This incredible production was so much fun to work at - collaborating with Max Dovey's Secret Post Office, I was a 1950's Postal Worker, delivering real mail all around the site, made up of 1,800 audience and 300 performers each night.
Manager - 99 Comedy Club
The 99 Club has won Best Comedy Club at the Chortle awards for the last 4 years... Ever since I started working there, in fact. Co-incidence? I think... Well, yes, it probably IS a co-incidence, but it's still good. It's run by comedian James Worenietski, whose priority is getting great acts, which is why I think it works. Every night of the week, in central London.
Character Voiceover - Marilyn Myller by Mikey Please
Production Assistant - Torrents of Rapture, Dugald Ferguson
Dugald is a UK / New Zealand cross disciplinary artist based in Berlin. As his Production Assistant I helped with his international tour of Torrents of Rapture (London, Madrid & norwich).
Torrents of Rapture: A multi media solo show in development about the fall out after a bad relationship told using film, live song, bad ballet, physical theatre, seductive animation and speeches. Supported by Arts Council England. Made in co-production with Norwich Arts Centre and Norwich Pride.
Performer - Lost Lectures, Big Fight Live!
Lost Lectures is brilliant: they pick a strange venue and organise two nights of lectures by a diverse group on speakers, and then mix in a bit of interactive performance. For the Big Fight Live I was Ring Girl and resident tattoo artist. I also got a new claim to fame when Ruby Wax asked me to call her a taxi.
On November 22nd and 23rd 2013 we played host to our feistiest finale to date and plunge to the dingy depths of London’s fight scene in a bastion of bare knuckle brilliance. It was the final knockout event of our 2013 season right here in London. Pound for pound,it was the punchiest one yet, a vintage boxing spectacle with a roster of global heavyweights and hard-hitters from the world of art, science, design and technology and entertainment taking to the ring for a night of knockout inspiration and ideas. Each evening brought a boxing bout straight from the glory days: six world-class speakers, interactive installations, rap vs. poetry battles and of course, a BIG fight to finish things off. The whole event was livestreamed and available for free across the internwebs.
Singer - Hug, Verity Standen
I toured Verity Standen's 'Hug' to various places around the country, including Battersea Arts Centre, The Basement (Brighton) and The Wardrobe Theatre (Bristol).
Each audience member is blindfolded. They are then individually hugged by a singer. Unable to visually gauge their surroundings, participants experience the performance through sound, breath and vibrations of the body as the choir of voices deliver the song. Playing with sense and perspective, HUG is a unique examination of the human voice’s power.
★★★★★ TimeOut:
‘TO FEEL SOMEBODY’S THORAX VIBRATE AS THEY TACKLE AN ELABORATE COUNTERMELODY FEELS LIKE THE MOST IMMEDIATE, VISCERAL EXPERIENCE OF MUSIC AS HUMAN EXPRESSION POSSIBLE, NOT JUST HEARING THE MUSIC BUT FEELING IT PHYSICALLY COARSE THROUGH YOU, YOUR WHOLE BODY SINGING LIKE AN ANTENNA TO HEAVEN.’
★★★★ Exeunt:
‘THERE IS MORE TO IT THAN JUST SENSATION. HUG IS ALSO A STRANGELY CATHARTIC EXPERIENCE, UNEQUIVOCALLY ILLUSTRATING THE POWER THAT MUSIC HOLDS TO MOVE US’
Performative Host - Kitchen Party Pop Up Restaurant
Bourne & Hollingsworth's Kitchen Party was a collection of three pop up restaurants in Clerkenwell Green. Each had a different decor, atmosphere and price - from Rack & Ruin: a medieval style communal dining table with meat grilled in front of you to an underground Russian banquet. I was their door host as Emilia Crimble, setting the unusual tone for the evening.
Voiceover - Hammer it home with Hummus, A Very Successful Business
I did the voiceover for this very successful marketing campaign to sell hummus by A Very Successful Business, run by Dulcimer Cowling and Adam Morley. A sample of their work was screened very successfully at Scribble Pie 9.
Writer/performer - Dear John, comedy sketch show
Creator/performer - The Bureau de 'Change'
The Bureau de 'Change' was an idea that grew out of a fake information point Elise Colledge and I manned at Glastonbury Festival, from which we doled out spurious and ridiculous information. The Bureau is an interactive performance space, in which participants are granted an interview. While we 'bring up their file' we ask them what it is that they want to change, and we then suggest some tongue in cheek ways of them achieving this change. We took the bureau all around the country with huge success, effecting change almost everywhere we went. Commissions included: Latitude Festival, Larmer Tree Festival and the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square.
Performer - 'Fought', Laura Eldret
Laura Eldret's 'Fought' recreated a boxing match, in an art gallery, as a piece of art. I played the part of the ring girl, in various animal guises: round 1 - dog, round 2 - horse, round 3 - eagle. I got proper training from the referee who was the real deal, and he showed me how to strut my stuff - easier said than done with those huge animal masks covering my eyes.
'Fought was intended to bring the spontaneity of a fight into collision with the drama of a predetermined situation. Fought was intended to be boxing stripped of aggression and transformed into an act that resembles a dance or choreographed performance. The professionalism of the boxer's training meant that the punches seemed real.'
Team VDB - Pizzaface, Bertie van der Beek
My brother, Bertie, opened his own pizzeria a few years ago, and proceeded to make pizzas so good it makes it hard for me to enjoy them anywhere else :(
In the early days there were just a few of us muddling through, trying to work out how on earth it was meant to happen. These days he's got professional staff and functioning equipment, and as well as winning loads of prizes from the Pizza & Pasta Association, he's also managed to open a second shop in Brighton. Next stop: London!
Here's a video I made of the original shop:
Locations Assistant - BBC, Cranford
I assisted the BBC locations team with their filming of Cranford, starring Judi Dench and Imelda Staunton.
Performer - Ignorance is Bliss music video, Jon Spanyol
In this music video by Adam Morley, I play not just one, but two whole characters. Different wigs.
Production Manager - One & Other, Anthony Gormley
Production Manager for Artichoke
One & Other was an art project by Anthony Gormley on the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square. For 100 days there was a different person on the plinth every hour. As a Production Manager my role was to get the people up and down safely and deal with any of the myriad problems that arose. I learnt to drive a JCB telescopic handler. See my showreel here:
Cast Manager - You Me Bum Bum Train
If you haven't heard of the you Me Bum Bum Train, don't read this, just buy a ticket. That's if you even can - it's the only theatre I know that sells out almost immediately. At the show I was working on, the Barbican website crashed when tickets went on sale because of the vast, unprecedented response. And with good reason... The show is made up of a series of unrelated scenes, or rooms that the audience pass through, one at a time. I don't want to say too much, just that it's amazing. The year I was Cast Manager we won the Evening Standard for Best Newcomer, and it's still the best thing I've ever seen. Theatre that doesn't like to think of itself as theatre, and people who hate theatre love. As well as people like me, who do like theatre. Anyway................
Locations Assistant - Warner Bros, Harry Potter & the Half Blood Prince
As Locations Assistant I helped the Locations team filming in my parents' village, Lacock. They've filmed parts of all the Harry Potter films here, but in this one they actually feature my parents' house as the house Slughorn is staying in (played by Jim Broadbent). In this trailer you can see the house in the first few seconds.
Researcher for Dispatches - Election Uncovered
I helped the small Dipatches production team research for this programme - analysing speeches of the three candidates.