Meet the creatives and cast behind The Snow Queen: our most spectacular Christmas show yet!
Creatives
Charles Way
Writer
Charles Way has written over 60 plays and specialises in work for young people. His plays are performed all over the world. Charles has won many awards including; The Writer’s Guild award for A Spell of Cold Weather, The Arts Council’s Children’s award for Red Red Shoes, the German Children’s prize for Missing. In 2018, he was honoured by Action for Children’s Arts for his contribution to the arts for children. The author lives in Wales and has been a resident writer with The Sherman Theatre, Hijinx Theatre and Gwent Theatre with whom he enjoyed long and creative partnerships. He is best known in Wales however for his adaptation of ‘On the Black Hill’ and his Christmas plays including The Borrowers and Merlin and the Cave of Dreams which was nominated for a Helen Hayes award in the US. Charles has worked extensively in the US with Seattle Children’s Theatre, Minneapolis Children’s theatre and Imagination Stage who produced ‘Pirates- a boy at sea’ which won a distinguished play award from the American Alliance for Theatre and Education. Charles has enjoyed a long connection with the Unicorn Theatre in London and with Polka theatre who are producing a new play ‘Crackers’ this Christmas for family audiences. His version of Sleeping Beauty originally written for Polka will be produced in Ingolstadt, Germany this Christmas. Recent projects include; Ragnarök, a play for Eastern Angles Theatre company about The Norse Gods, Nivelli’s War and Under the Hawthorn Tree, for Cahoots NI, Belfast. In 2023 Cahoots will produce The Vanishing Elephant, a new play that will open in Belfast before touring to New York. The author is a member of The Writer’s guild. He is published by Aurora Metro Press. Go to www.charles-way.co.uk for more information.
Hannah Noone
Director
Hannah is a freelance director from North Wales. She was Resident Director on Olivier-award winning best new play Home, I’m Darling (Theatr Clwyd/National Theatre/West End), Staff Director at the National Theatre for both Home, I’m Darling and Mr Gum and the Dancing Bear, and was Assistant Director for Olivier-award winning best new family show Wolf, Witch, Giant, Fairy and A New Dark Age at the Royal Opera House. Directing credits include OffWestEnd-nominated The Elixir of Love (King’s Head Theatre), The In-Between, Y Teimlad/That Feeling (National Youth Theatre of Wales/Theatr Clwyd), Nightmare Scenario (Opera Sonic), Lung Water (National Theatre Wales/Sherman/BBC), Between Eternity & Time (The Gate/RWCMD/Sherman), Worlds Apart in War (Theatr Clwyd/National Trust), A Soldier’s Tale (Edinburgh Incidental Orchestra) & BoHo (Theatr Clwyd/Hijinx). Associate credits include: Double Drop (Dirty Protest/Edinburgh Fringe) and Uncle Vanya (Sheffield Theatres/Theatr Clwyd). Hannah will be Co-Directing the UK National Tour of Home, I’m Darling this coming January.
Jacob Hughes
Designer
Jacob graduated from the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in 2011 and was a finalist in the Linbury Prize for Stage Design that same year. He has since been nominated for Best Set Designer in the Off West End awards, Wales Theatre awards and has exhibited his work in the Society of British Theatre Designers exhibition Make:Believe. In 2016 Jacob was awarded the National Theatre’s Max Rayne Design Bursary for Emerging Artists and has recently been appointed Creative Associate at the National Theatre of Wales. Design credits include Romeo and Juliet (Shakespeare’s Globe); Broad Shadow (The National Theatre); Start Swimming (The Young Vic); Poet in da Corner (The Royal Court Theatre and UK tour) and Anthem (Wales Millennium Centre).
Samuel Barnes
Composer
Sam is a musician and composer. Originally from North Wales, he studied at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama and has been Cardiff-based since.
He has composed soundtracks for film: Grav (2021), The Arborist (2020), Steel Country (2018).
Television: The Light In The Hall (2022), Hidden (2018-21), Bregus (2021), Hinterland (2016).
Theatre: The In-Between (Theatr Clwyd), Tide Whisperer (National Theatre Wales), Storm.1 (National Theatre Wales), Iliad (National Theatre Wales).
Installation: Love Bugs (Chapter Arts Centre), Dyfodiaith (Chapter Arts Centre).
He works both independently and as a frequent collaborator with composition collective John Hardy Music. As a musician, Sam has toured and performed internationally with Cardiff-band Boy Azooga.
Mared Williams
Musical director
Mared is a Welsh singer-songwriter and actor who splits her time between gigging across the country and more recently on the West End in London. After her sold-out original music shows at Clwb Ifor Bach in Cardiff. and at Piano Smithfield and Pizza Express Holborn in London, Mared is extremely excited to be spending Christmas at the Storyhouse. Mared’s most recent projects include Welsh album of the year 2021 prize-winner ‘Y Drefn’, and her EP ‘Something Worth Losing’, co-written with Nate Williams, released June 2022. Earlier this year Mared completed a stint at Les Miserables in London as part of the ensemble and often playing the character of Eponine, having not been able to fulfil the contract before the pandemic hit. The Snow Queen combines Mared’s two favourite interests, music and storytelling!
Amber Buttery
Assistant Director and Understudy
Amber Buttery is a Director and Actor based in Liverpool. She trained at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts and is currently in her second year of the Everyman & Playhouse young directors programme. Amber is also a facilitator for numerous organisations in the North West and owner of her own company Storybook. She specialises in connecting with young people and improving confidence through engagement with the arts, creativity and the local community.
Directing Credits: Small Hours (Everyman & Playhouse), Missionary (Hope Mill Theatre), Charity (Liverpool’s Royal Court), All the Little Lights (Scale).
Assistant Directing Credits: Unsolicited (Liverpool’s Royal Court), The Tell Tale Heart (Southwark Playhouse), Labyrinth Diet (TheSpace), The Crocodile (Capstone Theatre), The Meeting (theSpaceUK).
Theatre Credits: That’s What She Said (Unity Theatre), FRIDA (LIPA), The Nativity (LIPA), The Centre (LIPA) As You Like It (LIPA).
Amber is thrilled to be combining her two creative hats and tackling the role of both Assistant Director and Understudy on this whirlwind re-imagining of The Snow Queen.
Jennifer Fletcher
Choreography
Jennifer trained at Laban and has worked internationally as a choreographer/movement director in theatre, opera, musicals and film over the last 15 years.
For Storyhouse/Grosvenor Park Open Air Theatre; Beggar’s Opera, Secret Seven, Much Ado About Nothing, The Tempest and Peter Pan.
Creative team credits include: I am Kevin (Wildworks); SAP (Atticist/Roundabout); As Long as the Heart Beats (National Theatre Wales), Sorry You’re Not a Winner (Paines Plough/Theatre Royal Plymouth), Anna Bella Eema & The Apology (Atticist/Arcola Theatre/New Earth), Snow Child and Jason and the Argonauts (Unicorn Theatre), Don Giovanni (Longborough Festival Opera), Semele (Mid Wales Opera) and People of the Eye, Matilda and the Orange Balloon (Deaf and Hearing Ensemble).
As a Writer/Director Jennifer collaborates with Harry Blake to create original musicals: The Sandman (supported by the Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation and BRIT school at Southwark Playhouse) and Mermaids (in development supported by Theatre Royal Plymouth, Arts Council England, AMATA/Falmouth University, The Peggy Ramsay Foundation, Hall for Cornwall, Taunton Brewhouse, North Wall and Proteus). Together they are associate artists at Theatre Royal Plymouth alongside Producer Alex Lonsdale.
Jen directs and develops community work including a large-scale outdoor production of The Resurrection (St.Just Ordinalia) and an upcoming immersive tech project with Grandmothers in South West Cornwall. She continues to direct work internationally for the two companies she co-founded: The Mostly Everything People and NOVA. Both work with multiple disciplines and methods of combining text, movement, live music and language.
Ceri James
Video and Lighting Designer
Education and training: Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, Cardiff and University of Southern California
Theatre work includes: A Proper Ordinary Miracle, Mission Control, Tide Whisperer, Roald Dahl City of the Unexpected, Lifted by Beauty (National Theatre Wales); Of Mice and Men , Carwyn, Cinderella, One Man Two Guvnors, Aladdin, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Woman in Black, Brief Encounter (Torch Theatre ): Tylwyth. Gwlad Yr Asyn, Fawst, X, Nyrsys, Y Tad, Merch yr Eog, Blodeuwedd, Rhith Gân (Theatr Genedlaethol Cymru ): Hoof (Theatr Iolo): Crash Test, Meet Fred, (Hijinx Theatre ); Ynys Alys, Fawst, Llyfr Glas Nebo, Anweledig, Mwgsi (Frân Wen); Elves and the Shoemaker , The Ugly Duckling, Fel Anifail (Sherman Theatre); Mags (Cwmni Pluen); Woman of Flowers (Theatr Pena); Hunting of the Snark (RGM Productions-Vaudeville Theatre, Sydney Opera House); BOHO (Theatr Clwyd + Hijinx Theatre); TheTrials of Oscar Wilde (Mappa Mundi Theatre); A Christmas Carol (Fondazione Haydn di Bolzano e Trento); Simplicius Simplicissimus (Independent Opera – Sadler’s Wells); Belonging (Re-Live); Meet Fred (Hijinx Theatre); A Christmas Carol ( Welsh National Opera); Tides (Catrin Finch & Theatr Mwldan); Beneath the Streets (Punch Drunk + Hijinx Theatre).
Mark Melville
Sound designer
Mark is a composer and sound designer for theatre and film and studied at Leeds Conservatoire. His music and sound design work has been presented across the UK and internationally. Recent projects include: Kin (Gecko/The National); Flight (Vox Motus/The Bridge Theatre/ Barbican); The Metamorphosis (Vanishing Point/Emilia Romagna Teatro, Italy); A Little Space (Gecko/Mind The Gap); Exodus, The Panopticon (National Theatre of Scotland); The Greatest Play in the History of the World… (Tara Finney Productions/Royal Exchange/West End/UK Tour); Frankenstein, Wit, B!rth (Royal Exchange); Human Animals; Violence and Son; God Bless the Child (Royal Court); 1984 (Emilia Romagna Teatro); Tomorrow (Vanishing Point/Cena Contemporânea Festival, Brazil/Brighton Festival/Tramway); Where Do We Belong?, Where Do We Stand? (Northern Stage); Little Gift (M6 Theatre/ AndyManley); Road (Leeds Playhouse); Charlie Sonata (Royal Lyceum Theatre); Wonderland (Vanishing Point/Napoli Teatro Italia).
Kaitlin Howard
Fight Director
Kaitlin qualified as a Stage Combat instructor in 2005 and is resident Stage Combat Instructor at The Manchester School of Theatre. She is a teaching and examining member of The Academy of Performance Combat and is one of only three women on the Equity Register of Fight Directors.
For Storyhouse: The Merry Wives of Windsor, Romeo & Juliet (Open Air Grosvenor Park)
Theatre includes: As You Write It (Shakespeare North Playhouse); The Girl on The Train, Robin Hood (Barn Theatre, Cirencester); The Famous Five, Robin Hood (Theatr Clwyd, Chichester Festival Theatre); A Skull In Connemara, Jack and The Beanstalk, Aladdin, The Jungle Book, Robin Hood (Oldham Coliseum); Tom, Dick & Harry (The New Vic, Stoke); Habibti Driver (Bolton Octagon); Life is A Dream, The Scent of Roses (Edinburgh Lyceum); Red Ellen (Northern Stage, Nottingham Playhouse, Edinburgh Lyceum); The Jungle Book, Robin Hood (The Dukes, Lancaster); Guards at The Taj (Theatre By The Lake, Keswick); A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Our Country’s Good (The Tobacco Factory, Bristol); Hushabye Mountain, Orphans (Hope Mill Theatre, Manchester); Twelfth Night, Arcadia, The Illusion (HOME, Manchester); Posh, Game, Treasure Island (Wigan Pier); Robin Hood, The Doncastrian Chalk Circle (Cast, Doncaster); Drych (Theatr Genedlaethol Cymru); Romeo & Juliet, Macbeth (The Epstein Theatre, Liverpool); The Little Mermaid, Cherry Jezebel (Liverpool Everyman); The Comedy of Errors (Greenwich Playhouse); Killer Joe (The Pleasance Theatre, London).
Film and TV includes: So Awkward Series 3 & 4 (CBBC); Crimewatch (BBC); Clouds (V-PACProductions); Blank… (KenMor Films).
Cast
Rosemarie Akwafo as Gerda
Rosemarie trained at Rose Bruford College
Her previous stage credits include The Play That Goes Wrong (West End), Primary Playwrights (Soho Theatre) and All About My Mother (Rose Bruford).
Will Kirk as John, Daffodil, Fred and Laughing Robber
Will trained at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama and was a recipient of the BBC Carleton Hobbs Award. Theatre credits include: The Sicilian Courtesan and Between Eternity and Time (Richard Burton Theatre Company), Ginger Beer (King’ s Head Theatre). Film: Serial Cheat (Sketchlight Films). Selected radio credits include: Middlemarch, A Charles Paris Mystery, The Pallisers, Stalingrad, The Flatshare (BBC Radio 4), Doctor Who: Anti-Genesis (Big Finish Productions).
Kate Malyon as Mrs Fyn, Frederica, Roses and Robber Woman
Theatre includes: Mr Gum and the Dancing Bear (National Theatre); Stick Man (UK Tour, Leicester Square Theatre, Rajmahal Theatre, Dubai); Richard II (Shakespeare’s Globe); The Vortex (British Theatre Playhouse, Singapore); News Revue (The Underbelly, Southbank); Chevalier D’eon (Oxford Playhouse, Cambridge Junction); The Boy Who Never Grew Up (Lyric Hammersmith & Tour); Abandonment (Soho Theatre); AD2050 (Young Vic Theatre, Library Theatre); Piglet (Soho Theatre, Cambridge Junction); Let Newton Be! (Menagerie Theatre, UK, Canada & US tour).
Film/TV includes: Crackerjack! (CBBC. Series 1, 2 & Christmas Special); Doctors (BBC); Diddy TV (CBBC. Series 3 & 4), Phallacy, Shiny Floors, The Honourable Rebel, Kindling.
Voice work includes: The Diddy Pod with Dick & Dom (BBC Sounds), Ask Anything (CBeebies); Alphablocks songs (CBBC); Numberblocks songs (CBBC); Ni No Kuni ll (Studio Ghibli); Seasons After Fall, Planets : The Greatest Show in the Universe (Blue Zoo).
Training: Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts.
Taona Matope as Cei
Taona is enthralled by the prospect of making his professional debut in Storyhouse’s righteous rendition of The Snow Queen, after just graduating from The Liverpool Institute For Performing Arts in 2022.
Originally from Zimbabwe, Taona has been blessed with the privilege of calling home many places. Having lived and experienced the rich culture of the UAE, the vast savanna of Kenya, and the deep flavours of Nigeria, all before his 21st birthday. He channels this experience into every facet of his life, from stage to the kitchen.
With a deep love for storytelling, Taona’s passion was born from performing in his Primary school’s Nativity play. Since then, he has never looked back. Currently practicing his trade in Liverpool, Taona dreams of opening a theatre to give back to the community which gave him so much; Zimbabwe.
Off the stage, you can find Taona working on his mother’s recipes,or finding new coffee to spots to get his caffeine fix!
Tom Richardson as Mr Overskou, Snowdrop, JJ and Bae
Tom trained at The Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art.
Recent theatre includes: Sherlock: A Study in Lipstick, Ketchup & Blood (a new play by Lesley Hart), Private Lives, and Little Women (co-produced with Watford Palace Theatre) as a member of the 2022 rep season ensemble at Pitlochry Festival Theatre. Earlier in the year Tom toured the U.S. playing Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing (Actors From The London Stage).
For Storyhouse: Puck in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Decius Brutus/Titinius in Julius Caesar (2017); Slender in The Merry Wives of Windsor, Benvolio in Romeo & Juliet, Doris The Washerwoman in The Wind in The Willows (GPOAT 2015); Macduff in Macbeth, Antipholus of Syracuse in The Comedy of Errors (GPOAT 2014)
Other theatre includes: As You Like It, She Stoops To Conquer, Twelfth Night, The Merry Wives of Windsor (Guildford Shakespeare Company); The Prince & The Pauper (New Vic Theatre); Lady Chatterley’s Lover (Churchill Theatre Bromley & UK tour); Jeeves & Wooster in Perfect Nonsense, Sense & Sensibility, Single Spies, Dial ‘M’ For Murder, Watch It Sailor!, The Rivals (Theatre by the Lake, Keswick); Elton John’s Glasses (Watford Palace Theatre); A Christmas Carol, Snow White and Other Tales From The Brothers Grimm, Treasure Island, The Wind in The Willows (Creation Theatre); Twelfth Night: A Gender Experiment (The Rose Playhouse); The White Carnation (The Finborough/Jermyn Street Theatre); Roots (Nottingham Playhouse/Hull Truck/New Vic); The Winter’s Tale, The Rivals, The Grapes of Wrath, Arsenic and Old Lace (The Mercury Theatre Colchester); The Mousetrap (SE Asia Tour and West End); Dad’s Army: The Lost Episodes and Dad’s Army Marches On (UK No. 1 Tours).
Tom also made work digitally during lockdown, including playing Tweedledum & Tweedledee in Alice: A Virtual Theme Park (ONCOMM Best Digital Platform based production) (Creation Theatre/Big Telly N.I.).
Lucy Tuck as the Snow Queen
Lucy first entered a cold theatrical landscape more than 20 years ago with The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe as Ensemble & Lucy (Royal Shakespeare Theatre and Sadlers Wells Theatre) and she is utterly delighted to return to equally freezing temperatures playing the Snow Queen for Storyhouse!
Theatre work includes: Trouble In Tahiti (Southwark Playhouse); Hurly Burly (Sondheim Theatre); Perfect Pie (The Byre Theatre & Highlands tour); Dance theatre: Coats and Plays (The Place); Breath Of Kings (Oxford Pegasus Theatre); Holding Space (The Clore Studio, Royal Opera House); With Foursight Theatre: Six Wives & An Inflatable Henry; Thatcher! The Musical! (Warwick Arts Centre & tour); Can Any Mother Help Me? (Hereford Courtyard Theatre); Pertencia (Belonging) – collaboration with Teatro du Montemuro/ National Theatre, Portugal. Cinderella (Tobacco Factory Theatre & London transfer. Olivier nominated for Best Family Entertainment). The Boy Who Cried Wolf (Bristol Old Vic); The Last Voyage Of Sinbad The Sailor (Tobacco Factory Theatre); A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Bristol Old Vic & Handspring Puppet Company); The 101 Dalmatians (Tobacco Factory Theatre); What To Do when You Find A Dinosaur (Oxford Playhouse); Sleeping Beauty (Bristol Old Vic). Beryl (New Vic Theatre); The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe (Leeds Playhouse); Queens Of the Coal Age (New Vic Theatre); The Borrowers (Tobacco Factory Theatre); Oi Frog! (West End. Olivier nominated for Best Family Entertainment).
Over the pandemic period, Lucy co-created two doorstep theatre experiences, BS3 Santa and HIs Elf, Date Night and performed in zoom theatre creation Murder At The Circus as the Bearded Lady. Last Christmas she had the enormous pleasure of presenting the Christmas Family Concert: Hallé Orchestra (Bridgewater Hall) and stepped in last-minute for The Wizard Of Oz (Tobacco Factory Theatre) as Covid cover.
Chloe Wade as Elisa, Bindweed, Lily and Robber Girl
Chloe Wade is an actor, writer, theatremaker and proud northerner from Huddersfield. She trained at The International School of Screen Acting and is a sponsored artist of Sheffield Crucible Theatres Bank Cohort; a scheme to support the next generation of upcoming local talent. Chloe is the reigning champion at Birmingham Rep Theatre’s MonologueSlam with her self-penned comedy piece May I Take Your Order? and has just completed her new play As SHE Likes It, inspired by the story of #MeToo pioneer Patricia Douglas, which is currently being developed for a production.
Theatre credits: Three Sisters (Canal Cafe Theatre), Northern Girls (Pilot Theatre/Arcade), The Middle (Pleasance Theatre), The Secret Love Life of Ophelia (Greenwich Theatre), Spitfire Sisters (The Space), Never Forget (Tristan Bates Theatre), Significant Other Inc. (The Vaults), Dagger Lane (Theatre Royal Stratford), Project XXX (Octagon Bolton).
Film credits: Upgraded (Amazon), How Long? (BBC/Wildbush Productions), Domestic Bliss (BFI), The Flip Side (Solaire Media), Going for Goldeneye (Amazon), Honeycomb Lodge (Privateer Pictures), Total Chaos (Adamantine Pictures).
TV credits: The Fall (Sky), Doctors (BBC).
Chloe is excited to be working with the Storyhouse team on what will be her inaugural Christmas production!
Flo Wilson as Grandmother and Mrs Dear
Flo’s work in theatre includes: Small Island, The Visit, Frogs (National Theatre); Henry V, The Tempest (Shakespeare’s Rose York); Oliver Twist (HullTruck); Airplay, A Woman Of No Importance (Leeds Playhouse); The Secret Garden (York Theatre Royal and Theatre By The Lake); One Hand Tied Behind Us (The Old Vic); Building The Wall (Theatre Drachengasse); Vienna; Richard III, Lisa’s Sex Strike, (Northern Broadsides); Home (Richmix, Contact Theatre); Black Love, Fences (Black Arts Development Project); Aftershock (Real Life); Everybody Loves A Winner (The Royal Exchange); A Streetcar Named Desire, Love On The Dole, To Kill A Mockingbird (Octagon Theatre); Somebody’s Son, Bag Lady (Hidden Gems); Joshua’s Egg, A Fine Example, Bretevski Street (Theatre Centre);
Television: Brassic, Lagging, Top Boy, Anasi Boys, Sanditon, Mood, Help, Death In Paradise, Overshadowed, In The Dark, In The Club, From Darkness, Johnny and Inel, From There To Here, All At Sea, Moving On, Hebburn, The Syndicate, Body Farm, Waterloo Rd, Survivors, That Peter Kay Thing, King Girl, Out Of The Blue, Cardiac Arrest, Leaving, Vera, Monroe, Eternal Law, Coronation Street, DCI Banks, Scott and Bailey, Unforgiven, Wired, Bob And Rose, Fat Friends, The Last Train, The Mill, Shameless, Sirens, Hollyoaks, Emmerdale, A Touch Of Frost.
Film: Harry Potter Project, Jellyfish and Lobster, The Knock, Birthday Girl, 42 Acres.
Radio: Thirst Trap, Madame Martel’s Christmas Eve, Tracy, Revelations, Dad, Listen To Your Parents, Shells On A Woven Chord, Daily Service Singers.
The band
Selena Farnsworth
Selena is a classically trained Cellist and started learning the cello age 6 and went on to continue her studies at the Junior Royal Northern College of music age 11 in 2006. Selena was also a member of the Halle Youth Orchestra and was involved in various projects including a ‘side by side’ project with the Halle Orchestra conducted by Sir Mark Elder. She has performed in prestigious venues with the Halle Youth Orchestra including the Bridgewater Hall, Royal Opera House and Manchester Opera House.
Selena was trained at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, while studying she performed in many orchestral concerts also including concerts with the City of Birmingham Symphony Youth orchestra. One of the highlights while studying was when she performed in an orchestral concert of Verdi’s requiem that was aired on BB3 radio 3 at Birmingham Conservatoire.
Since graduating, in 2017-2018 Selena worked for Princess Cruises as part of an acoustic string trio, she worked on the Caribbean Princess ship in Miami/Caribbean. In 2018 Selena went on tour with the folk/rock band ‘The Wishing Well’ touring around Europe; including many street and different venue concerts.
In 2019 Selena completed a 6-month Caribbean Carnival cruise line contract with her electric/ acoustic string group ‘Sapphire string trio’. She also frequently performs at weddings and a range of other events, and enjoys performing a variety of different genres especially rock music. This inspired her to join ‘The ELO Tribute Show’ band in 2021 which celebrates the genius of Jeff Lynne and the Electric Light Orchestra. Selena regularly performs with this band, performing in shows all around the UK. This year Selena has also performed with the prestigious Urban Soul Orchestra this summer in many of this ensemble’s Classic Ibiza day festival shows.
Mary Johnson
Mary is a musician and theatre-maker based in Cardiff. She studied percussion at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, where she graduated in the summer of 2022. Mary is also a trained saxophonist and pianist.
During her studies, Mary co-founded the Flying Bedroom, a children’s theatre company. Flying Bedroom have performed at Theatr Clwyd’s ‘Family Arts Festival’ and toured around schools in North Wales.
Since graduating, Mary worked as assistant musical director for Wise Children’s production of Wuthering Heights, directed by Emma Rice, for their USA tour rehearsals. She also played with the Aurora Orchestra on their UK Tour of Peppa Pig: My First Concert over the summer.
Mary co-composed the music for the short film Silent Pride, which was written and directed by Kristy Phillips and produced through Ffilm Cymru’s Ffolio scheme with BBC Arts, BBC Cymru Wales and Arts Council of Wales.
Aninka Rosa
Aninka is a Czech-British violinist currently based in Manchester. Graduating from The University of Leeds in 2022 majoring in Classical and Jazz performance and music psychology, she has used her classically trained technique as a foundation to explore the use of the violin in a variety of different genres including rock, pop and electronic music. She is now working as a freelance session violinist across the UK and some recent projects have included Cabaret Against The Machine, Ollie West and the Wildflowers and Simon Howard which have featured on BBC introducing. Currently some of her violin influences are Rob Moose and his work with Bon Iver, Zach Brock and Sudan Archives.
Carwyn Williams
Carwyn is a musician based in North Wales, mainly playing drums and bass in different welsh bands. This is Carwyn’s first time taking part in a Christmas musical, and is very much looking forward to the experience.