The Secret Agent. Joseph Conrad

      This production is generously sponsored by Neil and Sarah Brener

      First performed at the Traverse theatre on 6 August 2013

       COMPANY

       COMPANY BIOGRAPHIES

      theatre O is a vehicle for co-artistic directors Joseph Alford and Carolina Valdés to create and tour inspirational, devised inter-disciplinary theatre. Their aim is to make work that inspires, moves and challenges both themselves and the audience. They look at the world and try to present it in unexpected and revealing ways, constantly coming back to the dilemmas of ordinary people in extraordinary situations, using humour and playfulness to tell stories that can also be dark and bleak. Previous work includes 3 Dark Tales (Edinburgh Fringe and Barbican), Astronaut (Barbican and International Tour), The Argument (Barbican, Mexico, Pittsburgh, Edinburgh Festival and UK tour) and Delirium (Barbican, The Abbey Theatre and UK tour), a reinterpretation of Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov created with playwright Enda Walsh. theatre O is an Associate Company of Shoreditch Town Hall.

      DIRECTION, JOSEPH ALFORD– Joseph is Co-Artistic Director of theatre O. He studied at the École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq. His directing work includes The Man Jesus (Lyric Belfast); Delirium (theatre O) The Bridge (Mimbre); Arsenic and Old Lace (Derby Playhouse); Astronaut, The Argument, 3 Dark Tales (All theatre O); Bond (GBP); and What If…? (Tohu Bohu). His movement directing work includes Le Vin Herbé (Staatsoper Berlin); Hamlet (RSC); Hansel & Gretel, A Woman Killed with Kindness, Beauty and the Beast and The Cat in the Hat (National Theatre); Play House (Orange Tree Theatre); The Trial of Ubu (Hampstead Theatre); Idomeneo ( ENO); Clemency (ROH2) and Blackta (Young Vic).

      DESIGN & VIDEO DESIGN, SIMON DAW – Simon designs set, costume and video for theatre, dance and opera as well as creating installation/ performance works. Recent projects include: The Daughter-in-Law and Democracy (Sheffield Crucible and Old Vic); The Metamorphosis (Royal Opera House); As One (Royal Ballet); Eventual Progress (Yekaterinburg Ballet); Lost Monsters (Liverpool Everyman); Dolls (National Theatre of Scotland); Fast Labour (Hampstead Theatre/West Yorkshire Playhouse); DNA, Baby Girl, The Miracle, The Enchantment (National Theatre); Elling (Bush Theatre and Trafalgar Studios) and 3rd Ring Out, an interactive simulation of a climate changed future that toured the UK inside two specially adapted shipping containers.

      WRITING, MATTHEW HURT – Matthew's play The Man Jesus ran at the Lyric Theatre in Belfast earlier this year. His adaptation from the French, Tuesdays at Tesco's, won Fringe First at 2011’s Edinburgh Festival and his play Phumzile was broadcast on BBC Radio 4. Other plays include Sailing Somewhere (Johannesburg); Believe (Traverse; Finborough and UK Tour; Adelaide; Sweden); Mortal Ladies Possessed (Assembly Rooms and UK Tour; New York; Milan) and Singing! Dancing! Acting! (Soho Theatre; Athens). Matthew has received bursaries from the Peggy Ramsay Foundation and has been on attachment at the National Theatre Studio. He is currently under commission for the West End.

      LIGHT, ANNA WATSON– Theatre credits include: Bank On It (Theatre-Rites/Barbican); A Time to Reap (Royal Court); Fireface, Disco Pigs, Sus (Young Vic); Salt, Root and Roe (Donmar); On the Record, It Felt Empty (Arcola); Eden End, In Praise of Love, The Talented Mr Ripley, My Zinc Bed (Northampton Royal); Paradise, Salt (Ruhr Triennale, Germany); Gambling, This Wide Night (Soho Theatre); … Sisters (Headlong, The Gate). Opera credits include: Orlando (Scottish Opera); Ruddigore (Opera North); Critical Mass (Almeida); Songs from a Hotel Bedroom, Tongue Tied (Linbury, ROH); The Bartered Bride (Royal College of Music). Dance credits include: Refugees of a Septic Heart (The Garage); Soul Play (The Place); View from the Shore (Clore, ROH, Hall for Cornwall).

      SOUND, GARETH FRY – Recent work includes: Soundscape Design for Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games, The Master and Margarita (Complicite); Othello (NT); Hamlet (RSC); Trojan Women (Gate Theatre); Black Watch (NTS); David Bowie Is (V&A). Also: Astronaut (theatre O), Shun-kin, Endgame, Noise of Time (Complicite), Living Costs (DV8), Babel (Stan Won't Dance), No Idea (Improbable), Wild Swans (Young Vic), Othello (Frantic Assembly), Fahrenheit Twins (Told By An Idiot), The Missing, Peter Pan, Be Near Me (NTS). Awards include: Laurence Olivier Award 2007 for Waves; Helpmann Award 2008 and Olivier Award 2009 for Black Watch; IRNE Award 2012 for Wild Swans in Boston.

      ILLUSTRATION & VIDEO DESIGN, PADDY MOLLOY – Paddy Molloy studied Illustration and Animation at Kingston University and Communication Art and Design at the Royal College of Art. Projection