FEATURED WORK
The Dog With Two Dads
For Little Earthquake
Commissioned by Midlands Arts Centre"Here in Hometown are two million people. Night and day their lives unfold. And in amongst those two million people, one small story must be told..."
A show with songs about two papas and a pooch, celebrating families of every shape and size, and being loved for exactly who you are. For ages 5+ and their adults.
The Stolen Year
For Little Earthquake
Commissioned by Midlands Arts Centre as part of Celebrating Age"I'm telling you far more than my friends and family know about me..."
An immersive audio installation in which twelve older people told their moving and funny stories of living through the Covid pandemic — from moments of despair and panic, to the occasional illegal hook-up — celebrating the power of hope for the future and taking pleasure in small things.
Rocket Fuel
For Little Earthquake as part of MoonFest
in collaboration with Kaye Winwood ProjectsCommissioned by Midlands Arts Centre
In space, no one can hear your tummy rumble.
An immersive dining experience inspired by Neil Armstrong’s in-flight menu during his journey to the Moon. An edible adventure that was truly out of this world, combining surround sound, 360° projection, opera, live camera feeds, performers and an 8-course meal.
MoonFest
For Little Earthquake
In partnership with Midlands Arts Centre and University of Birmingham"We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard."
A nine-day cross-artform festival to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing, timed to start the very second Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins were launched into space five decades before.
I Ain’t Afraid Of No Ghost
The dead can scare us. The dead can protect us. Sometimes, the dead just want to steal our KitKats.
Winner of National Rural Touring Award's Performance of the Year.
A tongue-in-cheek deconstruction of autobiographical theatre and a comic exploration of a childhood haunting where nothing is quite what it seems — all wrapped up in some formidable fashions and set to a cheese-tastic chart-topping soundtrack.
The Boy Who Became A Beetle
For Little Earthquake as part of Young Producers
Commissioned by Black Country TouringWith live music, a sprinkling of songs, riotous action and thrilling transformations, The Boy Who Became A Beetle was a funny, messy and moving new show for everyone who knows what it’s like to feel different.
For ages 5+ and their adults. Loosely based on Franz Kafka’s Metamorphosis. Created in collaboration with 100 primary school children as part of Little Earthquake and Black Country Touring's Young Producers project.
Dramaturg, Performer, Producer, Sound Designer & Composer, Writer, Programmer, Director, Facilitator, Curator, DeviserFeatured, Artist Development, Audio, Film & Digital, Education, Exhibitions & Installations, Festivals, In-Training Productions, Participation, Sector Support, Theatre, TrainingLittle Earthquake
Our only commandment: Thou Shalt Not Bore.
Little Earthquake makes interdisciplinary experiences for intergenerational audiences in Birmingham and beyond. Co-led with writer Philip Holyman and working in collaboration with participants, communities and other artists. Associate Theatre Company at Midlands Arts Centre.
PAST ADVENTURES
How To Disappear Completely And Never Be Found
Little Earthquake's eighth production as Associate Theatre Company in Residence at the University of Birmingham's Department of Drama & Theatre Arts
A fast-paced, cinematic and unsettling version of Fin Kennedy's award-winning play. It takes more than a new identity to escape the reality of who you are inside.
The Bluebeard Trilogy
Little Earthquake's seventh production as Associate Theatre Company in Residence at the University of Birmingham's Department of Drama & Theatre Arts
Three contemporary responses to the Bluebeard myth, rehearsed and performed entirely via Zoom during the Covid-19 pandemic. A group meet online to process the news that one of their mates is a serial killer in Caryl Churchill’s Bluebeard’s Friends. A panicked curator tries to wrangle the monstrous egos of conceptual artists in Philip Holyman's Bluebeard’s Art Club. A frazzled director grapples with #MeToo in Philip Holyman's Bluebeard’s On The Radio.
Oedipus
Little Earthquake's sixth production as Associate Theatre Company in Residence at the University of Birmingham's Department of Drama & Theatre Arts
Created, rehearsed and performed entirely via Zoom during the Covid-19 pandemic, live TV news kept the cameras rolling in real time as the tragedy of Oedipus became eerily intertwined with the chaos of our own global crisis.
Animal Farm
Little Earthquake's fifth production as Associate Theatre Company in Residence at the University of Birmingham's Department of Drama & Theatre Arts
Two bites of the Orwell apple, one scuppered by Covid in Tech Week and one marking a defiant post-lockdown return to live performance. Same set, different ensemble, eighteen months apart.
A permanently timely tale of who and what is considered expendable as the Manor Farm pigs make their unstoppable shift to the far right.
Grimm Tales Retold
Little Earthquake's fourth production as Associate Theatre Company in Residence at the University of Birmingham's Department of Drama & Theatre Arts
Jacob and Wilhelm’s famous fairy stories get a Little Earthquake-over, with four new adaptations showing familiar characters in a dark new light. Spiked with black humour and sprinkled with gore, these tales are decidedly Grimm and deliciously unexpected.
A Tale Of Two Chippies
For Little Earthquake
Commissioned by Creative Black CountryAn attempt to carve out a whole new sub-genre, the souvlaki Western. A saga of bitter rivalry between Greek and Turkish chip shop owners, exacerbated by a Bulgarian migrant playing both sides off against each other.
Written and directed by Philip Holyman.
Orlando
Little Earthquake's third production as Associate Theatre Company in Residence at the University of Birmingham's Department of Drama & Theatre Arts
With the help of a band of biographers, Orlando re-tells, re-lives and re-edits their five-century search for the perfect partner and the perfect poem. A lively, witty and fast-paced version of Virginia Woolf’s gender-bending novel, adapted for the stage by Sarah Ruhl.
The Good Sisters
Little Earthquake's second production as Associate Theatre Company in Residence at the University of Birmingham's Department of Drama & Theatre Arts
Friendships and family ties soon come under strain when a million Green Shield stamps and a limitless world of free prizes are at stake. A rowdy and raucous production of Michel Tremblay’s masterpiece Les Belles-Soeurs in a Northern dialect version by Noël Greig.
Even The Ghost Is Lying
For Little Earthquake
Commissioned by Birmingham Literature FestivalA promenade piece around the giant book rotunda of the Library of Birmingham. Guided by unreliable narrators, audiences were split into groups and led on a winding journey up and down travelators and along normally inaccessible balconies, perfect for telling a story of menace, marriage and murder.
Written and directed by Philip Holyman. Based on Ryūnosuke Akutagawa’s stories which inspired Akira Kurosawa’s film Rashōmon.
The Bitter Tears Of Petra Von Kant
Little Earthquake's first production as Associate Theatre Company in Residence at the University of Birmingham's Department of Drama & Theatre Arts
Marking the 70th anniversary of Fassbinder’s birth, home truths flowed faster than the gin and tonics in this classic melodrama from the boozed-up bisexual bad boy of German cinema, all set to a sizzling soundtrack of German kitsch pop classics.
Professor Harry Hackett and his Box of Treats
For Little Earthquake
Commissioned by Birmingham REP and FlatpackA theatrical treasure hunt — complete with clues hidden in bags of popcorn and candyfloss, and a secret coded message on a flock of Hook-A-Ducks — climaxing in an exclusive vaudeville show from Professor Harry Hackett and Miss Tuppence Change.
Deviser & Performer – Stan’s Cafe
Devising and performing for meta-theatrical legends Stan's Cafe. Work includes: Deviser for Of All The People In All The World (Perth, London and Birmingham); Performer in Finger, Trigger, Bullet, Gun (Birmingham and London).
The Tell-Tale Heart
Edgar Allan Poe’s story of murder in the dark transformed into a thrilling live Foley experience. Featuring a wordless and entirely bloodless eight-minute dismemberment sequence conjured up with mime, manipulated sound and a whole greengrocery’s worth of fruit and vegetables.
It’s Only A Paper Moon
A fantastic voyage which spanned three continents, four hundred years and half a million miles. Mixing multimedia and multiple languages, It's Only A Paper Moon entwined four stories about lunar landings and lycanthropy, the birth of cinema and the miracle of conception. The show offered new insights into the pock-marked sphere of stone hovering up in the night sky and a new appreciation of how extraordinary the world is down here.
The Year Is Twenty-One
For Little Earthquake
Commissioned by Pilot NightsA 21st birthday party for a man coming of age to fulfil his diabolical destiny. Rosemary’s Baby repackaged as a cupcake-fuelled intervention, offering a chance for Andy and his audience to take charge of their own fate.
Celluloid Adventures
For Little Earthquake
Commissioned by FlatpackA series of immersive film screenings for Flatpack: The Queen Ant Made Me Do It! (Empire of the Ants, directed by Bert I. Gordon); Operation Red Soup (The Witches, directed by Nicolas Roeg); Popcornocchio (Pinocchio, directed by Ben Sharpsteen and Hamilton Luske); Bunny Games (Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, directed by Robert Zemeckis).
Guilty Feet Have Got No Rhythm
For Little Earthquake
Commissioned by Lichfield FestivalCelebrating the centenary of the first public radio broadcast, six actors brought Salome’s scandalous story to life in a pitch black auditorium, using Foley sound effects and the limitless power of the audience's imagination.
Writen and directed by Philip Holyman.
The Houdini Exposure
Fuelled by guilt and grief, Harry launches a moral crusade which tears his friendships apart and sees death threats rain down on him from his enemies in this world — and in the world beyond.
The Haunting
Leaving the safe confines of the theatre, we invited audiences into the dark, enveloping shadows of England’s reputedly haunted halls, houses and hotels. Heritage properties across the country hosted an unforgettable theatrical event, an evening quite unlike anything audiences had experienced before.
Hit The Baby, Natasha!
A radical reimagining of Chekhov’s Three Sisters, told from Natasha's perspective and populated with an ensemble of puppet and human actors.
Written and directed by Philip Holyman.
Spines Will Tingle
An intimate evening of gentle chills and pleasing terrors from some acknowledged masters of the macabre.
The Masque of the Red Death
A tense, claustrophobic thriller based on Edgar Allan Poe’s short story of the same name. Whatever you do… don’t wear red.
The Premature Burial
Obsessed by Edgar Allan Poe’s stories of untimely interment, our lonely hero lives in mounting terror of being buried alive. When his waking hours become a living nightmare, he resorts to increasingly desperate measures in his battle against a fate worse than death.
Written by Philip Holyman.
Madman
Little Earthquake's very first production — an inventive, highly-charged version of Nikolai Gogol’s gripping short story Diary of A Madman. Reason and order fall spectacularly apart when Poprishchin falls truly, deeply… and madly in love.
