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Mongrel Thumb, in association with Falmouth University presents
The Dead Monkey
Nick Darke | Writer
Nick Darke was born and raised in St Eval, Cornwall, the son of a farmer. He trained as an actor and worked at the Victoria Theatre, Stoke, throughout the 1970s. His first play, Never Say Rabbit in a Boat was performed at the Victoria Theatre in 1978. He won the George Devine award in 1979. He went on to write over twenty plays which have been produced by, amongst others, the Royal Shakespeare Company, National Theatre, Royal Court, Donmar Warehouse, The Bush, The Lyric Hammersmith, BBC Radio and television. His work is translated and performed regularly throughout the world. After suffering from a stroke in 2001 he lost the ability to speak and write, and while relearning these skills produced and fronted the BBC4 documentary The Wrecking Season, filmed and directed by his wife Jane. He was chairman of St Eval Parish Council. He regarded his greatest personal achievement to be when he and Jane fought to convince the North Cornwall District Council to elliminate the mechanical raking of beaches in North Cornwall. A process damaging for the natural eco-structure of beaches. In 2005 he died of cancer; only four weeks after being diagnosed, aged 56.
Hannah Price | Director
Hannah is Co-Artistic Director and Founder of Theatre Uncut. For Theatre Uncut she has directed Knowledge Is Power: Knowledge Is Change (Traverse/Oran Mor/Soho Theatre/Brighton Dome/Bristol Old Vic/Marlowe Theatre Studio/Liverpool Everyman), Referendum Plays (Traverse, with Emma Callander), Tu: Istanbul (Dot Tiyatro Istanbul for the Istanbul International Theatre Festival/ Traverse), The Rise Of The Right (Young Vic, with Emma Callander), Fragile/A Bigger Banner (as part of TU 2011, Southwark Playhouse/Soho Theatre/ Latitude). Other work includes Boa (Trafalgar Studios), Cello/Fragile (The Yard), Call To Prayer (Southwark Playhouse), Bud Take The Wheel, I Feel A Song Coming On (Shaw Theatre/ Underbelly), That Moment (Kings Head/ Tour/ Underbelly), Portmanteau (Arcola/Bike Shed Exeter), Loving Ophelia (Pleasance). Hannah was Resident Assistant Director at The Donmar Warehouse for 2012 and toured to New York with their all-female production of Julius Caesar. She was also Associate Director on The Machine (Manchester International Festival/ Park Avenue Armoury NY).
Anthony Lamble | Set & Costume Designer
Theatre credits include: Clarion, Shrapnel: 34 Fragments of a Massacre, Ghost from a Perfect Place (Arcola); Boa (Trafalgar Studios); The Devil Masters, Spoiling (also Stratford East) Ciara, The Artist Man and The Mother Woman, The Arthur Conan Doyle Appreciation Society (Traverse Theatre); Peter Pan and the Designers of The Caribbean (Bloomsbury); The Tempest (RSC/Ohio); Omeros, Romeo and Juliet (The Globe Theatre); Three Sisters, Shivered (Southwark Playhouse); The One (Soho Theatre) Charlie F (UK tour/Toronto) Jackie The Musical (Gardyne Theatre, Dundee) Shush, The Passing, The East Pier, Bookworms, The Comedy of Errors, The Playboy of the Western World (Abbey Theatre, Dublin); For Once (Pentabus); Relatively Speaking (Watermill); The Complaint, Everything is Illuminated (Hampstead); The Price (West End/Tricycle/Tour); The Caucasian Chalk Circle, Translations, Sing Yer Heart Out for the Lads, A Midsummer Night's Dream, As You Like It (National Theatre); Measure for Measure, Richard III, The Roman Actor, King Baby (RSC); The Entertainer (Old Vic) as well as numerous productions for the Royal Court, Menier Chocolate Factory, West Yorkshire Playhouse and the Bush Theatre.
Anthony was resident production designer for the Salford sitcom showcase (2012 and 2013).
Dance and Opera credits include Facing Viv (English National Ballet), L'Orfeo (Japan tour), Palace in the Sky (English National Opera) and Broken Fiction (Royal Opera House).
Malcolm Rippeth | Lighting Designer
Malcolm's theatre credits include The Empress (RSC); Spur of The Moment (Royal Court); Six Characters in Search of an Author (Headlong/West End); Calendar Girls (West End/Australia/Canada); The Promise (Donmar Trafalgar); Stones in his Pockets (Tricycle); The Night Before Christmas (Soho); Decade (Headlong at St. Katharine Dock); The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (Chichester Festival Theatre); Boa (Trafalgar Studios); The Pitchfork Disney (Arcola); London (Paines Plough); The Dead (Abbey, Dublin); After Electra (Plymouth); The Birthday Party (Manchester Royal Exchange); The Threepenny Opera (Graeae); West Side Story (Sage Gateshead); Refugee Boy (West Yorkshire Playhouse); His Dark Materials (Birmingham Rep); Moon Tiger (Theatre Royal Bath); Flying into Daylight (Live Theatre); The Bloody Chamber (Northern Stage); Copenhagen (Royal Lyceum Edinburgh); Tutti Frutti (National Theatre of Scotland); The Devil Inside Him (National Theatre Wales); HMS Pinafore (Guthrie Theater Minneapolis).
He is an Associate Artist of Kneehigh Theatre for whom productions include The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (West End), Tristan & Yseult (UK & US tours), Dead Dog in a Suitcase (and other love songs), The Wild Bride, The Red Shoes, Wah! Wah! Girls and Brief Encounter (West End and Broadway).
His opera and dance credits include The Coronation of Poppea (Opera North); Orfeo ed Euridice (Buxton Festival); Le Nozze di Figaro (Garsington); Seven Deadly Sins (WNO); Carmen Jones (Royal Festival Hall); and numerous productions for ballet LORENT including Rapunzel, Designer Body and La Nuit Intime.
In 2010 he won a Village Voice OBIE as a member of the design team for Brief Encounter off Broadway, and in 2009 the whatsonstage.com Theatregoers’ Choice Award for Best Lighting Designer for his work on Brief Encounter and Six Characters in Search of an Author in the West End. He was nominated for an Outer Critics Circle Award for Brief Encounter on Broadway.
Dave Price | Music and Sound
Theatre credits include original scores and sound designs for: Uncle Vanya (West Yorkshire Playhouse); BOA (Moya Productions / Trafalgar Studios); On Golden Pond (Salisbury Playhouse); Rats’ Tales (Royal Exchange Manchester); A Soldier In Every Son, Measure for Measure (RSC); Fen (National Theatre Studio / Finborough); Adventures Inside (Lyric Hammersmith / Love Productions, Channel 4).
As composer: From Morning to Midnight (National Theatre); A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Bristol Old Vic / Handspring); The Winters Tale (Regent’s Park Theatre); Missing, Institute (Gecko).
As composer and performer: The Overcoat, Taylor’s Dummies (Gecko); Beasts and Beauties (Hampstead); Troilus and Cressida (RSC).
As composer and arranger: The Funfair (HOME); Albion (Bush Theatre)
Other credits include: Co-producer of Gwyneth Herbert’s album Sea Cabinet (Aldeburgh Music); gigs with Eska; Finn Peters’ Music of the Mind project; and recording with Duke Special (Oh Pioneer!) and Regina Spektor (Far).
Dave Price is a composer, performer and sound designer and is an associate of the award-winning physical theatre company, Gecko. He also co-founded the experimental music collective Noszferatu and has recorded several albums and toured extensively with the pop group Aqualung.
Gillian Reston I Movement and Fights
Theatre Credits include: Theatre Uncut (Soho and National Tour); Weird Weather (VAULT 2015)
Ed Borgins for Jamie Hendry Productions | Production Manager
Recent Production Management includes: Constellations (Royal Court on Tour); Benefit (Cardboard Citizens on Tour); Abyss (Arcola); These Trees are Made of Blood (Southwark Playhouse); View from the Bridge (Young Vic/Wyndham's), Neville’s Island (Duke of York’s); Chimera (Gate), Let It Be (Garrick); Uncle Vanya (St James’); Far Away (Young Vic); Once a Catholic (Tricycle); The Empty Quarter (Hampstead).
Brid Kirby | Stage Manager
Theatre and Comedy Credits include: Sheeps; Wembley Previews; Joseph Morpurgo; Odessa (Soho Theatre); Dracula! Mr.Swallow: The Musical (Soho Theatre & Pleasance QueenDome); Tim Key: SIngle White Slut (Pleasance Grand & The Duchess Theatre); Adam Buxton: Kernel Panic (The Duchess Theatre & Union Chapel); The Shape of Things (Arcola Theatre); Holes (The Invisible Dot at Portobello Town Hall)
Kat Smith | Costume Supervisor
Credits as Costume Supervisor include: Matchbox Theatre, Hampstead Theatre; The Strange Case of Jekyll and Hyde (Lung Ha Theatre Co); Shrapnel; 34 Fragments of a Massacre and A Ghost from a Perfect Place (Arcola); Boa (Trafalgar Studios); The Devil Masters; Unfaithful; Spoiling; The Arthur Conan Doyle Appreciation Society and Artist Man, Mother Woman (Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh); The Two Worlds of Charlie F (UK and International Tour); Jackie the Musical (Gardyne Theatre); The Salon Project; Untitled Projects (Citizens Theatre and The Barbican); Beautiful Burnout ( Frantic Assembly, UK and international Tour).
As Associate Costume Designer: The Three Sisters (Southwark Playhouse).
Credits as Costume Designer: Leaving Planet Earth (Grid Iron and Edinburgh International Festival); Paul Bright's Confessions of a Justified Sinner; Untitled Projects; Antigone and Huxley's Lab (Lung Ha and Grid Iron, Edinburgh); Red Shoes; The Tramway; The Not so Fatal Death of Grandpa Fredo (Vox Motus Theatre Company UK and International Tour).
Katrina Mansfield | Assistant Designer
Theatre credits include: Boa (Trafalgar Studios) Film credits include: The Last Days of Edgar Harding); Knights of the Round Table: King Arthur.
Jenny Woods Social Media Consultant
Jenny runs the social media agency Jwoo Social. She has previously managed the social media channels for many productions across the West End including: Matilda; Jersey Boys; Dirty Dancing; Billy Elliot; Blythe Spirit; One Man, Two Guvnors; The Ladykillers; Private Lives and many more.
JWoo Social has run social media channels for all Mongrel Thumb productions to date. Other clients include Warner Bros Studio Tour, The Making of Harry Potter.
Mongrel Thumb | Producers
Launched in 2014 with the UK Premiere of Eldorado by Marius von Mayenburg at the Arcola Theatre Studio One, directed by Simon Dormandy. Since then they have been collaborating with emerging playwright Matt Cunningham, staging the World Premiere of his play Weird Weather at the prestigious VAULT Festival in March 2015 with director Will Wrightson, and developing an as yet untitled new work to be staged in 2016. By placing equal importance on emerging artists as established, Mongrel Thumb aim to mount cutting edge, contemporary productions which will challenge and inspire audiences whilst providing exciting opportunities for the best in up-and-coming talent. The Dead Monkey is their third production.
The producers would like to thank Daniel Brodie, Suzanne Bull, Dr. Katherine Gwynn, Sarah Jane, Roger Michell, Mimi Poskett, Sara and Christopher Reston, Vicky Richardson, Charlotte Taylor.
With special thanks to Hannah Price, Falmouth University, Jane Darke, Henry Darke and Nick Darke, without whom this production would not be possible.