Writer Eduardo De Filippo
Adaptor Tanya Ronder
Director Michael Attenborough
Design Robert Jones
Lighting Tim Mitchell
Sound John Leonard
Fight Director Terry King
Movement Imogen Knight
Casting Julia Horan
Literal Translator / Assistant Director Jane Fallowfield
Italian Consultant Manuela Ruggiero
Eduardo De Filippo
Writer
Eduardo De Filippo is one of the most well-respected dramatists of contemporary Italian theatre, having written over 50 plays. Eduardo began writing one-act plays in 1929 as part of the Molinari Company which he joined as an actor. In 1932 the De Filippos began their own theatre company and toured Italy with a number of Eduardo’s one-act plays with great success. In the following year the De Filippo company produced a number of films, beginning with The Three Men In Tails and Eduardo’s first screenplay I Did It. Eduardo firmly established his reputation in the 40s with plays such as Napoli Milionaria, Too Many Ghosts! and Filumena Marturano which was written for his sister. He died in 1984.
Tanya Ronder
Adaptor
Tanya adapted Federico García Lorca’s Blood Wedding for the Almeida Theatre’s production in 2005. Recently she adapted DBC Pierre’s book Vernon God Little for the Young Vic which was nominated for an Olivier Award for Best New Play and What’s On Stage Award for Best New Comedy.
Adaptations for the stage include: Peribanez (Young Vic / Company B, Australia); Night Flight (Muztheater, Amsterdam); Macbett (RSC); Peter Pan (Kensington Gardens / O2, San Francisco / US tour).
Original works for film include: King Bastard; Random.
Other projects in development: Liola (under commission by National Theatre); The Table (an evolving project with Rufus Norris, developed with the support of the National Theatre Studio); The Blake Diptych (Fleur Darkin Dance Ensemble).
Michael Attenborough
Director
Michael Attenborough is Artistic Director of the Almeida Theatre (since 2002). Previously, he was Associate Director, Mercury Theatre, Colchester (1972-74), Associate Director, Leeds Playhouse (now West Yorkshire Playhouse) (1974-79), Associate Director, Young Vic (1979-80), Artistic Director, Palace Theatre, Watford (1980-84), Artistic Director, Hampstead Theatre (1984-89), Principal Associate Director, Royal Shakespeare Company (1990-2002). On leaving the RSC he was invited to become an Honorary Associate Artist.
For the Almeida: Reasons To Be Pretty; The Knot of the Heart; Through a Glass Darkly; Measure For Measure; When the Rain Stops Falling; In a Dark Dark House; The Homecoming; Awake and Sing; Big White Fog; There Came A Gypsy Riding; Enemies; The Late Henry Moss; Brighton Rock; The Mercy Seat; Five Gold Rings.
For the RSC: Amphibians; The Changeling; Les Liaisons Dangereuses (UK and European tour); After Easter; Pentecost; The Herbal Bed (also in the West End and Broadway); Romeo and Juliet; A Month in the Country; Othello; Henry IV parts I and II; The Prisoner’s Dilemma; Antony and Cleopatra.
For the Palace Theatre productions include: The Girl in Melanie Klein; The Big Knife; Romantic Comedy (also in the West End); Terra Nova.
For the Hampstead Theatre productions include: The War at Home (also on Broadway); Particular Friendships; That Summer; Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme; Separation (also in the West End).
Freelance: Over a Barrel; Single Spies (Turnstyle Group); 1984 (Citadel Theatre, Edmonton); Yerma (Abbey Theatre, Dublin); Anna Weiss (West End); My Mother Said I Never Should (Royal Court); Fashion (Tricycle Theatre); Apollo and Daphne (North Wall); Playing with Fire (National Theatre).
Robert Jones
Design
For the Almeida: Ruined; There Came a Gypsy Riding; The late Henry Moss; The Mercy Seat.
Recent productions includes: Much Ado About Nothing (Wyndham’s); The Wizard of Oz (London Palladium); The Sound of Music (Toronto / UK tour / Tokyo); Calendar Girls (UK tour / Australia / Toronto); Hamlet; Pentecost; The Herbal Bed; Romeo and Juliet; Twelfth Night; The Merchant of Venice; Henry VIII (also New York); Othello; The Winter’s Tale (RSC); Look Back in Anger; Noises Off (also West End / UK tour / Broadway); The Playboy of the Western World (National Theatre); Lobby Hero; Divas; Black Comedy / The Real Inspector Hound; A Voyage Round My Father (Donmar Warehouse); The Music Man; Hay Fever; The Water Babies; Cyrano de Bergerac; Saturday Sunday Monday (Chichester Festival Theatre); Rebecca (UK tour); Aspects of Love (UK tour); Scenes from a Marriage (Belgrade Theatre, Coventry).
Opera includes: Anna Bolena (Metropolitan Opera, New York); Tristan und Isolde (Tokyo); Giulio Cesare (Glyndebourne / Lille / Chicago); Le Couronnement de Poppée (Paris / Berlin); The Elixir of Love (ENO); Manon Lescaut (Gothenburg); Don Carlo (Frankfurt).
Film includes: Hamlet.
Robert has been nominated for two Olivier Awards and was the winner of a Canadian Dora Award and Drama Logue Award.
Tim Mitchell
Lighting
Tim is an Associate at the Chichester Festival Theatre.
For the Almeida: The Knot of the Heart; Becky Shaw; Brighton Rock; Big White Fog; The Lightning Play; Enemies; Blood Wedding; Whistling Psyche.
Theatre includes: Yes Prime Minister (also West End); The Syndicate; Singin’ In The Rain; Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (also West End) (Chichester Festival Theatre); Crazy For You (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre); Earthquakes in London (Headlong); Racing Demon; An Enemy of the People (Crucible Theatre, Sheffield); Dirty Dancing (UK tour / West End / Toronto / Hamburg / Utrecht / USA tour / Berlin); Lend Me a Tenor (West End / Plymouth); Tell Me on a Sunday (tour); Master Class (Bath Theatre Royal); The Secret Garden (Edinburgh / Toronto); The Cherry Orchard; Arthur and George (Birmingham Rep); The History Boys (tour / West Yorkshire Playhouse); Alphabetical Order (also tour); Darker Shores; Amongst Friends (Hampstead Theatre); A Month in the Country (Salisbury Playhouse); Cinderella (Old Vic); Sleeping Beauty (New York / Barbican / Young Vic); Henry IV Parts I and II (Washington Shakespeare); The Play What I Wrote (Broadway / West End); Merrily We Roll Along (Donmar Warehouse); Hamlet (Japan / Sadler’s Wells); Toyer; Imagine This; Bad Girls The Musical; Otherwise Engaged; As You Like It; Romeo and Juliet; Of Mice and Men (West End). Working extensively with the RSC, his recent credits include Written on the Heart, Cardenio and The City Madam.
Opera includes: Die Frau Ohne Schatten; Elektra (Mariinsky, Russia); Ariadne Auf Naxos (WNO / Boston); Die Fledermause (WNO).
Dance includes: productions for Northern Ballet, Birmingham Royal Ballet, Royal Opera House and Sadler’s Wells.
John Leonard
Sound
For the Almeida: Measure For Measure; Rope; Duet for One; Waste; The Homecoming; Big White Fog; Dying For It; Hedda Gabler; Macbeth; Brighton Rock; Whistling Psyche; Five Gold Rings; The Mercy Seat; I.D. and many others.
Recent theatre includes: Farewell To The Theatre; The Last Of The Duchess; Skåne; The Train Driver (Hampstead Theatre); The Lady From The Sea; The Snow Queen (Rose Theatre, Kingston); The Heresy Of Love (RSC); Grief; London Assurance; The Power of Yes; England People Very Nice; Much Ado About Nothing; The Enchantment (National Theatre); Calendar Girls; Carrie’s War; In Celebration; Kean; Donkey’s Years; Summer & Smoke; Glengarry Glen Ross (West End); Big Maggie; The Cripple Of Inishmaan (Druid Theatre, Galway / New York / tour); Small Craft Warning; Crazy Paola (Arcola Theatre); A Month In The Country (Salisbury Playhouse); Calendar Girls (Chichester / national tour); Long Day’s Journey Into Night (Druid Theatre, Galway / Dublin); Pure Gold (Soho Theatre); Translations (Princeton / Broadway); Leaves; Empress of India; The Druid Synge (Druid Theatre, Galway / Dublin/ Edinburgh / Minneapolis / New York).
Terry King
Fight Director
For the Almeida: Reasons To Be Pretty; Through a Glass Darkly; In a Dark Dark House; The Homecoming; Awake and Sing!; Big White Fog; The Late Henry Moss; Festen (also in West End).
Theatre includes: His Dark Materials; Henry IV Parts I and II; Scenes from the Big Picture; Othello; Duchess of Malfi; Edmund; Landscape with Weapon; Elmina’s Kitchen; The White Guard (National Theatre); Henry VI Parts I, II, and III; Hamlet; Macbeth; Romeo and Juliet; Coriolanus; As You Like It; Cymbeline; Sniger; Henry V (RSC); Our Country is Good (Royal Court); Peter Pan (West Yorkshire Playhouse); Les Liaison Dangereuse (Bristol Old Vic); Of Mice and Men (Birmingham / West End); Caligula; Don Carlos; Othello (Donmar Warehouse); The People are Friendly (Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh); Moon for the Misgotten (Old Vic); Fool for Love (West End); Titus Andronicus (Shakespeare’s Globe); Three Musketeers (Crucible Theatre, Sheffield).
Opera and musicals include: Porgy and Bess; Martin Guerre; Oliver; Lautrec; Chitty Chitty Bang Bang; Billy Elliot the Musical; Fiddler on the Roof; Jerry Springer the Opera; Our House.
Television includes: Broken Glass; A Kind of Innocence; Fell Tiger; The Scold’s Bridle; Fatal Inversion; Nerys Glas; Death of a Salesman; The Widowing of Mrs Holroyd; The Mayor of Casterbridge; Lucky Jim; Blue Dove; Rock Face.
Imogen Knight
Movement Director
Imogen is an associate artist for Frantic Assembly.
For the Almeida: Measure For Measure; When The Rain Stops Falling; Marianne Dreams.
Theatre includes: Be My Baby (Derby Playhouse); Corrie (Lowry Theatre / Tour); As You Like It (West Yorkshire Playhouse); Romeo and Juliet (Young Shakespeare Company); Dido, Queen of Carthage; Success (National Theatre); Hooked (Hampstead Theatre); When Five Years Pass (Arcola Theatre).
Film includes: My Name is Ruthie Segal, Hear Me Roar’ (Jewish Film Festival 2009); choreographer for filmmakers, Jasmin Jordy and MJW Productions.
Imogen has choreographed and performed in Round 10 for 4Dance, Channel 4 and ABC Australia and she is also a Visiting Lecturer at Central School of Speech and Drama.
Julia Horan
Casting
For the Almeida: The Knot of the Heart; Through a Glass Darkly; Measure for Measure; When the Rain Stops Falling; In a Dark Dark House; The Homecoming; Nocturne; Awake and Sing!; Dying for It; Out of the Fog.
Other theatre includes: Clybourne Park (Royal Court / West End); The Heretic; Get Santa!; Kin; Red Bud; Tribes; Wanderlust; Spur of the Moment; Sucker Punch; Ingredient X; The Force of Change; Yardgal (Royal Court); Glass Menagerie; Joe Turner’s Come and Gone; Annie Get Your Gun; In The Red and Brown Water; Lost Highway; The Good Soul of Szechuan; Tintin; The Skin of our Teeth; Hobson’s Choice; The Daughter-in-law; Homebody Kabul; A Raisin in the Sun; Six Characters Looking for an Author (Young Vic); Arcadia; Swimming with Sharks; As You Like It; Antarctica; The Weir (West End); Six Characters in Search of an Author (Chichester Festival Theatre / West End / Sydney Festival); pool (no water) (Frantic Assembly); Gaddafi - A Living Myth (English National Opera); Three Sisters on Hope Street; Anna in the Tropics; Yellowman (Hampstead Theatre); Othello (Cheek by Jowl); The Girl on the Sofa (Edinburgh International Festival / Schaubuhne Theatre, Berlin).
Television includes: Adha Cup; Parliamo Glasgow; Harvest; The Verdict; The Bill; The Badness of George IV.
Julia is a member of the Casting Director’s Guild.
Jane Fallowfield
Literal Translator / Assistant Director
An Italian speaker Jane translated the original Neapolitan text into literal English.
As a director: Lagan (Oval House Theatre); Spacewang (Hull Truck Theatre).
As an assistant director: The Holy Rosenbergs (National Theatre); Wanderlust; The Empire (Royal Court); Dunsinane (RSC / Hampstead Theatre).
Manuela Ruggiero
Italian Consultant
Manuela studied as a Theatre Director and Actress (Academy of Dramatic Art Paolo Grassi, Milano), she is a founding member and Head of Education at WOH Productions. She was Head of Drama and Physical Theatre at Teatri Possibili, Roma (2004/8) and Artistic Director of Uranusmoon Theatre Company (2007/9).
As a Director theatre includes: Words of Honour, the Mafia Exposed (Assembly Theatre Edinburgh / Jermyn Street Theatre); Electra (Choreographer); Normal (Theatro Technis); The Rules of the Game (Etcetera Theatre); Parole d’Onore (Teatro Piccolo Eliseo, Roma); Addio Billie Blues (Teatro dell’Orologio); Dorian Gray (Teatro Colosseo); Amleto (Teatri Possibili); Amalek; Macbeth (Teatro della Dodicesima); Billie Blu(es) (Teatro Argot); Mare Amaro (Teatro Paolo Grassi, Milano); Graffi nella Memoria; Notturno di donna con ospiti (Teatro Politeama, Napoli); (S)emidio; GiùdallaCroce (Finalist for Premio Scenario).
As an actress theatre includes: Seventy Angels on the Façade (Teatro Strehler, Milano); Brecht, Nicht so aber so (Piccolo Teatro Studio); Cabaret Brechtiano; Woyzeck; The Picture of Dorian Gray; Macbeth; Nomi; (Teatro Grassi); Polittico Profano (CRT Teatro dell’Arte); Arlecchino, Servitore di due padroni (A.D. Arena del Sole, Bologna); Enrico IV (Teatro di Leo); Luci di Tenebra (Teatro Bellini, Napoli); Prego signora si spogli (Teatro Sannazaro); Don Giovanni (Opera, Teatro Comunale, Pavia).
As an actress television and film includes: Un Posto al Sole (Rai); Centovetrine; Casa Vianello; Le leggende del cuore; Otto per Claude; Onzerodd; Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight.