JOANnA NEVIN- PRODUCER/ACTOR
Joanna is a London-based actor and producer. She co-produced last summer’s tour of “Macbeth”, in which she also played Lady Macbeth. Joanna trained at Drama Centre London on the MA Classical Acting course. Joanna has played Katharina in The Taming of the Shrew, Olivia in Twelfth Night (both UK tours), Ruth in About 500 (King’s Head/Union Theatre), Lily Byrne in A Man of No Importance (Arts Theatre, West End), Sandra in Love, Love, Love (Theatro Technis), Emily Bronte in Bronte (Gatehouse), Lady Capulet in Romeo and Juliet (Ashcroft Theatre) and Susan in The Legend of Lola Montez (Northumberland Theatre Company). Joanna has been an Education Practitioner at the Globe for many years and has directed youth productions of Antigone, The Bacchae and Medea.
Joanna is represented by 21st Century Actor’s Management.
MARTIN SOUTH- PRODUCER/ACTOR
Martin South is a London-based actor who has appeared most recently in The Lehman Trilogy (National Theatre) in the West End. Martin directed our national tour of Macbeth (in which he also played King Duncan). He performed in 1133, Kit Green’s punchy and provocative reworking of Ben Jonson’s Bartholomew Fair. Other roles include Y in Love, Love, Love (Theatro Technis) and Mr Rochester in Bronte (Gatehouse).
In 2022, he completed filming for Misanthropos, an adaptation of Timon of Athens, currently in post-production. And in 2021, he created Remembrance, an immersive audio drama taking place in Abney Park cemetery, which is still available at https://echoes.xyz/
Martin is represented by 21st Century Actor’s Management.
SIMONA HUGHES- DIRECTOR
Simona graduated from her MFA in Advanced Theatre Practice at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in 2019, (with Distinction). In January 2021 she became an Artistic Director of the Tower theatre in Stoke Newington. Simona wrote and directed the play About 500, (The King’s Head Theatre, The Union Theatre, The Omnibus theatre) which was nominated for 3 awards. Other directing credits include Helen Edmundson’s Coram Boy (Minack Theatre), James Graham’s Labour of Love (Tower Theatre), Martin Sherman’s A Passage To India, (Tower Theatre), Mike Bartlett’s Love, Love, Love (Theatro Technis) and Polly Teale’s Brontë (Gatehouse). Simona has directed short plays at Theatre 503, The Bread and Roses, VAULT festival, Flourish Festival, the Arcola Outside and The Pit (Barbican). Simona also directs for The Primary Shakespeare Company.
CAST
BEATRICE – Joanna Nevin
BENEDICK – Martin South
MARGARET- Katrina Michaels
Katrina Michaels is a proud Tisch, NYU graduate with extensive credits in the UK and US including Offie-winning Best New Musical La Maupin; No For An Answer (Arcola); Peter and the Starcatcher (Orlando Shakespeare); Little Shop of Horrors / Pride and Prejudice (Creede Rep); Hoi Polloi (Off Broadway); Tribes / Spelling Bee (Florida Rep); Kindness (UK Tour); The 39 Steps (Depot Theatre); Twelfth Night (Colonial Shakespeare); Soldier’s Woman (Cockpit); Dracula (13th St Rep); Cabaret (Broward Stage Door); A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Winnipesaukee Playhouse); Comedy of Errors (Persever); and Rhinoceros (Inwood Shakespeare). Next, she is performing in the world premiere of A Hanukkah Carol at Round House Theatre in Washington DC. IG: katmichaels27
BORACHIO – Will Benyon
Will is a Welsh actor and musician who trained at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. Previous credits include: Darker Shores for Birdsong Productions/Bill Kenwright Ltd, Macbeth, Antigone and Black Fate for Get Out of My Space, As You Like It for The Lord Chamberlain’s Men, Cream Tea and Incest for The Cardboard Exotics, and Mamu for Caspian Films. Will is also a proud member of Pinch Punch Improv and can be see with them this year, both on tour and at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, in Locomotive for Murder: The Improvised Whodunnit.
HERO- Thissy Dias
Thisakya returned to the world of theatre after a decade long break at the start of 2023 and has since been involved in four productions at the Tower Theatre in Stoke Newington including Swipe, Homemakers, The Little Prince and Two Billion Beats. Her training includes the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and The National Youth Theatre. During her decade long break she gained degrees in Law and Politics.
LEONATO – Keith Hill
Keith Hill used to work unsocial hours for appalling pay in a widely misunderstood job. Two decades ago he packed it in and returned to acting, since when he has made films, toured widely (Death and The Maiden, Fagin?), done lots of weekly rep (Yes, Prime Minister, The Railway Children, Secret Garden, Educating Rita), appeared on BBC Radio 3 in Angela Carter, recorded audiobooks, and played Benjamin Britten in Suffolk. He has appeared often in the East Anglian new-writing festival, Ink, and most recently live recorded podcasts of plays by three of Shakespeare’s more neglected competitors for the Beyond Shakespeare Programme.
DON PEDRO – Ryan Williams
Ryan Williams has performed as an actor in film & regional theatres across the UK for over a decade now. Before arriving in London, he acted with theatre companies in Glasgow, Edinburgh, and even in the U.S. playing roles such as Brick Pollitt in Cat On A Hot Tin Roof and Paul Bratter in Barefoot in The Park. He’s appeared in numerous shows as a performer at the Tower Theatre in Stoke Newington – such as Trainspotting, The Canterbury Tales, Dead Funny and Enchanted April, as well as taking on the role of Macduff in our tour of Macbeth last year.
CLAUDIO - Lewis Jenkins
Lewis graduated from Drama Studio London in 2020. Theatre credits include: The Comedy of Errors, Roman Theatre; The Winters Tale, Minack Theatre; Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Maltings Theatre; The Play with Speeches, Brockley Jack; Wi-Fi Sexual, The Bridge House; The Lehman Trilogy, Gillian Lynne Theatre.
DON JOHN – Andy Canadine
After 20 years in primary education, Andy made the leap into professional acting in 2022. Much Ado About Nothing will be Andy’s third Shakespeare summer tour following The Taming of the Shrew in 2022 and Macbeth last year. He has also appeared at the Shaftesbury Theatre in the West End. Film and TV work includes lead role as Red Cross Worker in a TV Campaign and several short films including ‘The Eliminating’ which was shortlisted for the European Independent Film Festival in Paris this year.
CREatives
Composer/Musical Director- Tamara Douglas-Morris
Tamara is a composer of theatre, film and concert music.
She earned her MFA in Film Composition in the US. Whilst living there she composed music for three Shakespearean productions for BAFTA/LA and the Inner City Shakespeare Ensemble.
Theatre credits include Odd Shaped Balls (Edinburgh Fringe and Old Red Lion), The Comedy of Errors and The Merry Wives of Windsor (Minack Theatre), A Passage to India & The Little Prince (Tower Theatre) and Jubilee Voices (Arcola Outside). Her concert works have been performed at The Hackney Proms, Islington Town Hall, Sutton House and The Old Church.
Tamara teaches cello in Stoke Newington, is a member of the LLM Orchestra and a founding member of Uccelli Strings.
Movement Director – Chris Evans
Chris, a London School of Contemporary Dance graduate, co-founded the Hofesh Shechter Company in 2007. He joined as a devising performer later becoming Associate Choreographer for commissions such as Two Boys’ (2014, Metropolitan Opera) and *Fiddler on the Roof* (2016-2020, Broadway). In 2012, Chris became a core member of Gecko Theatre, contributing to *Missing* (2012), *Institute* (2014), and *The Wedding* (2017). He co-authored *The Dreamer* (2017) a multi-award-winning collaboration with Shanghai Dramatic Arts Centre. Recently, he was the UK Associate Movement Director for *Harry Potter and the Cursed Child*. Currently, Chris is the Associate Director of Gecko’s new immersive company “Dream Awake” while continuing to write and direct his own work.
Choreographer – Nevana Stojkov
Nevena Stojkov, Offie award nominated Movement Director
Theatre as Movement Director includes: The Lonely Londoners (Jermyn Street Theatre);You’re So F***ing Croydon (Croydonites Festival and Omnibus Theatre); Waterlilies (RCSSD); She Kills Monsters (GSA); Machinal (Orange Tree); Our Town (GSA); Coram Boy (Tower Theatre/Minack Theatre); The Boy Who Fell in a Book, Lizard Evidilleh Marmarok, The Little Prince (Tower Theatre); On the Line (Camden People’s Theatre);
Theatre as Choreographer includes: In the Solitude of the Cotton Fields (RCSSD); Weeverfish (RCSSD);
Nevena Stojkov is currently training at The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama on the MFA in Movement: Directing and Teaching.
Costume Designer - Kathleen Morrison
Kathleen crossed over from architecture to costume design on retirement and has found that her skills as an architect helps inform shape, line, colour and attention to detail.
She has designed costume for multiple productions at The Tower Theatre, including period dramas such as Coram Boy (also Minack Theatre), The Merchant of Venice, Henry V, Gainsborough’s Girls, Enemy of the People, Antigone & Kindertransport and contemporary plays such as Handbagged, Kensuke’s Kingdom, King Charles III and Labour of Love.
Co-Costume and Mask Designer - Roxanne-Ivy Roberts
Roxanne-Ivy is a Finnish costume designer based in London, boasting a versatile background in fashion and haute couture. She studied Fashion Design at Middlesex University, and now works in theatre, TV, and film as a costume designer. Theatre credits include Passing Strange (Young Vic), The Little Prince, A Dream Play, Seize the Day, & Ain’t I A Woman? (all Tower Theatre). Additionally, she has worked as a sound technician and production assistant on productions including The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Hansel and Gretel, The Witch Baba Yaga, and Macbeth at the Iris Theatre. Roxanne-Ivy is currently a costume trainee on Apple TV’s Slow Horses.
Set Designer - Isaac Insley
Isaac Insley is a Theatre designer. Originally a puppet designer, Isaac has moved into set design following training at Camberwell College of Art. He is currently studying at the Bartlett school of Architecture. Previous productions include: London’s Turbulent Son at Becket Pageant for London and 1984, Kensuke’s Kingdom, The Little Prince & Play at the Tower Theatre.