Luke Marquez BA(Hons), PGDE, MA.
Artistic Director
Luke Marquez
Artistic Director
Luke is an experienced Director specialising in contemporary theatre, theatre making and actor training.
​
Having graduated from Royal Central School of Speech and Drama with an MA in Applied Theatre, he went on to establish Wrong Shoes Theatre Company through which he has been create contemporary theatre and new work for touring throughout the UK, since its formation in 2012.
​
Luke is also passionate about actors craft, and has been working as an actor trainer since 2010. He now delivers regular workshops and one to one training through Wrong Shoes Theatre training company, Actors' Institute. He has also worked with theatres and arts education organisations across the south of the UK. Luke also has a BA (Hons) in Performing Arts and a Post Graduate Diploma in Education (Drama).
​
As a Director he works with both scripted and devised performance, experimenting with experiential practices and encouraging the audience to engage with the work. He often creates theatre in non-traditional settings, combining a range of disciplines and a collaborative approaches to theatre making.
​
Directing credits include:
Nightlife - The Furnace Nightclub (Site specific); The Anima Project - Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2014, **** Edfringe Review; The Gathering - Artsite, Post-Modern Gallery (Site specific); The Magnificent Doctor Faustus - Shoebox Theatre; The Mad Hatter’s Tea Party - Shoebox Theatre; The Wonderful World of Dissocia - Shoebox Theatre 2016; An Account of a Savage – Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2016, **** Broadway Baby; When the Rain Stops Falling - Shoebox Theatre 2016; The Unbinding - 2017/18 UK Tour, **** Broadway Baby; Janus - Shoebox Theatre 2019. The Ugly Duckling - Shoebox Theatre 2019, The Little Prince, Shoebox Theatre 2022
Billie Piper
Patron
Billie Piper was born in 1982 in Swindon, England, where she studied at the Sylvia Young Theatre School. Her career began when she appeared on the children’s television show Scratchy & Co. At the age of 15 Piper became the youngest artist to debut at number one in the UK Singles Chart.
​
In 2005 Piper got her acting breakthrough when she was cast as Rose Tyler in revival of The Doctor Who. The role saw Piper win the Most Popular Actress in the 2005 and 2006 National Television Awards. She was also awarded South Bank Show Award’s Breakthrough of the Year 2006, Television and Radio Industries Club’s Best New TV Talent 2006 and Best Actress at TV Quick and TV Choice Awards. In 2007 she returned to television to star in Secret Diary of a Call Girl where she starred as Hannah Baxter for three series. Other notable performances are her role as Hero in the televised ShakespeRe-Told: Much Ado About Nothing, for this role she won the TRIC Award for New TV Talent (also for Doctor Who) and nominated for Broadcasting Press Guild Award for Best Actress. More recently she has played Lily Frankenstein in Penny Dreadful series which saw her nominated for Best Supporting Actress at the Fangoria Chainsaw.
​
In theatre she started her stage career in 2007 in Treats, playing Ann at the Garrick Theatre, she was nominated for Evening Standard Theatre Award’s Best Actress. In 2011 she appeared as Carly in Reasons to be Pretty at the Almeida Theatre, but it was her portrayal of Connie in The Effect at the National Theatre that got her nominated for Best Actress in a Play for the Whatsonstage.com Awards and Laurence Olivier Awards. Following this she played the role of Paige in Great Britain at the National Theatre which also saw her nominated for the London Evening Standard Theatre Award’s Best Actress and win Best Actress at the What’s On Stage Theatre Awards.
​
Piper returned to the West End in Yerma at the Young Vic in the summer of 2016 where the show received 5 star reviews and won her the Olivier Award, Evening Standard Theatre Award and Critics’ Choice for Best Actress. In January 2017 it was announced the production would return to The Young Vic in July 2017 once again starring Piper in the title role.
Cheryl Stapleton
Masterclass Practitioner - Comedy and Commedia dell'arte
Cheryl Stapleton is a comedy actress, director and qualified drama teacher. She runs Learning Through Theatre, delivering workshops nationwide and staging Commedia dell'Arte masked theatre productions. She trained in physical performance with leading experts including Philippe Gaulier, Marcello Magni, John Rudlin, Antonio Fava and mask-maker Michael Chase. Her specialism is physical comedy and has taught at Circomedia, RADA, University College London, University of Gloucestershire and at schools and colleges throughout the UK.
Bee Daws
Masterclass Practitioner - Puppetry and Youth Theatre
Bee Daws is an experienced puppeteer and puppet maker, specialising in hand and rod puppetry and Bunraku puppets.
As well as receiving training from War Horse’s Tom Morris and Toby Olié, Little Angel Theatre and Blind Summit Theatre - Bee was taught by ‘Fly in a pie’ founder Marc Parrett and is training in puppet building skills with Peter Pullon. She also studied Theatre Directing at the University of Falmouth and works as regular practitioner for the Shoebox Theatre.
Edalia Day
Masterclass Practitioner - Jacques Lecoq and Clowning
Edalia has been a professional actor and facilitator for over 10 years. Since training at ALRA and the Ecole Jacques Lecoq in Paris, Edalia has played a variety of classical and contemporary roles often with actor musicianship, physical comedy, and wild physical abandon! Most recently, Edalia played Prospero and Trinculo in an open-air production of the Tempest with Red Rose Chain Theatre Company.
Edalia is currently touring ‘Super Hamlet 64’, a one-person mix of clown, music, spoken word, video-gaming and Shakespeare's tragedies, Too Pretty to Punch and Spectacular Spacebots!
Rebecca Martin
Costume Designer & Prop Maker
Rebecca joined us as a performer on The Unbinding in 2017. As well as being a fabulous performer, Rebecca is also a telented artist and has been working with the company ever since, to design some amazing costumes and props. She works with a number of theatre companies across the south west and
​
As well as playing Lillian in the 2017-18 touring production of The Unbinding, she also has a BA (Hons) in Drama
from the University of Winchester.
​
Rebecca has also designed costume and props for The Unbinding, Janus & Horror at the Hydro.
​
​
Tom Jordan
Stage Combat Practitioner
Tom Jordan is a professional Fight Choreographer and Stage Combat Instructor who works in Drama Schools and Theatres across the UK.
As well as leading the stage combat programme at the Actors' Institute, he is an Associate Practitioner and Choreographer for the Royal Shakespeare Company, experienced instructor and Vice Chairman of the Academy of Performance Combat, and is an associate teacher at Guildford School of Acting and the Institute of Contemporary Theatre.
​
He also runs The Action Emporium, which delivers APC exam courses from Basic to Honours.
Aaron Parsons
Masterclass Practitioner - Directing
Aaron Parsons is an experienced theatre director, making highly visual work, incorporating physical theatre, puppetry and text in both conventional and non-conventional theatre spaces. Since graduating from Bristol Old Vic with an MA in Directing, he has worked as Associate Director for Prime Theatre, is an Associate Artist for New Mutiny and has made work for Travelling Light, Thimble Theatre, Rose Theatre Kingston, Circomedia and Bath Literature Festival.
Matt Cross
Masterclass Practitioner - Screen Acting
Matt Cross is a professional actor, writer and director working in television, film and theatre. Television Credits Include: Tim in Misfits - Quite Funny Films, Sean in Shameless - Company Pictures, Jimmy Lips in Life on Mars - Kudos Television, Paul in Law and Order UK - Kudos Television, Casualty, Holby City and Doctors - BBC. Film Credits Include: Akut in Tarzan - David Yates,Warner Bros, Muto in Godzilla - Andy Serkis, Warner Bros, Alex in Any Other Sense - James Tyler, Lester in Bypass Duane Hopkins, Dominic in Trance - Danny Boyle, Warner Bros, Des in Come on Eileen - Cloud 8 Productions, Tim in Double Time -Tiger Aspects, Apostle in Jesus Christ Superstar - Really Useful Films, Mike in Monster - Independent.
Cathleen McCarron
Masterclass Practitioner - Voice
Cathleen McCarron is a voice, text and dialect specialist. She is currently full-time Senior Voice and Text Practitioner with the Royal Shakespeare Company and prior to this was an in-house voice coach at London's National Theatre.
Born and raised in Edinburgh, Cathleen studied politics at Edinburgh University before training in acting at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and for ten years worked extensively as an actress, across theatre, film, television and radio. Her lifelong interest in voice and storytelling eventually led Cathleen to the renowned MA Voice Studies course at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, from which she graduated with Distinction in 2010.
Since then, she has coached voice, text and dialect in numerous drama schools and theatres across the UK and in Europe and has a particular passion for enabling and empowering actors to work with their own voices and accents. Cathleen is also a regular narrator of audiobooks and has received a number of national and international awards and nominations for her work in this field.
Imogen Palmer
Improv Teacher
Imogen Palmer is the Theatre School Manager of The Bristol Improv Theatre and the Artistic Director The Delight Collective, creator/director of shows including IMOGENÉ: the improvised pop concert, The Bish Bosh Bash and International Women's Day special 'If These Walls Could Talk'.
She began teaching improvisation whilst training full-time at the award-winning Howard Fine Acting Studio in Melbourne and training and performing with Impro Melbourne. She regularly tops up her training with improvisation and clown masters including Patti Stiles (Loose Moose Theatre), Deanna Fleysher (Butt Kapinski), Jill Bernard (HUGE Theatre), the Showstoppers and Jason Shotts (IO Chicago).
Work with us
If you're an experienced practitioner or theatre maker and would like to work with us on a future project, or have a fabulous workshop idea that you think our actors would benefit from, please get it touch via our CONTACT US page.
