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Park Theatre presents their annual Christmas pantomime

Jack and The Beanstalk

Book, music and lyrics by Jez Bond & Mark Cameron

Co-Written & Directed by
Jez Bond

Co-Written by
Mark Cameron

Musical Director / Orchestrator
Dimitri Scarlato

Costume Design by
Josephine Sundt

Lighting Design by
Arnim Friess

Set Design by
Jonny Dobson

Sound Design by
Chris Bartholomew

Choreographer
Melli Bond

Fight Director
Claire Llewellyn of RC-ANNIE Ltd 

Assistant Musical Director
Rebecca Chalmers

Assistant Directors
Sophie Gill & Tamar Saphra

Casting Directors
Lucy Jenkins CDG and Sooki McShane CDG


Production Manager
Sarah Cowan

Company Stage Manager
Sophie Sierra

Assistant Stage Manager
Lisa-Marie Lewis

Costume Supervisor / Wardrobe Mistress
Jessica Bishop

 


 

Biographies

 

Co-Writer / Director | Jez Bond

Jez graduated Hull University with a BA Honours in Drama and was awarded the Channel Four Theatre Director Bursary, under which he trained at Watford Palace Theatre. Jez is Artistic Director of Park Theatre – which he founded.

As a director his credits include; Sleeping Beauty (which he co-wrote) and Adult Supervision (both for Park Theatre), The Fame Game (Tour of Austria), Sleeping Beauty (Salisbury Playhouse), Oliver! (starring Rowan Atkinson, Oxford), I Have Been Here Before (Watford Palace Theatre), The Twits (Tour of Switzerland), Misconceptions (Hong Kong Arts Centre), Big Boys (Croydon Warehouse), Shot of Genius (Leicester Square), Canaries Sometimes Sing (Kings Head & France) and A Season in South Africa (Old Vic). As a dramaturge he has worked with writers at Soho Theatre, Theatre Royal Stratford East, Royal Court and Young Vic.

 

Co-Writer | Mark Cameron

As an actor credits include; TV: Regular characters in Coronation Street; Steel River Blues; Emmerdale; Doctors plus guest roles in Law and Order; Waterloo Road; Casualty; Holby City; Eastenders; The Roman Mysteries; Vincent; Mayo; The Royal; The Bill; Fifty Five Degrees North; Extreme Endurance and Brookside. Film: Credits include: Scar Tissue; The Boss (2012 Reed Festival short film winner); The Damned United; Casanova’s Love Letters; Tomo (Sundance Film Festival Winner) and The Other Side. Theatre: Mathematics of the Heart (Theatre 503 and winner of Brighton Fringe festival – Best Play); Sleeping Beauty (Salisbury Playhouse); The Game of Love and Chance (National Tour); The Breakfast Soldiers (Contact Theatre, Manchester); The Taming of the Shrew (Shakespeare in the Park); Romeo and Juliet (Cannizaro Park). Mark works extensively as a voice over artist for TV and Radio.

As a writer Mark has worked with Jez Bond twice before, co-wroting Sleeping Beauty (Park Theatre) as well as over a hundred sketches for TooBigToPlay (also with Mark Gillis). He is currently working on three sitcoms and one comedy-drama for television. 

 

Musical Director / Orchestrator | Dimitri Scarlato

Dimitri was born and bred in Rome where he studied Composition, Piano and Conducting at the Conservatorio di Musica S. Sicilia. In 2004 he moved to London to attend an MMus in Composition at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and he is currently completing his DMus in Composition at the Royal College of Music, which in 2010 selected him as an RCM Rising Star. 

His music has been performed in several venues across Europe and Academia Filarmonica Romana (Italy) premiered his opera Fadwa (Teatro Olimpico, Rome) in May 2013.  He is also heavily involved in film music; in 2007 he worked in the music pre-production of Sweeney Todd, directed by Tim Burton, and in 2009 he composed the music for The City In The Sky, which was selected for the 66th Venice Film Festival. In 2011 Dimitri was selected at VOX3 – Composing for Voice workshop at the Royal Opera House of London and at the Berlinale Talent Campus 2011 as a film composer. He is currently scoring the soundtrack for Sparks & Embers, a British independent film starring Kris Marshall. He has just finished coaching Michael Caine to be a conductor in the new film Youth, directed by Paolo Sorrentino. Dimitri lives and works in London.
 

 

Costume Design | Josephine Sundt

Educated at Central Saint Martin’s for a BA in Fashion Design Women’s Wear, Josephine’s graduate collection collaborated with dancers from the Royal Ballet Company, winning L’Oreal’s Total Look Award, followed by a second collection which also on the LancĂ´me Modern Femininity Award.

Josephine has gone on to produce further contemporary designs for dancers of the Royal Ballet Company, English National Ballet, The Covent Garden Dance Company, as well as Sleeping Beauty for Park Theatre. Josephine compliments this with designs for private couture clients, drawing upon experience garnered as a design assistant for Claude Montana in Paris, as well as Roland Mouret, Tristan Webber and Julie Verhoeven in London.

 

Lighting Designer | Arnim Friess

Recent designs include; Klooks Last Stand (Park Theatre) Alice in Wonderland (Polka Theatre), Ghosts in the Wall (RSC), Piaf and Gypsy (The Curve Leicester), Leviathan (Madrid), Grandpa in My Pocket (Nottingham Playhouse), Wander (Jockey Club Theatre Hong Kong), The National Holocaust Memorial Day - The Rememberers (Birmingham Rep), A Roof of Light (Coventry Cathedral’s Blitz commemoration), Lucky Seven (Hampstead Theatre), Looking for JJ (Pilot Theatre, Unicorn), One Night in November (Belgrade Theatre Coventry) The Suicide and An Inspector Calls (Theatre Clwyd) The White Album (Nottingham Playhouse).


 

Set Designer | Jonny Dobson

Jonny trained at Bishy School of Art and later under Sir Jodney Krant MBE at the prestigious Royal Landrian Touring Society. As Designer, credits include: Tennesse William's Giraffe on a Cold Sponge CeilingWaiting for StobartThe Slight Tickling of Sister Barry, Chekhov's The Budgie (in a new translation by Reginald Feld) and Arthur Miller's Death of an Osteopath. As Associate, credits include: Under Milk Johnson (West End), Who's Afraid of Quenteth Menenzies (Number One Tour) and Pinter's The Coming Betrayal of No Man's Birthday-Taker (National Theatre).
 

Sound Designer | Chris Bartholomew

Chris Bartholomew is a recent graduate of The Guildhall's Electronic Music Studios. Working as both a composer and sound designer for theatre, his recent credits include sound design and music for Light by Theatre Ad Infinitum at the Edinburgh Fringe and transferring to the Barbican Pit in January, The Curse of Elizabeth Faulkner at the Charing Cross Theatre. As a music producer and technologist, Chris has been a long time collaborator with Abandoman, overseeing the technical and musical aspects of their last 2 sell out Edinburgh shows which have then toured internationally.


Choreographer | Melli Bond

Melli graduated with a Bachelor Arts degree in Theatre and English Literature from The University of South Carolina and Masters of Arts in Theatre Production from University of Hull.  She began studying acting and dance from the age of 4. During her university years Melli was director of The Delaware Theatre Company Summer Arts Program (for young people) - this is where she first began her work in creative learning. She has delivered workshops to children through to adults for over 20 years in the United States, Hong Kong and London. She began professional work as an actress in London in 2000. Melli co-founded Transmission - a workshops for professional actors, writers and directors. 

Melli is the Creative Director and co-founder of Park Theatre. As head of Creative Learning she has developed the program Script Accelerator to work with emerging artists, curates the exhibitions featured in the gallery space and has developed classes and projects for non professionals of all ages.

As a choreographer her work includes:  The Reduced Shakespeare Company’s The Bible: The Complete Word of God Abridged (UK Tour), Sleeping Beauty (Park Theatre) Sleeping Beauty (Salisbury Playhouse); Oliver! (Starring Rowan Atkinson, Oxford); The Fame Game (Vienna’s English Theatre); The Master Forger (The Tabard Theatre).

 

Fight Director | Claire Llewellyn of RC-ANNIE Ltd.

Claire trained as an Actor at Mountview College and it was here that her love of Stage Combat began. Claire trained as a Stage Combat Teacher with the British Academy of Dramatic Combat (BADC) and is a current, serving member of it’s committee.

During her teacher training she was mentored by Rachel Bown-Williams and Ruth Cooper-Brown of RC-Annie with whom she is an Associate Teacher. Claire is the resident Stage Combat tutor at ALRA North. 

Recent Fight Direction credits: Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, Oedipus at the Crossroads at the Tristan Bates Theatre. Fight Assistant credits: Red Velvet at The Tricycle Theatre and Motion Pictures Arthur and Merlin and Howl both to be released in 2015. 


Assistant Musical Director | Rebecca Chalmers

Rebecca Chalmers is a versatile musician from Scotland. She graduated with distinction from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama with a MMus in flute performance in 2012. She is also an accomplished pianist and works as a musical director, accompanist, singing teacher, vocal animateur and workshop leader.

Rebecca has just returned to London after two years leading a music outreach project on the Caribbean island of Montserrat. As part of the project, which was initiated by Sir George Martin and the Montserrat Foundation UK, she founded and directed the National Youth Choir of Montserrat and produced several musical productions. 

She also holds a first class honours degree in Music and Spanish from Newcastle University where was musical director of the university theatre society. She has worked as a musical director for Youth Music Theatre UK and is currently musical director of the new Dowsing Sound Collective in Hammermith. 
 

Assistant Directors | Sophie Gill & Tamar Saphra

Sophie Gill | After graduating from the University of Essex with a BA in Philosophy in 2006, Sophie spent several years working in IT projects for a range of financial institutions including Close Brothers Ltd and the Bank of England. She has recently left the world of banking to pursue her long-held dream of theatre directing. Previous credits as director: No Exit (Lakeside Theatre), Hamlet (City Lit, assistant), STONEBREAKER (City Lit Page to Stage) and What’s in the Coffee? (Playground New Writing). Sophie is also Creative Business Lead at Mental Fight Club, a Southwark-based charity that aims to promote good mental health through creativity and freedom of expression.

Tamar Saphra | Tamar recently graduated with First Class Honours in English Literature and Theatre from the University of Sheffield where she was Chair of the University Theatre Company. Her previous roles include General Manager at The Finborough Theatre and she continues to review online for A Younger Theatre.

As a director/assistant director, her credits include: No Fishing & Pillow Talk by Helen Monks (winners of PageToStage, Tacchi Morris Arts Centre), The Retold Ramayana with Daljit Nagra (assistant director, JayBird Live Literature), Echoes Of Olympus - A Festival Of New Writing, (SuTCo, Sheffield), Build Me Up Buttercup by Tony Macaulay (assistant director, workshop dir. by Nikolai Foster), A History of New Beginnings (assistant director, Bare Project Theatre), Hedda Gabler (Sheffield University School of English), Rope by Patrick Hamilton (SuTCo, Sheffield)

 

Casting Directors  | Lucy Jenkins CDG and Sooki McShane CDG

For Park Theatre:  Man to Man, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, Desdemona, Bomber’s Moon, Sleeping Beauty, Adult Supervision and Casualties.

Other theatre credits include:  All My Sons and Moon on a Rainbow Shawl (Talawa/National Tour), To Kill a Mockingbird (Regents Park and tour), Our Country’s Good (Out Of Joint), Much Ado About Nothing (Royal Exchange Theatre), War Horse (UK Tour/West End), Solid Air (Theatre Royal Plymouth), Afraid of the Dark (Charing Cross Theatre), Tyne (Live Theatre), Chalet Lines (Bush Theatre/Live Theatre), Cooking with Elvis/ Wet House (Live Theatre/Soho) Serpent’s Tooth (Almeida/Talawa),The Glee Club (Cast Theatre), for Nottingham Playhouse: Time and the Conways, The Kite Runner, My Judy Garland Life, Richard III, The Ashes and Diary of a Football Nobody and several productions for The Mercury Theatre, Colchester including The Opinion Makers, The Butterfly Lion, The Good Person Of Sichuan, The History Boys and The Hired ManTelevision credits include: Skins (Company Pictures), Wild At Heart (Company Pictures), The Bill (Talkback Thames), Samuel Johnson: The Dictionary Man (October Films), Family Affairs (Talkback Thames).

Film credits include: Awaiting (Greenscreen), Myrrdin (Movieworks), Containment (Bright Cold Day Films), Five-A-Side (Emerald Films), Entity (Nexus DNA), The Somnambulists (No Bad Films), Desi Boyz (Desi Boyz Productions), H10 (Dan Films).

 

Production Team

Production ManagerSarah Cowan

Through her career Sarah has Production Managed at many theatre in the UK including the Trafalgar Studios, Hampton Court and Theatre Royal Bath. She has also Company Stage Managed with the RSC and Filter Theatre, Opera Holland Park and National Theatre Wales. In addition to theatrical work, she has event and festival experience in the fashion and music industries.


Company Stage Manager | Sophie Sierra

Sophie trained in Professional Stage Management at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. Recent credits include: The Backstage Tour (Hoxton Hotel, Holborn), The Nightmares of Carlos Fuentes (Arcola Theatre), Invisible Dot In The West End (Duchess Theatre), Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (Vaults Festival 2014). Other credits include: Dirty Dancing, The West End Story (Piccadilly Theatre), Laura Marling, Brazil, The Shawshank Redemption and Prometheus (Secret Cinema), Rapunzel (Towngate Theatre), Directors Cuts’ (Trafalgar Studios), Future Cinema Takeover (Wilderness Festival), Events Whilst Guarding The Bofors Gun (Finborough Theatre), Dick Whittington and His Cat (Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds), MogadishuWinterlong (Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester), Bedlam (Shakespeare’s Globe).


Assistant Stage Manager | Lisa-Marie Lewis

Lisa Lewis studied Stage and Events Management at Royal Welsh college of Music and Drama being involved in shows such as Rent the Musical and The Magic Flute as part of her studies. Lisa has been working as a Stage Manager since finishing her masters in shows such as Oxford Shakespeare company’s As You Like It, National Theatre Wales Team Projects, Aberystwyth Arts Centre’s Fame The Musical, Louche Theatre’s production’s of A Portrait of Dylan Thomas, A Child