The Team
Ben Wendel (Playwright, producer)
Ben Wendel is a London-based, American-born playwright and director with work spanning from New York to Los Angeles. Ben’s recent directorial credits include The Arsonists (the Complex Theatre), Tourrorists (2022 Hollywood Fringe), and Mother Courage and Her Children (Aeneid Theatre Company). Ben’s creative work draws on Brechtian techniques, physical theatre, and the collaborative nature of ensemble-driven performance. They are a proud graduate of the University of Southern California School of Dramatic Arts. This is their playwrighting debut.
Emily Hawkins (Director, PRoducer)
Emily Hawkins is a freelance director, producer, and theatre-maker based in London. A graduate of the University of Southern California (BA, Theatre, Magna Cum Laude), she recently completed her Master’s in Advanced Theatre Practice at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. Emily’s recent directing credits include The Deluge (SU Fest), Bad Sister (New York Theater Festival) and The Duchess of Malfi (Aeneid Theatre Company). She is a member of Dubious Theatre Company and performed in their inagural show As If You Know Me. She has worked as Covid Safety Supervisor on Wicked and as an Associate General Manager at Aaron Grant Theatrical. Pursuing the belief that theatre should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable, Emily is always searching for creative and provocative projects to dive into.
James Christensen (Assoc. Director)
James is a director, deviser, composer, and stage manager from Melbourne, Australia. His work spans a range of styles including new writing, classical adaptation, experimental performance, musical, opera, and live art – with a particular focus on formal innovation and collaborative interplay between varied artistic disciplines. He is currently the Resident Production Manager for the Advanced Theatre Practice programme at Royal Central School of Speech and Drama.
Directing credits include: Skirnismal (Side/Step 2025); The Apocalypse Bear Trilogy (Jack Studio Theatre 2023); Omelas (Matchstick Piehouse 2021).
Rosie Yates (Diana)
Rosie Yates is a London based actor and a graduate of The Juilliard School (BFA) in New York. Theatre credits include Little Women (Hangar Theatre), Sizzle, Sizzle, Fly (Ensemble Studio Theatre), The Cafe (Theatre Deli) and Restart Stages (Lincoln Centre). Rosie recently made her on-screen debut in The Bombing of Pan Am 103 (BBC).
Naomi Paxton is an award-winning performer, researcher, and broadcaster who trained at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. Her theatre credits include Deborah Warner’s The Tower Project (LIFT 99), Crows (Old Vic), Shadowlands (Wyndhams and Novello Theatres), The Vagina Monologues (UK Tour), Stick Man (UK and Hong Kong), Knickerbocker Glories (Union Theatre), Quadrophenia (Secret Cinema), and Pockets of Power! (Glastonbury Festival).
Naomi's audio work includes Doctor Who: Cryptobiosis (Big Finish), Dr Sin’s Laughter Zone (OneWord Radio) Traces of Nuts (BBC Radio Leicester), and many programmes as a presenter on BBC Radio 3 and Radio 4.
Receiving a PhD from the University of Manchester, she’s published widely on suffrage theatre and curated exhibitions at the National Theatre and Parliament. She is Honorary Knowledge Exchange Fellow at RCSSD and an Associate Fellow at the University of London.
Naomi performs comedy, cabaret, and magic as her alter ego Ada Campe, for whom she has written and produced four full-length shows at the Edinburgh Fringe. Ada Campe won the Hackney Empire New Act of the Year Show (NATYS) and the Leicester Square Theatre Old Comedian of the Year Award, and was a finalist for Best Newcomer at the 2023 UK Pantomime Awards and Best Variety Act at the 2019 Chortle Awards. She won Best Pantomime Performance at the 2024 Offies as part of the cast for Tossed! at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern. Both Naomi and Ada are members of The Magic Circle.
Naomi Paxton (Dr. Johann)
Patrik Strain (Percy)
Hailing from the Ards Peninsula, Patrick trained at the Lyric Drama Studio, Belfast and East 15.
Patrick has performed in various productions, including The Winter's Tale (Cockpit Theatre), The Comedy of Errors (Lyric Theatre), Icarus (Corbett Theatre), Light Shining in Buckinghamshire (Lyric Theatre), The Velvet Glove (Wimbledon Theatre), Teacher of the Year (Space Theatre), Kensington's Bottom (Wimbledon Theatre), and Doctor Who: Time Fracture (West End).
TV credits include Blue Peter (CBBC) and My Shakespeare (Sky Arts).
Patrick’s audio credits include Carl Frampton: My Autobiography and Least Terrified.
Jasper PRice (George)
Jasper Price is an actor, musician and theatre- maker based in London.
A graduate of The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and the University of Bristol, recent acting credits have included The last vagabonds (Worms Theatre Company), Boxd (Edinburgh Fringe) and As if You Know Me, the inaugural production from Dubious Company, of which Jasper is a co-founder.
Jasper is a highly adaptive performer, with experience in physical theatre, sketch comedy and naturalism alike. He is very interested in the interspaces between audience and performer, and is influenced by the work of Sanford Meisner and Tim Crouch.
Lulu Fletcher (Stage Manager)
Lulu Fletcher is a freelance stage manager who is currently based in London. Having graduated from Queen Mary (BA English and Drama) in the Summer of 2024, she's worked with projects such as The Manikins (Deadweight Theatre), and Inara's Banquet (Illuyanka Studios).