Explore every episode of the podcast Regrets, I've Had a Few

Turning down his initial audition for Harry Potter, dreaming of scoring for Aston Villa over winning a BAFTA and things coming full circle; from watching his dad in Henry V at Shakespeare’s Globe as a child, to recently tackling the part himself at the RSC. All of this and more is discussed in this episode of Regrets I’ve Had A Few, featuring celebrated actor Alfred Enoch.

About Alfred Enoch
THEATRE INCLUDES: Henry V (RSC); A Midsummer Night’s Dream {for one night only} (Shakespeare’s Globe); An Oak Tree (Young Vic); White Rabbit Red Rabbit (@sohoplace, West End); Pericles (RSC); As You Like It (@sohoplace, West End); Romeo and Juliet (Shakespeare’s Globe); Crave (Chichester Festival Theatre); What A Carve Up!, The Picture of Dorian Gray (online); Tree (Young Vic/Manchester International Festival); Red (Wyndham’s, West End); King Lear (Manchester Royal Exchange/Birmingham Rep); Coriolanus (Donmar Warehouse); Timon of Athens, Antigone (National Theatre). 

TELEVISION INCLUDES: Run Away (Netflix); Miss Austen, Trust Me, Troy: Fall of a City, Sherlock (BBC); The Couple Next Door (Channel 4); Foundation (Apple TV); How To Get Away With Murder (ABC); Mount Pleasant (Sky); Broadchurch (ITV). 

FILM INCLUDES: The Critic, This Is Christmas, Executive Order, Tigers, The Harry Potter series. 

RADIO INCLUDES: The Duino Elegies, The Kiss of the Spider Woman, Anna Karenina, Darkness. 

Taking early inspiration from Wayne Sleep and Les Dawson, relishing the art of mockery and the importance of being a constantly dripping tap. All of this and more is discussed in this episode of Regrets I’ve Had A Few, featuring director, writer, performer and activist, Simon Startin.  

Meeting Paul in a field in Holland, the early days of working as one half of The Right Size and turning his hand to film directing. All of this and more is discussed in this episode of Regrets I’ve Had A Few, featuring double Olivier Award winning theatre director and performer, Sean Foley.

Embodying the spirit of a tree on stage, notable music hall ancestors and claiming to be an unbeatable table tennis champion. All of this and more is discussed in this episode of Regrets I’ve Had A Few, featuring theatre director and Complicité’s Senior Creative Producer, Tim Bell.

What ignites the beginnings of a design, taking inspiration from the grotesque to the world of film and the importance of mentors throughout your life. All of this and more is discussed in this month’s episode of Regrets I’ve Had A Few, featuring the three Naomi Wilkinson Award for Stage Design winners, Ioana Curelea (2019), Lulu Tam (2022) and Sonya Smullen (2025).

About Ioana Curelea

Ioana (she/her), is a queer Eastern European set and costume designer based in London. She works across theatre and film, building visual worlds that are rooted in politics, psychology, and lived experience.

She trained at Wimbledon College of Arts UAL (BA and MA in Theatre Design), and now teaches on the MA course there as well as Central Saint Martins and East 15 Acting School. She also runs guest sessions and creative workshops in places like the London Screen Academy. Teaching is an essential part of her practice—a two-way exchange that constantly recharges her creative approach.

Most of Ioana’s work sits in devised and physical theatre, often circling themes like power, identity, displacement, and survival. She tends to gravitate toward projects that amplify marginalised voices and challenge conventional forms. Long-term collaborators include sanctuary company PSYCHEdelight, Open Sky, and Turtle Key Arts.

About Lulu Tam

Lulu Tam is a scenographer who likes to explore the relationship between materials, body, and space in performance. She trained on the MA Scenography at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and now she teaches Performance Design at Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

 Theatre credits include: The Mountaintop (Curve Theatre); The Children’s Inquiry (Southwark Playhouse); Bindweed (Mercury Theatre); Showdown (Chamäleon Theater, Berlin); I Really Do Think This Will Change Your Life (Mercury Theatre); Woodhill (Edinburgh and UK Tour); The Killing of Sister George (Told by an Idiot at New Vic Theatre); Wáltsáil Abhaile (An Taibhdhearc); A Pretty Shitty Love (Theatr Clwyd); The Prince (Southwark Playhouse); This is Paradise (Traverse Theatre); Lit (Nottingham Playhouse/High Tide Festival); Seeds (Pleasance Theatre); Red/Chaos (ArtsEd); Invincible (Stephen Joseph Theatre, UK Tour, Off-Broadway Tour) and A Winter’s Tale (Les Kurbas Theatre, Ukraine).
 
Awards include: Linbury Prize 2015 (finalist); Taking the Stage, British Council (winner); World Stage Design 2017 (selected designer) and Naomi Wilkinson Award for Stage Design 2022 (winner).

About Sonya Smullen

Sonya is a set and costume designer from Glasgow who graduated from Wimbledon College of Arts with a BA in Theatre Design in 2022. Her focus is to make exciting new work that celebrates playful and devised processes. 

Design credits include: How Does Santa Go Down The Chimney? (Told by an Idiot / Unicorn Theatre); Three Sisters (WCA Theatre); Wasted (Lyric Hammersmith); The Poetry Brothel: I Spit Roses (The Century, Soho); Four Felons and a Funeral (Pleasance Theatre, Birmingham Hippodrome); Lose the Path, Find your Way (Arts Depot); Listen to The Forest (Tramway, Roxy Assembly); Speed Queen (Museum of Comedy, Soho Theatre); Callisto (Jermyn Street Theatre).

Living between cultures and the impact this has on theatremaking, navigating the pull between self-led work and collective creativity and a preference for Bolivian Salteñas over Coventry Godcakes. All of this and more is discussed in this month’s episode of Regrets I’ve Had A Few, featuring award winning theatre maker, Jennifer Jackson.

About Jennifer Jackson

Jennifer Jackson is a Midlands-born, award winning British-Bolivian theatre-maker, movement director, choreographer, and performer whose work exists at the meeting point of performance and the excitement of a sports spectacle. 

With Jennifer Jackson Company, Jennifer creates exhilarating and empowering experiences for audiences and participants which invites them to dream into new kinships and cosmologies, and her performances encompass theatre, contemporary dance, live art, Bolivian folk dance, martial arts, and co-creation. Drawing from her mixed-heritage, Jennifer tells stories that speak to her diasporic heritage; exploring power & gender biases.

Jennifer’s recent production, Wrestleladswrestle, features a gang of 30 local women and non-binary folk who are trained to playfight with her. Her solo work, Endurance, was shortlisted for the Stückemarkt at the Theatertreffen (Berliner Festspiele, 2022). 

She has been presented at Battersea Arts Centre, HOME Manchester, Sheffield Crucible, Cambridge Junction, The Lowry and The egg (Bath Theatre Royal). She was the inaugural artist to be awarded the Artist Takeover at Factory International, and has been supported by Britten Pears; Choreodrome (The Place, London); Theaterhaus Mitte (Berlin); Barbican Open Lab; Jerwood Arts; Leverhulme Arts Scholarship; Without Walls;  MGC Futures; The Lowry; The egg; Sheffield Theatres; and Oxford Playhouse. She was invited onto the ‘Scene Change Residency’ in 2023 by Battersea Arts Centre, HET Theater Festival, and Nederlands Theater Festival. In 2024, Jennifer presented at Caravan Assembly, and was selected to pitch Endurance at Manchester International Festival 2025.

As a movement director, Jennifer’s recent credits include The Last Stand of Mary Whitehouse (Nottingham Playhouse); Bindweed (Mercury Theatre); Cowbois, Julius Caesar, and Two Gentlemen of Verona (RSC); as well as I, Joan, Merchant of Venice, and Macbeth (Shakespeare’s Globe).

The wicked Queens unruly mirror, being chased by flaming torches and sharing the stage with the wild man of Billingham (aka our wonderful Idiot Stephen Harper). All of this and more is discussed in this month’s episode of Regrets I’ve Had A Few, featuring Mercè Ribot and Patrícia Rodriguez of award winning theatre company, Little Soldier.

About Little Soldier

Little Soldier Productions is a London-based theatre company founded in 2010 by Patricia Rodríguez and Mercè Ribot. From the beginning, we wanted to create a platform to explore how clowning and physical comedy could be used to subvert traditional modes of making theatre.

Since then, our work has been presented at leading theatres in the UK, US, Mexico, Poland and Spain. We have been supported by HOME Manchester, Battersea Arts Centre, Jackson’s Lane and Ovalhouse in London, and Arts Council England. In everything we make, we try not to let go of the joy and recklessness we believe are essential to comedy. At the same time, we use those same tools to provoke questions—sometimes uncomfortable ones—for ourselves and our audiences, about theatre and about life.

We’re drawn to exploring ideas around authorship, genius, success, and canon. Our shows are made through a collaborative process with other professionals - including acclaimed directors, writers and dramaturgs Kirsty Housley, Ursula Martinez, Adam Brace and Aitor Basauri - whose knowledge and experience feed directly into the work. Research and documentation are at the core of each project, which we test on stage before sharing it publicly. Each production is imagined as a space for thinking and for play.

“A riot of invention and risk-taking” THE SCOTSMAN

“These clowns know exactly what they’re doing” THE GUARDIAN

For more information, visit: https://littlesoldierproductions.co.uk/  

Hauling boxes as Josie Rourke’s removal man, his lifelong love for Les Mis and taking the helm as Artistic Director of Birmingham Rep earlier this year. All of this and more is discussed in this month’s episode of Regrets I’ve Had A Few, featuring celebrated director Joe Murphy.

About Joe Murphy
Joe Murphy joined The Rep in March 2025, following a transformative five-year tenure as Artistic Director at the Sherman Theatre. During his time there, the theatre saw record-breaking audience numbers, staged over 18 world premieres, and earned nominations for both The Stage’s Theatre of the Year Award and the Sky Arts Theatre Award. Joe was previously Associate Director at The Old Vic and before that Soho Theatre, and formerly the Artistic Director of new writing company nabokov.

His directing work spans both national and international stages touring work to New York, Moscow, St Petersburg, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Singapore and Bengaluru (Bangalore).

Joe’s directing credits include Woyzeck and No’s Knife for The Old Vic, Housemates, Christmas Carol, Odyssey 84 and Dance to the Bone for the Sherman, What I Learned From Johnny Bevan, which won two Fringe First Awards at Edinburgh and ran at Soho Theatre. He was Associate Director for Wolf Hall Bring Up the Bodies with the RSC in Stratford and the West End.

Joe’s earlier credits include The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas for the Children’s Touring Partnership, Bunny (Fringe First Award winner), and Blink, which toured the UK and New York. He also directed Virgin by EV Crowe at Watford Palace Theatre and Incognito by Nick Payne at the Bush Theatre.

Additional highlights include the 2nd May Response Plays at The Bush, featuring work by James Graham, Penelope Skinner, and Jack Thorne, and the West End run of Ghost Stories at the Duke of York Theatre.

Joe brings to The Rep a bold artistic vision, a deep commitment to new writing, and a proven ability to connect with audiences through powerful, thought-provoking theatre.

Her mum’s tendency to cover her dad in ketchup, accidentally becoming an actor and writing a song about racism that went viral. All of this and more is discussed in this month’s episode of Regrets I’ve Had A Few, featuring Olivier nominated singer, songwriter, actor and playwright, Anoushka Lucas.

About Anoushka Lucas
Anoushka Lucas is a singer, songwriter, actor and playwright. With a debut album championed by Jamie Cullum, Anoushka has built a career that successfully straddles the worlds of music and theatre. To date she has been nominated for an Olivier Award (Best Actress in a Musical, 2023), an Evening Standard Award (Best Playwright, 2023) and she is a recipient of a Stage Debut Award (Best Writer, 2023). Her second album, Make Believe, will be out in 2026. 

Sleeping in her dad’s guitar case as a child, being inspired to become an actor by Eddie Murphy’s performance in Beverley Hills Cop and the importance of not having something to fall back on. All this and more is discussed in this month’s episode of Regrets I’ve Had A Few with stage and screen actor, Amaka Okafor.

About Amaka Okafor

Amaka is one of the UK’s most exciting rising stars. She recently filmed the female lead in Black Rabbit, a limited series for Netflix starring Jason Bateman and Jude Law. Directed by Bateman, Justin Kurzel & Laura Linney, it will be released in late 2025. It has also been announced that Amaka will star in Secret Service for Pot Boiler and ITV opposite Gemma Arterton. 

In 2023, Amaka led the cast of Netflix/Moonage Pictures hit drama Bodies, opposite Stephen Graham; and 8-time BAFTA nominated BBC drama The Responder. In film, Amaka starred as one of the four female leads in Coky Giedroyc’s Greatest Days, the glorious Take That movie-musical. She has also built a fantastic reputation in the UK with an incredible range of standout theatre. Working with some of our finest directors and dramaturges including Robert Icke, Lyndsey Turner and Rufus Norris. 

Being star struck by Les Dawson, realising you ‘re not as good an actor as you thought you were and following in the footsteps of legendary figures Mike Bradwell and John Godber All this and more is discussed in this month’s episode of Regrets I’ve Had A Few with Hull Truck’s Artistic Director, Mark Babych.

About Mark Babych
Mark is the Artistic Director of Hull Truck Theatre where he has directed: The Borrowers, Pinocchio, Pop Music, Ladies Unleashed, Teechers Leavers 22’, 71 Coltman Street, The Railway Children, Romeo and Juliet, Prince Charming’s Christmas Cracker, Two, Peter Pan, A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian, Paragon Dreams, Oliver Twist, Mighty Atoms, A Christmas Treasure Island, The Gaul, Educating Rita, Martha, Josie and the Chinese Elvis, Sleeping Beauty, Dancing Through the Shadows, The Ladykillers, Cinderella and A Taste of Honey. 

He has directed a wide range of classic and contemporary theatre, new plays and Shakespeare, and his work has been seen throughout the UK, Republic of Ireland and Europe, including the Vanemuine Theatre in Estonia. He has twice won Fringe First Awards at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and several Manchester Evening News Theatre Awards for Best Production. Between 1999 and 2009, Mark was the Artistic Director of the Octagon Theatre, Bolton, where he directed over 47 productions, including work by Arthur Miller, Shakespeare, Martin McDonagh, Conor McPherson and new plays by Tanika Gupta, Alan Plater and Les Smith. He has held senior posts at several theatres, including Community Director at Oldham Coliseum, Associate Director at Worcester Swan Theatre, and Associate Artist at the Belgrade Theatre, Coventry, and Theatre Absolute, for whom he directed the award-winning Street Trilogy. 

Other theatre credits include: To Sir With Love (Royal & Derngate, Touring Consortium and UK tour); Cooking With Elvis (Derby Theatre); Blonde Bombshells of 1943 (Hampstead Theatre and UK tour); Wuthering Heights (Aberystwyth Arts Centre and Welsh tour); The Last Days of Judas Iscariot (LAMDA); Auto (Vanemuine Theatre, Estonia); All the Way Home (Library Theatre in association with the Lowry); Associate Director of the 2011 production of the Olivier Award-winning The Railway Children; co-creative director of The Complete History of Drinking in the Northern Quarter for Northern Quarter Stories and Co-creative Director of Littlebigman Films. 

Film and television credits include: Blackburn (Littlebigman Films); Burner and Bedlam (ALRA North); and Coronation Street (ITV). 

Sliding down bannisters at Bristol Old Vic, throwing snowballs at his headteacher and his journey from The Wardrobe Ensemble to becoming Artistic Director of Royal & Derngate, Northampton. All this and more is discussed in this month’s episode of Regrets I’ve Had A Few with celebrated director Jesse Jones.

About Jesse Jones

Jesse Jones joined Royal & Derngate as Artistic Director in July 2023. Jesse co-founded the multi-award-winning company The Wardrobe Ensemble, has been Associate Artistic Director at Paines Plough and first worked with Royal & Derngate in 2015 as Resident Assistant Director supported by a Regional Theatre Young Directors Scheme bursary. In 2011 Jesse founded The Wardrobe Theatre where he was Co-Artistic Director until 2015 and is currently a trustee of Shoreditch Town Hall. 

Most recent directing credits include The Jolly Christmas Postmanand Simple8’s Moby Dick in association with Royal & Derngate. Other notable directing credits include Mog the Forgetful Cat, a co-production between Royal & Derngate, the Old Vic and Wardrobe Ensemble, West End hits Death Dropand its sequel Death Drop Back in the Habit, Sorry You’re Not a Winner for Paines Plough, and the world premiere musical adaptation of Pippi Longstocking, for Royal & Derngate and Wizard Presents. Other collaborations between Royal & Derngate and The Wardrobe Ensemble include Education, Education, Education and The Last of the Pelican Daughters. Productions for The Wardrobe Ensemble also include 1972: The Future of Sex and WINNERS. Other credits include The Wind in the Willows for The Core at Corby Cube, The Grandfathers with the National Theatre and Bristol Old Vic, For the Record at Pleasance Theatre, This Perfect World for Theatre Royal Bath, Exceptional Mercy for The Old Vic, Building the Wall at The Bush Destiny at Tobacco Factory Theatres and Guttermouth, Wildbore and Scumbag for Wardrobe Theatre. 

Watching Blood Brotherson stage every year, hurtling down a mountain together and embarking on their first UK tour; The Intrusion. All this and more is discussed in this month’s episode of Regrets I’ve Had A Few with international Lecoq-trained ensemble and Told by an Idiot associate company, Bric a Brac Theatre. 

About Bric à Brac Theatre

Bric à Brac Theatre are a Lecoq trained devising company that champion feminist theatre to address taboo subjects. Unafraid to push the boundaries, their collaborative practice aims to tackle challenging current affairs and showcase stories that deserve to be seen onstage. Combining various theatre mediums, Bric à Brac creates work that causes their audiences to become proactive and ask questions, all whilst maintaining the desire to develop meaningful connections. 

Playing numerous roles within the same production, early ambitions of becoming a surgeon (before he realised the amount of work it involved) and reaching number 46 in the UK music charts. All of this and more is discussed in this month’s episode of Regrets I’ve Had A Few, featuring celebrated performer and seasoned Idiot, Nick Haverson.

About Nick Haverson

His Theatre credits include: The Cat and the Canary (Told by an Idiot & Chichester Festival Theatre);The Yeoman of the Guard (The Grange Festival); Charlie & Stan (Told by an Idiot); Loves Labour’s Lost & Won (Much Ado About Nothing) (RSC Stratford & Haymarket London); Too Clever By Half (Royal Exchange Manchester, Told by an Idiot); Ben Hur (Watermill Newbury); The Devil and Mr.Punch (Improbable, Philadelphia USA/ Barbican UK); ‘1984’ (Northern Broadsides); Low Pay, Don’t Pay (Salisbury Playhouse); The Lost Voice (Southbank Centre); The Venetian Twins (Bolton Octagon); Ruby Moon (Northern Stage); Satyagraha (Improbable at London Coliseum/Metropolitan Opera House, NY); Theatre Of Blood (Improbable at The National Theatre); The Hanging Man (Improbable US tour & Sydney Opera House); And The Horse You Rode In On, Beauty & The Beast (Told by an Idiot); The Pirates of Penzance (Orange Tree, Richmond); The Solid Gold Cadillac (Garrick); By Jeeves (Duke of York /Lyric); The Magic Carpet (Lyric Hammersmith).

TV credits include: Scott & Bailey; Tales from the Old Bailey; The Mimic; Thank God You’re Here (series); Ashes to Ashes; Spooks; New Tricks; Casualty; Head Over Heels (series, for which he also recorded the title song ); Murder Rooms -The Dark Beginnings Of Sherlock Holmes; Sunday; A Fatal Inversion; Last Days of Ashenden; The Bill; Redemption; Devices and Desires; Absolutely True; Wyrd sisters (The Worst Witch 2).

Films include: Matriarch; Muppets Most Wanted; Tim Burton’s Sweeney Todd; Hilary & Jackie; Susie Gold; The Tales of Despereaux (animation); Gulliver's Travels; Men Who Sleep in Cars.; Original Skin (BBC short); Gli Zii (short); Sherman (Short).

Radio: Hilda, The Barchester Chronicles, Two to Tandem, Men Who Sleep in Cars, By Jeeves (BBC Radio 4); The Edge (BBC Radio York). 

Making her stage debut at 4 years old with Cirque Du Soleil, time away from the limelight studying social sciences, and the responsibility of playing iconic figures on stage. All of this and more is discussed in this month’s episode of Regrets I’ve Had A Few, featuring Olivier award nominated performer, Audrey Brisson.

About Audrey Brisson
Audrey trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama. She also studied Classical Singing at Cegep St-Laurent, Canada. As a child and teenager, Audrey worked extensively with the Cirque Du Soleil as a vocalist and acrobat. She performed in their international tours of Reinvente and Quidam and the Cirque Du Soleil 30th Anniversary Concert.

Theatre includes: The Land of Might-Have-Been (Buxton Opera House); Jekyll and Hyde (Reading Rep Theatre); Into The Woods (Theatre Royal Bath); The Flying Lovers of Vitebsk (Live Stream) (Bristol Old Vic Theatre/ Wise Children); Nominated for Best Actress in a Musical for the Olivier Awards 2020 and Best Performance in a Musical for the UK Theatre Awards 2019 for her performance in the title role in Amélie The Musical (The Other Palace Theatre/ Hartshorn-Hook/ Selladoor/ Watermill Theatre); Marina in Pericles (National Theatre); Jiminy Cricket in Pinocchio (National Theatre); she reprised Bella Chagall in The Flying Lovers of Vitebsk (Bristol Old Vic Theatre/ Edinburgh Festival) which Won the Carol Tambor Best of Edinburgh Award, Gelsomina in The Strada (UK Tour & The Other Palace); Dea in The Grinning Man (Bristol Old Vic); Bella Chagall in The Flying Lovers of Vitebsk (Kneehigh); Juliet in Romeo and Juliet (Rose Theatre, Kingston); Dead Dog in a Suitcase & Other Love Song (Kneehigh); The Elephantom (National Theatre); Miss Hedgehog in The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe (Kensington Gardens); The Wild Bride and Midnight’s Pumpkin (Kneehigh).

Banging trays in family performances, the role of theatre in instigating social change, and the comfiness of Rufus Norris’ chair. All of this and more is discussed in this month’s episode of Regrets I’ve Had A Few, featuring the National Theatre’s Director of Public Acts, Emily Lim.

About Emily Lim

Emily Lim is a director whose work explores theatre making as a form of community building and radical joy. She works with professional and community artists in settings ranging from schools and theatres to community centres and international festivals. Directing credits include The Enormous Crocodile (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre & Leeds Playhouse), Pericles (National Theatre), Brainstorm (co-director, National Theatre & Park Theatre), We're Here Because We're Here (with Jeremy Deller & Rufus Norris, 1418 Now) and Yoko Ono's Bells for Peace (Manchester International Festival). Since 2017 she has been the Director of Public Acts, the National Theatre's flagship community programme, leading on the creation of large-scale community productions. Most recently she directed The Odyssey: The Underworldat the National Theatre, the fifth instalment of a five part nationwide production, which featured a company of 160 people drawn from all across the country. She is a trustee of The Koreo Foundation and an Associate of the National Theatre where she was awarded the inaugural Peter Hall Directing Award in 2016. 

Opening cans of Lilt at inappropriate times, auditioning to play himself, and adapting John Willard’s The Cat and the Canary for the Idiot’s brand new co-production with Chichester Festival Theatre. All of this and more is discussed in this month’s episode of Regrets I’ve Had A Few, featuring celebrated writer Carl Grose. 

About Carl Grose
Carl Grose’s plays include Grand Guignol, Superstition Mountain, Gargantua, Horse Piss For Blood, The Kneebone Cadillac, 49 Donkeys Hanged and The No-Brainer.

For twenty four years he worked with the internationally acclaimed Cornish theatre company, Kneehigh, as both actor, writer and co-artistic director alongside founder Mike Shepherd. Writing for Kneehigh includes Tristan & Yseult (with Anna Maria Murphy), Blast!, Hansel & Gretel, The Wild Bride, The Tin Drum, based on the novel by Gunter Grass, Ubu! a singalong satire and Dead Dog In A Suitcase (and other love songs).

Other writing includes Wormy Close (Soho Theatre), Faust (Vesturport/Young Vic), The 13 Midnight Challenges of Angelus Diablo (RSC at Latitude), The Hartlepool Monkey (Gyre and Gimble), Oedipussy and The Frogs for Spymonkey, and Robin Hood for Regent’s Park. He has also worked with Told By An Idiot on various shows including The Dark Philosophers (National Theatre of Wales), Never Try This At Home (Birmingham Rep / Soho Theatre) and, most recently, the comedy thriller, The Cat and the Canary (Chichester Theatre).   

He also wrote the book and co-authored lyrics for Bristol Old Vic’s cult musical, The Grinning Man as well as writing Princess & Peppernose, a musical fantasy short film for Samsung, produced by Ridley Scott Associates and directed by Joe Wright.

Coming soon… Insidious – The Further You Fear, a theatre show based on the Sony / Blumhouse hit horror film franchise, which will tour America next year.

Early days as the Artful Dodger, landing their first professional theatre job in Cowbois ahead of graduating from LAMDA, and confusion over prices at Betty’s Tea Rooms. All of this and more is discussed in this month’s episode of Regrets I’ve Had A Few, featuring the exciting actor Lee Braithwaite. 

About Lee Braithwaite

Lee is an actor originally from Harrogate in Yorkshire. They made their debut in Cowbois at the RSC which went on to transfer to the Royal Court and have since been in Laughing Boy at Jermyn Street Theatre. They are currently rehearsing for The Other Place by Alex Zeldin at the National Theatre. They also have an exciting role in a new film We Live in Time, directed by John Crowley starring Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield coming out in the UK on 1st January 2025. 

Making oyster costumes for her primary school classmates, giving Tilda Swinton her first job, and hiding behind gym mats when visiting Simon McBurney at Lecoq. All of this and more is discussed in this month’s episode of Regrets I’ve Had A Few, featuring acclaimed director, performer and co-founder of the International theatre company Complicité; Annabel Arden.

About Annabel Arden
Annabel Arden’s  career encompasses opera, theatre and broadcasting as well as acting and devising new work. In 1983 Annabel was a co-founder of the International theatre company Complicité. 

In 2020 Annabel made her debut at the Schaubühne, Berlin co-directing - with Simon McBurney - a new adaption of the Kleist novel Michael Kohlhaas and she stepped behind the camera to direct a film of Stravinsky's The Soldier's Tale for the Hallé Orchestra with Sir Mark Elder. Her most recent Opera production is Aïda for The Royal Danish Opera and she will direct a radical version of Wagner’s Flying Dutchman this winter at Opera North. 

In 2023 she was associate director for Omar Elerian’s As You Like It at the RSC and she was also associate for The Merchant of Venice or Merchant 36 starring Tracy Ann Oberman. 

Annabel teaches in a variety of contexts, for Complicite, in drama schools, Opera Houses and in the corporate sector. She studied at Cambridge and in Paris with Monika Pagneux, Philippe Gaulier and Jacques Lecoq. 

Growing up in a west Yorkshire village with an annual lantern making festival, resisting putting herself in a box, and directing The Duchess of Malfi, the first show to utilise creative captioning in the Sam Wanamaker at Shakespeare's Globe. All of this and more is discussed in this month's episode of Regrets, I've Had A Few with award winning Director and Unicorn Theatre Artistic Director, Rachel Bagshaw.

About Rachel Bagshaw

Rachel is an award-winning stage director.  She was recently appointed Artistic Director of Unicorn Theatre having been their Associate Director from 2018 to 2023.  She is also an Associate at the National Theatre as a recipient of the Peter Hall Bursary for 2023/24.

Recent productions include The Duchess of Malfi (The Globe); The Wolf, the Duck, and the Mouse (Unicorn Theatre); A Dead Body in Taos (Bristol Old Vic/ Wilton’s Music Hall); Augmented by Sophie Woolley (Royal Exchange/Told by an Idiot); Philip Pullman’s Grimm Tales and Greek Myths Unplugged, Let Loose (with Choreographer Arielle Smith, co-produced with English National Ballet); for Unicorn Theatre Online. Other theatre credits include Midnight Movie (Royal Court Theatre); The Bee in Me and Aesop’s Fables (Unicorn Theatre); Resonance at the Still Point of Change (Unlimited Festival, South Bank Centre); The Rhinestone Rollers and Just Me, Bell (Graeae).  Her critically acclaimed work The Shape of Pain won a Fringe First at Edinburgh and was revived at Battersea Arts Centre in 2018.  Film credits includes Let Loose (Unicorn Theatre Online/ENB) and Where I Go (When I Can’t be Where I Am (BBC/China Plate).

The magic of the ‘drama barn’, collaborating with a pre Blasted Sarah Kane, and the joys of being a Fulham fan - All of this and more is discussed in this month’s episode of Regrets I’ve Had A Few, featuring acclaimed director, Sean Holmes.

About Sean Holmes
Sean is currently Associate Artistic Director of Shakespeare’s Globe. Before this he was the Artistic Director of the Lyric Hammersmith. Sean was an Associate Director of the Oxford Stage Company from 2001 to 2006 and has also worked at the National Theatre, RSC, Tricycle, Royal Court, Donmar Warehouse, Chichester Festival Theatre and the Abbey Theatre in Dublin.

Theatre includes:  Cowbois (RSC); The Comedy of Errors, The Tempest, Hamlet, Metamorphoses, A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Henry VI, Richard III (Shakespeare's Globe); The Cherry Orchard, Death of a Salesman, Fortune (PARCO Theatre Tokyo/Japan tour); The Seagull, Terror, Shopping and Fucking, Bugsy Malone, Herons, Secret Theatre Shows 1, 2, 3, 5 and 7, Cinderella, Desire Under the Elms, Morning, Have I None, Saved, Blasted, A Thousand Stars Explode in the Sky, Three Sisters, Comedians (Lyric Hammersmith); A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Lyric Hammersmith/UK tour/Manchester Royal Exchange/Brisbane Festival/Dublin International Festival); Ghost Stories (Lyric Hammersmith/Duke of York’s/Liverpool Playhouse/Panasonic, Toronto/Arts Theatre); The Plough and the Stars (Abbey, Dublin/Irish/USA tour).

Awards include: Have I None, Saved, Blasted was winner of the Olivier Award in 2011 for Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre.

A shared love of Aston Villa, the joys of improvisation and a late submission to the prestigious Bruntwood Prize which proved very fruitful. All of this and more is discussed in this month’s episode of Regrets I’ve Had A Few, featuring actor and award winning writer, Nathan Queeley-Dennis.

About Nathan Quelled-Dennis

Nathan is an award winning writer and actor from Birmingham, as a writer he is the winner of the Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting 2022 with his Debut play Bullring Techno Makeout Jamz which premiered at the Edinburgh Fringe 2023 to widespread critical acclaim with Nathan being chosen by The Stage as one of the Fringe Five, Off Fest nominated, Playbill, WhatsOnStage and TimeOut's best shows of Edinburgh Fringe before transferring to the Royal Court Theatre in London.
 

As an Actor Nathan's credits include Bullring Techno Makeout Jamz (Royal Court); As You Like It (@sohoplace); Black Love (Kiln); A Taste Of Honey (National Theatre); Really Big and Really Loud (Paines Plough/UK Tour); Rebel Music (Middle Child); Little Baby Jesus (Birmingham REP); Pinocchio (Orange Tree); An Oak Tree (Francesca Moody Productions) and Doctors (BBC)" 

The inspiration of Footsbarn on his early theatre making, getting arrested at the end of the first ever Kneehigh show and not being a great believer in giving advice. All of this and more is discussed in this month’s episode of Regrets I’ve Had A Few, featuring founder and former Artistic Director of the celebrated Kneehigh, Mike Shepherd.

About Mike Shepherd
Mike Shepherd founded Kneehigh in 1980 and remained “roughly in the middle of things” for 40 years. As an actor, teacher and director, Mike has toured the world and is a pioneer of the Asylum; a large-scale mobile venue dedicated to a good night out! 

Almost embarking on a boxing career, wanting to be the Artful Dodger as a child and their recent critically acclaimed production of 'Cowbois' (which stars our AD Paul Hunter). All of this and more is discussed in this month’s episode of Regrets I’ve Had A Few, featuring celebrated writer and actor Charlie Josephine.

About Charlie Josephine
Charlie is a writer, director and actor. Charlie’s 2023 work includes: Cowbois (Royal Shakespeare Company); I, Joan (Shakespeare's Globe); Flies (Shoreditch Town Hall); Birds and Bees (Sheffield Crucible); One of Them Ones (Pentabus). 

Amongst Charlie’s previous work, Bitch Boxer won the Soho Theatre Young Writers Award 2012, The Old Vic New Voices Edinburgh Season 2012, the Holden Street Theatre’s Award 2013, and the Adelaide Fringe Award 2014. Charlie’s play Blush enjoyed a sell-out run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival where it picked up The Stage Edinburgh Award 2016, before touring nationally.  Their play Pops enjoyed a successful run at the Edinburgh Festival 2019 and then High Tide Festival. Charlie spent 2019 as a member of The Old Vic 12, and also wrote a new play Moon Licks for Paines Plough and the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, which was performed at The Yard in June 2022.

For screen work, Charlie won the inaugural BBC Screenplay First Award, and in March 2017 was named on the BBC New Talent Hotlist. They are currently writer-in-residence at Headlong Theatre.

From their first encounters as a ‘dude’ of a teacher with a trademark leather jacket, a ‘sophisticated’ student joining Middlesex Poly en route from a summer working in France and a ‘short bloke from Birmingham’, our three co-founders John Wright, Hayley Carmichael and Paul Hunter recount the last 30 years of Told by an Idiot. In this Christmas special of  Regrets I’ve Had A Few, expect discussions on the Idiot approach to theatre making, the importance of never being boring and Hayley recalling various hilarious stories involving issues with doors. 

Learning to do flips in the playground at school, his choreographic inspirations and playing Agent Smith in Danny Boyle's mind blowing stage re-boot of the Matrix. All of this and more is discussed in this month’s episode of Regrets I’ve Had A Few, featuring dancer and choreographer, Mikey Ureta. 

About Mikey Ureta

Mikey Ureta is a dance artist based in London. He has been working professionally around the world for the past 11 years and has been active in the industry as a performer, choreographer, teacher and mentor. His theatre credits include: Groove on Down the Road, The Mad Hatter’s Tea Party, and Into the Hoods: Remixed (all ZooNation); Get Happy (Told by an Idiot, Beijing Comedy Arts Festival and Barbican); Blaze The Show (Expo 2016, Turkey); Chase The Dream: The Reboot (Flawless); and Pied Piper (Boy Blue). 

Other credits include: Finalist on Got To Dance with Boyband (Sky One); Finalist on Britain’s Got Talent with Boyband (ITV); appearances with Stormzy (Reading and Leeds, BRIT Awards, Glastonbury); and adverts for Google Pixel 4 and Gucci x GQ China. 

An unmatched admiration of Cats the Musical, the role of persona in her work and “having a good idea and doing it”. All of this and more is discussed in this month’s episode of Regrets I’ve Had A Few, featuring one of the UK’s most charismatic performers and theatre makers, Lucy McCormick. 

ABOUT LUCY MCCORMICK:
Lucy McCormick makes nightclub interruptions, cabaret interventions and extravaganza theatre shows, marrying interests in absurdity, feminism and the grotesque.  Her practice is cross-genre, taking inspiration from theatre, performance art, comedy and dance. 

Lucy is a Research Fellow at Queen Mary University, an associate artist of Hackney Showroom and the current artist-in-residence at Soho Theatre. She teaches and mentors regularly at universities and arts organisations including Central School of Speech and Drama, Roehampton University, Soho Theatre and National Theatre Studio.  

Lucy works as an actor and has appeared in several theatre plays and on screen. She recently starred as Catherine in Emma Rice's Wuthering Heights and the RSC production of Titus Andronicus at The Globe Theatre. She is currently in rehearsals for the RSC production of Charlie Josephine’s Cowbois.   

www.lucymccormick.com

The beginning of his career as Alan Rickman’s follow spot operator, being referred to as a grubby thruster by an Equity councillor and his tenures as Artistic Director at both the Bush Theatre and Theatre Royal Plymouth. All of this and more is discussed in our 30th episode of Regrets I've Had A Few, in our 30th year, featuring celebrated Director, Simon Stokes.

About Simon Stokes

Simon became an Artistic Director at the Bush Theatre in London from the mid 1970s to the late 1980s. A new play specialist, he developed and directed many of our now celebrated playwrights and performers.

The Bush also worked with a wide range of independent theatre companies including such as the People Show, Phantom Captain, Paines Plough, Hull Truck, the Women’s Theatre Group, Gay Sweatshop and Black Theatre Co-op.

In the 1990s he was Artistic Associate and Director of Development for Howard Panter’s Turnstyle Group, developing new plays for production in the West End.

As a freelancer, he directed in Germany, Switzerland, Israel and the USA as well in the UK.

As a director some of his most highly profiled work has included Manuel Puig’s Kiss of the Spider Woman at the Bush with Simon Callow and Mark Rylance, When I Was A Girl I Used to Scream and Shout by Sharman Macdonald at the Bush; the Edinburgh International Festival and the West End with, variously, Celia Imrie, Julie Walters, Geraldine James and Dawn French; A Slip of the Tongue by Dusty Hughes with John Malkovich and Ingeborga Dapkunaite; The Green Man by Doug Lucie with Phil Daniels and Danny Webb; and Monster Raving Loony by James Graham at the Drum Theatre Plymouth and Soho Theatre.

As Artistic Director at the Theatre Royal Plymouth from 1998 to 2018 he turned the Drum, a large studio space, into another nationally noticed theatre, winning many plaudits. He again followed a programming strategy of mixing Drum productions with visiting companies and developed several distinctive coproducing relationships with companies like Frantic Assembly, Ontroerend Goed, Paines Plough and Told by an Idiot. 

Celebrating his 5th birthday with TV legends Sooty and Sweep, his interest in directing Tom Hanks on stage and his recent appointment as Artistic Director of Chichester Festival Theatre. All of this and more is discussed in this month's episode of Regrets I've Had A Few featuring award-winning Director, Justin Audibert.

The audition process for Kate and Koji, throwing custard pies at Latitude Festival and his dad's need for all electricity to be off overnight interfering with his brothers' need to record late night Jackie Chan films. All of this and more is discussed in this month's episode of Regrets I've Had A Few featuring stage and screen actor, Okorie Chukwu.

Learning about hard graft through working in a sweet shop in Elephant and Castle, coming second to the League of Gentlemen for a coveted Total Theatre Award and her preference of canal boats over caravans. All of this and more is discussed in this month's episode of Regrets I've Had A Few featuring the New Vic Theatre’s Olivier Award winning Artistic Director, Theresa Heskins.

About Theresa Heskins

Theresa Heskins is the Artistic Director of Staffordshire’s New Vic Theatre.

She grew up in London, studied at Oxford University, trained as a director at Birmingham Rep on the RTYDS scheme, and has lived and worked in the Midlands ever since.

In 1999 Theresa became Artistic Director of Pentabus Theatre, touring new writing to the whole country from the company’s base on a Ludlow farm. Productions included White Open Spaces, asking ‘is there a silent apartheid in the countryside?’, co-created with BBC Radio Drama and nominated for a South Bank Show Award; and Silent Engine, in association with the National Theatre Studio and recipient of an Edinburgh Festival Fringe First.

Joining the New Vic Theatre as Artistic Director in 2007, she has directed numerous productions in the round including Alecky Blythe’s verbatim documentary Where Have I Been All My Life?; Around the World in 80 Days which won London Book Week’s Best Adaptation and transferred to New York; The Snow Queen, which won Best Show for Children and Young People at the UK Theatre Awards.

In the West End she directed the Olivier Award winner The Worst Witch and Marvellous, the opening production @sohoplace.

Theresa also writes, including adapting Wives and Daughters and Lady Audley’s Secret for BBC Woman’s Hour.  Her adaptations of classic children’s literature including Alice in Wonderland have been revived all over the UK and the world.

Living in a van during the early days of Kneehigh, her time on the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival, and memories of her father cleaning the kitchen floor in his pants. All of this and more is discussed in this month's episode of Regrets I've Had A Few featuring stage and screen actor Mary Woodvine.

About Mary Woodvine

Mary Woodvine is an Actress based in West Cornwall. She has an extensive career in Theatre, Film and Television. She was a core member of Kneehigh Theatre from 1991, and has performed at The Royal National Theatre, the RSC and at the iconic Minack Theatre on the cliffs at Porthcurno. She plays the lead in Mark Jenkin’s latest film Enys Men, which premiered in Cannes 2022, she also played Sandra Leigh in Jenkin’s BAFTA winning film BAIT in 2019. 

Other film credits include Intruders dir Juan Carlos Fresnadillo. Television credits include: Judge John Deed (BBC) (Dame Morag Hughes), Poldark (Mrs Teague), Eastenders, Casualty, Doc Martin (Mrs Cronk), Our Friends in the North, Grafters, and Officer Took in Gerry Anderson’s Space Precinct.

A childhood heckle in defence of the Queen, a love of eccentric dance and working with some of theatre's all time greats. All of this and more is discussed in this month's episode of Regrets I've Had A Few featuring award winning actor, director and writer, Simon Callow.

Being on the committee of the school film club, adapting and reinventing works for other forms, and his preference of crime over punishment. All of this and more is discussed in this month's episode of Regrets I've Had A Few featuring acclaimed writer, Will Eaves.

Jerone Marsh-Reid trained on the Physical Theatre course at East 15 Acting School. 

Theatre credits include:  Marvellous (@sohoplace); 4 Walls (Derby Theatre); Marvellous (New Victoria Theatre Newcastle); Charlie and Stan / The Strange Tale of Charlie Chaplin and Stan Laurel (Told by an Idiot ); The Deep (Clifftown Theatre); The Things I’ve Dismissed (Clifftown Theatre, Project Lockout); Feel The Fear (Camden Fringe / Fusion Festival, Project Lockout); Mood (Clifftown Theatre); Breathe The Beat (UK Tour).

Outdoor Arts include:  Catch Me (Upswing, European Tour); Get Happy (Told by an Idiot).

Films and Music videos include: 7 Deadly Idiots (Told by an Idiot); Still Got Time (Zayn Malik Ft PartyNextDoor); Not Letting Go (Tinie Tempah and Jess Glynne); You Want Me (Tom Zinneti); Maybe? (The Beach); Fam That’s Peak (Arnold Jorge and Stormzy).

Matthew Dunster is a theatre and film director and writer. He was born and raised in Oldham and now lives in South East London. Previously an actor, he has directed or written over sixty shows, often with major national companies (including RSC, NT, Royal Court, Young Vic, Royal Exchange, Shakespeare’s Globe, The Bridge), as well as directing on the West End, Broadway and internationally. He has been the Associate Director of The Young Vic and Shakespeare's Globe.

His most recent productions are 2:22 A Ghost Story which has been running in the West End since August 2021, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the inaugural Shakespeare production at the new Shakespeare North Playhouse. 

Matthew has been nominated for three Olivier Awards and his Broadway production of HANGMEN was nominated for five Tony’s.

Over the past 25 years Tanika Gupta has written over 25 stage plays that have been produced in major theatres across the UK and has written extensively for BBC Radio drama. Tanika’s plays The Empress and her adaptation of A Doll’s House are on the National Curriculum in the UK for GSCE school examinations.

Theatre credits include: Out West and A Doll’s House (Lyric Hammersmith); Lions And Tigers (Wanamaker Theatre, Shakespeare’s Globe); Red Dust Road (National Theatre Scotland, Edinburgh International Festival); A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian (Hull Truck Theatre); A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Shakespeare’s Globe –Dramaturg); Anita and Me (Birmingham Rep); Love N Stuff (Theatre Royal Stratford East); The Empress (Royal Shakespeare Company); Wah! Wah! Girls - A British Bollywood Musical (Sadler’s Wells); Mindwalking (Bandbazi Theatre); Great Expectations (Watford Palace Theatre/English Touring Theatre); Meet The Mukherjees (Bolton Octagon Theatre); White Boy (National Youth Theatre/Soho Theatre); Sugar Mummies (Royal Court Theatre); Gladiator Games (Sheffield Crucible Theatre); Hobson’s Choice (Young Vic); Fragile Land (Hampstead Theatre); Inside Out (Clean Break); Sanctuary, Brecht’s The Good Woman Of Setzuan and The Waiting Room (National Theatre); Skeleton (Soho Theatre); A River Sutra (Indoza).

Television credits include: Doctors, London Bridge, All About Me, EastEnders, Grange Hill, The Bill, Flight, Banglatown Banquet, Our Lives As Animals, The Fiancee and Bideshi.

Radio credits include: The Goldilocks Zone, A Passage to India, Trumpet, Death of a Matriarch, The Home and The World, Emma (Adaptation of Jane Austen’s novel), Writing The Century, Bindi Business, Song Of The Road, The God Of Small Things, Baby Farming and Ibsen’s A Doll’s House.

In 2008 she was awarded an MBE for Services to Drama and in 2016 was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. Tanika has an honorary doctorate in the Arts from Chichester University and is an Honorary Fellow at Rose Bruford College and Central School of Speech and Drama.

For more information: www.tanikagupta.com

Rachel Mars is a writer and performer based in the UK. She has been working at the cross-over of performance art and theatre for 13 years. Her work explores female, Jewish and Queer identities and their intersections.  

Her recent performance work includes Our Carnal Hearts, a choral dissection of envy; Your Sexts Are Shit: Older Better Letters, a queer archive of sex letters; Roller, with Mars.tarrab, an interrogation of female aggression for 7 women and Story #1/#3, a collaboration with Greg Wohead on radical narrative.

She won a Total Theatre Award and an Oxford Samuel Beckett Theatre Trust Award. She has performed all over the UK and internationally, including recently at Barbican London, Brisbane International Festival, Brighton International Festival, Fusebox Festival Austin, On The Boards, Seattle.

Stephen is an actor, teacher and director and has worked in theatre for the past 26 years. A long time collaborator of Told by an Idiot, he has performed in a total of seven of our shows and has been part of the research and development team for many more.

Stephen has worked at the National Theatre on War Horse and Theatre of Blood and the RSC on A Mouse and His Child and Merry Wives of Windsor as well as touring extensively throughout the UK and internationally with Little Soldier, Improbable and Told by an Idiot.

Directing credits include Cabaret of Blood and co–director of All You Need is LSD for Told by an Idiot, Flat Pack for OH Productions and I Had a Black Dog for Smallnose Theatre.

Stephen is also a key member of our Taught by an Idiot practitioner team, teaching in academic settings, leading community projects and making work with underrepresented theatre makers across the UK and internationally. He has most recently directed 3 short silent films as part of our The Silent Treatment participation project, inspired by and delivered alongside our production of The Strange Tale of Charlie Chaplin and Stan Laurel.

In 2021, Stephen formed Corned Beef Croissant Theatre Company, who have recently performed as part of the Worthing Theatre Trail, held an a research and development period on The 13 Labours of Popeye and ran a programme of slapstick workshops.

From a background of sculpture, Sophia creates installations, sets and objects for audiences and performers to inhabit, manipulate and transform. Much of her work is participatory and interactive, collaborating with artists in theatre, dance and music and with the general public.

Recent work includes: Would You Bet Against Us? (Told by an Idiot, Birmingham Rep); Space to Be (Oily Cart); Get Happy (Told by an Idiot, Barbican); All You Need Is LSD (Told by an Idiot, Birmingham Rep); The Flying Lovers of Vitebsk (Kneehigh Theatre, Bristol Old Vic); The Paper Man (Improbable Theatre, Norfolk & Norwich Festival); Journey to the Impossible (Little Soldier Productions, The Bike Shed Theatre); And The Horse You Rode In On (Told by an Idiot, Barbican, Brighton Festival, Theatre Royal Plymouth); 16 Singers (Katherine Morley, Dance Umbrella, Theatre Royal Bath); Phenomenal People (Fuel, WOW Festival); In This Place (Pentabus Theatre); A Crash Course in Cloudspotting (Raquel Meseguer Zafe, MAYK, Coventry City of Culture 2021, Unlimited, Camden Alive); Parallelist (Clay Gold & Laura Moody, Aldeburgh Festival).

Dennis Mortimer was born in Liverpool April 1952 and his professional football career spanned 721 league, Cup and European games. He was captain of the Aston Villa team which won the 1st Division Championship in 1981 and the European Cup in 1982.

Dennis' career began at Coventry City F.C. in 1967 with a 3 year apprenticeship. Dennis signed his first Professional contract in 1969 and transferred to Aston Villa in 1975 for £170.000, after which he transferred to Brighton and Hove Albion and then to Birmingham City. He was also loaned to Sheffield Utd in 1984/85.

After retiring from Professional football, Dennis had positions at the PFA and the FA.

About Omar Elerian

Omar Elerian is a freelance director, dramaturg and theatre-maker. Italian of Palestinian descent, Omar trained in Italy and then graduated from Lecoq International Theatre School in Paris in 2005.He was the resident Associate Director at the Bush Theatre from 2012 to 2019, where he commissioned and directed some of the theatre’s most successful shows. 

Omar is currently developing projects with Manchester International Festival, National Theatre, Royal Court, Collective Malouba and The Shed in New York.

Theatre includes: 

As Director: The Chairs (Almeida); Misty (Bush Theatre/ West End); NASSIM (Bush Theatre/ Traverse Theatre/ World Tour); Going Through; Islands; You’re Not Like The Other Girls Chrissy (Bush Theatre); The Return of Danton (Munchner Kammerspiele); The Mill: City of Dreams (Freedom Studios). 

As Associate Director: The Royale; Leave Taking; Perseverance Drive (Bush Theatre).

Lolita Chakrabarti OBE is an award-winning playwright and actress.

Her adaption of Yann Martel's Booker prize winning novel Life of Pi for the stage, premiered to 5-star reviews at the Sheffield Crucible in July 2019 and opened in London's West End in November 2021. It has been nominated for nine Olivier awards including Best New Play, won four UK Theatre Awards and the WhatsonStage award for Best New Play.

Lolita’s original play Hymn streamed live from The Almeida during the coronavirus pandemic in 2021 and opened to audiences in July that same year.

Her adaption of Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities premiered at the Manchester International Festival before transferring to Brisbane Festival. This ambitious production was a collaboration between Rambert dance company, 59 Productions and Lolita.

In 2012 Lolita’s debut play Red Velvet premiered at the Tricycle Theatre in London. It returned to the Tricycle in 2014, before transferring to New York and the West End. Red Velvet was nominated for nine major awards including two Oliviers. Lolita won the Evening Standard Theatre Award for Most Promising Playwright, The Critics Circle Award for Most Promising Playwright and the AWA Award for Arts and Culture.

She curated The Greatest Wealth at the Old Vic in 2018, commissioning eight monologues of which she wrote one, about the NHS on its 70th birthday, which was updated in 2020 to play online and reflect the pandemic, featuring a new monologue by Bernadine Evaristo starring Sharon D Clarke.

In 2020 Lolita was dramaturg on Message in a Bottle for ZooNation and Sadlers Wells and is dramaturg on ZooNations’ forthcoming Sylvia.

In 2020 Bloomsbury published Adrian Lester and Lolita Chakrabarti: A Working Diary which followed a year in their working lives.

Other writing credits The Goddess for Woman's Hour BBC Radio 4 and Last Seen Joy for the Almeida.

As an actress credits include Vigil (BBC1), Showtrial (BBC1), Wheel of Time (Amazon), To Provide All People (BBC2), Delicious (Sky One), Born to Kill (CH4), Beowulf: Return to the Shieldlands (ITV), Vera (ITV), Jekyll and Hyde (ITV), My Mad Fat Diary 3 (E4), Death in Paradise (BBC1), One Night (BBC1), The Smoke (Sky1), Outnumbered (BBC1), J K Rowling’s A Casual Vacancy (BBC1/HBO), Riviera (Sky Atlantic), Criminal (Netflix), Defending The Guilty (BBC), WPC Blake in The Bill (ITV), Fanny & Alexander (Old Vic), and Hamlet directed by Sir Kenneth Branagh (RADA).

Lolita also co-produced Of Mary, a short film directed by Adrian Lester, which won Best Short Film at PAFF, Los Angeles.

Phil Belfield has a BA in Drama & Theatre Studies from Middlesex University. He worked in a number of arts organisations including the NT, Lyric Hammersmith, Riverside Studios & Royal Court. He then helped set up the Stage Holding UK office and assisted Matthew Bourne at Adventures in Motion Pictures (now New Adventures) for 6 years before joining Cassie Mayer Ltd as a junior agent in 2000, and then as an agent for BBA from 2004.

London International Mime Festival (LIMF) is an established, annual festival of contemporary visual theatre. Essentially wordless and multi-disciplinary, its programme embraces circus-theatre, puppetry/animation, object theatre, mime, live art and physical theatre.

Founded in 1977 at the Cockpit Theatre as a one-off event to showcase the work of British mimes, theatre clowns and other physical and visual theatre artists, the festival rapidly grew in scale, quality and reputation. Since that start in one small theatre, LIMF has used more than thirty London venues – from Tate Modern, a private house and West End theatres, to the Royal Opera House, Almeida, Barbican, ICA, Sadler’s Wells and Southbank Centre. To date, the festival has presented over 800 productions over its 46-year history.

LIMF assists in the creation and presentation of excellent, innovative non text-based theatre that is new to London. Most shows are UK premieres. It works with young, up and coming artists as well as established companies. 

LIMF has an international reputation and is the UK’s longest established annual, international theatre festival. In recent years the festival’s productions and its two directors have received various honours and awards, most notably three Olivier Award nominations including winner of Best New Dance Production in 2015 (Peeping Tom’s 32 Rue Vandenbranden at The Barbican), a Total Theatre lifetime achievement award and most recently the 2017 Empty Space – Peter Brook Special Achievement Award.

Lisa is an actress, writer and theatre maker. She has worked regularly with Told By an Idiot performing in Shoot me in the heart, A little fantasy, Beauty and the beast and Too clever by half. She has also worked with Improbable on No idea and The hanging man. Other theatre work includes The National Theatre, Trestle, The RSC, Graeae and many other regional and international theatres and companies. She was a regular character in “Eastenders” (BBC) from 2014-2018 her other tv credits include Vera (ITV); Patricia (Sky Atlantic); One Night (BBC); Psychoville (BBC); Max and Paddy’s Road to nowhere (Ch4); Where the heart is (ITV). She has also featured in the BBC’s genealogy programme Who do you think you are?

Lisa has appeared in the following Told by an Idiot shows: Shoot Me In The Heart, A Little Fantasy, Beauty and the Beast and Too Clever By Half

Sophie Scott CBE is a British neuroscientist and Director of the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London (UCL). Her research investigates the cognitive neuroscience of voices, speech and laughter, and she is very interested in how our the neural basis of human vocal communication. She was the 2017 Royal Institution Christmas Lecturer and she was awarded the Royal Society's Michael Faraday prize and lecture in 2021. Sophie is the Divisional Director for Equity Diversity and inclusion in the Division of Psychology and Language Sciences at UCL.

The documentary mentioned in this episode is here. 

Jos Houben is internationally acclaimed as a leader in the field of Comedy and Physical Theatre.

Performing, writing, teaching, and directing world-wide for the past 30 years he has worked with leading international organisations and artists including: Peter Brook, Ecole Jacques Lecoq, The Right Size, Georges Aperghis, Theatre de Complicite- Simon McBurney, National Theatre London, Ragdoll Ltd, Thames TV, Opera North, Centre National Des Arts Du Cirque, British Council and Opéra Comique.

He has received the prestigious Perrier Comedy Award (1986, Theatre de Complicite) and Olivier Award for Best Entertainment (1999, The Right Size). 

Houben’s one man show The Art of Laughter has been touring the word for the past 12 years. He has played month long stints to sell out audiences at the prestigious Rond Point Theater on the Champs Elysees three years in a row. The show is such a success that Jos was featured on the front page of France’s Le Monde and interviewed on national news channels. 

In 2016 Jos did comedy directing for the hit West End musical Girls and toured extensively with the comedy duo Marcel. 

He directed Czech Physical Theatre Company Squadra Sua’s new hit show Crossings which opened to wide acclaim in Prague in May 2019.

He is currently preparing two Operas for the Opéra Rennes and Opera Caen as well as a new movement based show with contemporary dancer Raphaelle Delaunay. 

Jason Barnett biog:

Theatre includes: 

THE VISIT (National Theatre), INSTRUCTIONS FOR CORRECT ASSEMBLY, THE VICTORIAN IN THE WALL, FRIDAY NIGHT SEX, PRIMETIME, THE GIRLFRIEND EXPERIENCE (all Royal Court Theatre), SAINT GEORGE & THE DRAGON, EMIL & THE DETECTIVES, WAR HORSE, AMATO SALTONE (all National Theatre), LIFE OF GALILEO (Young Vic), ABOUT A BOY (Young Vic and tour), MOGADISHU (Manchester Royal Exchange), THE WINTER’S TALE, PERICLES, DAYS OF SIGNIFICANCE (all RSC),  THE FIXER (Almeida Theatre), CRUISIN’ (The Bush) , JOHN DRYDEN’S TEMPEST (Shakespeare’s Globe). 

Television includes: 

BRIDGERTON, AGATHA RAISIN (Series 1-4), LEE & DEAN, HAILMAKERS, PORRIDGE, BLISS, JONATHAN CREEK, JOSH, DEATH IN PARADISE , THE JAVONE PRINCE SHOW, PHONESHOP, BAD EDUCATION, STAGE DOOR JOHNNIES, HOTEL TRUBBLE, THE BILL, EXTRAS, COMING OF AGE, DEAD RINGERS, DREAM TEAM and LITTLE BRITAIN 

Film includes: 

LONDON ROAD, CINDERELLA, SUPERBOB, ONE MAN AND HIS DOG, THE SIGHT

Omari trained at the Arts Educational Schools, London, graduating in 2015.

His theatre credits include Rush at the King’s Head Theatre, Peter Pan and Jesus Christ Superstar at the Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, Clarke Peters Five Guys Named Moe at the Marble Arch Theatre, Kneehigh’s Tristan & Yseult at Shakespeare’s Globe, The Life at the Southwark Playhouse, Annie Get Your Gun at the Sheffield Crucible and High Society at the Old Vic.

Omari returned to the Old Vic to perform in Emma Rice’s adaptation of Wise Children, the inaugural production for her new company of the same name. The production then toured to several cities around the UK.

Omari can currently be seen as one of the leads in Russell T Davies’ new 5 part series It’s A Sin for Red Productions/Channel 4/ HBO Max.