Vincent River by Philip Ridley

Jo Castleton trained in Performance Art at Middlesex University in Performance Art. Her work in theatre includes Rose Narracott in the National Theatre’s War Horse on the National and international tours; The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (West End) for the National Theatre; Dangerous Corner at Nottingham Playhouse; Round and Round the Garden, Table Manners and A Murder is Announced for Talking Scarlet; Death Trap, Murder Weapon and Suddenly at Home at Eastbourne and on tour; Shock at Chesterfield Pomegranate; the ‘Thriller’ seasons at Nottingham Theatre Royal; The Second Shepherds’ Pageant Mystery Play in London; Genie of the Ring in Aladdin at Greenwich; Twist of Gold at Polka; Lilies on the Land (tour), Beauty and the Beast, Oh, What a Lovely War, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, The Wind in the Willows, The Wizard of Oz and A Christmas Carol for Basingstoke Haymarket; Elephant 21 for the Royal Court; Family Man at Theatre Royal Stratford East; Taken In at Drill Hall; tours of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Ghost Train, Sailor Beware and Daisy Pulls It Off; and The Magic Flute, The Mystery Plays, Oliver Twist and Shakers at Liverpool Playhouse. Films include Fit, The Seventeenth Kind, The Milky Way, Auton 2 and Auton 3. Audio work includes Dark Eyes 2, Dalek Empire, The Marian Conspiracy, Sapphire and Steel – Dead Man Walking and Cyberman 2.

Jake is a London based actor represented by Trulowe Management. He began his training with the National Youth Theatre, moving on to study a BA in Acting at the Arts University Bournemouth. Since graduating Jake has worked extensively in theatre and film, including devising and performing in two separate tours of ‘Bleak House’ with the David Glass Ensemble, of which he is proudly an associate of the company. Working alongside Rikki Beadle-Blair as a producer and actor on Rikki’s play ‘GUTTED’, with a focus on giving opportunities to young, diverse and working-class actors from London. Some short film credits also include ‘Boys Don’t Cry’ (Charles Copsey), ‘The Forgotten Children’ (Jo Morris) and ‘SKIN’ (Illuminate Films).  

Jake is truly excited to conquer new ground and perform for new audiences in the beautiful city of Brussels and is excited to share with you this vital and visceral story. As such is always at the forefront of all the work, he involves himself, uncomfortable, integral storytelling.

Philip was born and grew up in the East End of London. His most recent plays are POLTERGEIST and TARANTULA, both premiering at the Southwark Playhouse in 2021. His other plays include: The Pitchfork Disney, The Fastest Clock in the Universe, Ghost from a Perfect Place, Vincent River, Mercury Fur, Leaves of Glass, Piranha Heights, Tender Napalm, Shivered, Dark Vanilla Jungle, Radiant Vermin, Tonight With Donny Stixx, Karagula, Karamazoo, Fairytaleheart, Moonfleece, Sparkleshark, Brokenville, Feathers in the Snow, Daffodil Scissors.

 As well as three books for adults (Crocodilia, In The Eyes of Mr Fury and Flamingos in Orbit) and the highly acclaimed screenplay for the The Krays feature film, he has also written novels for children, including Scribbleboy, Kasper in the Glitter, Mighty Fizz Chilla, ZinderZunder, Vinegar Street, Zip’s Apollo and the bestseller Krindlekrax, the stage play of which – adapted by Philip himself – was premiered at the Birmingham Rep Theatre in 2002.  

He has also directed three feature films from his own screenplays: The Reflecting Skin, The Passion of Darkly Noon and Heartless. For the latter two films, Philip co-wrote a number of original songs, one of which, Who Will Love Me Now? (performed by P.J. Harvey) was voted BBC Radio 1’s Top Film Song of 1998.

In 2012 What’s On Stage named him a Jubilee Playwright (one of the most influential British writers to have emerged in the past six decades). Philip has won both the Evening Standard’s Most Promising Newcomer to British Film and Most Promising Playwright Awards. The only person ever to receive both prizes. 

Robert Chevara is an award-winning theatre director, opera director and writer. He won the Prudential award for his production of Carmen (MidWales Opera) and best contemporary Swedish opera productions for both Tom Adès’s Powder Her Face (Ystad) and Poulenc’s La Voix Humane (Stockholm). His production of Tennessee Williams’s Vieux Carré won Best Revival of a Play Award 2013 from Front Row Dress. 

Plays he has directed include Hamlet, Mary Rose by J.M. Barrie, Top Girls by Caryl Churchill, Unity 1918 by John Kerr and An Evening with Beau by Rikki Beadle-Blair. He’s directed at theatres and opera houses around the world including The Old Vic, The San Francisco Opera, The Arcola Theatre, The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, The Bush Theatre, Opera New Zealand, Théâtre de Nesle, Paris, Aalborg Theatre, Denmark, Opéra Comique, Paris, HAU, Berlin and The Park Theatre, London. His numerous productions include Williams’s early piece The Chorus Girl Plays (World premiere – Tennessee Williams Festival, Provincetown 2013), Lionel Bart’s Quasimodo (World premiere - Kings Head Theatre), The Glass Menagerie (TheatreSpace, London), Madam Butterfly (Opera New Zealand), Luciano Berio's Twice Upon (World premiere - Royal Festival Hall, South Bank Centre commission) and Hotter than Rochester by Paul Doust (Paines Plough - The Gate Theatre). In 2016 he directed the Danish premiere of Mike Bartlett’s Cock and Bull, Britten’s opera A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Copenhagen Opera Academy) and the world premiere of Alexis Gregory’s Bright Skin Light (Theatre Royal Stratford East). In 2017 his production of Tennessee Williams’s In the Bar of a Tokyo Hotel starring Linda Marlowe at the Charing Cross Theatre was named by The Times as one of the year’s 10 best London theatre productions. In 2018 his staging’s of both Philip Ridley’s controversial Vincent River at The Park Theatre and Alexis Gregory’s Sex/Crime at The Glory received great critical acclaim in the UK press. In 2019 he directed the German premiere of Gail Louw’s play about a Jewish German woman who worked for the Nazis, Blonde Poison in Berlin. It received rave reviews. Sex Crime was revived for a sell-out season at the Soho theatre at the end of 2019 and Vincent River revived in 2020 at the Trafalgar Studios. Future plans include Carmen in Paris/Belle-Île-en-Mer, Tennessee Williams’s The Milk Train Doesn’t Stop Here Anymore at the Charing Cross Theatre, Romeo and Juliet; Rethink at the Southwark Playhouse and Dominic Argento’s Postcard from Morocco in Amsterdam. Robert has had one book published by Bloomsbury Books and an anthology of his poetry is being published in March 2022 by Team Angelica. Contact Robert on www.robertchevara.com.

photo credit: Rikki Beadle-Blair

Jess trained at Motley. 

Recent work includes GENESIS INC. (Hampstead Theatre) LOOSING VENICE (The Orange Tree Theatre) UNCLE VANYA (Almeida) VILLETTE, DANGEROUS CORNER (West Yorkshire Playhouse), KISS ME QUICKSTEP, HAUNTING JULIA (The Queen’s Theatre)  ONE FOR THE ROAD, GLASS CAGE, FOLLIES (Royal and Derngate, Northampton), THE HOLY ROSENBERGS (National Theatre), HOTEL CERISE (Theatre Royal, Stratford East) ANOTHER DOOR CLOSED (Theatre Royal Bath), ENDGAME (Liverpool Everyman), DANGEROUS CORNER (West Yorkshire Playhouse/West End), FRANKENSTEIN (Frantic Assembly, Northampton), BURIAL AT THEBES (Nottingham Playhouse/Barbican/US Tour) and RHAPSODY, FANTASY (Royal Opera House).

She has also designed the Grovesnor Park Open Air Season 2013- 2016, the opening season for Storyhouse and bar interiors for Underbelly at the South Bank, Hyde Park and Leicester Square.

She is part of the Society of British Theatre’s Sustainability working group.  

    A Guildhall graduate and an Olivier Award winner Mikes work thankfully takes him all over the world designing lighting for plays, musicals, opera's and concerts together with events, architecture and special projects. He has many credits in the West End, New York, on tour and in regional rep. On foreign shores he has lit stage shows in Brazil, France, Monaco, Finland, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Hong Kong, Macau, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Cuba and the USA. 

In the theatre recent acclaim came for Trolle, School of Rock, Sex Crime, Fascinating Aida, Macbeth, Billy Elliot, Girlfriends, Annie, Privacy, The Rubenstein Kiss, The Philanthropist, Honeymoon In Vegas, Monstrous Bodies, The Owl & The Pussycat, A Princess Undone and classics Much Ado About Nothing, Camelot, State Fair, When We Were Women, Art, The Sisterhood, Great Expectations and Toast. 

Outside of the theatre his team have lit hundreds of concerts and events even designing the interior lighting for Aircraft including Virgin Atlantic J2000 fleet and the concept for the Airbus A380.