Collaborators
Dom Coyote – Composer & Sound Designer (Pinocchio)
Composer, performer, recording artist and voice coach Dom Coyote writes music for film and stage, records albums, creates theatre, and is a voice coach specialising in Estill Voice Training. He was an associate artist with the internationally acclaimed ensemble Kneehigh and is co-director of WorkYourVoice vocal Studio. Dom is the Artistic Director of Bristol based Coyote Collective and as a well established composer, musician and performer has worked with companies including The British Paraorchestra, The National Theatre, Royal Shakespeare Company, West Yorkshire Playhouse, Cirque Bijou, Battersea Arts Centre, Manchester Royal Exchange and Art Angel.
Annamaria Murphy – Writer in Residence (Pinocchio)
Anna was a member of Kneehigh Theatre, most latterly as a writer (including for Tristan & Yseult with Carl Grose, The Red Shoes, Don John, A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings – puppet version). She has also written for BBC R4 plays and short stories, most recently series 11 of Curious Under the Stars and The Severn Serpent.
Anna has worked on three story and music shows with musicians Bagas Degol, is Artistic Director of The Story Republic and The Writers Block, part of KEAP. With Simon Harvey and Dave Mynne, she wrote The Odyssey & Canterbury Tales and with Carl Grose and Simon Harvey wrote The Illustrated Girl, a play for young people as part of Kneehigh’s Asylum season. For Kneehigh she was also lead artist on their Rambles programme & the Coastal Communities project Random Acts of Art.
Tim Dalling – Performer (Pinocchio)
Tim has been a musical and theatrical performer since 1982. He was a core member of the early Kneehigh Theatre but has worked in many companies, most recently as Father Christmas in Sally Cookson’s The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe. For 25 years he was the kilted fall-guy in comedy folk-trio The Old Rope String Band (and New Rope String Band). Most of his work has involved some combination of music and comedy but he is also known as a serious songwriter and he has been compared to a cross between Ivor Cutler and Randy Newman. He lives in Newcastle upon Tyne.
Jenny Harrold – Performer (Pinocchio, The Man Who Wanted to be a Penguin, The Elves and the Shoemaker, Puppet Panto, The Emperor’s New Clothes)
Jenny is a long-term collaborator with Stuff and Nonsense, devising and performing in several of our shows. She graduated from East 15 acting school in 2004 and is now a trained aerialist, specialising in rope. She has been in several BBC Radio 4 plays including: Schubert and Me, Zauberjackland the Martin Beck series with Lesley Sharpe and Neil Pearson. She toured the UK with her one-woman comedy show finishing with a 4 week run at the Underbelly venue at the Edinburgh Fringe festival and co-produced and devised Unexpected Item -a site-specific, interactive show for the Barbican and Create Festival.
Daniel Rejano – Performer (Pinocchio)
Daniel is a strong physical performer with many years’ experience working within a wide range of venues, both traditional and non-conventional. He trained at Carampa Circus school in Madrid and Estudis de Teatre Lecoq based physical theatre school in Barcelona. Past performance work includes Gandini Juggling, Justice In Motion, PanGottic, Tierra Theatre, Panta Rei and Oily Cart.
Hobbit – Performer (The Gingerbread Man)
Hobbit is an award winning, international performer specialising in acrobatics & hula hoop. She created Acrobatic Adventures: a platform dedicated to the exploration of movement, including circus, stunts, theatre and dance. She trained in handstands and acrobatics at Escola De Cirque Rogelio Rivel in Barcelona and Nanterre in Paris, and has travelled the world working with a variety of companies including Arcadia Spectacular, The Welsh National Opera & Warner Brothers.
Jake England-Johns – Performer (The Gingerbread Man)
Jake England-Johns is a Total Theatre award-winning physical theatre actor, multi-discipline circus performer and the founder of Serious Mischief Theatre Company. Be it in the midst of a juggling act or alone on a storytelling stage, he is an honest and adept physical performer with a deep love of movement technique underpinning all his work. Originally training in acting at Bretton Hall and then later acrobatics at Polinchinelo Circus he has toured nationally and internationally with numerous theatre, circus and street arts companies over the last 13 years. He has a passion for making work for young and family audiences and has always been dedicated to making work with a conscience and a twinkle in its eye.
Loretta Hope – Performer (The Man Who Wanted to be a Penguin)
Loretta’s recent work includes a commercial for Scuf Gaming, a summer of outdoor entertainment across Leicester city and a number of voiceovers, recorded from a home studio setup. Previous theatre credits include Cinderella in Cinderella, Puck in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Peter in Peter Pan. When she isn’t performing, Loretta enjoys painting and illustration, training in circus aerial disciplines and flexing her fighting skills in stage and screen combat.
Steve Salt – Performer (The Man Who Wanted to be a Penguin)
Steve is an actor from Staffordshire Moorlands who trained at The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, Acting (CDT).
Steve’s credits include independent feature film You are my sunshine, UK tour of Macbeth with the Young Shakespeare Company, When the penny clicks With NoEyeDeer Collective at Horton Arts Centre and The sound and the fury at the Pleasance theatre.
Jonny Hoskins – Performer (The Man Who Wanted to be a Penguin)
Jonny is a clown and a teacher. He trained in mime and physical theatre in Paris way back in the previous century, and is still learning. He is delighted to be back with Stuff & Nonsense, having previously performed in 3 Little Pigs and Hare & Tortoise. Like most performers he has ended up doing all sorts of interesting things, including touring the UK and Europe, flying on a wire, stilt-walking, and having fun with lots of interesting people. He has a YouTube channel called Jonny Anyway with short films of clowning, including one where he falls in a bin!
Toby Gascoigne – Performer (Puppet Panto, The Emperor’s New Clothes) and Lyricist (Puppet Panto, The Emperor’s New Clothes and The Gingerbread Man)
Toby has worked with Niki and Stuff and Nonsense since 2000, having spent quite a lot of time playing Sam Lacey in The Elves and the Shoemaker. Toby can best be described as an actor / musician / puppeteer / comedian / writer. While he rarely gets the chance to display all of these skills all at the same time, Toby finds that working with Stuff & Nonsense often presents the perfect opportunity to do just that. As well as making family theatre, Toby can be found doing stand-up comedy, writing and performing his darkly comic poetry and playing in various ludicrous novelty bands. He has also spent some time practicing the art of street theatre. Toby has also created lyrics for our shows Puppet Panto, The Emperor’s New Clothes and The Gingerbread Man. Toby lives just outside Bath with his wife, their daughter and the dog.
Ed Trotter – Assistant Director (The Man Who Wanted to be a Penguin, Puppet Panto and The Gingerbread Man) and various other roles for various productions!
Ed has known Stuff and Nonsense since he did a favour for a friend and worked as their touring Technician on Goldilocks and the 3 Bears, The 3 Little Pigs and The Elves and the Shoemaker in 2015. On the back of that he decided it would be quite good fun to production manage and do the lighting design for The Emperor’s New Clothes and the company decided to do him a favour and let him! The Gingerbread Man in 2018 was his first go at assistant directing for anyone, but he has enjoyed the fresh challenge having spent most of his career in production management for touring dance companies including Candoco and Hofesh Shechter Company.
Maria Gray – Performer (The Adventures of The Little Red Hen and The Enormous Turnip)
Maria trained at East 15 Drama School and Flic Circus School in Turin Italy. Credits include; Machine in The Machine Stops York Theatre Royal/Pilot Theatre directed by Juliet Forster; Beggar in The Beggars Opera York Theatre Royal directed by Damien Cruden; Nurse/Benvolio in Romeo and Juliet Orange Tree Theatre; Full Stop Scribbled Thought/Light the Fuse Directed by Gemma Fairlie and Neil Bettles; Box Clever Theatre Company; Getting There directed by Stephan Burke, Witch in Macbeth, Juliet in Romeo and Juliet directed by Philippe Cherbonnier, Mark and the Marked directed by Kim Sykes; European Tour of Outdoor Festivals with solo show Motor Mouth created by Maria Gray. For Television: O2 Commercial directed by Rocky Morton and for Film; Irreparable directed by Martin Gooch. Maria’s skills include: acrobatics, trapeze, aerial hoop, dance, puppetry, Commedia dell’Arte and mask work, climbing, yoga, writing, Italian and the ukulele.
Gareth Price Baghurst – Performer (The Adventures of The Little Red Hen and The Enormous Turnip)
Gareth has worked as a professional actor-musician for 6 years, and toured the UK and Europe extensively since graduating from Coventry University in 2011. Gareth has worked in a variety of styles of theatre, and many theatre companies across the UK, inc Wooden Spoons Theatre, the Lions part, Rusticus Theatre, Handmade Theatre, Frolicked and Thingumajig to name a few. Gareth is very passionate about live music and puppetry in theatre and co-manages his own outdoor touring, theatre company ‘The Fabularium‘.
Peter Morton – Performer (3 Little Pigs)
Peter is a visual artist who specializes in physical performance and puppetry. He trained at the University of Kent in a Masters in contemporary performance and has since worked with a number of companies including Theatre Temóin, Sparkle and Dark, Hand Held Arts, and The Big Reveal whilst also training with the National Theatre’s War Horse. Peter is also Artistic Director of Half a String who create intricate, clever puppetry performances with live music and powerful stories. www.peter-morton.co.uk
Katie Underhay – Performer (3 Little Pigs)
Katie is an actress, puppeteer and theatre-maker. Since graduating from Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama she has performed in children’s theatre all over the country, created bespoke puppets for theatre and film and taught puppetry to children and adults alike. She is Co-Artistic Director of Mumblecrust Theatre, whose debut production ‘The Tale of the Cockatrice’ won Best Newcomer and Best Children’s Show at Brighton Fringe. Her other work has included performing in theatre in education, musical theatre, and Butlins’ ‘The Skyline Gang’; Director of Puppetry and puppet-maker for new musical ‘Heartwood’; and, most recently, puppeteering the title character in creature-feature short ‘The Mermaid of Mevagissey’.
James Lewis – Tin Shed Scenery
James studied Theatre Design and Production at The University of Wales in Carmarthen, graduating in 2003.
James founded TIN SHED scenery in 2011 and is the Director of the company. TIN SHED is a creative workshop in Hampshire, combining design, scenery construction and bespoke carpentry. TIN SHED consists of a group of talented freelancers who bring specific skills to each project to complement the core team.
As a set designer, James mainly works in theatre although clients include film, exhibitions, schools and themed events. James has worked extensively at the National Theatre Studio supporting the development of many new shows. Productions James has designed have been performed in London’s West End and other London venues, at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, at venues across England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, New Zealand, Greece, Armenia and at The Sydney Opera House, Australia.
James lives in the beautiful Hampshire countryside with his amazing wife, wonderful daughter and 2 fabulous cats.
Matthew Huxley – Composer (Puppet Panto, The Enormous Turnip, The Emperor’s New Clothes, The Gingerbread Man)
Matt Huxley writes music in a lot of different ways for a lot of different people. Working in theatre, circus, film, and as a solo artist, his work has been heard on stage at London’s Young Vic, the Roundhouse, the Lyric Hammersmith, on BBC Three and Four, on Rinse FM and NTS, has been released by Bedroom Community and Cantaloupe Records, and has been toured nationally and internationally. He is one half of the band Strange Boy, who released their debut EP on Glass Guts Records in 2017. Matt grew up in Bridport, Dorset, then studied at Magdalen College, Oxford. He now lives in London.
Edwina Bridgeman – Designer (The Enormous Turnip, The Emperor’s New Clothes)
Edwina has been working as a visual artist for the past 20 years. Her practice is wide-ranging. She originally trained in technical Theatre at Rose Buford and worked for many organisations including Bristol Old Vic and Terry Murphy Scenery. Much of her work now is based in the community. Materials based, the focus of her work is the creation of inclusive, safe spaces where participants have creative opportunities to explore, play and be themselves, including with Elders at the Royal United Hospital in Bath, Mentoring Plus and Forest of the Imagination. She has a huge experience of working in school with all age groups and has undertaken many residencies throughout the country. Edwina’s design work for theatre includes Snow Mouse (the egg/Travelling Light), Can You See Me (the egg), The Illuminating Times of the Darkling Society (Kilter Theatre) and The Emperor’s New Clothes, The Hare and the Tortoise and The Enormous Turnip for Stuff and Nonsense.
Amy Yardley – Designer (3 Little Pigs & Puppet Panto)
Amy works across the spectrum of theatre practice as a Set and Costume Designer for large and small scale productions, creative learning projects, tours, site specific and open air theatre. She trained in Design at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and studied Theatre at Leeds University, starting her career working with masks and puppets at Trestle. Design work includes: Queen’s Hornchurch, Southampton Nuffield, Colchester Mercury, Orange Tree, Hull Truck, Creation, Red Ladder, Headlong, Foursight, Arcola, The Yard, Tangle, Townsend Productions, Talawa, Floods of Ink, Half Moon, The Point, Theatre Temoin, Tamasha and Birmingham Rep. Amy was nominated for an off west end award for ‘I am a Camera’ at the Rosemary Branch and ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ at artsdepot. Recent shows: ‘Around the World in 80 Days’ at the Talimhane Tiyatrosu Theatre in Istanbul and a major UK tour of Shirley Valentine. She was also Design Associate on the UK tours of Footloose and Spamalot. Amy works as a designer/tutor with various youth theatres and drama schools and is a Design lecturer at The London College of Music. She also spent a year as a Drama Teacher and Design Specialist at an International School in Thailand. For Stuff and Nonsense, Amy designed The 3 Little Pigs, and collaborated with Niki McCretton last year on Flea, Bridport’s Community Ukulele Opera.
