ARTISTIC DIRECTORS

FLICK FERDINANDO is a performer, director and teacher, mainly from a devising theatre background. She has created 5 productions for Company F.Z, including Throat and Loser which are currently touring internationally. She comperes the Besame Mucho cabaret and for other cabarets as a freelance compere. She was Artistic Advisor to The Circus Space for six years, responsible for developing and implementing their theatre and movement programme, and was the creator and director for the Mimbre female acrobatic company, creating Sprung and Triptych. She has directed companies as varied as comedy, alternative circus and, most recently, with internationally renowned puppet company Green Ginger. As a performer she has toured with Peepolykus in Rhinoceros and continues to work in cabaret with her solo act 'A Tribute to Margot Fonteyn'. Currently she is collaborating with John Nicholson of Peepolykus to create a solo show in which she will perform. She continues to tour her one woman cabaret piece A Tribute to Margot Fonteyn, and created and performed with John Nicholson 'Flick and John's Wood Club', which performed at the Pleasance, Edinburgh Fringe, in 2005. She is the director for Strangelings's shows The Gaeity Engine and Tandem, and is currently working on their new production Submariners (working title).

JOHN-PAUL ZACCARINI trained in Guildford and subsequently with Peta Lily, Phillipe Gaulier, David Glass, Lindsay Kemp and Andrew Dawson. He studied circus skills at The Circus Space, London. He performed as a soloist with the Adam Darius Company and worked as movement director for plays appearing at The Kings Head and BAC. John-Paul founded the company Angels of Disorder in 1992 to produce political, passionate theatrical polemic. He curated and arranged multi-media club events, art shows and had fiction published. In circus, he worked with Circus Mamaloucus , Acid Cirque, Archaos, Cirkus Cirkor, Dramatern in Stockholm, Momentary Fusion, Heir of Insanity, No Ordinary Angels, The Dome Show and choreographed aerial dance for The Royal Variety Show ,The Nobel Prize Ceremonies and Hermes fashion house. John-Paul directs for The Gandini Juggling Project, has performed on two tours of Enter Achilles for DV8 and carried out a research project for The Happiest Day of My Life. He was nominated for a Circus Fellowship from the Foundation of The Arts and for the Best Actor Award by The Stage for his performance in Throat.

ASSOCIATE ARTISTS

MATILDA LEYSER studied English Literature at King's College London. She then trained at Ecole de Phillipe Gaulier, at Circomedia, the physical theatre and circus arts school in Bristol and at The Drama Centre, London. Over the past 15 years she has collaborated with theatre, dance and circus companies on diverse productions including: Mamaloucos' The Birds at the National Theatre; Bernhard's Destination, and Romeo and Juliet with Volcano Theatre; Le Boite Bleu, Rope and An Evening with Dracula with Company FZ; Sister Sister with Boilerhouse; The Miserly Knight for Glyndebourne Opera; Pericles at Shakespeare's Globe; Egg Dances, Passage and Ascending Fields with Rosemary Lee. Matilda also devises and performs her own work as a solo artist: her full-length solo show, Line, Point, Plane , was commissioned by the London International Mime Festival and The Royal Opera House, and premiered in '06 before touring nationally and internationally during '06-‘07. Her collaborators on this included: Bryony Lavery, Annie Castledine, Annabel Arden and Rosemary Lee. She is currently working with Improbable Theatre on their new show Panic , to open at the Barbican in '09.

DREW PAUTZ has worked as a writer, director, lighting designer and actor. His plays include Someone Else's Shoes (Soho Theatre, ETT, 2007) and Poor Cousin (Hampstead Theatre, RWCMD, 2005) and he recently finished an attachment at The National Theatre Studio (summer 2007).   From 2003-2007 he was a founder member of The Work Theatre Collective for whom he directed Project E: An Explosion (Oxford Samuel Beckett Theatre Trust Award, BAC 2006) and Project C: On Principle (BAC 2005). He participated in all the company's other work ( Project B, Project D: I'm Mediocre ) as co-writer, lighting designer, and/or actor. Other directing credits include the third version of Room: ein theaterbend zuhause with You Lucky People in Steckborn, Switzerland and his own multi-media work in Toronto. As a lighting designer Drew has worked in Germany, Switzerland and Italy as well as with several UK theatre and dance companies including The Young Vic, Jane Mason, and extensively with Company FZ ( Philomena's Feast, Spike Islands, Night and Day, Loser ). Drew also runs workshops on writing and performing in Japan and in the UK and teaches performance at London Metropolitan University.

MARK MORREAU After fifteen years performing in the circus Mark ran away to become a video artist, which he says pays better and hurts less. Mark has done extensive video work with Company F.Z, Gandini Juggling and Snap Theatre company, as well as for a whole host of other circus, physical theatre and dance companies. Mark has recently completed video installations comissioned by The Roundhouse and Theatre Le Quai, Angers, and by Shunt. www.morreaux.co.uk

PETER COYTE is an artist and composer who produces work for art installations, theatre, film and TV. He has written music for several theatre companies including Peepolykus, Big State Theatre Company, Wrongsize, John-Paul Zaccarini and Company F.Z. His soundtracks include the documentary ‘The Mothers' House' (SAFTA, Milan, Milan & Cape Town Best Documentary) directed by Francois Verster and the feature film 'Fun' (Sundance Award) directed by Rafal Zielinski. He also writes and performs, as Saltpeter, with spoken word artist Salena Godden. Their debut album 'Hunger's The Best Sauce' was amongst The Independent on Sunday's choice of the year 2007. www.petercoyte.co.uk myspace site

MARCELLA MANZILLI studied circus in Carampa, Madrid and later at The Circus Space, London. Her first job was in a physical theatre show directed by Company F/Z's Flick   Ferdinando and John-Paul Zaccarini, “Who's Afraid of Alfred Hitchcock?”. Marcella fuses aerial disciplines with clowning and has also performed in “The High Job” a street theatre show by Bureau of Silly Ideas, doing triple trapeze, Chinese pole and clowning. Marcella works in cabarets all over Europe with her solo “Miss Glamour”, a comic static trapeze act. In 2006 she performed it in Paris at the Cirque du Demain Festival. During   summer and autumn 2007 , Marcella performed with Nofit State Circus in “Immortal 2007”.

MATT BURCH Acrobatic routine and bath routine. Matt comes from a small town in Surrey. When growing up his dream jobs were stuntman, boxer, priest and Super-Hero. Before joining the Circus Space degree course Matt had spent 4 years as a piano restorer in his hometown. Acrobatics was a natural progression and the transition has been interesting. Matt Graduated from The Circus Space with BA Hons in Circus Arts in 2002. Since then he has performed in numerous cabarets and theatre productions.

STEFANO DI RENZO was born in Italy where he studied Engineering. After finishing the university he moved to Spain to train circus skills, theatre and dance at Municipal School of Circus Alcorcon (EMCA) in Madrid. Finally he moved to London where he graduated at The Circus Space (London), specialising in juggling and slack rope. After completing the degree he worked with the English physical theatre Company F.Z. in the show “Who's afraid of Alfred Hitchcock?” , in “Besame Mucho Cabaret” and he collaborated with same company in creative productions. At the same time he co-founded the theatre-circus company Compañia La, touring European festivals and theatre with the show “Hambre” . As a solo performer he has participate to several cabarets (such as: Bestival, Besame Mucho, Circus in the Circus) with his acts: " Attimi " (bouncing balls and objects manipulation) and " Asleep " (slack rope). Recently he has performed in the new production of “Storm” with The Generating Company . At the moment Stefano is also a balancing and juggling teacher in the Adult Program and London Youth Circus at The Circus Space in London.