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TANISHA ADDICOTT (Martha, Morgan, Frenchie; she/her). Training: Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance. Training with New Adventures: Sleeping Beauty repertoire project at Rambert School (Linbury Theatre 2022); The Car Man Swan School (2022); Young Cast Faith in Romeo and Juliet (London 2019). Joined New Adventures: 2023. Other Career Highlights: Apprentice/Company Member, Ballet Folk (2020-23); Choreographic works at Rambert School, Ana Maria Lucaciu, and Matsena Productions (2023). Instagram: @tanisha.addicott

MATTHEW AMOS (Fabian, Edmund, Tybalt; he/him). Training: Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance. Training with New Adventures: Young Cast Rafe in Romeo and Juliet (Canterbury 2019); Winter Adventure (2022). Joined New Adventures: 2023. Other Career Highlights: Shall we Try? By Cree Barnett-Williams (Royal Opera House, Sadlers Wells); A Place of Gathering by Mathuthuzli (Royal Opera House, Sadlers Wells). Instagram: @__mattuu__

TASHA CHU (Lavina, Magdelen/Governor Escalus, Rev. Bernadette Laurence/Brie Montague/Nurse, Dorcas; she/her).Training: Central School of Ballet. Joined New Adventures: 2019. Roles and Productions with New Adventures: Lavina in Romeo and Juliet (UK Tour 2019); Choreographer and Creative Direction for NOSTOS Adventures in Film by New Adventures (2022); Dancer in Moving in Time dance film collaboration for New Adventures and Magic Me (2022). Other Career Highlights: Dancer in Turandot (Royal Opera House 2023); Assistant Movement Director Cheryomushki (Welsh National Opera 2022); Dancer The Wreckers (Glyndebourne 2022); Ballet Cymru (UK Tour 2021). Instagram: @tashachu_

ADAM DAVIES (Sebastian, Fabian, Benvolio; he/him). Training: Central School of Ballet. Joined New Adventures: 2023. Other Career Highlights: Mad Hatter and Pinocchio (Opera Comic Pentru Copii, 2017-19); Soloist roles within Eliot Smith Dance (2019-22); Dancer with State Opera Plovdiv (2022; Guest artist with The Jones & Co for Japanese Tour (2023). Instagram: @_adam__davies_

GABRIELLE DE SOUZA (Morgan, Magdelan/Governor Escalus; she/her). Training: Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance and Elmhurst Ballet School. Joined New Adventures: 2021. Roles and Productions with New Adventures: Marshmallow in Nutcracker! (UK Tour 2021/22) and Giulietta in The Car Man (Royal Albert Hall 2022). Other Career Highlights: No Time Like The Present by Tala Lee Turton Productions and various work with CTC Dance Company. Instagram: @bela.desouza

ANYA FERDINAND (Faith, Frenchie; she/her). Training: The Brit School and The Urdang Academy. Joined New Adventures: 2023. Other Career Highlights: On-stage swing in Cabaret (Lido2, Paris); Featured dancer in I Am Here Tour with Oti Mabuse; Dancer The Voice (Lukas McFarlene); Dancer Eurovision 2023 (Lukas McFarlene); Twin Sisters in Boohoo Campaign; Dancer in Afro Dance Explosion (Chris Otim); Dancer in NRTAS Awards Ceremony (Dane Bates); Dancer in West End Does Christmas (Cadogan Hall); Twin actress in End of the Wicked music video; Dancer in Meraki20 The Wave (Rhys Wilkinson); Dancer in Lean On featuring Shan Ako (Claudimar Neto); Dancer SVN (O2 Islington). Instagram: @Anya.Ferdinand.5

JACKSON FISCH (Balthasar, Lennox, Romeo; he/him). Training: The Australian Ballet School, Sydney Dance Company. Joined New Adventures: 2017. Roles and Productions with New Adventures: Freddie, Serg, Ivan in The Red Shoes (UK and International Tour 2016/17, UK Tour 2019); Malcom, Wilfred, The Angel in Cinderella (UK and International Tour 2017/18); Original Cast Balthasar, Romeo in Romeo and Juliet (UK Tour 2019/20) and Carabosse/Caradoc, Tantrum in Sleeping Beauty (UK and International Tour 2022/23). Other Career Highlights: Decadance by Ohad Naharin for Sydney Festival (2022); ab[intra] by Sydney Dance Company (International Tour 2022); Founder Hunch Production Company (2023-Present). Instagram: @jacksonfisch X/Twitter: @jackson_fisch

PARIS FITZPATRICK (Dance Captain, Romeo Balthasar, Orderly; he/him). Training: Tring Park School for the Performing Arts. Joined New Adventures: 2017. Roles and Productions with New Adventures: Early Adventures (UK and International Tour 2017); Cinderella (UK and International Tour 2017-18); original Romeo in Romeo and Juliet (UK Tour 2019); original Bob in The Midnight Bell (UK Tour 2021); Angelo in The Car Man (Royal Albert Hall 2022) and Carabosse/Caradoc and Count Lilac in Sleeping Beauty (UK and International Tour 2022/23). Other Career Highlights: BalletBoyz, Deluxe (UK Tour 2022). Nominated for The Times Breakthrough Award at the Sky South Bank Arts Awards 2020, nominated for Outstanding Male Modern Performance at the National Dance Awards 2022. Instagram: @parisalexfitz X/Twitter: @parisalexfitz

CAMERON FLYNN (Edmund, Benvolio, Tybalt, Mercutio; he/him). Training: Laine Theatre Arts. Training with New Adventures: Young Cast in Lord of the Flies (Aberdeen 2014). Joined New Adventures: 2019. Roles and Productions with New Adventures: Young Cast in Lord of the Flies (His Majesty’s Theatre, Aberdeen, 2014); professional debut in the original company of Romeo and Juliet (UK Tour 2019); Anton and Dimitri in The Red Shoes (UK Tour 2019/20); Gobstopper in Nutcracker! (UK Tour 2021-22); Roberto in The Car Man (Royal Albert Hall 2022); Bertie and Lord Rupert in Sleeping Beauty (UK and International Tour 2022/23). Other Career Highlights: Time Flies: 100 Years of the RAF (Theatre Royal Drury Lane); three Qdos pantomimes; Dancer at first Dance Proms (Royal Albert Hall); Ballet West’s Nutcracker (Scottish Tour); filmed for Royal Academy of Dance; nominated for The Artist film award for short film UNSKILLED. Cameron also teaches at leading dance schools and studios around London. Cameron is the co-founder of FLYT Productions, a digital dance company sharing stories across online platforms. Instagram and X/Twitter: @cameronflynn__

ADAM GALBRAITH (Tybalt, Senator Montague; he/him). Training: London Contemporary Dance School. Joined New Adventures: 1999. Roles and Productions with New Adventures: Original Cast Lord of the Flies, creating the role of Jack; Original Cast Edward Scissorhands playing Jim Upton; Nutcracker in Nutcracker! (UK and International Tours); Luca in the Original Cast of The Car Man (Old Vic 2000 UK and International Tour); James and Robbie in Highland Fling (International Tour); for Adventures in Motion Picture Swan Lake (West End and UK Tour); Cinderella (Los Angeles). Other Career Highlights: Film and TV includes Pinocchio; House of Dragons; Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again!; Thomas Dalglesh in Will! Season One; Been So Long; One Night Only with Tom Jones; The Sound of Music Live; The Secrets of Pinewood documentary with Jonathon Ross; Disney’s Alice Through the Looking Glass; Disney’s The Muppets Most Wanted; 100th Anniversary of the Royal Variety Performance with Andrea Bocelli; Madonna’s W.E; Pride and Prejudice; Finding Neverland; Nutcracker!; Billy Elliot; and The Car Man. Adam has also performed many works at the Royal Opera House; Boris Gudanov; La Traviata; La Rondine; Maskerade; Forza Del Destino. For English National Opera The Fairy Queen (London and Barcelona) and National Youth Dance Company. Instagram: @adamgalbo

EUAN GARRETT (Benvolio, Fabian; he/him). Training: Training Park School for the Performing Arts and Jasmin Vardimon 2. Training with New Adventures: Swan School (2022). Joined New Adventures: 2023. Roles and Productions with New Adventures: Young Cast in Lord of the Flies (Glasgow 2014). Other Career Highlights: Billy Elliot in Billy Elliot The Musical (Victoria Palace Theatre 2015-16); Dance Cast in Death in Venice (2Royal Opera House 2019). Instagram: @euan_garrett

LOUIS HARRIS (Edmund, Lennox, Sebastian; he/him). Training: Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance (2022) Emergence post-graduate Dance Company (2023). Training with New Adventures: Swan School (2023). Joined New Adventures: 2023. Other Career Highlights: Dancing Day by Christopher Bruce (Sadlers Wells 2022); Altogether by Richard Alston (Linbury Theatre 2021); Vessel by Richard Chappell (Sadlers Wells & Linbury Theatre 2021); De Beers Diamond Gala by Jason Mabana/ Mophata Dance Theatre (National History Museum 2022); Fortune Favours by Florian Lochner & Alice Klock Flockworks (UK Tour 2023) Announcing by Anthony Missen (UK Tour 2023); SURGE by Joss Arnott (UK Tour 2023). Instagram: @louis.harriss

MONIQUE JONAS (Juliet, Magdalen/Governor Escalus; she/her).Training: Rambert School, Arts Ed London. Joined New Adventures: 2019. Roles and Productions with New Adventures: Magdalen in Romeo and Juliet (UK Tour 2019); Princess Sugar and Ruby All Sorts in Nutcracker! (UK Tour 2021-22) and Bianca in The Car Man (Royal Albert Hall 2022). Other Career Highlights: Richard Alston Dance Company (2016-2020); Artistic Director of Jona Dance (2019-present) choreographing work for Ballet Black, Pegasus Opera, Serendipity Institute, London Fashion Week 2021, National Youth Ballet, English National Ballet School and more. Jose Agudo Dance (2022). Commercial work includes movement for Kylie Minogue, Jamie Cullum, Paloma Faith, Marvel, BBC, and the Brit Awards. Instagram: @mon_jonas / @jonadance_

DYLAN JONES (Edmund, Fabian; he/him). Training: Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance (2020-23); Swindon Dance Centre for Advanced Training (2017-20). Training with New Adventures: Swan School (2023). Joined New Adventures: 2023. Other Career Highlights: National Youth Dance Company (NYDC), working with guest artistic director Russell Maliphant in collaboration with Sadler’s Wells. Dylan has worked with renowned artists and companies including Matsena Productions, Ana Maria Lucaciu and Akram Khan. He recently has been working with Hip Hop Theatre company, Avant Garde Dance, where he continues to dance and perform. Alongside performing and teaching dance, Dylan is a musician, dance class accompanist, and a Parkour trained athlete. Instagram: @dylanjonesdance

KURUMI KAMAYACHI (Faith, Frenchie, Martha; she/her). Training: Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance. Joined New Adventures: 2021. Roles and Productions with New Adventures: Marshmallow in Nutcracker! (UK Tour 2021-22); Silvana in The Car Man (Royal Albert Hall 2022) and Feral and Hibernia inSleeping Beauty (UK and International Tour 2022/23). Other Career Highlights: Performed works by Cameron McMillan and Vidya Patel (Royal Opera House); Mark Philip Baldwin performed at Royal Society and Ministry of Sound (2018); Holly Blakey London Fashion Week show by Burberry at Tate (2018); Benoit Swan Pouffer BBC Tokyo Olympics advert project (2021). Instagram: @kurumi_kamayachi_00

HANNAH KREMER (Faith, Juliet, Lavinia, Morgan; she/her). Training: Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance; Tring Park School for Performing Arts. Training with New Adventures: young cast Romeo and Juliet (Sadler’s Wells 2019), Swan School 2019, 21-22). Hannah was the New Adventures Emerging Artist 2022. Joined New Adventures: 2019. Roles and Productions with New Adventures: Local cast member Romeo and Juliet (Sadler’s Wells 2019); Ardor and Hibernia in Sleeping Beauty (UK and International Tour 2022/23). Other Career Highlights: Innocent Children by Alleyne Dance (Royal Opera House, Next Generation Festival) and Being by Darren Ellis (Sadler’s Wells, Unite for Ukraine). Instagram: @hannahkremerx

KATE LYONS (Swing, Dorcas, Magdalen/Governor Escalus, Martha, Rev. Bernadette Laurence/Brie Montague/Nurse; she/her). Training: Central School of Ballet. Joined New Adventures: 2010. Roles and Productions with New Adventures: Nutcracker! (UK Tour 2011); Early Adventures UK and International Tour 2012); Ardor, Hibernia, and cover Aurora in Sleeping Beauty (UK and International Tours 2012 and 2016); French and Spanish princesses in Swan Lake (UK and International Tour 2013/14); Rita and Gina in The Car Man (UK Tour 2015); The Red Shoes (UK and International Tour 2016); Swing and cover Cinderella in Cinderella (UK and International Tour 2017-18); swing, cover Juliet and Dance Captain in Romeo and Juliet (UK Tour 2019); and cover Victoria Page in The Red Shoes (UK Tour 2019/20). Swing and rehearsal director The Midnight Bell (UK Tour 2021), Nutcracker! (2022), Rita in The Car Man at the Royal Albert Hall (2022).Other Career Highlights: Ballet West (Utah, USA); English National Ballet; National Dance Company Wales; DV8 Physical Theatre; Mainfranken Theater Würzburg; Wayne McGregor's DanceLines; Yorke Dance Project; Corey Baker Dance. Kate is also a freelance teacher, coach, and Rehearsal Director. She spent two years teaching at Central School of Ballet, and teaches freelance around the UK. She also teaches company class for Ballet Black, and has recently been assisting Christopher Marney, working as his Rehearsal Director. X/Twitter: @Kate_Lyons_ Instagram: @kate_lyons_

RORY MACLEOD (Mercutio, Benvolio, Romeo; he/him). Training: Laine Theatre Arts. Joined New Adventures: 2021. Roles and Productions with New Adventures: Gobstopper, Allsorts Man, and cover Nutcracker in Nutcracker! (UK Tour 2021-22); Marco in The Car Man (Royal Albert Hall 2022) and Archie, Leo, Sir Evelyn, and Lord Rupert in Sleeping Beauty (UK and International Tour 2022/23). Other Career Highlights: New Musical Workshop (Trafalgar Theatre Productions); Kiss (Music video for Editors); Dick Whittington (Bristol Hippodrome); The Best of Rock Musicals (Eventim Apollo); Time Flies (Theatre Royal, Drury Lane). Instagram: @rorymacleodd

BLUE MAKWANA (Frenchie, Lavinia, Dorcas; she/her). Regional: Training: London Contemporary Dance School, UNICAMP State University of Campinas (Brazil), The BRIT School, National Youth Dance Company, The CAT (Centre for Advanced Training) Programme at The Place. Joined New Adventures: 2023. Other Career Highlights: Dancer in WICKED film (2024); Gugu in Mandela (Young Vic 2022/2023); Dancer in Noche de Novela (Music Video with Paulo Londra and Ed Sheeran 2022); Dancer in Commonality  (Thomas Page Dances 2022); Audience Plant in Magic Mike’s Last Dance  (Feature Film 2022), Performer in He’s Dead  (UK Tour, Denmark and Sweden, by Marikiscrycrycry 2019/2022); Featured Actress in Ordinary People  (DFS Commercial 2021); Performer in Mise-en-Crise  (by Marikiscrycrycry for Center for Human Rights in the Arts, New York 2021); Dancer in  NEVERLAND  (By Holly Blakey and with Holland x Dazed x Gucci 2019); Dancer in Burberry AW19 Fashion show (By Holly Blakey 2019). Blue is Sadler’s Wells Young Associate Choreographer (2023/24). Instagram: @bluemakwana bluemakwana.com

LEONARDO MCCORKINDALE (Sebastian, Balthasar; he/him) Training: Tring Park School for the Performing Arts; Academy Princess Grace. Joined New Adventures: 2023. Other Career Highlights: Dance cast in Death in Venice (Royal Opera House 2019). Instagram: @leonardo.mccorkindale

ELEANOR MCGRATH (Lavinia, Morgan; she/her) Training: Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance, Laban CAT. Training with New Adventures: Highland Fling repertoire project at Rambert School (Linbury Theatre 2022); The Car Man Swan School (2022); Young Cast Bridget in Romeo and Juliet (Canterbury 2019). Joined New Adventures: 2023. Other Career Highlights: Natural Diamond Summit Botswana, a collaboration with Mophato Dance Company and Jason Mabana (2022); Choreographic works include Ana Maria Lucaciu and Matsena Productions (2023). Instagram: @elemcgrath_

EVE NGBOKOTA (Lennox, Sebastian; they/she)Training: Elmhurst Ballet School. Training with New Adventures: Swan School, New Adventures inaugural Emerging Artist Apprentice (2021-22). Joined New Adventures: 2021. Roles and Productions with New Adventures: Tantrum and Autumnus in Sleeping Beauty (UK and International Tour 2022/23); Cupid in Nutcracker! (UK Tour 2021-22); Rafe in young cast Romeo and Juliet (2019); Fredding in Young Cast in Lord of the Flies (2014). New Adventures Emerging Artist 2021-22. Instagram: @evengbokota

HARRY ONDRAK-WRIGHT (Balthasar, Edmund, Mercutio, Lennox; he/him)Training: London Contemporary Dance School. Training with New Adventures: Lord of The Flies and Swan School. Joined New Adventures: 2018. Roles and Productions with New Adventures: Swan Lake (UK & International Tour 2018/19); Allsorts Man and Gobstopper in Nutcracker! (UK Tour 2021/22) and Lorenzo in The Car Man (Royal Albert Hall 2022). Other Career Highlights: I’m not here to make friends, Sam Smith music video (Choregraphed by (La)Horde); Like a Savior, Ellie Goulding music video; Kiss, Editors music video; Alone, Asher Night music video; SAUL NASH FW 2023 Juxtaposition Menswear show; BLOWN film by Corey Baker Dance; House of Flamenka (Arlene Phillips and James Cousins); The Left Hand Path (Lucy Palmer Dance). Instagram: @ondrakula

BRYONY PENNINGTON (Dance Captain, Juliet, Dorcas, Rev. Bernadette Lawrence/Brie Montague/Nurse; they/them) Training: LWHS School of Dance, Hull; Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance. Joined New Adventures: 2018. Roles and Productions with New Adventures: Frankie in The Car Man (Royal Albert Hall 2022); Original cast Ella in The Midnight Bell (UK Tour 2021); Svetlana in The Red Shoes (Tour 2019-20); original cast Dorcas and Juliet in Romeo and Juliet (2019); Spanish and German Princesses in Swan Lake (Tour 2018-19). Films: Swan Lake (2019); Romeo and Juliet (2020) and The Red Shoes (2020). Other Career Highlights: Rambert Dance Company: A Linha Curva by Itzic Galili, The Creation (Garsington Opera) by Mark Baldwin (2016), a duet for the British Red Cross charity event Dance Power choreographed by Mark Baldwin. Joined Ballet National de Marseille under the direction of Emio Greco and Pieter C. Sholten (2016/17); as a freelance dance artist for Eleesha Drennan (2023); Impermanence Dance (2022); Mark Bruce Company (2022); New Movement Collective (2022); Shobana Jeyasingh Dance (2017, 2022); Jamiel Laurence (2021); George Williamson (2021); Watkins Dance Company (2018); Arielle Smith (2018); Christopher Thomas. Film credits include Jevan Choudhury's Moving Cities and Soumik Datta's Silent Spaces. Instagram: @bryony.pennington

LYRA TREGLOWN (Lavinia, Faith, Martha; she/her) Training: The Brighton Academy, Musical Theatre BA Hons. Training with New Adventures: An Autumn Adventure (2021); Swan School (2023). Joined New Adventures: 2023. Instagram: @lyra_treglown

MATTHEW BOURNE (Director and Choreographer)Matthew Bourne is firmly established as the UK’s most popular and successful choreographer and director. He is the creator of the world’s longest running ballet production, a record-breaking nine-time Olivier Award winner, and the only British director to have won the Tony Award for both Best Choreographer and Best Director of a Musical. Matthew started his dance training at the comparatively late age of 22 and danced professionally for 14 years. As artistic director of his first company, Adventures in Motion Pictures, from 1987 until 2002, Matthew created many award-winning works (including Nutcracker!, Highland Fling, Swan Lake, Cinderella, and The Car Man). Further hit productions were created when New Adventures was launched in 2002 (including Play Without Words, Edward Scissorhands, Dorian Gray, Sleeping Beauty, The Red Shoes, and Romeo and Juliet). New Adventures quickly became the UK’s busiest and most successful dance company and the major exporter of British dance across the world. Matthew is also a West End and Broadway choreographer; a 30-year relationship with producer Cameron Mackintosh has resulted in the globally successful musicals Mary Poppins (which has recently enjoyed a West End revival), My Fair Lady, and Oliver!. He has seven honorary doctorates and in 2018 received an honorary degree of Doctor of Letters from University of Oxford. He is also an Associate Artist of Sadler's Wells Theatre in London and The Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles. In 2015, he became the first dance figure to be given the Stage Award for Outstanding Contribution to British Theatre, presented by the UK Theatre Awards. He received the OBE in 2001 and was knighted in the Queen’s New Year honours in 2016; in the same year he was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Award in recognition of his outstanding services to dance. Recent work includes directing Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends (now running at the Gielgud Theatre in London’s West End until January 6, 2024) and his latest work for New Adventures The Midnight Bell, which premiered in 2021 and went on to win the National Dance Award for Best Modern Choreography in 2022

SERGEI PROKOFIEV (Composer) Sergei Prokofieff was born in Sontzovka, near Ekaterinoslav, on 23 April 1891 and received his first musical training from his pianist mother. His first composition was written at the age of seven, and for a while he studied privately with Reinhold Glière before entering the St Peterburg Conservatoire at the age of thirteen. His teachers there were Anna Essipova (piano), Anatol Liadov (harmony and counterpoint), Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (orchestration), and Nikolai Tcherepnin (conducting). He was outstanding both as a pianist and as a composer, and he graduated from the Conservatoire in 1914 excelling in both capacities, as soloist in his own First Piano Concerto–the modernity of which disconcerted the more conservative of the examiners, although it won him the Rubinstein Prize. That same year Prokofieff travelled to London, where Russian music was very fashionable: Chaliapin and Diaghilev were both active, but initial attempts to persuade Diaghilev to mount Prokofieff’s opera The Gambler were unsuccessful. Prokofieff returned to Russia and wrote two ballets for Diaghilev, Ala and Lolly (which Diaghilev refused) and Chout (intended as a replacement); other works from this period include the perennially popular Classical Symphony, Prokofieff’s First, and Violin Concerto No.1–he had found his mature style very quickly. The turmoil of the Revolution (on which Prokofieff seems to have looked upon with some favour–though he later admitted he hardly realised what was at stake) drove him from Russia and early in 1918 he made his way to America; his stay in the west was to last for seventeen years. In the early 1920s he married the Spanish-born singer, Lina Llubera, and established himself in Paris, composing between international tours as a pianist. The works that emerged–the operas The Love of Three Oranges (1919) and The Fiery Angel(1919–27), the Second, Third and Fourth Symphonies (1924–25, 1928, 1929–30), the ballets Pas d’Acier (1925–26) and The Prodigal Son (1928–29)–showed that his style could embrace an enormous range of expression: from a childlike lyricism via fantastic whimsy and motoric rhythms to an angular expressionism–and Prokofieff was always an entirely natural melodist. In spite of a hugely successful visit to the Soviet Union in 1927, coinciding with a well-received production of The Love of Three Oranges, Prokofieff returned to the West once more, to his usual round of concertising and composing, writing and playing the last of his cycle of five piano concertos. In 1936 Prokofieff took the fateful decision to return to the Soviet Union–‘like a chicken to the soup’, in the words of Dmitri Shostakovich. With his initial sympathy for the goals of Soviet society, he felt that the composer ought to offer something directly relevant to the people, and he cast around for suitably Soviet subjects. Although his massive Cantata for the 20th Anniversary of the October Revolution was rejected by a committee of Soviet censors, Prokofieff enjoyed considerable success as a composer of film scores (Stalin’s preferred art-form) and some of his best-known music first appeared for this medium: Lieutenant Kijé (1934) and the cantata Alexander Nevsky (1938–39), refashioned from his score for Eisenstein’s epic. For a few years he found renewed favour–with a 1940 staging of his now-classic ballet Romeo and Juliet, completed four years earlier–but in February 1948 his career came to a crashing halt when the ‘Zhdanovshchina’ that heralded a tightening of state control over cultural affairs condemned him, Shostakovich and several others as ‘formalists.’ Prokofieff had suffered severe concussion in a fall in 1945, with permanent effects on his health, and his precarious physical condition combined with political disfavour to make his last years unhappy ones, despite the championship of some courageous young musicians, Mstislav Rostropovich and Sviatoslav Richter among them. Although he continued to compose right up to his death, he was denied one final satisfaction: his death, on 5 March 1953, occurred only hours before that of Stalin. The 125th anniversary of Prokofieff's birth was in 2016. Sergei Prokofieff is published by Boosey & Hawkes. Reprinted by kind permission of Boosey & Hawkes

LEZ BROTHERSTON (Set and Costume Designer)For New Adventures: Lez Brotherston is an associate artist of New Adventures. His long collaboration with Matthew Bourne includes: Romeo and Juliet, The Red Shoes, Sleeping Beauty, Edward Scissorhands, Lord of the Flies, Swan Lake, A Play Without Words, Highland Fling, Dorian Gray, Cinderella, and The Car Man. Other Credits: Starstruck (design and additional scenario); The Secret Theatre (design and co-creative direction); The Snow Queen, The Nutcracker (Scottish Ballet); Le Fantôme de l’opera and Hamlet (Shanghai Ballet); The Seven Deadly Sins (Royal Ballet Covent Garden); The Merry Wives of Windsor, The Rover, The Empress, and Much Ado About Nothing (Royal Shakespeare Company); Me and My Girl and Fiddler on the Roof (Chichester); Malory Towers (Wise Children); Twelfth NightM and Romantics Anonymous (Shakespeare’s Globe); Flowers for Mrs Harris, Show Boat, and Pride and Prejudice(Sheffield Crucible); 946: The Amazing Story of Adolphus Tips (Kneehigh/Globe Theatre); Oh What a Lovely War (Stratford East/West End); Hysteria (Hampstead Theatre); Long Day’s Journey Into Night, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, The Rise and Fall of Little Voice, and Under the Blue Sky (West End); Sister Act (West End and worldwide); Women Beware Women and Really Old, Like 45 (National Theatre); Hedda Gabler, Design for Living, and Dancing at Lughnasa (Old Vic); Duet for One (Almeida and West End); My City and Measure for Measure (Almeida); L’elisir d’amore (Glyndebourne) and Lez designed, co-wrote and co-directed Les Liaisons Dangereuses with Adam Cooper (Japan and Sadler’s Wells). Awards: Swan Lake (New York–1999 Tony Award) and Cinderella (1998 Olivier Award, Critics’ Circle, and Ninette deValois Award for outstanding contribution to dance). He was awarded the OBE in The Queen’s New Year Honours 2022 for services to Dance and Theatre.

PAULE CONSTABLE (Lighting Designer) For New Adventures: Paule Contable is an Associate Artist for New Adventures. She has designed the lighting for The Midnight Bell, Swan Lake, The Red Shoes, Sleeping Beauty, Dorian Gray, Play Without Words, Romeo and Juliet. Theatre Includes: The Glass Menagerie, Cock, and the new Les Misérables (West End); The Normal Heart, Follies,  Angels in America (Parts I & II) (also Broadway), This House, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (also West End & Broadway), War Horse (also West End, Toronto, Australia, US tour, and Broadway) (National Theatre); Best of Enemies, (Young Vic); Wolf Hall (RSC,West End & Broadway), The Weir (also West End & Broadway), (Royal Court); Ivanov (Donmar at the Wyndhams) and Herons (Lyric Hammersmith). Opera Includes: The Magic Flute, Macbeth (Royal Opera House); Billy Budd (Glyndebourne); Handmaids Tale and Staygraha (ENO); Norma and Medea (Metroplitan Opera, New York). Dance Includes: Light: Bach Dances (Hofesh Schecter), La Baiser de la Fe (Birmingham Royal Ballet); Naked (Ballet Boyz). Paule is a Royal Designer for Industry.

PAUL GROOTHUIS (Sound Designer) For New Adventures: Paul Groothuis is an associate artist of New Adventures. He has designed the sound for The Midnight Bell, Romeo and Juliet, Nutcracker!, Highland Fling, Sleeping Beauty, Edward Scissorhands, Play Without Words, The Red Shoes, Dorian Gray, and The Car Man. Credits at the National Theatre Include: Follies; Anything Goes; Anthony and Cleopatra; His Dark Materials; Edmond; Henry V; The Coast of Utopia; My Fair Lady; Hamlet; (1987, 2011); The Oedipus Play; Summerfolk; The Merchant of Venice; The Rose Tattoo; Rafta Rafta; Candide; Oklahoma!; Oh, What a Lovely War!; A Little Night Music; Lady in the Dark; Guys and Dolls (NT 1990, Savoy 2015); Sunday in the Park With George; Sweeney Todd; Carousel; The House of Bernarda Alba; Buried Child; Henry IV Parts I & II; All My Sons; The Cherry Orchard; The Plough and the Stars. Credits for Chichester Festival Theatre: Oklahoma!; South Pacific; The Pajama Game; Private Lives; Neville’s Island; Gypsy, Guys and Dolls; Sweeney Todd; Mack and Mabel; The Young Chekhov’s, Damsel in Distress; Sweet Bird of Youth; Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead; Kiss Me Kate; Travels with my Aunt; Ros; The Sound of Music. Other Credits Include: The King & I (London Palladium and UK tour); Oliver! (London Palladium, Theatre Royal Drury Lane, UK tour); Mary Poppins (UK, Austria, Germany, Holland and USA tours and second UK tour); Marguerite (West End and Tokyo); Acorn Antiques; The Children’s Hour; Flare Path; Loyalty; 55 Days; Chariots of Fire; Rabbit Hole; Good People; Cost of Living; Filthy Business; I and You (Hampstead Theatre); Breakfast at Tiffany’s; Waiting for Godot (Theatre Royal, Haymarket); Stephen Ward (London), Harvey (UK tour and London); The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole - The Musical (Leicester Curve); Show Boat (Sheffield and New London); Everybody’s Talking About Jamie (Sheffield and West End); The Boy in the Dress (RSC); The Band’s Visit (Donmar); Aspects Of Love (West End).

TERRY DAVIES (Orchestrator)Terry is an associate artist of New Adventures and has composed the music for The Car Man, Play Without Words, Edward Scissorhands, Dorian Gray, Lord of the Flies, and The Midnight Bell. He also provided additional music for The Red Shoes as well as its orchestrations. Along with Matthew, he won an Olivier Award for Play Without Words. Terry has composed scores for the National Theatre, RSC, West End and many other theatres. His new original ballet, Mrs. Robinson, premiered at San Francisco Ballet in February 2022. Terry’s musical The Birds was revived in Turkey just before lockdown and it is having a further revival next year. He is an enthusiast for silent films and performs for them regularly, improvising on piano. He also conducts many orchestras in the UK and elsewhere in live performance with the Julia Donaldson children’s films whose music he produces. As well as his compositions, he has conducted the music for about 70 feature films and a similar number of TV programmes. The films as conductor include Bank of Dave (Chris Foggin), Florence Foster Jenkins (Stephen Frears), Youth (Paulo Sorrentino), Mr. Turner (Mike Leigh–Gary Yershon nominated for Best Original Score, Academy Awards), The King’s Speech (Tom Hooper, Best Motion Picture, Academy Awards), Brideshead Revisited, Kinky Boots, Shakespeare in Love (Stephen Warbeck winner of Best Score, Academy Awards), and the forthcoming Our Man From Jersey (Julian Jarrold).

ETTA MURFITT (New Adventures Associate Artistic Director) For New Adventures: The Midnight Bell, Romeo and Juliet, The Red Shoes, Swan Lake, Early Adventures, Cinderella, Dorian Gray, Edward Scissorhands, Highland Fling, Nutcracker!, The Car Man, The Infernal Galop, The Percys of Fitzrovia, Deadly Serious, and Town and Country. Other Credits: Choreography for Would You Bet Against Us (Directed by Paul Hunter, Told by an Idiot); Bagdad Café (directed by Emma Rice, Old Vic); Wuthering Heights (NT, Bristol Old Vic, York Theatre Royal, NYC and American Tour); Romantics Anonymous (directed by Emma Rice for Wise Children); Orpheus and the Underworld (directed by Emma Rice for ENO); Choreographer and Nora in Emma Rice's Wise Children; Clockwork Orange (Everyman Theatre); Twelfth Night and A Midsummer Night's Dream (Globe); Tin Drum, Flying Lovers of Vitebsk, 946, Wild Bride, Midnight's Pumpkin, Steptoe and Son, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg and Dead Dog in a Suitcase (Kneehigh); A Chorus of Disapproval (Harold Pinter Theatre); Rufus Norris' Sleeping Beauty (Birmingham Rep); Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (Chichester and Theatre Royal Haymarket); Le Nozze di Figaro (Holland Park Opera); The Way of the World (Wilton's Music Hall); A Midsummer Night's Dream (Albery Theatre) and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (West Yorkshire Playhouse) Television and Film Includes: Nora in Wise Children (More2Screen); Clara in Nutcracker! (BBC/NVC); Rita in The Car Man (Channel 4); Swan Lake, Late Flowering Lust, Roald Dahl's Red Riding Hood and Mrs. Hartley and the Growth Centre (all BBC); Storm (Aletta Collins/ BBC Dance for the Camera); and Matthew Bourne's Christmas (Channel 4). Etta is Movement Director for Wise Children as well as the Associate Artistic Director of New Adventures. Etta was awarded an MBE in the Queen’s Jubilee Birthday Honours List 2022.

ARIELLE SMITH (Associate Choreographer) Havana-born Arielle is an Olivier Award award-winning choreographer who crosses dance theatre and film. Her Olivier was awarded for her creation Jolly Folly for The English National Ballet. She has since been celebrated in The Stage 25 list as one of 25 individuals to become the future stars of the UK theatre industry, having also been named on The Guardian’s ones to watch for 2022. Arielle’s theatre credits include Unexpected Twist (Northampton/UK Tour) Orfeo (Garsington), Jack and the Beanstalk (Lyric Hammersmith), directed by John Caird, and Blackmail (Mercury Theatre), directed by Anthony Banks. She has a number of classical commissions and theatre projects in development. She has choreographed for some of the largest ballet companies around the world, including Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures. Other credits include Lots.Of.Varied.Expectations and Mañana Iguana.

NEILL WESTMORELAND (New Adventures Resident Artistic Associate) For New Adventures: Neil joined New Adventures in 2003. He has danced with the company in many roles including Prentice in Play Without Words, The Pilot and The Father in Cinderella, The Prince in Swan Lake and the title role in Nutcracker!. As Resident Director, Neil has worked on Romeo and Juliet, Cinderella, The Red Shoes, Sleeping Beauty, The Car Man, Swan Lake ,and Nutcracker!. He was Assistant Choreographer on The Red Shoes (2016) and Rehearsal Associate on The Midnight Bell (2021). Neil was also Resident Director for The Car Man at the Royal Albert Hall (2022) and Sleeping Beauty (2022/23 UK and International Tour). In 2023 Neil was made a Resident Artistic Associate of New Adventures. Other Career Highlights: Neil trained at Skelton/Hooper, with Dorothy Stevens MBE and Louise Brown OBE, and at English National Ballet School. Neil’s classical ballet performance credits include dancing as a principal and soloist for Northern Ballet in many productions, including recreating the role of Lieutenant Pinkerton in David Nixon’s UK premiere of Madame Butterfly, Romeo and Paris in Massimo Morricone’s Romeo and Juliet, Pip in Stephano Gianetti’s Great Expectations, Mr. Hyde in Morricone’s Jekyll and Hyde, Pablo in Didy Veldman’s A Streetcar Named Desire, Escamillo in Didy Veldman’s Carmen, Quincy in Michael Pink’s Dracula. For English National Ballet, highlights include Lord Capulet in Derek Deane’s Romeo and Juliet at the Royal Albert Hall, Bigonzetti’s XNTricities, Balanchine’s Who Cares? plus English National Ballet’s extensive classical repertoire at the Royal Albert Hall, Royal Festival Hall, and London Coliseum.

ALAN VINCENT (New Adventures Resident Director, Senator Montague, Guard, Orderly)For New Adventures: Alan joined New Adventures in 1997. He has performed the Swan/Stranger and Private Secretary in Swan Lake, created the role of Luca and performed Dino in The Car Man, created the role of Speight in Play Without Words, the Nutcracker and Doctor Dross in Nutcracker!, and has performed in Cinderella and Spitfire. Most recently, Alan performed the role of Dino in The Car Man at The Royal Albert Hall. As Resident Director, Alan has worked on Lord of the Flies (UK and Australian Tour) and the original UK tour of Romeo and Juliet. Alan returns as Resident Director for the 2023 UK and international tour of Romeo and Juliet and will be performing the role of Senator Montague. Other Career Highlights: Alan trained at both Lewisham College and London Studio Centre. He has worked for the Mark Bruce Company on Sea of Bones, Odyssey, and Dracula. Alan has performed in various operas such as Terry Gilliam’s The Damnation of Faust, Midsummer Marriage, Turnabout, Carmen, The Fairy Queen, and Trajans. Alan played various roles in Dirty Dancing in the West End, and was part of the creative team for the Olympics Opening Ceremony in 2012, performing in it too. He has worked with Jazzxchange, performed in various music videos including those for PlanB and Muse, and has been in TV adverts and the Royal Variety Show. In addition to his performance work, Alan was a founder and choreographer for BEA Theatre and teaches around the UK. Alan is a workshop leader for New Adventures, leading projects around the UK and internationally, delivering masterclasses, creating work and curtain-raisers.

DAISY MAY KEMP (New Adventures Assistant Resident Director, Rev. Bernadette Laurence, Brie Montague, Nurse; she/her) For New Adventures: Daisy joined New Adventures in 2005. She has danced with the company in many roles including Netta Longdon in the original production of The Midnight Bell and the Nurse, Mrs. Montague, and Rev. Bernadette Laurence in the original production of Romeo and Juliet. Daisy has also performed in Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, The Red Shoes, Play Without Words, Swan Lake, and Edward Scissorhands. She has been a Resident Artist for New Adventures and choreographed High Tide for the companies Doorstep Duets. She was Assistant to the Tour Director on Lord of the Flies and returns to Romeo and Juliet reprising her original roles and joining the creative team as Assistant Resident Director. Other Career Highlights: Daisy trained at Bird College and holds an MA with distinction from Central School of Ballet. Choreographic work incudes Il segreto di Susanna at If Opera. She was Assistant Choreographer for Robert Carsen’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream at English National Opera, the Festival Aix en Provence, and Bergen National Opera. She was Revival Choreographer on Glyndebourne’s touring production of La traviata. She has also danced in La traviata for the Glyndebourne Festival choreographed by Aletta Collins and La Cenerentola choreographed by Arthur Pita for Gasrington Opera. X/Twitter: @daisymaykemp Instagram: @kempdaisymay