop band based in Bristol.

Éva Magyar

Performer

Éva Magyar trained at the Budapest Drama and Film Academy, then played the lead in the American film, Understudy. Now a director, actor and choreographer, she runs her own company. The Shamans have been highly acclaimed in Hungary and internationally, winning numerous awards including: Best Actress (Poland), Best Director (Cairo), The Independent Award (California) and The Herald Angel (Edinburgh). In 2002 she performed in ‘Wild Bride', a Shamans show directed by Emma Rice and designed by Bill Mitchell and has also appeared in Kneehigh's ‘Tristan & Yseult' and ‘The Bacchae'.

Giles King

Performer

Giles King graduated from Dartington College of Arts in 1987.Since then he has performed in over 32 Local National and International Tours. Most of these have been with Kneehigh Theatre. Giles has periodically taken time out; Stearing Europe's first theatre ship The Fitzcarraldo. Hosting Caterpillar forklift truck events in Amsterdam and the South of France. Forming the Theatre Band Bagattack. And during the last three years he's trained as a draftsman, had Lola Rose, designed and built his own house. This year he's very pleased to be back with the Wild Works band for The Beautiful Journey. Then later this year performing Kneehigh's Hansel and Gretel at The Bristol Old Vic as well as the Launch of Kneehigh Theatre's... The Asylum 2010.

Gísli Örn

Performer

Gisli has appeared in Kneehigh productions of ‘A Matter of Life and Death' and ‘Nights at the Circus'. Gisli is an actor, writer and director, a co-founder of Vesturport, and an Associate Director of the Young Vic.

Kirsty Woodward

Performer

Kirsty graduated from the University of East Anglia in 2006, studying Drama. She was a member of the National Youth Theatre for four years performing in ‘Murder in the Cathedral' (Westminster and Southwark Cathedrals), ‘Faliraki The Greek Tragedy' (The Lowry), ‘Hanging Around' (on the South Bank) and ‘Antigone at Hell's Mouth' (Soho Theatre). Kirsty has performed with Kneehigh in ‘Cymbeline', ‘A Matter of Life and Death', ‘Blast!' and ‘Rapunzel'.

Alex Vann

Róbert Luckay

Performer

Róbert trained at the Pozsony Theatre Academy in Slovakia, were he won the International Theatre Academy Festival Award for best male performer. As a member of Budapest-based Bárka Theatre, for the last two years, he has contributed to numerous productions. He has worked with the Komárno National Minority Theatre and Kassa Thália National Minority Theatre as an actor and stage manager. In 2005 he performed at Shakespeare's Globe playing Pericles in ‘Pericles' and Adam in ‘Man Falling Down'. Róbert has performed previously with Kneehigh in ‘The Bacchae'.

Simon Harvey

Assistant Director / Performer

He has Assistant Directed on recent Kneehigh shows Cymbeline, Rapunzel, Brief Encounter and Hansel and Gretel.  He has also performed in Wagstaffe the Wind-Up Boy, Journey to the Centre of the Earth, and Tristan & Yseult.

He is also the Artistic Director of the Truro based Theatre / film production company

o-region.  Recent work includes directing the touring show Laughing Gas (by Carl Grose / Nick Darke) and producing and performing in Superstition Mountain (by Carl Grose).  He has also produced the feature films The Midnight Drives by Mark Jenkin and Weekend Retreat by Brett Harvey.

Steve Tanner

Photographer

Steve is a freelance photographer who has been working for Kneehigh since their production of 'Ting Tang Mine' not long after he moved to Cornwall in 1990. He has exhibited nationally with his personal work evolving from travel bursaries to Northern Ireland, Berlin, Eygpt, Russia and Japan. Steve has directed and shot several short dramas and documentaries, including Kneehigh in China, ‘Flight' a collaboration with Director Bill Mitchell and writer Anna Maria Murphy and with Emma Rice on ‘Church of the Lost Cause'. Steve takes the production shots for most of Kneehigh's shows and projects.

Stu Barker

Composer and Musical Director

Shows as Composer and Musical Director include: ‘Don John', ‘Brief Encounter', ‘A Matter of Life and Death', ‘Nights at the Circus', ‘Tristan & Yseult', ‘The Bacchae', ‘The Wooden Frock', ‘Pandora's Box', ‘Roger Salmon', ‘The Red Shoes' and ‘The Itch'. Other theatre includes ‘The Odyssey' and Philip Pullman's ‘Aladdin' for Bristol Old Vic; ‘Clown', ‘Cloudland' and ‘The Stones' for Travelling Light and productions for Welfare State International, Horse and Bamboo, Pentabus and Contact Theatre.

Tristan Sturrock

Performer

Tristan Sturrock's recent work in theatre includes ‘Brief Encounter', ‘The Riot', ‘Tristan & Yseult' for Kneehigh; ‘The Mysteries' and ‘Spanish Tragedy' for the RSC; ‘As You Like It' and ‘Bring Me Sunshine' at the Royal Exchange; ‘Edward II' at Sheffield Crucible; ‘The Beaux Stratagem' and ‘Dolls Heart' at Bristol Old Vic; ‘Jerusalem Syndrome' and ‘Station' at Soho Theatre; and ‘Salome' at Riverside Studios. TV includes ‘Bad Girls', ‘The Royal', ‘The Project', ‘Holby City', ‘Bodily Harm', ‘Menace', ‘Rescue Me', ‘Doc Martin', ‘The Bill', ‘The New Adventures of Robin Hood', ‘Liverpool One' and ‘Wycliffe'. Film includes ‘Saving Grace'. He has worked with Kneehigh for over 20 years.

Pieter Lawman

Pieter trained at RADA. Work for Kneehigh includes ‘Rapunzel', ‘A Matter of Life and Death' and ‘Tristan and Yseult'. Other theatre work includes ‘War Horse' and ‘The Revenger's Tragedy' (Royal National Theatre), ‘The Car Cemetery' (Gate), ‘Reverence - A Tale of Abelard and Heloise' (Goat and Monkey at Southwark Playhouse), ‘Much Ado About Nothing' (Shakespeare's Globe), ‘Closer' (HIFA Festival, Zimbabwe), ‘Jason and the Argonauts' (Beggars Belief), ‘Release the Beat' (Arcola), ‘The Canterville Ghost', ‘Head On', ‘The Three Musketeers' and ‘Tartuffe' (Basingstoke Haymarket).

Work on television includes ‘Lewis' and ‘The Inspector Lynley Mysteries'.

Radio - ‘OK Computer'.

Pete Judge

Mary Woodvine

Patrycja Kujawska

Performer / Violinist

Patrycja studied at the Academy of Music in Gdansk, graduating in violin. She was a guest performer at the City Theatre in Gdynia and sang in the Non-Cabaret of Maciej Nowak in the Baltic Sea Cultural Centre. She has performed with Dada von Bzdulow Theatre since 1994 and composed the music to Dada's performance The Doom of the People or My Liver Has No Sense. In 2000 she was awarded a Gdansk Theatre Scholarship from the City of Gdansk to create a recital of The Ninth Lover of Katarzyna Foster. She danced in Papugaj, choreographed by Tatiana Baganowa and in Avi Kaiser's Endstation - ZASPA. She played as a guest violinist with experimental psychedelic rock band Chlupot Mozgu and appeared on Magic Carpatian’s album “Water Dreams”. For Vincent Dance Theatre Patrycja has made and toured internationally Drop Dead Gorgeous (2001), Let The Mountains Lead You To Love (2003), Punch Drunk (2004), Broken Chords (2005), Fairy Tale (2006), Test Run (2006) and If We Go On (2009). She was awarded a grant from Arts Council England to compose music inspired by French sculptor Sabrina Gruss (2007). The Red Shoes is her second colaboration with Kneehigh - she has performed as Zerlina in Don John.

Edith Tankus

Performer

Edith Tankus  trained at L’Ecole Jacques Lecoq, and L’Ecole Phillipe Gaulier in Paris and Concordia University in Montreal. She is co-founder and co-artistic director of Magpye Theatre, Toronto. For Kneehigh: Wondernurse at Battersea Arts Center and played the title role of “Rapunzel” at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, on a U.K tour and on Broadway. Other work included her award-winning solo shows Hurricane Gerty and Not Yet, At All tour theatres and schools throughout Canada and the U.S.  Her directorial debut, Nearly Lear, is touring through Canada, the U.S., Australia and United Kingdom-including the New Victory on Broadway, the Kennedy Center, Washington, and the Sydney Opera House. She’s worked with Circus Remedy, collaborated on the Gemini-award winning film “Tucked into Bedlam” and has performed in a wide range of television and theatre. She is currently working on an adaptation of Cinderella which will be premiering in Toronto in the Autumn of 2011.

Ian Ross

Musician / Co-Composer

IAN ROSS
COMPOSER
Ian Ross is a multi instrumentalist with around 12 years experience as a performer and composer. With Bristol based ska-hip-hop phenomenon Babyhead and the inimitable high tea lovelies The Zen Hussies, Ian has had extensive performance history ranging from New York fashion week to the Jazz world stage at Glastonbury festival.

For Kneehigh: Brief Encounter (musician), Don John (musician), Hansel and Gretel (Musician and co-composer), King of Prussia 2010 (musician) and The Red Shoes 2010 (musician).

Chris Price

Performer

Theatre includes Oh What a Lovely War (Northern Stage), Dan in Heartbreak Soup (The Empty Space), Stanley in Brief Encounter (Kneehigh), Oberon in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Shared Experience), Sweeney in Dealer’s Choice (Benchmark Productions), Robert Zeinfield in Forget Me Knot (Benchmark Productions), Chief Weasel in Wind in the Willows (Take 6 Theatre) and Nick in To Be Someone (RSC Fringe). Television Includes Steve Mitchell in Badger (BBC)

Joanna Holden

Performer

Theatre includes: Queen Bee (North East Theatre Consortium). Venetian Twins (The Bolton Octagon); Cirque du Soleil’s “ Varekai”. Joanna was a founder member of The Northern Stage Ensemble performing in A Clockwork Orange, Elmur McCurdy, Romeo and Juliet, Edmond, Play, A Ballroom of Romance, Pinochio, Animal Farm and The Elves and The Shoemaker. She has also worked at The Bush Theatre, The RNT, The Royal Court, Sheffi eld Crucible, Perth Repertory, The S oho Theatre (nominated most outstanding newcomer) The Riverside Studios, The Gate Theatre, The Tristan Bates Theatre, The Tricycle, The Polka Theatre , The Gilded Balloon and with Vtol dance company, Cartoon De Salvo, Told by an Idiot and Ridiculismus.