Martha, Josie and the Chinese Elvis was commissioned by Bolton Octagon in 1998, when Charlotte was writer in residence; it went on to win the Pearson and Manchester Evening News awards for best new play and, along with In Flame (Bush/West End), won Charlotte the Critics’ Circle Most Promising Playwright award. Her other plays include Airswimming (BAC), The Dark (Donmar), The Lightning Play (Almeida), The Meeting (Chichester), the book for Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical version of The Woman in White and the Olivier nominated and Critics’ Circle best new play winning Humble Boy (National Theatre). Television writing includes Without You and The Halcyon (ITV), which she also created.
Robert Wolstenholme – Director (and Producer)
Robert studied directing at Drama Studio, London and on the National Theatre Studio Directors’ Programme. For Signal, he has directed Sellotape Sisters (The Warren, Brighton/Tristan Bates), Shang-a-Lang (King’s Head), A Place at the Table (Tristan Bates), The Night Before Christmas (Hen & Chickens/Bike Shed, Exeter), Here (Tristan Bates) and Private Lives (Canal Café) all of which he also co-produced. Other directing includes: White Feathers (Bread & Roses), Trying and Tender Soup (New Diorama), Brotherly Love (Counting House, Edinburgh), Gilbert is Dead (Hoxton Hall), One Minute (Courtyard), Guerilla/Whore (Tabard), The Unattended (Gilded Balloon, Edinburgh), This to This (Union/Colour House), If No One Loves You, Change (King’s Head), Bash (Hen & Chickens), Closer (Landor), Road (Croydon Clocktower), Love & Understanding and Can’t Stand Up For Falling Down (Etcetera), Octopus Pie (Landor & Edinburgh), Dracula (Drayton Court), Mother Tongue (Oval House), Sleeping Nightie (White Bear), The Razorblade Cuckoo (Link Theatre); Our Town,The Caucasian Chalk Circle,Arabian Nights and How to Disappear Completely and Never be Found (Drama Studio, London); Can You Keep a Secret? and Was He Anyone? (Croydon Youth Theatre); the shorts Primary Purpose (Ardent TC), Control and The Boy Who Never Learned to Fly (Arcola), Opportunity of a Lifetime (Pleasance, London), The Sky Above, Soyuz 40 and wltm (Southwark), Gift (King’s Head) and A Snow Scene (White Bear); numerous rehearsed readings including for the Bush, the Finborough and Old Vic/New Voices, and at the Actors’ Centre, SOAS and Soho Theatre for Amnesty International. Robert is also a volunteer for Scene & Heard.
Amy Mitchell – Set and Costume Design
Theatre includes: set and costume design for A Christmas Carol (Bridge House Theatre), Alice in Canning Town (Arc in the Park), Past Perfect (Etcetera), The Orange Peel (Drayton Arms), The Milkman’s On His Way (Old Courthouse, Brighton), Summer Street, the Musical (Shelley Theatre/The Warren, Brighton/Old Joint Stock/Waterloo East), Refuge in Harmony (Opera Holland Park), Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again (RCSSD); set design for Under the Canvas Sky (London School of Musical Theatre) and The Peregrine (Stockwell Playhouse) and costume design for West End Bares 2018. Film includes: production design for Don’t Tell Him and Without Walls (JMOMCOCO/Focal Rhythm), Dona and Vixen (Dutch London Pictures) and Outwitting the Devil (Root2Fruit Media).
Nat Green – Lighting Design
Trained at Rose Bruford. Theatre includes: The Last Act of Harry Houdini (Cockpit), Preach (Hoxton Hall) and In the Blood (Barn Theatre). Nat also lights live music gigs and occasionally adds a little bit of electronic magic to discarded toys.
Julian Starr – Sound Design
Trained at the Australian National Institute of Dramatic Arts. UK theatre includes: Cry Havoc and Hell Yes, I’m Tough Enough (Park), Othello (Union), The Orchestra (Omnibus), White Noise (Vaults), The Boy Under the Christmas Tree (King’s Head), Tiger Under My Skin (Bloomsbury), A Winning Hazard, After Dark and The Wind of Heaven (Finborough), Eris (Bunker), Precious Little (Brockley Jack), Zog, Violet, The Giant Killers and Gulliver Returns (tours), You Only Live Forever (tour/Soho), The Comedy of Errors and Pericles (UK/Czechia tours), The Good Scout (Above the Stag/Edinburgh) and Aisha (London tour), which was Offie nominated for Best Sound Design. Australian Theatre includes: Surf Seance (Sydney Arts Festival), The Shifting Heart (Seymour Centre), Untold (Playhouse), Kapow (Kings Cross), Alice in Slasherland, Telescope and The Shadow Box (Old Fitz) and Best Before (Sydney Fringe Festival). Sound design assistant/associate includes: Mamma Mia! (Capitol Theatre, Sydney), Disney’s Aladdin (Queensland QPAC), Talk and Richard III (Sydney Opera House). Julian has also been production sound engineer on An Inspector Calls (UK/Ireland tour) and The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo.
Marie Costa – Stage Manager
Recent theatre includes: Dialectikon and My Dad’s Gap Year (Park), Undetectable and Riot Act (King’s Head/Arcola), The Dog Beneath My Skin (Jermyn Street), Summer in London, Whose Sari Now? and Sinbad the Sailor (Theatre Royal, Stratford East) and Boa (Trafalgar Studios). Other work includes productions at Soho, Hampstead, the Bush, Tricycle, the Gate, New End, Lyric Hammersmith, York Theatre Royal, Nuffield Theatre Southampton, Sydney Theatre Company (Australia) and several UK National tours.
Jonathan Bensusan Bash – Assistant Director
Jonathan wrote and directed Kisses in the Dark for Brighton Fringe and is currently studying a Masters in Directing at East15.
Stephanie Watson – Assistant Stage Manager
Stephanie is in her final year at East15, studying Stage and Production Management. She has experience working on shows at the Blue Orange in Birmingham, as well as technical stage manager on How To Be a Tree (Lion and Unicorn). She is also the in-house stage manager for Thunder Theatre, who aspire to bring watching movies with your dog to the theatre.
