About Splendid Productions
Hello, we’re Splendid Productions. We think theatre is important!
Splendid are a theatre company and an education company. We create challenging, entertaining, politically engaged theatre for young audiences, and provide expert training in all areas of drama practice and theory.
We believe theatre is an empowering and enabling force that is available to everyone: all you need is a story, a body and a space to be heard.
Splendid are creative adaptors
“A sense of danger is essential to all theatre.” Yoshi Oida
Splendid are creative adaptors, we take old stories and spin them into new thought prodding, theatrical, inclusive, political, anti-4th wall, heart-exposing versions. As storytellers, we are interested in the universal human experience and specifically what will engage and provoke a young audience. We also want to give a voice to those characters that have been neglected, stereotyped or written out of the original version.
Stylistically we make work that could only possibly exist in a theatre; the work is spirited, visual, interactive, theatrical, precise and honest. We use a chorus – usually objective to the events – to guide the audience through the story we are telling. Our aim is to raise questions, highlight contradictions in the characters, the story, society, and aim to provoke debate within our audience long after we have gone. We are open to using any theatrical technique that will illustrate a point clearly. At the root of everything we do is a desire to connect with an audience. Splendid are fiercely anti-4th wall theatre makers. We are clowns. Every single performance is a unique happening. That group of actors, with that audience together in that space at that time – it’s an experience that will not be repeated.
The liveness is what we’re interested in: the feeling that anything could happen and probably will.
Splendid are creative educators
Unlike many theatre companies, our education work is at the centre of our practice. The instant, unfiltered response of a young audience is the greatest asset for creating theatre that engages everyone, while the energy and curiosity of young workshop participants constantly challenges us to be more intellectually rigorous, physically adventurous and theatrically inventive on stage.
As a company, we continue to learn and experiment both in performance and in teaching. Our range of teaching resources can be found in drama studios all over the world, and we have a small and mighty team of regular practitioners and collaborators who share our passion for communicating the best of theatre.
This website covers all of our available workshops, touring productions, digital and physical teaching resources, but if you’d like any further information, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
More information about Splendid: Kerry Frampton’s video FAQ / Production Resources / Being Splendid Film / More Client Feedback
The Splendidest Story Ever Told: a company history
Kerry Frampton is working as a workshop practitioner for English Touring Theatre (ETT) alongside Mal Smith.
Wanting to offer more bespoke content and devising workshops, Kerry creates a company called 'Splendid Productions' and initially works in association with ETT to provide a wider range of workshops.
A client mentions how hard it is to find 'Brechtian' productions for students to watch. Kerry impulsively announces Splendid's debut tour for September 2004: a version of Bertolt Brecht's The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui.
Kerry enlists Mal Smith, adaptor/composer Ben Hales, director Mark Tillotson, lots of hats, guns and puppets and they spend the summer creating a three-actor multi-roling version of The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui
Following their first ever audition, the wonderful Lizzi Breckon is cast as Ui.
The six-month tour sells out in two weeks.
Kerry and Mal follow up Arturo Ui with Mal's adaptation of 'Animal Farm' by George Orwell.
We take our production of Four Legs Good Two Legs Bad to the 2006 Edinburgh Fringe without permission and are shut down by the Orwell Estate.
The National Theatre invite Splendid to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Brecht's death by performing The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui as part of their outdoor 'Watch This Space' Festival.
Splendid's third tour is Mal's adaptation of Sophocles' Antigone, the first of many successful collaborations with director and superteacher Lucy Cuthbertson.
Kerry and Mal devise a Splendid-style ensemble version of Jason & the Argonauts with students of Wellington College, who then take it to the 2007 Edinburgh Fringe.
The script has been licensed for performance many times by discerning theatre-makers ever since. Maybe it's your turn?
Mal moves to full-time teaching, so Rosie McKay and Rob Vesty join Kerry in the first Mal-less cast. Splendid get special permission from the Brecht estate to tour Ben's adaptation of Brecht's Good Woman of Szechuan.
In a major innovation, we release Splendid's first teaching resources, Kerry's unique hand-drawn Mind Maps. The inital selection of Brecht, Stanislavski, Artaud and Brook are still top sellers at the Splendid Shop.
Kerry fulfills a long-standing ambition for Splendid to adapt Büchner's spookily brilliant Woyzeck. Mal and Lucy direct, and we welcome Scott 'Woyzeck' Smith aboard the Splendid canoe.
We start to expand our teaching resources with new mind maps, lovely spiral-bound scripts of Antigone and Woyzeck, and (perhaps prematurely) write a book about ourselves: Splendid Style! (updated version coming soon...ish.)
We finally succeed in performing at the Edinburgh Fringe: Woyzeck triumphs in a tiny portacabin. Mal stands in for Alasdair Shanks as the Drum Major, and we attempt to film the show but it looks terrible.
Scott stays on for Ben's adaptation of Dr Faustus, and we welcome Jimmy Whiteaker and an anatomical skeleton to the Splendid trandem (but which is which?).
Clients have begun to ask if they can film performances to assist with the detail now required for live theatre review. We decide to do it properly, hiring The Albany in Deptford to film a back-to-back double header of Woyzeck and Dr Faustus.
Jan 2010: Ben learns video editing.
Matt Wilde joins our expanding roster of directors for a high-concept adaptation of Kafka's The Trial. Can we make an audience behave in a questionable manner? Answer: yes.
Splendid moves to its current address, with loft space for nearly a decade of old sets and costumes.
2011/12 is the third show in a row for Jimmy as we return to ancient Greece (where Greece is, but a long time ago) for the unbearable tragedy of Medea.
We're invited to perform Medea at Greenwich Theatre in a one-off double bill with the excellent young performers of Kidbrooke Theatre Company, who are performing Ben Hales's very silly original play There's a Leak! as directed by Lucy Cuthbertson.
There's a Leak! joins Jason & the Argonauts as one of our scripts to license for larger casts.
Despite defining Splendid's style from the start, our 2012/13 tour is the first show to be adapted by Kerry: the Commedia-inspired morality masterpiece Everyman.
Splendid rule the (mornings of) the 2013 Edinburgh Fringe with two shows before lunch!
We celebrate 10 years of Splendid's Productions with a return to Thebes. Kerry and Mal re-adapt Antigone for a delightful bunch of clowns, including future regular Genevieve Say.
A celebration of things that we love: Scott, Jimmy and Kerry return to the Edinburgh Fringe with an even more Splendid version of Woyzeck.
For the first time we add public performances in theatres alongside the in-school tour of Woyzeck, including Pleasance London, The Lowry in Salford and The Blake in Monmouth.
We extend the Woyzeck tour to International Schools in China, Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore. As this photo from a rooftop bar in Shanghai suggests, it's not all bad.
Future productions must now be designed to fit in suitcases.
Kerry and Ben wrestle Homer's epic poem The Odyssey into a legendary hour with the assistance of guest director Lucy Hopkins, and some divine beard-making from Kerry's mum Christine.
The Odyssey also heads to South East Asia. This video of the Old Man of Sea signing off is also the moment that Kerry retires from performing in Splendid Productions forever... or so she thinks.
We welcome Scott and Gen back, who along with Mark Beirne are the first to be directed by Kerry in her bouffon-tastic adaptation of Macbeth.
The great Grace Goulding takes her place in the Splendid Berlingo, joining veterans Scott and Jimmy in Kerry's adaptation of Kafka's Metamorphosis.
Lucy Cuthbertson invites us to create and co-produce our first original pantomime. Kerry takes her natural place as panto villain The Sheriff of Nottingham in Ben and Kerry's The Epic Adventures of Robin Hood. The show is produced at the marvellous Stantonbury Theatre in Milton Keynes, with a cast of professional actors (including Splendid's Gen Say and Guy Hargreaves) and student performers - and the script is available to license!
Kerry returns Splendid to ancient Greece with her ambitious trilogy-in-an-hour The Oresteia. Grace is joined by Nuala Maguire and Tanya Muchanyuka to create an unforgettable Chorus of Furies.
We are delighted to return to Stantonbury Theatre for Christmas 2018 with our follow-up panto Red Riding Hood vs The Wolf, another joyful community project with a particularly devious villain.
2019/20's tour is a proddy, provocative re-adaptation of Dr Faustus.
Grace and Tanya return to torment Nick Crosbie's idiot genius Faustus, and everyone looks forward to that trip to SE Asia in April 2020... oh.
Our comedy friends The Sleeping Trees invite Ben to co-write and Kerry to direct their 2019 Christmas panto mashup Goldilocks & the Three Musketeers at Battersea Arts Centre.
With schools closed all over the world, we start making content we can stream from the corner of our office, including the comprehensive introduction to our company Being Splendid, and several online CPD sessions including Kerry's Practical Guide to Bertolt Brecht that was nominated for a Music & Drama Education award.
With theatres closed, Kerry and Ben join The Sleeping Trees in a small suburban house to create an epic Living Room Adventure: The Legend of Moby Dick Whittington.
The film is streamed online as a special Christmas treat, and wins the OFFIE for Best Family Show.
The COVID pandemic brings Kerry out of retirement for a two-handed adaptation of Alfred Jarry's UBU plays. Scott Smith plays a writer encountering a strange, strangely adorable psychopath, and we perform wherever we can!
We reunite with The Sleeping Trees (with new cast-members Juliana Lisk and Jamal Franklin) and return to Battersea Arts Centre for another panto delight, Sleeping Beauty and the Beast.
It turns out the biggest panto villain of all is the COVID 19 OMICRON VARIANT. Despite this the show is nominated for BEST ENSEMBLE at the 2021/22 UK Pantomime Awards.
We spend a hot midsummer week with The Sleeping Trees creating a follow up to The Legend of Moby Dick Whittington.
Puss in Moon Boots is an epic streaming sci-fi Living Room Adventure that answers the question: does Santa have any pets?
We collaborate with Lucy Cuthbertson and Shakespeare's Globe to create Midsummer Mechanicals the Globe's first ever Summer show for families at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse. Everyone admires Kerry's Bottom.
Splendid and The Sleeping Trees create ANOTHER new panto for Battersea Arts Centre: Little Red Robin Hood.
Miya James, Simone Cornelius, Sam Rix and a pantomime unicorn joined us for the best show to ever come out of Cher-wood Forest!
Midsummer Mechanicals is nominated for Best Family Show at the 2023 Olivier Awards!
We didn't win, but Lucy Cuthbertson, Kerry Frampton, Ben Hales, Sam Glen, Jamal Franklin, Rose Revitt and Melody Brown had a very lovely night at the Royal Albert Hall - with lots of love and thanks to the rest of the team who made it all happen!
The Mechanicals return for a triumphant run at Shakespeare North and back at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse at Shakespeare's Globe.
Everyone admires Kerry's Bottom again.
Splendid People
Kerry Frampton
Kerry Frampton is Artistic Director of Splendid Productions.
She is a professional clown, practitioner, director, writer, designer, movement director and musician. Kerry specialises in work that is physical, theatrical, devised, anti-fourth wall, audience-centric, political, joy-filled, heart breaking and ensemble-based.
Kerry Frampton
Kerry Frampton is Artistic Director of Splendid Productions.
She is a professional clown, practitioner, director, writer, designer, movement director and musician. Kerry specialises in work that is physical, theatrical, devised, anti-fourth wall, audience-centric, political, joy-filled, heart breaking and ensemble-based.
Kerry trained at Bretton Hall, University of Leeds. She set up Splendid Productions in 2003 and has directed, adapted and regularly performed in their annual creative adaptations of classic texts since 2004.
She is the company’s senior workshop practitioner and has nearly twenty years’ experience of devising and delivering high-quality, practical, theory-based drama workshops. Always in high-demand at home, Kerry has also delivered workshops in Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Dubai, Shanghai, Bangkok and Malaysia.
Kerry researches and designs Splendid Productions’ unique range of theatrical Mind Maps and Top Tip Sheets that have appeared on studio walls from New Zealand to the National Theatre.
Kerry is a regular visiting lecturer and director at both Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts (LIPA) and Trinity Laban in London.
As a writer she has published articles and reviews for Teaching Drama Magazine and National Drama Magazine.
Kerry devised and delivered online Practical Brecht CPD sessions for the National Theatre in February 2021.
She directed the 2019 five-star Christmas show: Goldilocks and the Three Musketeers at the Battersea Arts Centre: with the excellent comedy trio The Sleeping Trees. In 2020 she directed their five-star ‘Living Room Adventure’ film: The Legend of Moby Dick Whittington which won an OFFIE (Off West End Award) for best Family show.
Ben Hales
Ben Hales is a composer and writer, and an Associate Director of Splendid Productions.
For Splendid he has collaborated on creative adaptations of classic plays for national tours since 2004, and is in charge of production at the Splendid Shop.
Read more…Ben Hales
Ben Hales is a composer and writer, and an Associate Director of Splendid Productions.
For Splendid he has collaborated on creative adaptations of classic plays for national tours since 2004, and is in charge of production at the Splendid Shop.
With Splendid’s Kerry Frampton he co-wrote and composed for pantomimes ‘The Epic Adventures of Robin Hood’ (2017) and ‘Red Riding Hood versus the Wolf’ (2018) for Stantonbury Theatre.
He was co-writer and composer for Sleeping Trees’ ‘Goldilocks and the Three Musketeers’ (2019) at Battersea Arts Centre, and composer for Sleeping Trees‘ ‘Scrooge and the Seven Dwarves’ (2016 & 2017) at Theatre 503.
In 2008, his first original play ‘In Parenthesis‘ won the Ambassador Theatre Group’s Metamorphosis08 playwriting competition. His play ‘There’s a Leak!’, written for young performers, is published by Oxford University Press. Other original writing includes ‘Poundtown’ (Greenwich Theatre) ‘Adam & Eve: The Musical’ (Edinburgh Fringe) ‘MeandYouTopia’ (a project for primary students) and ‘Suffrajitsu’ (Stantonbury Theatre).
His commercial music includes soundtracks for adverts for Mitsubishi, Wrigleys and Chrysler, along with widely-used production music albums for Universal Publishing Production Music.
He has composed music for numerous TV productions including ‘Watson & Oliver’, ‘Dick and Dom’s Funny Business’ and ‘Count Arthur Strong’ for the BBC and TwoFour/Channel 4’s ‘A Short History of Everything Else’.
Mal Smith
Mal Smith is a writer, performer, practitioner and composer. He is a full-time teacher of Drama and an Associate Director of Splendid Productions. He has been a key creative collaborator throughout Splendid’s history and has contributed to many adaptations, productions and workshop programmes.
Read more…Mal Smith
Mal Smith is a writer, performer, practitioner and composer.
He is a full-time teacher of Drama and an Associate Director of Splendid Productions. He has been a key creative collaborator throughout Splendid’s history and has contributed to many adaptations, productions and workshop programmes.
Mal trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama, Graduating in 1996 with First Class Honours.
He has worked as an actor, director and writer with companies including, English National Opera, Welfare State International, The Young Vic, Centred Theatre, Pumpkin Productions, Lock-in Theatre, Oldham Theatre Workshop and Really Useful Company.
Credits include: Jesus Christ (Jesus Christ Superstar), Chino (West Side Story), Radu (Mad Forest), Punk (A Small Green Space), Dog (Robinson Crusoe Castaway), Caliban (The Tempest), Wong (Good Person of Szechwan), Arlecchino (Il Lirica Punka), Dan/Pig (A Mouthful of Birds), Robin Hood (Secrets of Sherwood). He played numerous roles in three actor tours of ‘Arturo Ui’ and ‘Four Legs Good, Two Legs Bad’ and ‘Antigone’ with Splendid. Recently he donned wig and nylons to play ‘Vera’ in ‘When The Lights Go On Again’ – although the nylons were an optional extra.
Adaptations include Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, Freak Like Me, Four Legs Good, Two Legs Bad, Antigone, Frankenstein. In 2006 he created a new street theatre piece, ‘Little Red’, touring England, Edinburgh and Slovenia. He has also devised and directed ‘Out of Our Faces’ and ‘Get out of MySpace’ – two TIE pieces on alcohol abuse and cyberbullying respectively. With Kerry Frampton, he directed and adapted ‘Jason and The Argonauts’ for the 2007 Fringe.
Mal was central in the creation and development of English Touring Theatre’s Practitioners Unplugged programme, devising and touring workshops nationwide and recruiting and training new workshop leaders between 1999 and 2004. Alongside performing, workshopping and fight choreography, he runs INSET sessions and is a regular at the NISDA conference.
He is the author of “Artaud and his Legacy” – a study guide for A’Level.
Lucy Cuthbertson
Lucy Cuthbertson is a director, practitioner and educator.
She has directed and co-directed numerous Splendid productions since 2006, and an essential voice in any Splendid rehearsal room.
Read more…Lucy Cuthbertson
Lucy Cuthbertson is a director, practitioner and educator. She has directed and co-directed numerous Splendid productions since 2006, and an essential voice in any Splendid rehearsal room.
Lucy has spent most of her career as a teacher of drama with a particular interest in creating theatre with young performers. She has been Director of Drama for Griffin Schools Trust, Artistic Director of Stantonbury Theatre, Head of Drama at Kidbrooke School/Corelli College and an Advanced Skills Teacher in Drama for Greenwich LEA.
Prior to teaching she trained at The Poor School and was a founder member of Ridiculusmus Theatre Company with whom she toured ‘The Third Policemen’ for two years throughout UK & Eire. As a freelance director she worked with The Hush Hush Ensemble (‘Tamburlaine’ and ‘The Changeling’) and other productions included ‘King Lear’ at the Tabard Theatre; ‘Bloodlust’ at the White Bear and ‘Radio City’ at Jermyn Street Theatre.
As a teacher she has directed numerous productions with success in several festivals including ‘Hamlet’ chosen to be performed at The Duke of York’s (Schools’ Shakespeare Drama Festival) and ‘Just’ by Ali Smith chosen to be performed in the Olivier Theatre (National Theatre Connections Project).
Her projects with Kidbrooke students included a world premiere adaptation of Ali Smith’s booker shortlisted novel ‘Hotel World’, which was awarded Best Play in the Fringe Report Awards 2008.
She was instrumental in bringing Splendid to Stantonbury Theatre, co-directing and co-producing ‘The Epic Adventures of Robin Hood’ and ‘Red Riding Hood Vs the Wolf’.
Scott Smith
Scott Smith is a performer, practitioner and writer, and an Associate Artist of Splendid Productions.
Scott has been part of MANY Splendid productions since 2008 and is a regular workshop leader for the company.
Read more…Scott Smith
Scott Smith is a performer, practitioner and writer, and an Associate Artist of Splendid Productions.
Scott has been part of MANY Splendid productions since 2008 and is a regular workshop leader for the company.
Scott has been a professional actor since 2001 mainly touring projects of varying styles with a number of different companies. Some of his credits include Mike in ‘East’, Mick in ‘The Caretaker’, Bill Sykes in ‘Oliver Twist’, a one-man show and Katrina in ‘Taming of the Shrew’.
Scott has featured in a number of adverts and a feature film (‘The Plague’) as well as writing/producing his own work ‘The Monster’ and ‘Shooting the White Eagle’.
Scott has been a proud member of the splendid ensemble since 2008 when he was Woyzeck and has since worked with Splendid again on ‘Dr Faustus’, ‘Woyzeck’ (again), ‘Macbeth’, ‘Metamorphosis’ and ‘UBU’.
Scott has a genuine love of Brecht and specialises in Brecht and Epic Theatre Workshops.
Genevieve Say
Genevieve Say is an independent dance artist, performer and choreographer and a dance and theatre practitioner.
She is an Associate Artist of Splendid Productions.
Gen is a core member of the Splendid family, one of our most experienced performers and workshop leaders.
Read more…Genevieve Say
Genevieve Say is an independent dance artist, performer and choreographer and a dance and theatre practitioner.
She is an Associate Artist of Splendid Productions.
Gen is a core member of the Splendid family, one of our most experienced performers and workshop leaders.
In 2003 she trained at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts, graduating with First class BA(Hons) in Dance and Performance. Since then Genevieve has been working professionally as a dancer nationally and Internationally for many companies, including Splendid Productions, Gary Clarke, Collision (Lisi Perry), Flukt (Norway), Anna McDonald, Eee-Motion, Sweetshop Revolution, and Cheshire dance.
Genevieve was mentored by Jude Kelly MBE as part of Dance Uk’s future leaders mentorship scheme. She is currently artistic director and co-founder of the Birmingham Dance Network, an artist-led organisation which creates networking, performance and discussion opportunities for West Midlands based dance professionals.
Since 2006, Genevieve has been choreographing her own work under her own name and as The Mustdashios, a company she set up in 2010. Genevieve was commissioned by Urban Moves International Dance festival (2012) to choreograph 5IVE, an outdoor dance piece. She has also been commissioned by various institutions, organisations and companies including Manchester Metropolitan University, UcLan University, Merseyside Dance Initiative, Dance Initiative Greater Manchester and the Brindley Arts Centre, Runcorn. She has choreographed original work for Seven, Contact Theatre Manchester, Hot August Fringe London, LEAP Festival Liverpool, Word Of Warning Sampler series Manchester, Up The Walls Chester, DEDA, and Turn Festival Manchester.
Genevieve works as a workshop facilitator, and has been leading sessions for all age groups for over 10 years. She often delivers sessions on contemporary technique, dance and theatre devising processes, physical theatre technique and contact improvisation.
John Cooper
John Cooper is a theatre maker and teacher specialising in comedy, improvisation and devising.
He is a devoted fan of public transport and one of Splendid’s regular workshop leaders.
Read more…John Cooper
John Cooper is a theatre maker and teacher specialising in comedy, improvisation and devising.
He is a devoted fan of public transport and one of Splendid’s regular workshop leaders.
A trained teacher with a twenty-year career as an actor and director to draw upon up, John’s work includes performing in seasons at the Barbican, National Theatre and Northern Stage.
He has taught across school curricula and is very experienced in working with young people. His workshop delivery is dynamic, encouraging high levels of focus, commitment and creativity.
Grace Goulding
Grace Goulding is a Welsh Movement Director and Choreographer based in the North West whose work spans theatre, dance and education.
She is a regular performer and workshop leader for Splendid.
Read more…Grace Goulding
Grace Goulding is a Welsh Movement Director and Choreographer based in the North West whose work spans theatre, dance and education.
She is a regular performer and workshop leader for Splendid.
She is a multi-disciplinary artist with over 10 years experience working across a range of techniques and disciplines within the movement spectrum from choreography, consultation, devising, physical theatre, stage combat and facilitating and workshop leading within the entertainment industry and across all levels of education.
She was the first Movement Director on the Hope Street Emerging Artists Programme in 2010 and has since worked extensively across the UK and internationally with work featured at The Harare Festival of the Arts (HIFA) in Zimbabwe and touring with Splendid productions across the UK and South East Asia.
After completing her MA she was Dance Context Lecturer at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA) and Physical Theatre Lecturer at LIPA 6th Form College.
She choreographed the opening ceremony for both the International Taekwondo Championships and The Uni Global World Congress at the M&S Bank Arena Liverpool and sections of the 2017 London Lord Mayors Parade.
Grace was on her third Splendid tour with the Dr Faustus team when the COVID-19 lockdown put the world on pause. Her work throughout the pandemic has focused on arts provision for young people as an outreach practitioner with the Everyman Theatre and producing digital platforms with the National Youth Arts of Wales.
She continues passionately advocating for freelance artists as a member of the National Freelance Taskforce and Freelance Network, facilitator for the March for the Arts Committee and Community Arts Power discussions as well as creating her own international Lockdown Arts Project One Big Dance.
Theatre credits include; Storyhouse; The Jungle Book, Everyman Theatre; A Midsummer Nights Dream, The Story Giant. Young Everyman and Playhouse (YEP); Intimate, Papertown, Until They Kick Us Out, The Environmentalists, The Establishment, Quantum, The City, Jason and the Argonaughts, CROWD, Animal Farm. Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and the European Opera Company; Die Hochzeit des Camacho. Barefeet Theatre, Zambia; Tujuka Must Die. Splendid Productions; Metamorphosis, The Oresteia, Dr Faustus. New Adventures and Re:Bourne; Lord of the Flies. Liverpool Empire Theatre; Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Cats. Hope Street Limited; Alice Through the Winter Gardens, Free Radical Follies, The Extraordinary Journey of the Fakir who got Trapped in an Ikea Wardrobe, Climate Change is Rubbish. Unity Theatre; Sinbad, Unity Theatre in collaboration with Physical Fest; Creature, Ugly Bucket filmed at Unity Theatre; Good Grief, 20 Stories High; Indebted, Bluecoat in collaboration with Young Fest; 17, Our World. Re:Bourne , The Canal and River Trust, The Lowry, Birmingham Hippodrome; Dance on Water. Off The Ground Theatre Company; A Comedy of Errors, Jason and the Argonaughts, The Musketeers, Zorro, Around the World in 80 Days, Sinbad, A Mid Summer Nights Dream.
Film and TV: National Lottery Heritage Fund and Llanfyllin Workhouse; Ghosts of the Workhouse, Netflix; The Irregulars.
Jimmy Whiteaker
Jimmy Whiteaker is a performer, writer, dramaturg and director.
He is a veteran member of the Splendid team and a regular performer and workshop leader.
Read more…Jimmy Whiteaker
Jimmy Whiteaker is a performer, writer, dramaturg and director.
He is a long-standing member of the Splendid team and a regular performer and workshop leader.
Among others, he worked with Hearth in Birmingham performing and writing work concerned with mental health and the arts; with Myrtle theatre company in Bristol writing an opera with looked-after children and their carers; with Idiot Child in Bristol making and performing work which toured nationally and was nominated for a Total Theatre Award; with Bristol Old Vic theatre performing work by Tim Crouch; with Oddly Moving and Turtle Key Arts directing a circus-theatre show which is touring nationally; and he has been lucky enough to work with Splendid since 2009, performing in five tours and leading a variety of workshops.
Prior to working in theatre Jimmy worked extensively in mental health and with children in early years and after school clubs. During his whole career in theatre he has continued to work with children and young people to foster their creativity and further their education in a responsive and supportive way – led by them, for them.
Tanya Muchanyuka
Tanya Muchanyaka is a performer, workshop facilitator and musician, and has been a Splendid practitioner since 2018.
Tanya Muchanyuka
Tanyaradzwa Muchanyaka is a performer, workshop facilitator and musician, and has been a Splendid practitioner since 2018.
Tanya grew up in South East London where she fell in love with singing, dancing, telling and retelling stories. She graduated from Falmouth University with a Bachelors Degree in Theatre in 2016. Whilst she was studying she was involved in many student short films and performances and won Best Leading Actress in an international film competition. She was also involved in Yamaha Jazz Summer as a vocalist throughout her years at falmouth. As a student at Falmouth she would often volunteer as pastoral care for the participants that were under 18. In her 3rd year her final degree show performance was shortlisted by the National Student Drama Festival and her co-founded theatre company ‘O Collective’ was invited to perform there the following year.
During her studies she began practicing dance therapy and applying that to her performance style. With a background in devising physical theatre and dance therapy and a love for performance arts, Tanya’s personality exudes from her when she performs. Dance is very therapeutic for her and her truth is shown through the way she moves and encourages people to move. She is involved with different dance companies as a teacher and as a participant. She has trained with Wolfgang strange and Blink Dance Theatre and is a resident dance therapy facilitator at HF Mencap.
Tanya was the lead facilitator of the London Bubble youth theatre programme working with young people aged 6-18. She was also involved in other programmes that bubble run like the Young Theatre Makers and Teabreak theatre as a volunteer and the Intergenerational programme as a participant. When she was a teenager she was a part of youth theatre so being able to eventually lead the program is a huge achievement for her and the bubble is like a family.
Tanya is very experienced at working with young people and adults with learning difficulties. She is currently in the process of becoming a drama therapist and is working towards an MA in Drama and movement therapy. As a facilitator she works closely at empowering intergenerational communities and minorities to be able to express themselves through movement and theatre arts. She believes that we develop a sense of who we are at a young age. She wants to help people expand on that and shape themselves creatively. She is trained in the arts and a multi-skilled, dynamic performer and facilitator. She enjoys exploring different ideas and passions through a range of mediums in her workshops.
Splendid Teams 2004-2020
A visual (and musical) credit reel – everyone who contributed to a Splendid show, and what they did. (Taken from Kerry’s video FAQ that you can stream for free right now)