The Classics. But Happier.

Philip Holyman is the Artistic Director of The Happiness Patrol and an Artistic Associate of Little Earthquake.

His productions with The Happiness Patrol include: Guilty Feet Have Got No Rhythm, after Oscar Wilde’s Salome (Lichfield Festival commission, Lichfield Garrick Studio, 2010);  Tales of Terror, featuring the stories of M R James and Lafcadio Hearn (Lichfield Festival commission, Lichfield Garrick Studio, 2009; Old Joint Stock, 2009; national tour, 2010); Hit The Baby, Natasha!, after Anton Chekhov’s Three Sisters (Old Joint Stock, 2009 — four stars, Birmingham Post); Lost Hearts, adapted from the short story by M R James (York Archaeological Trust commission, Barley Hall, 2008); The Masque of the Red Death, adapted from the short story by Edgar Allan Poe (mac, 2007; Old Joint Stock, 2008 — four stars, Whatsonstage); The Three Birds, adapted from “Tereus, Procne and Philomela” from Ovid’s Metamorphoses (Vera Fenn Studio, Walsall, 2007).

His writing credits include: Tullamarine (2011, for the Verity Bargate competition); Mr. Toad’s Prison Break, adapted from Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows (Lichfield Literature Weekend commission, 2008); Oysters and Snails (Grange Playhouse, 2008 — five stars, Birmingham Post); Wasabi (2007, for the Melbourne Short and Sweet competition); The Jackie Kennedy Wig (2006, for the Bruntwood Playwriting Competition); The Premature Burial (mac, 2006 and regional tour, Hallowe’en 2007, for Little Earthquake); Half Marathon (mac and Komedia Roman Eagle Lodge, Edinburgh Fringe, 2004); Asgård and Vanaheim, Professor Yaffle Speaks To The Nation, The Flamingo Seventies (extracts, Transmissions, Birmingham REP, 2002, 2003, 2004); Fourmis, A L’Attaque! (rehearsed reading, Pleasance, London, 2002).

Gareth Nicholls is the Creative Director of Little Earthquake and is a Creative Associate of The Happiness Patrol.

His work for The Happiness Patrol as a performer includes: Herod in Guilty Feet Have Got No Rhythm and Prince Prospero in The Masque of the Red Death.

His work for The Happiness Patrol as a lighting and sound designer includes: Guilty Feet Have Got No Rhythm (sound); Hit The Baby, Natasha! (lighting); The Masque of the Red Death (lighting and sound); The Three Birds (lighting and sound).

Gareth trained as an actor at London’s Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and later under celebrated theatre clown Angela de Castro. At Guildhall, he received a scholarship to study the plays of Chekhov at the Moscow Academy of Dramatic Art and with the Maly Theatre of St. Petersburg.

Theatre credits at Guildhall include: Andrei in Chekhov’s Three Sisters; Sir Charles Easy in The Careless Husband; Billy in Billy The Musical; Grandpa in Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath; Maskwell in The Double Dealer and Doctor Otternschlag in Grand Hotel.

Subsequent theatre includes: Sweet Water for Landscape and Talking Birds; Aristocrats for Runaway Theatre; The Adventures of Robin Hood and A Midsummer Night’s Dream for Big Adventures; The Diary of Anne Frank for Birmingham REP and The Touring Consortium; Treasured – A Secret Journey and The Woodsman for Jane Packman Productions; Homing Instinct, Complimentary and Black Tonic for The Other Way Works.

For Little Earthquake: Poprishchin in Gogol’s Madman (also writer and director); Him in The Premature Burial (also director); The Tenant in The Tell-Tale Heart (also director); Edwin Joseph in The Haunting (also director and co-deviser); Harry Houdini / Daniel Dunglas Home / Matthew Carter / Michael Hobbs in The Houdini Exposure (also director and co-deviser). For more information about these productions, visit www.little-earthquake.com

Natalie trained at Brunel University and at Birmingham School of Acting.

For The Happiness Patrol: Salome in Guilty Feet Have Got No Rhythm, “The Reconciliation” in Tales of Terror and Irina in Hit The Baby, Natasha!

For Little Earthquake: Bess Houdini and Jennifer Porter in The Houdini Exposure (October 2009), Rose Bennett in The Haunting (March 2009) and Her in The Premature Burial (regional tour, Hallowe’en 2007).

Other work includes: Maggie Pink in The Tale of Maggie Pink for Yellow Dog Theatre; Hero in Much Ado About Nothing for Struts and Frets; Emily and Sarah in I Love You, Let’s Foot It for Theatre Centre; Barbra Spooner in The Life of William Wilberforce for No Such Thing; Billy Downs in The Libertine, Yokobue in Fair Ladies at a Game of Poem Cards, Lady Macbeth in Macbeth, Nina in The Seagull at BSA.

Natalie is the Artistic Director of Needle and Thread Theatre Company, with which she staged: The Story Exchange at the Created in Birmingham store, and as part of Birmingham Book Festival, Warwick Arts Centre Bite Size Festival and the Solihull Secret Library Festival; Between The Lines: A Night in the Life of the Library at Birmingham Central Library.

For The Happiness Patrol: Narraboth in Guilty Feet Have Got No Rhythm and “A School Story” in Tales of Terror.

Other work includes: Claudio in Measure for Measure for RoguePlay; Steve in Bride or Groom? and John and Dave Stone in Seating Plan for Opus Theatre Company; Edmund in Edmund Shakespeare, King Arthur in Camelot and Ulysses in What An Odyssey for Forum Teatro y Educacio; Venticello One in Amadeus for Aberystwyth Arts Centre; Captain Smollett in Treasure Island, Corporal Pisweet in Ubu Enchained and James Steerforth in David Copperfield for Castaway Theatre Company; Angus and Second Murderer in Macbeth, Brian in Cafe Capella and Moesen Jenkins, Richard Bennett and Narrator in Rape of the Fair Country for University of Wales, Aberystwyth.

Catherine trained at Rose Bruford College and The Institute of Theatre, Barcelona.

For The Happiness Patrol: Natasha in Hit The Baby, Natasha!

Other work includes: Canny in The Whale’s Tooth for Nottingham Playhouse and Unicorn Theatre; The Crane and Hansel and Gretel for Red Earth; Catherine in The Memory of Water for Midlands Arts Centre; Things That Go Bump, The Emerald Cave and The Green Children for Language Alive; Chaser and The Write Vibe for Proteus Theatre.

Catherine can currently be seen in Cartoonito’s Make, Shake and Jake, a programme for Deaf and hearing children which is integrated with British Sign Language.

Laura trained at Central School of Speech and Drama and at the Moscow Arts Theatre School.

For The Happiness Patrol: Olga in Hit The Baby, Natasha!

Other work includes: Helen in Black Tonic for The Other Way Works; Desdemona in Othello – A Practical Experiment for Shakespeare’s Globe; Katriona in Now Is The Hour for Crossroads Theatre at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival; Rosa in Saturday Sunday Monday, Julie in Celebration, Mother in Don Juan Comes Back From The War, Kent in King Lear, Toinette in Le Malade Imaginaire, Elizabeth Proctor in The Crucible, Portia in The Merchant of Venice, Fedosia in The Last Ones at CSSD.

Dan trained at St. Mary’s University College, London and at Riverside School of Performing Arts, Birmingham.

For The Happiness Patrol: Andrei in Hit The Baby, Natasha!

Other work includes: Double Sentence for Deafinitely Theatre; Blown Away, Square Peg and other community-based projects for RSPA; The Publican for Raw Nerve Theatre Company; Dead Serious, Lark Rise to Candleford, Inspector in Live Like Pigs, Tereus in Love of the Nightingale, Jerry in The Zoo Story at SMUC.

Dan has trained as an educational sign language interpreter and has achieved his Level 3 British Sign Language

Hannah trained at Birmingham School of Acting and at Wales Millennium Centre.

For The Happiness Patrol: Masha in Hit The Baby, Natasha!

Other work includes: Martirio in The House of Bernarda Alba for Theatr Pena; Masha in Three Sisters for Chapter Arts Centre; Rosalind in As You Like It for the Cardiff Open Air Theatre Festival, Cardiff; The Diary of Anne Frank, The Libertine and Macbeth at BSA.

Hannah is also a resident actress and facilitator with corporate roleplay company Healthcare Interact, and runs Cardiff Shakespeare Readers, a group for theatre professionals to meet, read aloud and discuss the complete works of Shakespeare.

Adam trained at Dartington College of Arts and at the Gardzienice Centre for Theatrical Practice, Poland.

For The Happiness Patrol: “The Mezzotint” in Tales of Terror.

Other work includes: Mephistopheles in Doctor Faustus for Activate Theatre Company; Ophelia in Hamlet for the Festival of International Theatres and Culture, Slovakia; Cricket in Pinocchio for Derek Grant Organisation at Hackney Empire; Librarian in Between The Lines: A Night in the Life of the Library for Needle and Thread.

Adam is the Artistic Director of No Such Thing, which regularly produces unique street theatre and promenade performances across Birmingham. His recent roles for the company include St. George in No Such Thing as Dragons…?, King Herod in Christmas in Erdington, Hansel in Hansel and Gretel and Wolf in To Here Knows When at the International Theatre Conference in Lodz, Poland.

Jayne trained at Bretton Hall College.

For The Happiness Patrol: Herodias in Guilty Feet Have Got No Rhythm and “The Haunted Dolls’ House” in Tales of Terror.

Other work includes: Adultress in Ultima Censura for RoguePlay; Ana in A Quiet War, Mrs. Shin in The Good Person of Szechuan and Gretel in An Audience with Jack Frost for Potlatch Theatre Company; Landlady in Two for Crackerjack Theatre Company; Silvana in Half Marathon for EJ Theatre Company; Margaret in Much Ado About Nothing for Crescent Theatre Company; Nature in Descent for Birmingham Repertory Theatre; Ugly Sister and Arra in Cinderella and various roles in Henry V for Maverick Theatre Company; Livia in Women Beware Women, Faustus in Doctor Faustus, Mother in Toys In The Attic, Barren Woman in Bun In The Oven, Belly Full Of Life and various roles in Time, A Chalk Drawing and Fire In The Heart for Bretton Hall.

Dawn trained at Midlands Academy of Dance and Drama.

For The Happiness Patrol: “The Woman of the Snow” in Tales of Terror.

Other work includes: Paulette in La Cage Aux Folles (UK tour); Col in Broken Angel for Yorkshire Women Theatre; Titania in Shake It for Nottingham Playhouse Roundabout; Mary Laurie in An Old Man’s Love for Leicester Arc; Jeanette in Selling Grace for 6^th Sense; Doris in Silly Cow and Gail in Teechers for 2 Ply Theatre; Ophelia (u/s) in Hamlet, Olivia (u/s) in Twelfth Night and Emma in Transmissions for Birmingham Repertory Theatre; Confusions and Laura in The Woman Who Cooked Her Husband for Hull Truck; Angela in Blue Remembered Hills for Geg Theatre Company; Abigail in The Crucible for Next Stage.

Film and television credits include: Out of Your Depth, The Waiting Room, Nasty Neighbours, Sleep My Love, In a Land of Plenty, Dangerfield, The Locksmith, Barbara, Crossroads, Emmerdale, and Family Affairs.

Stephen trained at East 15.

For The Happiness Patrol: Jokanaan in Guilty Feet Have Got No Rhythm.

Other work includes: In The Dark, York in Henry VI Part III, Teacher and Old Man 2 in Yawn No More, Steve in Losing 83, Mandarin in Willow Pattern and Cameraman in Kill Jill for The Young REP at Birmingham Repertory Theatre; Terry and Pianist in A Slice of Saturday Night, Vincent in The Speculator, Don Carlos in Don Carlos and Geoffrey Lloyd in Black Rabbit for East 15.

During his long career as an engineer and pattern-maker, Nick has worked as far afield as Zambia and Bangladesh, and in 2005, he turned his hand to theatre design for the very first time.

Since then, he has been responsible for the set design of The Masque of the Red Death, Hit The Baby, Natasha! and Tales of Terror for The Happiness Patrol and the overall design of Gogol’s Madman, The Premature Burial, The Tell-Tale Heart, The Haunting and The Houdini Exposure for Little Earthquake.

This West Midlands-based design agency is operated by Tracey and Sharron Dolby, and between them they have over twenty years’ experience as set and costume designers, props makers, scenic artists and stage technicians.

In addition to their extensive design work on Hit The Baby, Natasha!, The Sisters Dolby designed and made props for The Happiness Patrol’s The Masque of the Red Death. They also designed props for Little Earthquake’s The Premature Burial and The Houdini Exposure, and designed costumes for Gogol’s Madman.

For The Happiness Patrol: Puppet Designer / Puppet Maker / Director of Puppetry for Hit The Baby, Natasha!

Caroline studied painting and sculpture at the University of Cape Town, South Africa. She worked with many theatre companies as a performer and puppet maker before launching Moving Hands Theatre Company in 1991. Moving Hands specialises in visual theatre which combines dance, storytelling, film and animation with puppetry and visual theatre for children and adults. The company co-produced The Gingerbread Pig with the Lyric Hammersmith, and co-produced both The Ugly Eagle and The Emperor’s New Machine with Birmingham Repertory Theatre.

For The Happiness Patrol: Composer / Sound Designer for Hit The Baby, Natasha!

Whilst taking a Music Industry Management course near London, Matthew supplemented his student loan with recording session work and collaborations with many of the capital’s artists and creatives, including MC Gunsmoke of Shy Fx fame, with whom he later formed The Renegade Sound, a SoulRock project that enjoyed most of its success in Eastern Europe but struggled to trouble the UK Top 40. Since the band split in July 2007, he has continued writing and producing for other artists whilst working on a collection of his own modern day folk songs, which he hopes to release via the guerrilla gigging network.