MARKETING PACK 2016

Adapted and co-directed by David Stuttard Co-directed and starring Tamsin Shasha Assistant Director – Justin Murray

Cast –

Dionysus – Tamsin Shasha Pentheus – Colin Kiyani Teiresias/Chorus – Janna Fox Cadmus – Patrick Knox Agave/Chorus – Danielle Bond Chorus – Lizzie Buckingham

Sound Design – Matt Eaton Lighting Design – Edmund Sutton

Cast

TAMSIN SHASHA – DIONYSUS

Tamsin trained at Oxford School of Drama, Ecole Philippe Gaulier and National Centre for Circus Arts. She co-founded aod in 1993 and for them has worked as producer, performer, director and movement coach. She is an experienced classical actress and aerialist and has collaborated on the majority of aod’s productions working with many leading theatre and dance practitioners including Marcello Magni (Complicité), Thea Barnes (Phoenix Dance) and currently with George Mann (Theatre Ad Infinitum) on Helen. She co-wrote and performed the solo aerial drama, Bacchic (national and international tour) working with award winning director, Jonathan Young with whom she co-wrote Helen. She has played many tragic and comic roles for the company including Medea, Antigone, Dionysus, Hekabe and Lysistrata and most recently directed a new version of the latter for its national Spring 2016 tour . Other theatre credits include Misterioso (Riverside Studios), The Extraordinary Cabaret of Dorian Gray (West End) and Hippolytus (Hope Theatre).

PATRICK KNOX – CADMUS

Patrick Knox has toured with AOD in Electra. Other theatre includes People’s Day (Pleasance Theatre), Someone to Blame (Kings Head), The Sutton Hoo Mob, A Dulditch Angel, The Edge Of The Land (Eastern Angles), The Canterbury Tales (Theatre Royal Nottingham), Macbeth (Orange Tree), The Winter’s Tale, The Alchemist, Richard III, The Comedy of Errors, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Macbeth (Third Party Productions), Hamlet, Dr Faustus, The Marriage of Panurge (Medieval Players), The Merchant of Venice (Watermill Theatre). TV includes Keen Eddie (Paramount), Them And Us (BBC), Doctor Faustus (BBC). Film includes Little Dorrit, The Fool (Sands Films).

JANNA FOX – TEIRESIAS / CHORUS

Janna is originally from Leeds and trained on the 1 Year Course at Drama Studio London 2010/2011. She has worked in Film, Theatre and T.V since. Janna has toured as far afield as Brits Off Broadway in Manhattan, New York (59e59 2009) with Brighton based theatre company Two Bins. Last summer she completed a UK and Ireland open-air tour playing Elizabeth Bennett in Pride and Prejudice and Helena/Snug in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Earlier this year she played Sussie in Reza De Wetts African Gothic at The Park Theatre for Two Sheds and will be starting 2017 playing Verda in Lil Warrens Strange The Road at The Hope Theatre, Islington.

DANIELLE BOND – AGAVE / CHORUS

Danielle graduated from the London School of Musical Theatre winner of the John Pocock Cup. Previously she studied at Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh.

Theatre includes: 'Macbeth' (The Attic Theatre, Stratford-Upon-Avon), 'The Baker's Wife' (Drayton Theatre, London), 'Spend Spend Spend' (Bridewell Theatre, London).

Credits whilst training include: Mary in 'Merrily We Roll Along', Sue in 'RSVP ASAP,' Rosalind in 'As You Like It', Joyce in 'Top Girls'.

Danielle is delighted to be making her debut with Actors of Dionysus in 'Bacchae'.

COLIN KIYANI – PENTHEUS

Colin Kiyani is a recent Musical Theatre graduate from the Urdang Academy where his credits whilst training included The Baker in The Bakers Wife, Emcee in Cabaret, and Hamlet in What’s in a Name - Shakespeare Shorts. Theatre credits include Nick Piazza in Fame (EU Tour), Teen Angel in Grease (EU Tour), Prince Charming in Cinderella and Aladdin in Aladdin both for Harrogate Theatre, Romeo in Romeo & Juliet (UK Tour) and recently Melchior in Spring Awakening (Young Actors Theatre). Colin first worked with AOD in September performing the title role in Alexandros, again in March with Lysistrata, and is delighted to be working with them again on Bacchae.

LIZZIE BUCKINGHAM – CHORUS

Lizzie trained at the Northern School of Contemporary dance followed by the Urdang academy. Training credits include Gertrude in Seussical the Musical and The Baker's Wife in The Baker's Wife. Lizzie's professional credits include Aladdin in Eva Long Productions Pantomime (tour), Chorus in Hippolytus (The Hope Theatre), Scout in The Den (Swan Wharf), featured dancer in White Cane (film), Laura in Auditions The Musical (The Headgate Theatre) and Joanna in Love Lost (TALOS/The Chelsea Theatre). Lizzie played Cassandra in AOD's Paris Alexandros in 2015 and more recently Myrrhine in their 2016 tour of Lysistrata. She has recently returned from 3 months in Beijing working a a facilitator for UKCI on their forthcoming production of the Magic Paintbrush at the Beijing Poly Theatre.

Creative Team

DAVID STUTTARD – ADAPTOR

David Stuttard took an MA in classics from St. Andrews University. He founded aod in 1993, and was for many years its Joint Artistic Director. He has published his own translations and adaptations of Greek tragedies and comedies, many of which he has directed in the UK and in classical theatres in Turkey and Albania. His reconstruction of Euripides’ Trojan Trilogy premiered at The British Museum in 2007. Books include An Introduction to Trojan Women (Company Dionysus 2005), Looking at Lysistrata (Duckworth Press 2010) and AD 410, The Year That Shook Rome (with Sam Moorhead, British Museum Press 2010). He is currently writing Power Games: The Greek Olympics of 416 BC to be published by The British Museum Press in 2011. He is also collaborating with Sam Moorhead on a book on Roman Britain (for Thames and Hudson). David frequently works around the Mediterranean with The Traveller and Westminster Classic Tours, for whom he is a consultant. You can read his blog at www.davidstuttard.com

JUSTIN MURRAY – ASSISTANT DIRECTOR

Justin recently graduated from a Classics degree at Durham University and is thrilled to be working in the Classical sphere again. Previous directing credits while at uni include 'Cloud Nine' by Caryl Churchill (Hill College Theatre Company), 'Antigone' by Jean Anouilh (Aidan's College Theatre), 'Gilbert is Dead' by Robin French (Aidan's College Theatre, and Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw (Oooook! Productions). He is also Artistic Director of new production company Catharsis Theatre, and recently wrote and directed a new adaptation of Euripides' 'Hippolytus' at arts festival Art in Action.

MATT EATON – SOUND DESIGNER

Matt is a sound designer and composer in theatre and film. He is an associate artist at Creation Theatre Company.

Recent work includes, Titus Andronicus and Ravens (USF Florida), Kethra (Kuwaiti Pavilion at the Venetian Biennale of Architecture), I’m an Aristocrat Get Me Out of Here, (UK tour), Wuthering Heights (UK tour). Break The Floorboards (Watford Palace Theatre and tour), On the shore with Caution (Scheer, Germany)

Sound designer and musical arranger, Aladdin and his Magical Lamp, The Snow Queen, Rapunzel and the Magic Pig (Creation, Oxford)

Composer, Shadow Shows (Edinburgh International Film Festival), Nosferatu (Warwick Arts Centre), The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari (Midlands Arts Centre),

Film and TV credits: The Gambler (BBC Radio 3), Volkswagen and British Telecom advertisements, Channel 4 Films, BBC 2’s Horizon'

Music production clients include Domino Records, Warp Records, Klangbad music.

Matt releases music on the Domino Recordings record label.

EDMUND SUTTON – LIGHTING DESIGNER

Edmund Sutton has a physics degree from Bristol University.

Tour management and re-lighting credits include 'Shhh!' (UK, C 12 Dance Theatre), ' So It Goes' (UK, On The Run), 'Finding Joy' (UK, Vamos Theatre), 'Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde' (TNT, Italy), 'Macbeth' (TNT, Germany), '. Other work includes lighting designs for Italian, French, Armenian, Iranian, and Indian theatre, opera, concerts, and exhibitions.

He has also worked for Luxam, lighting exhibits in the refurbished Ashmolean Museum and the Museum of London Docklands.

He is a member of the Association of Lighting Designers and the Institute of Physics. Reviews of previous aod productions

“A superb performance, bringing the text to vivid contemporary life. I urge you to see it.” EdinburghGuide on Bacchic

“Outstanding, exquisite, inventive and seamless. Crisp, delicate and layered – this is a rare piece of theatre.” The Stage, Bacchic

“Gripping stuff, as sharp as steel and wholly accessible. Superb.” The Stage, Oedipus

“Tamsin Shasha gives an incredibly sexy performance.” The Stage, Bacchic

A bold, vis “A highly accessible, no-nonsense approach to the contemporary staging of classical texts has won [aod] an enviable reputation for making Greek tragedy seriously sexy.” The Guardian

“seriously special….spare, muscular.…elegant pace and effective choreography.” Chelmsford Weekly News, Grave Gifts

“They bring tears to the eyes and make the hair at the nape of the neck bristle... Let nothing stop you from seeing them.” The Times

“This is an athletic, sensual, ritualistic staging. In language that is often highly poetic, the many layers of meaning in this ancient story are fully explored.” Glasgow Herald, Grave Gifts

“Stunning, absorbing, seductive magic.” Aberdeen Press and Journal, Bacchae

“A strongly visual, almost cinematic experience, strong on sensuality and eroticism.” Sheffield Telegraph

Company Information aod is a UK theatre company which tours nationally and internationally with productions of Greek drama, or new writing based on classical myth reimagined for modern audiences. Underlying our work is a passion to ‘make magic from myth’ by producing compelling, urgent and powerful theatre performed in an accessible, inventive and exciting way. We also have a strong commitment to education and developing new audiences.

There are 3 strands to our work: i) aodProductions - High profile performances to mid scale national & international touring venues ii) aodEducation - Educational performances and outreach programme iii) aodEvents - High end occasional events at exclusive venues

Making magic though myth…………creating work that resonates, inspires & provokes. aod was founded in 1993. Since then, it has produced over 30 productions of ancient Greek drama, performing to over 500,000 people and becoming the UK’s leading theatre interpreters in this field.

During this time we have delivered a radical and highly visual reworking of classic plays and worked with a number of notable collaborators.

These include actors such as Jane Asher, Simon Russell Beale, Tom Conti and Fenella Fielding and practitioners such as Thea Barnes (Phoenix Dance), Lindsey Butcher (Gravity and Levity), Marcello Magni (Founder Member, Complicite), John Nicholson (Peepolykus), Toby Park (SpyMonkey) and Jonathan Young (Freelance Director). aod has toured extensively throughout the UK and Eire, performing regularly at venues including Theatre Royal Bath, York Theatre Royal, the Brighton Dome, The Rose Theatre, Kingston and London’s St James Theatre in Victoria. aod have also taken their work to international festivals including The Edinburgh Festival and High Fest in Armenia, and performed in Greece, Turkey, Croatia and Albania.

Company Biographies

TAMSIN SHASHA – ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

For aod Tamsin has worked extensively as performer, aerialist, director, workshop leader and movement coach, collaborating on her solo aerial show, Bacchic with award winning director, Jonathan Young; Matilda Leyser (Line Point Plane); Lucinka Eisler (Inspector Sands); Simon McCorry (Creative Cabin) and Katharine Williams. Most recently she played the title role in the aerial version of Medea for aod. Prior to that she played Lysistrata as part of their National tour. Previously collaborated with co-founder, David Stuttard (writer and adaptor) on many past aod shows working jointly with Thea Barnes (former Artistic Director Phoenix Dance) on Medea and Marcello Magni (Complicité) on Oedipus. She is also a freelance performer and director and other theatre credits include The Extraordinary Cabaret of Dorian Gray in the West End and Nica (Pannonica Rothschild) in Theatralia’s Misterioso at Riverside Studios and at Edinburgh Festival. She has just released a new CD of Sappho poetry with Fenella Fieldling called The Sweetness of Honey and is currently working on a new writing/devised project inspired by Helen of Troy called Helen, both for aod.

MARK KATZ - EDUCATION OFFICER

For aod has worked extensively as a performer as well as their Education Officer and workshop leader, including lead roles in Electra, Trojan Women, Antigone and Grave Gifts as well as Jason in the Audiobook of Medea and various roles in the Face Of Tragedy DVD. Mark has designed and run many workshops for aod and other organisations both in this country and abroad and specialises in Greek Drama and modern comedy! Other acting credits include roles in touring productions of Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, Great Expectations, The Tempest, Jungle Book and many others.

He has worked extensively in film and TV and most recently appeared in new film Connected and is currently rehearsing for a new feature film Walls (to be shot in October 2014). He has appeared in commercials and on BBC Childrens TV. Mark also works extensively in both the Corporate Theatre world and sketch comedy and has performed regularly at The Edinburgh Festival.

MILL GOBLE – DEVELOPMENT OFFICER

Mill is a freelance producer and general manager, and has been running her own company, Atomic Force Productions, since 2011. During this time she has provided general management and marketing support to various companies, including Something For The Weekend (Jeremy Meadow and Suzanna Rosenthal), Stormy Teacup Theatre, KPS Productions, Extempore Theatre, and Louise Chantal. In 2010-11 she participated in the Stage One Apprenticeship Scheme for New Producers, spending 6 months working for Colin Ingram Ltd opening Ghost The Musical, and 6 months working for Seabright Productions Ltd on a variety of touring, West End, and Edinburgh Fringe productions, including Showstopper! The Improvised Musical, Steven Berkoff’s Oedipus, Cabaret Whore, The Fitzrovia Radio Hour, and Potted Potter, as well as the general management of the Terror 2011 season at Soho Theatre (Off West End Awards nomination for Best Entertainment).

Prior to her Apprenticeship, Mill worked for several years as a freelance producer for various fringe companies, after graduating from Royal Holloway with a BA (Hons) in Classical Studies and Drama, and an MA in Greek Theatre Performance. She is excited to be reigniting her passion for Greek drama through her work with aod.

VOLUNTEERS

ROSIE NIBLETT – GRAPHIC DESIGNER

A university graduate from Camberwell College of Arts part of the University of the Arts London, which is widely regarded as one of the world’s foremost art and design institutions. She studied an FDA course in Graphic Design and is now a freelance Graphic Designer. For aod she been updating our website and using her creativity to initiate improvements. aod are a well-established company and is giving Rosie the experience of working while volunteering for us. Her website is www.cargocollective.com/RosieNiblett.

Press Release

Press Release Euripides’ Bacchae at Osterley House

National touring theatre company, Actors of Dionysus, will be bringing Euripides’ Bacchae to Osterley House in Isleworth this Summer. This thrilling open-air production will take place on the Temple Lawn in the grounds of this beautiful National Trust property from 29th-31st July.

Euripides’ masterpiece of rejection and revenge pits the uptight King Pentheus against the powerful demi-God Dionysus on his return to his homeland Thebes. When the newly crowned Pentheus forbids any worship of this new God, Dionysus unleashes the savage anger of his women - the Bacchae, and the battle commences. This is a powerful exploration of the seductive nature of cult and the ability of power to corrupt. See who wins in this ultimate power struggle.

Featuring a talented ensemble, and elements of aerial and physical theatre, this performance promises to be a spectacular event bringing classical Greek drama alive for a modern audience.

Adapted and co-directed by David Stuttard, and starring Tamsin Shasha as Dionysus, it will be a return to original Greek texts after aod’s recent success with their new piece Helen (a contemporary piece based on the myth of Helen of Troy) at Brighton Fringe, which was described as “an inspired piece of theatre, meticulously presented” (Brighton Argus), and “astonishing and unforgettable” (Fringe Review).

The Temple Lawn at Osterley House provides a perfect backdrop to the production, with the Grecian-style Temple of Pan centre stage, and with performers draped around the surrounding trees and lawns creating a sense of wonder and spontaneity. Performances start at 7.30pm and audiences are encouraged to arrive early and bring a picnic to enjoy or purchase food on site.

Tickets are £17 full price (£12, concs & children 14+), and can be booked now via www.nationaltrust.org.uk/osterley-park-and-house/whats-on or on 0844 249 1895.

More information on Actors of Dionysus can be found at www.actorsofdionysus.com .

ENDS

Press enquiries – Mill Goble – [email protected]

Facebook: www.facebook.com/aodtheatre

Twitter: @aodtheatre

Instagram: @aodtheatre

Tamsin Shasha: Artistic Director [email protected] 07957 471949

Mark Katz: Education Officer [email protected] 07903 390087

Registered address: 25 St Lukes Road, Brighton, BN2 9ZD | [email protected]