Biographies

Associate Personnel

(Skills Ensemble, SATYAGRAHA; Design Team, Technical Engineer, STICKY; Co designer, THE HANGING MAN)

A career in Technical theatre began at the West Yorkshire Playhouse, specialising in the technical design of more than 300 in house productions and events as Technical Manager.

Phil's freelance design career began with his collaboration with Improbable, touring globally with Shockheaded Peter, Sticky and The Hanging Man.(TMA award 2003. Best design with Julian Crouch)

Design credits include Thick by Rick Bland, The Coventry Mysteries 06 for Imagineer,
Gilgamesh By Derrek Hines and Angelmoth for Ballet Lorent, touring 08.

Phil has worked on the Commonwealth Games and the Athens Olympics 04 Opening Ceremonies and has performed in opera as an ensemble actor, most recently in Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk at the Royal Opera House and Improbable's Satyagraha at ENO.

His more diverse work includes 6 months on the final stages of the Lord of the Rings in NZ; flying actors around; crashing Val Kilmer down a cliff; creating 9m catherine wheels and lifting tonnes of fireworks on cranes for The World Famous pyrotechnicians.

Recent work includes realising Carnival Messiah in a big top, adapting garden sheds to become theatres, designing concepts for future outdoor theatre and next, Alex live on stage with Phelim Mcdermott and Robert Bathurst.

Phil prefers to be known as Phleds.



(Lighting Designer - 70 HILL LANE, ANIMO, LIFEGAME, COMA, SPIRIT, THE HANGING MAN, THEATRE OF BLOOD, PANIC)


Colin started working for Improbable, after no one else would have him, as a Lighting Designer and a very poor stage manager - eventually Improbable learnt their lesson and just let him do the lights. With them he has lit and toured around the world.

Other theatre includes: Black Watch, The Bacchae, 365 (National Theatre of Scotland); The Caretaker (Liverpool Everyman/West End); Out of Time (Colin Dunne at the Barbican and international touring); When the rain stops falling (Almeida); The Thief of Baghdad (Royal Opera House); Kes, Separate Tables (Manchester Royal Exchange); Casanova, Playing the Victim (Told by an Idiot); I am Yusuf and this is my Brother (Young Vic/ShiberHur - Palestine); Touched (Salisbury Playhouse); The Glass Menagerie, Mine (Shared Experience); Equus, The Elephant Man (Dundee Rep), The Beauty Queen of Leenane (Lyceum Edinburgh).

Other collaborations with Improbable members include: Guy Dartnell's one man shows WOULD SAY SOMETHING, BOTTLE, CONSUMING SONGS and TRAVELS WITH MY VIRGINITY, Stella Duffy's BREASTROKES, Spymonkey's STIFF, and BETWEEN THE NOTES with Niall Ashdown.

Opera includes extensive work over 8 seasons at Opera Holland Park, La boheme (English touring opera), Fidelio (Opera Theatre Company, Ireland)

Colin and his co-designers Julian Crouch, Phil Eddols, and Stephen Snell won the TMA best design award for THE HANGING MAN.

www.colingrenfell.com


(Consultant Director - LIFEGAME)
Keith is a Professor Emeritus of the University of Calgary. He formed and was artistic director of the Loose Moose Theatre Company. He has written many plays, and wrote the internationally acclaimed book IMPRO. He was the director and founder of the legendary improvisation group Theatre Machine.



(Musician – ANIMO, LIFEGAME; Music for The Wolves in the Walls)
As Musical Director of Glasgow’s Suspect Culture - a theatre company formed with Graham Eatough and David Greig - Nick has developed and scored twelve shows including TIMELESS, MAINSTREAM, CASANOVA, LAMENT, ONE TWO… and 8000M, as well as numerous workshops and performances throughout the world. He was an improvising musician on Improbable’s LIFEGAME in Australia and at the National Theatre. For Paines Plough, scores include PYRENEES (TMA Best New Play 2005), MERCURY FUR, THE DROWNED WORLD, TINY DYNAMITE (co-produced with Frantic Assembly) and SPLENDOUR, three of which were Fringe First Winners at the Edinburgh Festival. He has composed extensively for Madrid’s Animalario, performance art group The Max Factory and Vancouver's Rumble Productions. At The West Yorkshire Playhouse he scored April De Angela’s PLAYHOUSE CREATURES and Simon Armitage’s MR HERACLES. Nick has toured and recorded previously with Mcalmont & Butler (Chrysalis), Strangelove (EMI Records), Astrid (Nude Records) and Witness (Island Records). His screen work includes several short films as well as numerous soundtracks for Channel Four (including BAFTA and Rory Peck award winner BENEATH THE VEIL), ITV, BBC World Service and CBS in the US. He has recently co-written a full orchestral score for LUTHER for PBS, and written the soundtrack the feature-length documentary DEATH IN GAZA for HBO. He is one half OSKAR, who have performed live scores for three PRADA fashion shows in Milan, exhibited a sound installation for SHHH!! at the V&A and have an album 'Air Conditioning' available through Incarnation Records/ Universal Digital, and a new EP, 'rerun', to follow. Recently he composed the music for the Scottish Theatre Award winning THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF DISSOCIA at the Edinburgh International Festival and is currently composing THE WOLVES IN THE WALLS for the National Theatre of Scotland and Improbable. He is also co-writing a new musical theatre piece supported by the National Theatre Studio and developing GLOBAL REVIEW for Suspect Culture. Email n.p@blueyonder.co.uk



(Assistant Director - STICKY, Design Team - SPIRIT)
As an actor, Rob has performed in over 20 countries worldwide. Productions include TIME OF LIES, MANTU, CHARAVARI, MEMORY GATE and CABBAGES & QUEENS for Trickster Theatre Company, PENNY DREADFUL for the Right Size, FANTASTICAL VOYAGE for Company Gavin Robertson, THE THREE MUSKETEERS for MTP and THUNDERBIRDS FAB for John Gore Productions. Other theatre includes DOCTOR FAUSTUS at the Nottingham Playhouse and THE GOVERNMENT INSPECTOR at the West Yorkshire Playhouse.
On screen Rob played an Evil Wheeler in Disney’s RETURN TO OZ, a delegation of four aliens in George Lucas’ THE PHANTOM MENACE, Mr Brillo in Ragdoll’s BRUM and 34 different alien characters in Gerry Anderson’s SPACE PRECINCT.

Directing work includes FANTASTICAL VOYAGE and SPITTOON for Company Gavin Robertson, WEDNESDAY WEDNESDAY for Mary Oliver, and AN EVENING WITH ALBERT EINSTEIN for Gary Barber and the Natural Theatre Company.

Assistant Director credits include OOMF for Oxfordshire 2000, the Closing Ceremony of the 2002 COMMONWEALTH GAMES in Manchester, STICKY for Improbable, the national tour of ROUND THE HORNE REVISITED for Joabri Productions, and JERRY SPRINGER THE OPERA at the National Theatre and the Cambridge Theatre in London.

Rob also works as a prop maker, set builder and model maker. Projects include work for the Right Size, Improbable, the David Glass Ensemble, Motionhouse Dance, Scarlet Theatre, Toby Jones, and Jane Asher’s GOOD LIVING for BBC TV. He also works as design assistant to Julian Crouch on productions which, so far, include A FUNNY THING HAPPENDED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM for the National Theatre, THE MAGIC FLUTE for the Welsh National Opera, THE STARS ARE OUT TONIGHT for Amici Dance Theatre, WOLVES IN THE WALLS for Improbable and the National Theatre of Scotland and, currently, SATYAGRAHA for Improbable and the English National Opera.



(Development, Assistant Director -STICKY)
Gill has a background in education and therapy. Having studied Process Work she got interested in its relevance to creative and theatrical forms. Gill has recently been given a MIND Millennium Award to create a show about disturbing states and perceptions and to see if its possible to make that entertaining.



(Sound Designer - STICKY)
Geoff is a versatile freelance electronic musician and producer/composer who has produced work within the music industry and within live theatre and dance productions. Having started his musical career as a drummer with rock bands, he began working at Moody Studios under the direction of Duncan Bridgeman of 1 Giant Leap fame. He has since gone on to work as a studio sound engineer with a wide variety of musicians and bands, such as the Appleton Sisters (from All Saints), Omar, Placebo, S Club 7, Spiller, Horace Andy and James. More recently he has been involved in production and writing of dance music with DJs such as Mike Monday, John Clark and Marc Auberach as well as releasing a single of his own on the Playa One label.

In addition to this, Geoff has produced soundtracks for various Theatrical performances such as RHYTHMS OF LIFE by The Scarabeus Theatre group at the Natural History Museum, THE PULSE by Vicky Jassey, a dance performance involving body percussion on stilts synchronised animation projected onto the dancer and TREK, a contemporary African dance piece by the Nomad Dance Company involving African rhythms using the sounds of everyday objects. He also has experience of live sound applications having been the sound engineer / electronic musician for a touring African theatre group Spirit of the Rhino Drum which toured the festivals over the summer of 2000 including a week at the Edinburgh festival for 5 nights. He composed a variety of electronic atmospheres, effects and textures for STICKY which are blended with a variety of musical pieces over the course of the show mixed live from CDs and enhanced with sampled sounds played on the fly in sympathy with the performance.



(Production Manager - STICKY)
Jon has been Production Manager for STICKY since its inception as part of Glasgow City of Architecture 1999. Other outdoor production management includes: many years for Stockton Riverside Festival, Head Of Operations for the Streets Of Brighton Festival (ongoing since 2001), Brighton New Year 2000 and 2001, and numerous Big Top arts venues around the UK. He has worked for many years with the Improbable Theatre directors as lighting designer for theatre shows at Nottingham Playhouse, West Yorkshire Playhouse, Lyric Hammersmith and on SHOCKHEADED PETER.



(Design Team - CINDERELLA, STICKY, COMA, SPIRIT: Performer - ANIMO)
Graeme has worked as a specialist maker on many theatre and T.V. productions such as A MIDSUMMER NIGHT DREAM (The English Shakespeare Company), IMPROBABLE TALES, DR FAUSTUS (Nottingham Playhouse), CAPTAIN CROWSNEST (Walk the Plank). He has co-designed for theatre productions including THE BLUE (Walk the Plank), GULLIVER’S TRAVEL (Contact Theatre) and is currently co-designing STRUWWELPETER (Cultural industry) with Julian Crouch. He has worked on outdoor and site specific events as project Director and Design Co-ordinator for U2 LTD and Walk The Plank... He has worked as a maker and performer with DOG TROEP, COLLECTIF ORGANUM and ANIMO. Graeme plays clarinet and banjolin.



(Performer/Co-Creator - 70 HILL LANE, ANIMO, LIFEGAME, COMA, SPIRIT)
Guy has worked been working with IMPROBABLE since it began. With a particular interest in improvised performance, in the late 80’s Guy co-founded Impro Café (where he met Phelim and Lee) and at this time he also began his voice-movement work with companies such as Voxall Bridge and Theatre Who. As a solo artist his work includes the Time Out Live Award winning WOULD SAY SOMETHING, BOTTLE, UNSUNG and most recently TRAVELS WITH MY VIRGINITY, which he is presently developing for film with Lee. He has also instigated and collaborated on a number of inter-disciplinary projects - PHYSICALLY SOUND with composer Ben Park; SLICK & SLOPPY with choreographer Cyndi Faulkner; EXTASE with director/choreographer Michael Dick; a British Council exchange project, with Israeli director Nava Zukerman and an improvisational project for infant babies and their parents/carers called OOGLY BOOGLY, with National Theatre director Tom Morris. As a performer he played Harlequin in Neil Bartlett’s Lyric Theatre production of ISLAND OF SLAVES and has worked with the likes of The Comedy Store Players, composer Meredith Monk, animator Damian Gascoigne, director Keith Johnstone, fool artist Franki Anderson, puppeteer Chris Leith, and choreographers Pete Shenton, Gaby Agis and Miranda Pennell. Guy is an Associate Artist with Battersea Arts Centre and the Merlin Theatre, Frome and has directed/consulted on projects for Comecon Commotion, Cry Havoc, Gisele Edwards, Medicine Show, Momentary Fusion, New Art Club, Niki McCretton and the Stolperbangels. He helped establish the Fool Time circus-theatre school in Bristol and teaches voice-movement work all around the world. Contact: guydartnell@aol.com


(Performer - Sticky)
Sarah Jean works in the air on trapezes, cotton ropes, bungies, harnesses and most recently suspended off a crane hook as the ‘little insect’ for STICKY. She trained in mime and physical theatre at the Desmond Jones School in London and flying trapeze at the Ecole Trapeze Volant, Jean Palacy in Paris. She toured Britain for two summers with the Circus Space’s outdoor flying trapeze rig as both performer and production manager. She set up her first company Exstatic in 1992 taking the show 1080 ORIGINAL GRAVITY to the Edinburgh Festival in 1993. Sarah Jean spent five years working in a large city centre nightclub in Glasgow putting on wildly varied visual performance in, around and most particularly above the dance floor. Since then she has formed a second company Powder, to take these various visual performances to other places, most notably the Tate Modern’s turbine hall in London, and to create the show SPELLBOUND with Gavin Marshall. Currently Sarah Jean is working as Company Manager with Mischief La-Bas (a street theatre company) when not hanging around over the STICKY crew in some improbable open space somewhere in the world.



(Performer - ANIMO, LIFEGAME)
Niall Ashdown is a comedian, actor, improviser and writer. He has collaborated with Improbable Theatre on many highly regarded projects, including UK and US tours of LIFEGAME, ANIMO and IMPROBABLE TALES at the Nottingham Playhouse. He is a regular guest with the Comedy Store Players in both London and Manchester. Niall’s first-ever solo piece, HUNGARIAN BIRD FESTIVAL, premiered at BAC, toured the UK, and has been adapted into a radio play soon to be aired on Radio 4. He has previewed a new show, THE MAN WHO WOULD BE STING at BAC recently and has also been in Note to Tale, a collaborative work with improvising classical quintet Between the Notes. Other theatre work includes EXPOSITION, AN EVENING WITH GARY LINEKER and SUB-POST OFFICE OF DEATH. Niall’s TV work has included WHOSE LINE IS IT ANYWAY? (C4), CHAMBERS (BBC1), and as writer/performer, BARKING (C4) and CONFESSIONS (BBC1). On radio, Niall has been heard on THE WORRIERS, THE MOTION SHOW and NORTH EAST OF EDEN (Radio 4), and HOLD THE BACK PAGE and THE TREATMENT (Radio 5 Live) – in the last of these, he played Teesside’s no-nonsense sports pundit Derek ‘Robbo’ Robson, who lives in words and sound on BBC Sport Online. He has written for and performed on LOSERS for BBC Radio 4.



(Performer - ANIMO, LIFEGAME, CINDERELLA)
Angela is an actor, writer and Irish dancer. She has collaborated with Improbable for many years touring UK, US and Australia and wore a sellotape dress as CINDERELLA (Lyric Hammersmith). Other projects with members of Improbable include THE GOVERNMENT INSPECTOR (West Yorkshire Playhouse), THE INSTITUTE (BAC), and GAUDETE (Almeida). She has also guested with The Comedy Store Players. In 2004 Angela was nominated for Best Actress at the Edinburgh festival in THIRD FINGER LEFT HAND (Assembly Rooms). She wrote and performed a successful and salacious solo show THE DREAM KILLERS (Drill Hall), and ended the year with Northern Stage's KAPUT, playing Olga in a new play and great wig. Other theatre includes: HABEAS CORPUS (Northampton), LOVE AND OTHER FAIRYTALES (Edinburgh & Prague Fringe Festivals & UK tour); THE MAIDS, TURN OF THE SCREW (Young Vic); METAMORPHOSIS (Contact Theatre, Manchester); NOTHING COMPARES TO YOU (Birmingham Rep); SHADOW OF A GUNMAN, EAST, HEDDA GABLER (Leicester Haymarket); A FLEA IN HER EAR (Old Vic). TV includes: THE OFFICE (BBC), EASTENDERS (BBC), THE VACUUM (C4), and as a sign of true success she appeared on RICHARD AND JUDY (ITV). Angela was a co-founder of THE HAIRY MARYS - an Irish comedy/dance company with whom she wrote and performed sketches for TV, Radio, Comedy Circuit and toured throughout the UK and Ireland. Her screenplay HEAD OVER HEELS has been optioned by Ipso Facto Films.



(Performer - ANIMO, LIFEGAME)
Stella Duffy has worked with Improbable in Lifegame since 1998. Since 1988 she has also worked with impro/comedy company Spontaneous Combustion. She has written three solo shows – THE TEDIOUS PREDICTABILITY OF FALLING IN LOVE, CLOSE TO YOU, and most recently performed the third, BREASTSTROKES at BAC. On radio Stella has appeared in several single plays, various sitcoms, both series of LOSERS, and was a team captain on the quiz show WHISPERS. She has guested with Comedy Store Players. Stella also writes for radio and theatre, and has written ten novels, over twenty short stories and many feature articles. She co-edited the anthology TART NOIR from which her story Martha Grace won the 2002 CWA Short Story Dagger Award. With the NYT she adapted her novel IMMACULATE CONCEIT (Hodder) at the Lyric Hammersmith. Her latest novel STATE OF HAPPINESS (Virago) was long listed for the 2004 Orange Prize for Fiction and has been optioned for feature film development by Fiesta Productions.