The Massive Tragedy of Madame Bovary

Georgia Nicholson – Emma Bovary, Madame Codoux

Georgia hails from the North East and trained at The Academy of Live and Recorded Arts.

Credits include: The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry (Embankment), Inspector George Gently (BBC), The Cinder Path (Ion), Aladdin (Whitley Bay Playhouse), The Lambton Worm (Customs House), The Pillory (Southwark Playhouse), The Dolly Mixtures (Customs House), Carnivores (Southwark Playhouse), My Uncle Freddie (Customs House), Beauty and the Beast (Customs House), Wild Boar (Southwark Playhouse), The End of the Line (Ink Jockey).

Previous Ha Hum Ah productions include A Dickensian Christmas (London production), Loveplay (Minack) and It’s Grimm, an audio musical series. Georgia is looking forward to the whirlwind that is Madame Bovary’s life!

Stephen Cavanagh – Blind man, Bailiff, Marchioness, Homais, Sister Mary, Farm Hand etc.

Stephen Cavanagh is from Derry, Northern Ireland and trained at the Gaiety School of Acting, Dublin, and the British-American Drama Academy, Oxford.

Stephen’s recent theatre appearances include The Dresser (Theatre Royal Bath & national tour); The Easter Rising and Thereafter (Jermyn Street Theatre, London); Elves and the Shoemakers (Sheffield Theatres).

Other theatre work includes: Observe The Sons Of Ulster Marching Towards The Somme, Pleasure And Pain and Dial M For Murder for the Citizens Theatre, Glasgow; Romeo And Juliet, Death Of A Salesman, Coriolanus, A View From The Bridge, The Dance Of Death, Journey’s End and The Lonesome West for the Mercury Theatre, Colchester; Blackwater Angel and Spokesong for the Finborough Theatre, London; The Night Pirates for Theatre Hullabaloo; Bell Book And Candle for Greenwich Playhouse.

Work with Irish theatre companies includes Torch Song Trilogy for Kabosh; Three Tall Women for Prime Cut; Melmoth The Wanderer for Big Telly; Comical Mysteries and A Midsummer Night’s Dream for the Civic Theatre, Dublin.

Recent film and TV work includes The Crown (Netflix); Belfast (Kenneth Branagh Company); The Witcher (Netflix).

Ben Kernow – Ratman 1, Rodolphe, Rouault, Dr. Cavinet, Viscount

Ben grew up on a small farm on the north Cornish coast before training at the Academy of Live and Recorded Arts (ALRA).

Theatre credits include: Superstition Mountain (The Minack Theatre/ Ha Hum Ah). The Beauty Queen of Leenane, The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, Hetty Feather, Stones in His Pockets & The Secret Garden (The Minack Theatre). Finnegan & Tweed (Ha Hum Ah). Sleeping Beauty, A Perfect World, The Cherry Orchard, The Third Policeman, Life’s a Dream & The Magnificent Three (Miracle Theatre). Giselle (Birmingham Royal Ballet), Lucy and the Lost Ones (Quirk Theatre), Product & A Doll’s House (New Model Theatre), The Mousehole Cat (Cousin Jack’s Theatre). Relatively Speaking & The Importance of Being Earnest (Frinton Repertory Theatre), The Seagull (Baron’s Court Theatre).

Film credits include: Magic Man (The Road Productions), Organs of Business (Phenascope Films), At Sea (LFS), The Expert: Progress Report (Meshes) and The Legend of Bob Leonard (Mandrake media).

When not acting he can be found in his small vineyard tending to his vines.

Darren Seed – Ratman 2, Charles Bovary, Mother Superior

Originally from Cornwall, Darren trained at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School graduating with the Peter Ackerman Award for outstanding comedy performances. Darren has since toured both nationally and internationally and regularly works with new writers, co-devising productions for Kenny Wax, Tobacco Factory Theatres, Oxford Playhouse and Bristol Old Vic. In 2020 Darren co-founded Jam First Theatre which toured Cornwall and played The Pleasance at The Edinburgh Fringe with their sell out production Hellish.

Theatre credits include: The Olivier Award nominated show Oi Frog & Friends! (West End/UK Tour), We’re Going On A Bear Hunt (USA/UK Tours), The Last Days Of Mankind (Bristol Old Vic), Room On The Broom (UK Tour), Superstition Mountain (Minack Theatre), Bedtime (Oxford Playhouse), Pericles (Redgrave Theatre), Tiddler and Other Terrific Tales (Leicester Square Theatre), A Funny Thing Happened On The Way to The Forum (Tobacco Factory), Edward Gant’s Amazing Feats Of Loneliness (Alma Tavern Theatre), Oh No It Isn’t! (Barbican Theatre), To Kill A Mockingbird (Bath Literature Festival), 140 Million Miles – A Play, A Pie and A Pint (Òran Mór/Traverse Theatre), Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty (Hall For Cornwall).

Television credits include: The Lost Honour Of Christopher Jefferies (ITV), Poldark (BBC) and His Dark Materials (BBC).

John Nicholson – Writer

John is an Artistic Director of the award-winning Peepolykus, with whom he has toured the UK and the world for 25 years.

Writing includes: The Hound Of The Baskervilles (Leeds Playhouse, West End, National tour), No Wise Men (Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse), Treasure Island (Bristol Old Vic, National Tour), The Massive Tragedy of Madame Bovary (Northampton Royal, Jermyn Street Theatre, National Tour), A Christmas Carol (Exeter Northcott), Spyski – The Importance of Being Honest (Lyric Hammersmith, National Tour), The Ramsbury Players (National Theatre), Richard’s Rampage (The Old Vic, International Tour), Origins (Pentabus, National Tour), The Arthur Conan Doyle Appreciation Society (Edinburgh Traverse), Help! Get me Out Of This Musical (South Hill Park), A Trespasser’s Guide To The Classics series 1 and 2, Rik Mayall’s Bedside Tales series 1 and Marley Was Dead (BBC Radio 4), Off Their Rockers (ITV), The Time Machine (Original Theatre, national tour)

Physical comedy director/consultant credits include: One Man Two Guvnors (Bolton Octagon, National Tour), A Little Hotel On The Side (Theatre Royal Bath), The Secret Adversary (Newbury Watermill), Watson and Oliver, The Wrong Door (BBC), Playtime (Northampton Royal), Accidental Death Of An Anarchist (Sheffield Theatres).

Directing (with writing) credits include: Partners in Crime (Queens Theatre, Hornchurch), Dracula – the Bloody Truth, 400 (Plymouth Theatre Royal/National), Shaun The Sheep Live (Aardman/International), Nina Conti – Dolly Mixtures (Soho Theatre and West End), Paul Merton – Out Of His Head (West End), Spymonkey’s Spook Show (Blackpool Winter Gardens), Coulrophobia (London International Mime Festival) Aladdin, Dick Tracy (Plymouth Athenaeum), The Three Musketeers (York Theatre Royal, National Tour), King Arthur (National Tour), The Light Princess (Tobacco Factory Theatre, Bristol), A Christmas Carol (Exeter Northcott).

Kristie Davis – Director

Kirstie has worked at many theatres around the country including the Lyric Theatre Hammersmith, Salisbury Playhouse and Cheltenham Everyman. For six years she was the Associate Director and then Acting Artistic Director of Watford Palace Theatre where she directed acclaimed productions of Top Girls, The Daughter-in-Law and The Beauty Queen of Leenane. She was CEO and Artistic Director of Forest Forge from 2009 to 2016 where she commissioned and directed over 20 new plays, which included: Free Folk by Gary Owen, the first adaptations of The Wolves of Willoughby Chase and Stardust by Russ Tunney and Woman of Flowers by Kaite O’Reilly.

Recent projects include: Kiss Me Quickstep by Amanda Whittington at Queen’s Theatre, Hornchurch, Daddy Long Legs by Paul Gordon and John Caird at The Barn Theatre, Ladies That Bus and the sequel Ladies That Dig by Joyce Branagh, both of which went on national tours; The Girl on the Train by Rachel Wagstaff and Duncan Abel at The Barn Theatre and Robin Hood by Andrew Pollard at The Duke’s Theatre, Lancaster.

Marion Harrison – Set & Costume Designer

Marion has worked in the theatre and film industry since graduating from Leeds University in 2002 with a BA Hons in Theatre Design & Technology, and later gained a Post-Graduate Diploma at the Linea Academy in Durban, South Africa.

After spending the first part of her career as a Touring Wardrobe Manager for companies such as the RSC, National Theatre, Headlong and The National Theatre of Scotland, Marion now works as a Costume and Set Designer for theatre and film.

Marion has worked as designer on many productions across the county, including Hetty Feather, And Then Come The Nightjars, The Wolves of Willoughby Chase and Orfeo for The Minack, Superstition Mountain and Loveplay for Ha Hum Ah/Minack co-production. The Comedy of Errors (RSC Shakespeare Nation) and Melior Opus Griot for Hall For Cornwall.

For film she has worked as Production Designer on Sensibility and Art for Ha Hum Ah and Voyage and Heva Heva for o-region.

Dan Bottomley – Sound Designer

Music, sound and composing credits include: A Skull in Connemara (Oldham Coliseum) A Dickensian Christmas, Grimms’ Fairy Tales (Ha Hum Ah); Talk Radio (Off West End Award nom for Best Sound Design), and Fox (Old Red Lion); Peter and the Wolf (Offie nom Best Show for Under 7’s); The House of Usher (The Hope Theatre).

Dan also trained as an actor in London. Acting credits include Once and Mike Leigh‘s Peterloo.

Grace Murdoch – Movement Director & Choreographer

Grace is a Choreographer and Director based in the South West, working as a freelance artist with theatre, opera, dance and comedy. Having trained at Falmouth University, she is now Director of Cheap Date, a combined arts company and Murdoch Design, creating bespoke sculptural pieces/sets, which she runs with her husband Nick.

Grace’s collaborations include: Falmouth University, The Minack Theatre, ICON Theatre, Tête à Tête Opera, Trebah Gardens to name a few. Creating original touring work with Cheap Date for audiences in the UK and Sweden. Grace also passionately enjoys her work with young people and the community across the UK.

Jonny Dry – Assistant Director

Jonny is immensely passionate about regional voice in film and stimulating social change through cinema. He is currently releasing directorial work for both Exeter Pheonix and BFI NETWORK; Open Country which he wrote, directed and produced; and Mackling written by Callum Mitchell, produced by Ella Turner and supported by Denzil Monk of Bosena.

His previous projects include Tom’s Dream, currently touring Cornwall through Hall for Cornwall’s ‘Behind the Postcard’ programme; experimental documentary Small Groups Through Time; and An Tarow, released on BBC iPlayer and widely recognised at the BAFTA Cymru qualifying Carmarthen Bay, as well as Cornwall, Little Wing and Two Short Nights, including a win for Best Director.

Alongside all this he is a workshop practitioner and educator leading courses in colleges and community groups that allow children and adults to explore their own creative voice. As an assistant director in his recent credits include BAFTA winning director Mark Jenkin’s Enys Men; Jamie Adams’ improvised feature She Is Love; various funded shorts with BFI NETWORK, Directors UK, and the Challenge Alexa Film Fund; and the Minack and Ha Hum Ah’s production of Carl Grose’s dark comedy Superstition Mountain.