Digital programme: Perfect Show for Rachel

Rachel O’Mahony
Director
Rachel is a theatre-loving, enigmatic 33-year-old who loves Kylie Minogue, heckling from the front row and seeing people falling over. She is a learning-disabled care-home resident, and sister to Flo, ZooCo’s Artistic Director.

Flo O’Mahony
Performer, Lead Artist and Artistic Director, ZooCo
Flo O’Mahony is a theatre director, writer, facilitator, and Artistic Director for ZooCo. Flo co-founded the company alongside three schoolmates ten years ago, and since then, has developed a creative practice that uses devising, Open Space, collaboration and co-creation methodology to make theatre that is highly visual, extra live and creatively accessible.

Recent work includes: Night Shift, as co-Director, for London Borough of Culture; Perfect Show for Rachel, as Lead Artist, performer, at the Barbican (OFFIE winner); Risky Business, as co-director, for ZooCo Young Company; Bossy, as co-director, on UK tour; Follow the Signs, as Associate Director, at Soho Theatre; Messy, as director, on UK tour; Sirens, as director, at Greenwich Theatre and on UK tour (Winner: ThreeWeek's Editor's Choice Award); Manimals by Michelle Hudson, as director, on sell-out UK and Canadian digital tour; and Mr Brightside by Nick Gilbert, as director, at Brighton Fringe and Greenwich Theatre.

Flo is delighted to have been trained and mentored by practitioners including mentor and performer in this show Lee Simpson (Improbable), Kath Burlinson (Authentic Artists), Paul Ortel, David Morris, Clore Leadership, National Youth Theatre and Company Three, who have all radically influenced her practice. Not to mention her sister, Rachel, who presents a directorial masterclass in precision, playfulness, timing, chaos and clarity on stage every night. 

Lee Simpson
Performer, Lead Artist and Artistic Director, Improbable
Lee Simpson is a founder member of Improbable and a Comedy Store Player. He’s also been a croupier, cinema projectionist and breakfast show DJ. He’s written plays, appeared in sit-coms and in some films, been on some Radio 4 panel shows and once did a very poor poodle act at the London Palladium. He feels this lack of direction is the essence of his work. His real name is Len.

Fleur Angevine-Rooth
Performer and Creative Access Director, ZooCo
Fleur Rooth is a founding member and associate artist of ZooCo, touring the UK and abroad for the last decade in their collaboratively devised shows, including (despite once being named ‘Fleur Tooth’ on the cover of The Scotsman) many successful Edinburgh Fringe Festivals (Pleasance). A passionate advocate for accessibility, when not performing she is ZooCo’s Creative Access Director, working on shows Joy Festival at Lyric Hammersmith; and Different Owners at Sunrise at the Roundhouse. She is keenly continuing through the BSL levels. Previous BSL-integrated shows include Messy and Bossy (Southbank Centre) on UK tour, Night Shift, as part of Croydon’s Borough of Culture large events programme and Sirens on UK tour (ThreeWeeks Editor’s Choice Award), where she was proud to represent her queerness on stage. 

Joshua Goodman
Performer and Musical Director
Joshua Goodman is a multi-award-winning theatre maker, composer, arranger, performer, writer and producer. His work has been described as ‘genuinely euphoric’ in the Guardian, and ‘charmingly perfect’ by KulturFreak. 

Work in theatre includes: Night Shift for ZooCo; West End Celebrates Sondheim at St Paul’s, Covent Garden; Twelfth Night, The Tempest and Live Bolero at Nottingham Playhouse; She Loves Me at the Crucible, Sheffield; Something Special at Birmingham Rep; The Jungle Book and Lysistrata at Lakeside Arts; Pygmalion at English Theatre Frankfurt; Operation Hummingbird, The Firework Maker’s Daughter and The Beggars of York at York Theatre Royal; Valuable for Mind the Gap; She Was Walking Home, Colder Than Here and Any Mother Would for Next Door But One; Cinderella at Queens Theatre, Hornchurch; Moby Dick on national tour; and Home Sweet Home for Freedom Studios and national tour. Films: See You Next Saturday and Heat.

Nick Gilbert
Performer and Sound Designer
Nick Gilbert is a London-based theatre-maker, performer, writer, composer and sound designer. They are a co-founder and associate artist of ZooCo. Selected past credits include Dr Faustus at Southwark Playhouse; The Last Laugh, Five Children & It and The Secret Garden at Tabard Theatre; Different Owners At Sunrise at the Roundhouse; Night Shift for Stanley Arts; Pleading Stupidity at the Pleasance Edinburgh; My Life As A Cowboy at the Park Theatre; and a binaural, immersive audio piece produced with the National Youth Theatre’s Epic Stages programme. They are passionate about access in theatre, work that emphasises connection and empowerment, and being beaten up onstage – much of which you may see demonstrated in this show.

Wendy O'Mahony
Performer and main carer for Rachel O’Mahony
Wendy O’Mahony is an artist, art tutor, muralist, improviser, storyteller and writer. She used to appear in local plays but now that she can’t learn lines, she is thankful to have discovered improvisation and regularly performs with Dingbats Improv and Four Play. She has developed an improvised storytelling show called StorySkirts which looks gently at gender expectations. She is currently training as a Graphic Recorder, with a side interest in Applied Improvisation. Never mind all that – her main job is being the mother of Rachel and Flo.

Becky Barry
Performer
Becky Barry is a multi-disciplinary theatre-maker and BSL/English interpreter (Becky Allen RSLI). She was also in the original company with ZooCo and Improbable on Perfect Show for Rachel, having previously worked with ZooCo on Night Shift. She has worked across the UK and abroad, including with the Royal Exchange, SpyMonkey, Derby Theatre, Shakespeare’s Globe, Sheffield Crucible, CAST Doncaster, Ramps on the Moon and the RSC. She is a passionate advocate for access, representation and liberation – on stage and off.

Folarin Akinmade
Performer
Folarin Akinmade is a performer and writer with a passion for speaking about himself in the third person. Credits include The Lord of The Rings: A Musical Tale at the Watermill Theatre; Cinderella: A Rock and Roll Panto at Liverpool Everyman; and a number of ZooCo shows, most notably Monotone Man and The Hive. His other passion is keeping his bios short and sweet.

Sara Dawood 
Performer
Sara Dawood is a British-Iraqi actress and writer from West London. As a performer, her work includes As We Face the Sun at the Bush Theatre; MOULD with Stockroom; and ARABITCH at the VAULT Festival. As a writer, Sara Dawood’s work has been featured in Team Angelica’s monologue anthology, Fierce. She is also the recipient of the Bush Theatre’s Bloom Bursary, to develop her debut play, The Lemon Tree.

Stephen Collins  
Performer
Stephen Collins is a London-based actor, workshop facilitator, associate director, Deaf Creative Consultant, Lead Artist for DH Ensemble and Associate Artist for 1623 Theatre. Theatre work includes: All Hands! for The Nornen Project; Perfect Show for Rachel with ZooCo at the Barbican; Oliver Twist and A Christmas Carol at Leeds Playhouse; A Christmas Carol at Bristol Old Vic; Blasted for RADA and Graeae; Scrooge for D-Live! Theatre; Up N Under for Fingersmiths; Reasons to be Cheerful on UK tour; The Threepenny Opera and The Iron Man for Graeae at the New Wolsey; Summit for Fuel Theatre; Macbeth and Nodus Tollens for DH Ensemble; The Government Inspector for Ramps on the Moon and Birmingham Rep; Love’s Labour’s Lost for Deafinitely Theatre and Shakespeare’s Globe; Tyrannosaurus Drip and Red Flags for Deafinitely Theatre. Work on screen includes; Dune, Sliced, Doctors, Dawn of the Deaf and How to Mug a Deaf Person as well as a number of commercials. 

Gabriel Akamo  
Performer
Gabriel Akamo is a Nigerian-British actor, poet, facilitator, and creative producer based in London. Work includes: Treason The Musical at Edinburgh Festival Theatre, Sheffield Lyceum Theatre and London Palladium; Harry Potter and the Cursed Child in the West End; Nothello at the Belgrade Theatre; A Christmas Carol for Antic Disposition; Lovesick at the Hope Theatre; What Am I Worth? at the National Theatre; and Grey Matters at Theatre Royal Stratford East.

Austin Yang 
Performer
Austin Yang is a Taiwanese actor, theatremaker and composer. After completing his MA in Collaborative Theatre Making at Rose Bruford College, he has enjoyed working onstage and off in a variety of creative and technical roles, including finance administration, front of house, and autocue operating. Following Perfect Show for Rachel, he hopes to continue pursuing captioning work and integrating captions into theatre as a means of access (especially for multilingual work). He is also incredibly fond of ensemble singing and making a good stew. Recent work includes: Drive Your Plow Over The Bones Of The Dead for Complicité; Transit for Half Pace Theatre (OFFIES OffComm Winner); Intransigent Lines at Bloomsbury Festival; and  Mess Maker at A Pinch of Vaults ‘24.

Creative Team
Stella Backman 
Set and Costume Designer
Stella Backman is Swedish, London-based set and costume designer predominantly working in live arts. Alongside Perfect Show for Rachel, she’s currently working on Sensory Cinders with Concrete Youth and the National Theatre. Recent work includes Night Shift for Stanley Arts; Bossy at Lyric Hammersmith and Southbank Centre; The Great for Lionsgate+ and Different Owners at Sunrise at the Roundhouse. She’s currently also working with Mangata Collective to design the stages for a range of different bands, including Texas’ 2024 UK tour and indie rock band Blossoms.

Rachel Sampley
Lighting and Video Designer 
Rachel Sampley is a London-based lighting and video designer. She makes creative captions for many projects and frequently collaborates with the DH Ensemble and ZooCo. Her recent work includes: video designer for Follow the Signs at Soho Theatre; Barrier(s) for New Views at the National Theatre and The Secretaries at the Young Vic; lighting and video designer for About Time for BAFTA; and lighting designer for The Great Gatsby with Immersive LDN. She has a BFA in Theatre Design & Technology from The University of the Arts (Philadelphia, PA) and an MA in Advanced Theatre Practice from The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama.

Han Sayles, 
Assistant LX and Video Designer
Han Sayles is a Technical Designer and Production Manager working internationally across dance, theatre and comedy. Recent designs include Two Rounds at Jermyn Street Theatre and Footprints Festival; Night Shift at Stanley Arts with ZooCo; The Guy in The Luggage Rack at the Lowry with She Said Jump; and Horizon at Seven Dials Theatre with London Youth Theatre. Recent technical credits include Goner on international tour with Marikiscrycrycry; We Were Promised Honey on tour in the Netherlands with YESYESNONO Productions; Boy Parts at Soho Theatre; Unseen at Camden People’s Theatre with Extant; and Patti Harrison at Soho Theatre and the Pleasance Edinburgh.

Simeon Campbell
Choreographer
Simeon Campbell was born in Greenwich, south-east London where he grew up as the only hearing member of his family, with deafness affecting his mother, father and both siblings. British Sign Language was his first language at home. He studied at Greenwich Musical Theatre Academy followed by Negus Post 16, achieving distinctions for BTEC First and National Diploma for performing arts and an AQA in Street Dance. During that time, his hip-hop dance troupe Ruthless became recognised around the UK and Europe for their choreographic talent. Upon graduation, he began teaching hip-hop choreography around the UK and Europe, sharing a unique style that was quickly becoming recognised as his own. His first commercial dance work was on The X Factor, performing with Alexandra Burke. Further performance work has included The X Factor with Whitney Houston, Beyoncé’s I Am… Sasha Fierce tour at the O2 in 2009, the London 2012 Olympic opening ceremony, and appearances with Dizzee Rascal, and with Rita Ora on The Jonathan Ross Show. With BirdGang Dance Company he has toured as a dancer across the UK and US, including the Apollo Theatre in Harlem, New York. He was a choreographer for a troupe at the I-Dance Hip Hop International Championships. Simeon Campbell is known for his calming influence and direct approach to teaching. With his understanding of musicality and ability to break down his style of hip hop/lyrical hip-hop for all levels, he strives to ensure that every student takes something from each class and workshop.

Esme Cooper
Fight Director
Esme Cooper is a Fight Coordinator for stage and screen, who trained at East 15 in Acting and Stage Combat. Her most recent theatre work includes the awards-winning Foxes, by Defibrillator Theatre; The Loxwood Joust by Paul Flannery, and Money Heist the Immersive Experience by Bearded Kitten. She has also worked on multiple short and feature films including the critically acclaimed Trial 22 by John Ferrer. 

Sophie Woolley
Dramaturg
Sophie Woolley is an actor, writer, dramaturg and director of Augmented Productions. Acting work includes Bridgerton Season 3 (Netflix); Veneer (BSL Zone); Best in Lockdown and Augmented tour with Told by an Idiot and Augmented Productions; Let Me Play the Lion Too for Told by an Idiot; Cast Offs and Comedy Lab Shoreditch Tw*t TV for Channel 4; and When to Run for renaissanceone. She has written and performed her own work, including Augmented, Bee Detective, Fight Face, When to Run, working with directors Gemma Fairlie and Rachel Bagshaw to creatively caption all shows. BBC1 and Radio 4 writing credits include EastEnders, Casualty, Carbon Cleansing, Absolutely Delish and When to Run. Sophie Woolley is currently performing a comedy double act with Kitty Devlin.

Companies

ZooCo is a multi-award-winning Croydon-based theatre company creating innovative, electric live theatre and creative engagement activities across the UK. At our core, we set out to make theatre which responds to what is truly alive in us as artists, and in our communities. We use bold, playful, highly visual, ensemble-led and democratic approaches to co-create our shows with the artists and communities involved. Our devising practice is strongly influenced by Improbable’s improvisational and Open Space methodologies, which empower us to create work that feels ‘extra live’ and authentic. 

We believe theatre is better when everyone is invited. We champion access, working with deaf and disabled artists as leaders. Since 2018 all of our work is accessible for deaf audiences, using Creative Captioning, Visual Vernacular and integrated British Sign Language. All of our performances are Relaxed As Standard. We take an integrated view towards inclusion, rather than treating accessibility as an ‘add on’ at the end of a creative process. Our latest show Night Shift, developed with a 50:50 deaf and hearing cast and directing team, highlighted the lives of night workers in Croydon and has been nominated for an Off West End Award.

Engagement is central to our work. Bossy, our children’s show celebrating Caribbean and deaf cultures, was funded by ACE to pilot a new co-creation model, allowing us to work with 120 primary school children to inform its development. We engaged with inter-generational participants in care homes and schools to develop Giant, and 70 local young people and disabled adults for Sirens (Three Week’s Editor’s Choice Award), empowering them to devise their own performances with video mapping, captioning and integrated BSL, facilitated by a deaf artist and performed at Fairfield Halls.

We were awarded the Oxford Samuel Beckett Theatre Trust Award for Perfect Show for Rachel, which equips a severely disabled director, Rachel, to live-direct the show through the invention of an accessible tech desk, and total reimagining of what a theatre-making process and production can look like with Rachel at the helm. This show, which was performed at Barbican in November 2022, won an Off West End Award in the Access category and received great critical acclaim. Perfect Show for Rachel will be touring to Brighton Fringe and returns to the Barbican Centre in 2024.

We are lead partners for Croydon Music & Arts’ C3 programme, reaching over 1000 8-25-year-olds in Croydon over three years, including disabled young people, through weekly drama workshops. CMA has awarded us funding to found our own Young Company, starting this month. We are lead partners for Croydon London Borough of Culture 2023.

We have toured internationally once, in 2016, when we brought our devised show The Girl who Fell In Love With the Moon to SIPFest Jakarta, Indonesia. Inspired by our trip to Indonesia, in summer 2021, we worked with Jogjakarta company Sakatoya funded by British Council’s Connections Through Culture. The five-day ‘Digital Rehearsal Residency’ challenged us to explore new ways of working with an international company in a live-digital hybrid model.

ZooCo is an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation for 2023-2026.

wearezooco.co.uk

Improbable 

Led by Phelim McDermott and Lee Simpson, Improbable is an award-winning theatre company that defies categorisation. At the heart of our artistic practice is improvisation. Whether in performance, rehearsal or development, the practice and philosophy of improvisation is at the core of our creation process. By 'improvisation' we mean any emergent or iterative process that seeks to bring awareness to each unfolding moment and an understanding that positive change comes from not one person, group, or ideology but will grow from symbiotic interactions between us.

The breadth of Improbable’s experience is unrivalled and we occupy a vital space in the landscape of UK and international theatre, working with a huge range of partners nationally and internationally across sectors and scales. Recent on-stage collaborations and projects have included: My Neighbour Totoro with the Royal Shakespeare Company, Nippon TV and the Barbican (winner of five WhatsOnStage Awards and six Olivier Awards including Best Director for McDermott); The Hours for Metropolitan Opera; Akhnaten (Olivier Award winner for Best Opera Production, Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording) for English National Opera; Perfect Show for Rachel created by ZooCo at Barbican (winner Off West End Award, Access); Tao Of Glass at MIF, Perth Festival, Ruhrfestspiele Recklinghausen, Hong Kong New Vision Arts Festival and Carolina Performing Arts; and An Improbable Musical at Royal & Derngate, Northampton. We were awarded Producer of the Year at The Stage Awards in 2023. 

Beyond our work on stage, we use Open Space Technology to create and hold diverse and deeply democratic spaces that bring communities together to work on urgent issues. We do this for the theatre sector through our Devoted & Disgruntled programme and work with other sectors and organisations more widely to support important conversations to happen through Open Space For Hire and Improbable For Business. Improbable is a core supporter of M/Others Who Make, an international network for women and non-binary people who care about creating, and create whilst caring, and Through The Door, which seeks to nurture an improvisation culture grown by women and non-binary folks through impro workshops.

Improbable is looking to the future and Bore Place is where we hope to put down our roots. Our goal is to build a creation centre on site in the coming years, a space to house our Improbable practice and an ark for the arts. 

improbable.co.uk

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We also want to thank the Barbican Patrons, members, and the many thousands who made a donation when purchasing tickets. 

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