Calvino Nights
Mike Shepherd In Cahoots with imPOSSIBLE producing and the Minack Theatre
Co-directed by Mike Shepherd and Elayce Ismail.
The wild possibility of fire, feast and fun-filled fiasco!
Calvino Nights is a show for those who’ve lost their moral compass (it’s where you left it!) or for those who simply need a damned good night out!
The show took place at the Minack Theatre and The Lost Gardens of Heligan in Spring 2022
Join the marvellous Mr Calvino and his motley troupe of tale-tellers, song-makers and fire-raisers for an unforgettable ride through life told, quite literally, on a cliff-edge precipice! Be entertained by hapless thieves, very clever peas, daft billionaires and women who live entirely on wind!
Mike Shepherd writes: 'Italo Calvino is an Italian writer who collected aural tellings of folk tales and rewrote them with a lavish sprinkling of exaggeration. Calvino Nights is inspired by a mix of several of these folk tales including the adventures of a boy the size of a pea, a skinflint miser, a woman who lives on nothing more than wind, there are hapless robbers, fallen angels, circus tricks , the cosmos and lots of fire!
Calvino Nights is for children, their older brothers and sisters, mothers, fathers, aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents.
THE CALVINO CREW
Mike Shepherd - actor, director, teacher and pioneer of the Asylum (a mobile structure and a welcoming space for all). Started Kneehigh in 1980 and remained ‘in the middle of things’ for 40 years. Feels blessed to have performed and taught throughout this wonderful world of ours!
Elayce Ismail is a director and dramaturg, working in the UK and internationally across theatre, opera and film. She is the Artistic Associate at Cardiff-based opera company Music Theatre Wales and has previously been an Associate Director at Northern Stage in Newcastle and a Resident Director at the National Theatre in London. She trained in physical theatre and devising at LISPA and has directed productions for companies including the Young Vic, Donmar Warehouse, Shakespeare’s Globe, Soho Theatre, ENO and Royal Opera House.
Girum Bekele is from Ethiopia based in the UK (London), a circus artist who began his acting career performing in The Jungle at the Young Vic Theatre in London 2017. The Walk - Little Amal (Good Chance/National Theatre Studios), Slaa R&D workshop, Acrobat/Juggler (National Theatre Studios), The Crown Season 3, Fire breather/Dancer (Netflix, Stephen Daldry).
Peter Buffery is a theatre maker based in Devon. He primarily works in sound and music. However, a curious creative, he’s ever expanding his scope of practice and enrolled onto Guildhall School’s MA in Collaborative Theatre Production and Design, in 2018. Since graduating, he has released two solo albums and composed soundtracks for circus companies Gorilla Circus, Brainfools and Tête-bêche Trio as well as working for Kneehigh, Battersea Arts Centre, multi story theatre, Dan Bye, Beaford and Edifice Dance Theatre in various other capacities.
Tim Dalling has been a musical performer since leaving Glasgow School of Art in 1982. Early years of Kneehigh was his introduction to the joy of theatre. Love and fatherhood took him to Newcastle where he joined comedy folk trio The Old Rope String Band. He has also worked with Northern Stage and Sally Cookson and returned to Kneehigh in recent years. He has also created his own songs and shows the next of which in 2023 will be The Magic Hare Piece.
James Gow is a multi-instrumentalist, composer and educator with a BA in Music from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. Since his first theatre show with Kneehigh, almost a decade ago, he has performed all over the world and worked with, among others, directors Sally Cookson and Max Webster. Outside of the theatre he can be seen playing with his unusual cello and trumpet duo JOW and the folk quartet Eleven Magpies.
Bea Holland is many things - actor, writer, florist, professional idiot and lady wrestler. She loves an early morning swim in the sea and serenading her dog Parsley on the ukulele. She has worked in theatres all over the country, written comedy for Channel 4 and is one eighth of The Pappy Show; an award-winning theatre and movement ensemble. She came second in The Orpington May Queen 1987 and would like to dedicate her performance this evening to runners up everywhere.
Paka Johnson, AKA Paka the ‘Uncredible’, was born in London. He is a European artist: an absurd clown, a sculptor of kinetic beings, a ‘pyromancer’, a partaker and creator of theatre. His voyage began in the early 80’s on the streets; he was a founding member of the infamous DNTT, his theatre company ‘Black Hole’ made shows for the LIMF. He walks on ropes and flies on trapeze. He somehow never got the day job. He is currently engrossed in making a kinetic/robotic Medusa to discuss the trauma we impose on our youth and the world we pass on to them.
Caitlin Kaur is an actor, writer and poet. She trained at Drama Centre London, National Youth Theatre and Manchester School of Theatre. She graduated in 2020 and has worked in TV, theatre and film since, including Sister Boniface Mysteries(BBC, Britbox), India Pale Ale (Bolton Octagon) and ARRIVAL(Royal Docks, London).
Alex Lupo is a musician with over 20 years of experience as a performer, composer and producer. Alex has collaborated with Ivor Award winning composer Charlotte Harding (Faber), Charles Hazlewood and the British Paraorchestra, Bibio (Warp Records), Dubkasm (Peng Sound), Malachai (Domino Records), and Babyhead (Rockers revolt) among others. Alex has toured as a performer with Kneehigh Theatre Company (Dead Dog in a Suitcase, The Tin Drum and Ubu Karaoke), and at the Globe Theatre in Emma Rice’s production of Twelfth Night. As a composer for film, TV and animation Alex has worked with Aardman Animation, Cartoon Network, Wonky Films, the BBC and Channel 4 among others.
Sarah Wright is a puppeteer and maker - she grew up at the Little Angel Theatre London and as a kid toured to many parts of the world performing with her family. She has worked extensively in physical and puppetry-based theatre ever since including with Kneehigh, Improbable, Silo Theatre, DNTT fire performance and her own company Silent Tide. She also runs the Curious School of Puppetry!
