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Essee Productions in association with Oli Sones and Park Theatre presents the World Premiere of
Dark Tourism
Adam Lenson | Director
Daniel Dingsdale | Writer and Max Stafford
Polly Bennett | Movement Director
William Fricker | Set Designer
Anna Lewis | Costume Designer
Max Blackman | Lighting Designer
Mike Thacker | Sound Designer
Luke Bateman | Composer
Yarit Dor | Fight Choreographer
Mark Blythe | Stage Manager
Sophie Cornell | Producer
Oli Sones | Associate Producer
Biographies
Adam Lenson | Director
Directing credits include: Songs for a New World (20th Anniversary Production, St James Theatre), See What I Wanna See (London Premiere, Jermyn Street Theatre), Come Fly With Me (Salisbury Playhouse), The Goodbye Girl (First London Revival, Upstairs at the Gatehouse), West End Recast (Duke of York’s and Phoenix Theatres), Ordinary Days (European Premiere, Trafalgar Studios), Little Fish and Saturn Returns (European Premieres, Finborough Theatre), The Dead Guy (English Theatre Frankfurt), Everything Else Happened (World Premiere, Assembly, Edinburgh Festival), Immaculate (Etcetera Theatre), The Family (Old Vic US/UK Exchange, Public Theater, NY).
He has worked as an Associate and Assistant director to Terry Johnson, John Doyle, Stephen Daldry, Victoria Wood and Maria Friedman and credits include: Merrily We Roll Along (Olivier Award for Best Musical Revival 2014, Harold Pinter Theatre), Race (Hampstead Theatre), The Duck House (Vaudeville Theatre), Measure for Measure and Heresy of Love (Royal Shakespeare Company). Six Degrees of Separation (Old Vic), An Inspector Calls (Novello Theatre, Wyndhams Theatre), The Prisoner of Second Avenue (Vaudeville Theatre), Speed The Plow (Playhouse Theatre), Road Show, The Color Purple and Talent (Menier Chocolate Factory), La Cage Aux Folles (Olivier Award for Best Musical Revival 2009, Playhouse Theatre).
Daniel Dingsdale | Writer and Max Stafford
Daniel Dingsdale is a St Helens-born writer and actor, he trained in acting at Rose Bruford College. Dark Tourism is his first full length play.
Theatre credits include: The Tempest (UK and Norway tour), The Taming of the Shrew (Kensington Palace Gardens), Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, Miller’s Crossing, and Back to the Future (with Secret Cinema), Lights! Camera! Improvise! (New Diorama), The Haunting of Godstow (Drayton Theatre), Ghost Hunt (Etcetera Theatre), The Shakespeare Band (with Bred in the Bone), Herons (Barn Theatre), Othello (C too), Robin Hood (Merchant’s Hall, Edinburgh Fringe), and he was involved in the creation of the site-specific musical drama Tales of the Woo (Worcester’s Guildhall).
Television credits include: Preston Passion (BBC One).
Polly Bennett | Movement Director
Polly Bennett is a Movement Director and Choreographer working across the UK and internationally. She is Associate Movement Practitioner at the RSC.
Theatre credits include: Pomona (National Theatre), People, Places & Things (National Theatre), Three Days in the Country (National Theatre), Songs for a New World (St James), Hang (Royal Court), The Famous Victories of Henry V (RSC), The Rise and Fall of Little Voice (West Yorkshire Playhouse/Birmingham Rep), The Angry Brigade (Bush), When the World Was Small (Theatre Genedlaethol Cymru), To Kill A Mockingbird (Regents Park Open Air/Barbican), A Mad World My Masters (RSC/ETT), Dunsinane (National Theatre Scotland, UK, Asian and US Tour), Yen (Manchester Royal Exchange), The King’s Speech (Chichester Festival Theatre/Birmingham Rep), Come Fly With Me (Salisbury Playhouse).
Events include: London 2012 Opening Ceremony (Assistant Movement Director), London 2012 Paralympic Opening Ceremony and Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics Opening and Paralympic Ceremonies (Mass Cast Choreographer).
www.pollybennettmovement.com
William Fricker | Set Designer
William Fricker has designed for numerous theatres and theatre companies across the UK. Will is global set design associate to the original designer of War Horse; Rae Smith. He has mounted the show on her behalf for tours in the UK, USA, Australia, Germany, Holland and most recently, China.
Design credits include: Billy the Kid (Rosemary Branch Theatre), Ace of Clubs (Union Theatre), Little Black Book (Park Theatre), The Glass Menagerie (The Theatre Chipping Norton), Lay Down Your Cross (Hampstead Theatre), The Rake’s Progress (Peacock Theatre), The Song of Rhiannon (Riverside Studios), Faces in the Crowd (Royal Court), Much Ado About Nothing (Redshift Theatre), Pleasure and Pain (Citizen’s Theatre), and numerous productions at Salisbury Playhouse, Margate Theatre Royal, The Theatre Chipping Norton, The Watermill, and Greenwich Theatre.
www.williamfricker.co.uk
Anna Lewis | Costume Designer
Since graduating from the University of Oxford, Anna has worked as both a production and costume designer on a wide range of projects both in theatre and film.
Most recent design credits East End Boys and West End Girls (Arcola and London tour), and Three Writers Walk in a Forest (Theatre 503).
Anna worked as a both set and costume designer at the Finborough Theatre, the Buxton Opera House, the Greenwich Theatre and Vault Festival. She has also worked in the costume department of the National Theatre on a number of projects including the Dorfman Opening Gala and the annual Fast Foward Gala.
She is a member of the costume team for Secret Cinema and has worked on nine productions for them including most recently Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back.
Max Blackman | Lighting Designer
Born in Norfolk, Max moved to London in 2011 to study Theatre Lighting Design at The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama.
Lighting design credits include On the Permanence of Fugitive Colours (Robert Bradish Ltd, Tristan Bates Theatre), Jesus Christ Superstar (Centre Stage London, Bridewell Theatre), Happy Birthday Without You (Paper Mash Theatre, Tricycle Theatre) and Ghost The Musical (Centre Stage London, Bridewell Theatre). Max also maintains a strong connection with the production lighting side of the industry, obtaining an Electrotechnical certification and advanced training in a variety of lighting consoles. Alongside lighting, Max trades as a theatrical illusionist and has been the magic consultant on a variety of shows in London.
Mike Thacker | Sound Designer
Design credits include: Pure Imagination (St James), Songs for A New World (St James), A Boy and His Soul (Tricycle Theatre), Bat Boy (Southwark Playhouse), Ordinary Days (Trafalgar Studios), Mary Rose (Riverside Studios), West End Recast (Duke Of York’s and Phoenix Theatre), Playboy of the West Indies (Tricycle Theatre), Bloody Sunday Enquiry (Tricycle Theatre and Ireland).
As Associate Sound Designer for Gareth Owen Sound Ltd credits include: The Importance Of Being Earnest (UK tour and West End), Top Hat (UK tour), Candide, Aspects of Love, Paradise Found (all Menier Chocolate Factory), and A Little Night Music (Menier Chocolate Factory and West End).
Luke Bateman | Composer
Current projects include: Mr Poppers Penguins with Richie Hughes for Kenny Wax, The Little Beasts developed by Perfect Pitch, The Sorrows of Satan developed by FTG productions, and Personality based on the Andrew O'Hagan novel of the same name (all with Michael Conley).
Theatre credits include: original music for Jermyn Street Theatre plays On Approval, St Johns Night, Mother Adam and All I Want for Christmas; company member and Assistant Musical Director in A Chorus of Disapproval (Harold Pinter Theatre) directed by Trevor Nunn.
With Mary Evans three award winning songs: My Sexual, Christmas Swapping, and The Christmas Table (2014), and an Iris theatre commission H.R. Haitch.
For The Sun, Luke produced the 2010 World Cup song featuring Terry Venables, Ian Wright, Harry Redknapp and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Also for the RPO, two arrangements for Sarah Brightman’s album Classics.
Luke is a founding member of the Book, Music, and Lyrics (BML) workshop.
Mark Blythe | Stage Manager
Mark Blythe is a freelance Stage Manager working in London. Mark trained at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland specialising in Stage Management.
Recent credits include working with the Royal Lyceum Theatre Company in Edinburgh and at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
Other Stage Management credits include the Glasgow 2014 Opening and Closing Ceremonies with Jack Morton Worldwide.
Sophie Cornell | Producer
Sophie is a freelance Producer and Director of Essee Productions which she founded in 2014. Sophie produced Exposure: Opera and Bravo Figaro (Herald Angel and Fringe First award) for the Royal Opera House, and worked on two projects for the London 2012 Festival; project managing With One Voice, and Assistant Producer for The Owl and the Pussycat by Terry Jones (Monty Python) and Anne Dudley (The Full Monty). Sophie also produces exhibitions at the Cultural Institute at King’s within the Inigo Rooms (Somerset House), including Maggi Hambling: War Requiem & Aftermath, Art & Life: The Paintings of Beryl Bainbridge and Derek Jarman: Pandemonium. Upcoming projects include Meet George, a co-production with Undercurrent and Camden People’s Theatre, and By Me, William Shakespeare an exhibition at Somerset House by King’s College London and The National Archives.
Oli Sones | Associate Producer
Oli began producing theatre in 2005, having started his career in TV production. His producing credits include musical theatre, plays, cabaret and sketch comedy.
He has worked extensively in international theatre and has produced many major theatre productions across the globe, including new productions of Chicago (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and Cyprus); My Fair Lady (Singapore and Malaysia); Fame the Musical (Monaco); Hair, Jesus Christ Superstar, Grease and Evita (Ljubljana International Festival, Slovenia), The Sound of Music (Malaysia); A Chorus Line (Tel Aviv) and Hairspray (Malaysia, Singapore and Macau).
Cabaret work includes Clare Burt: Now You Know (Metropolitan Rooms, New York) and Helen Lederer: WTF (St James Theatre).
Oli was a producer on the 2012 critically acclaimed revival of A Chorus Line at the London Palladium and more recently, associate producer on Taken at Midnight at the Theatre Royal Haymarket.