Close Enough to Touch creative team
We’re so lucky to have assembled an Avengers’ quality line-up for our ‘Close Enough to Touch’ creative team. Here’s a little bit more about them:
STEFAN RACE as ‘M’
Stefan Race credit Harry Livingstone
Stefan is an actor from Yorkshire, they trained at ALRA.
Their credits include:
Theatre: Of Mice & Men (Derby Theatre, Octagon Theatre, Hull Truck Theatre, Theatre by the Lake), The Flea (Yard Theatre), Fade (The Lowry, Leeds Playhouse) Let the Right One In (Manchester Royal Exchange), Cherry Jezebel (Liverpool Everyman), Wendy and Peter Pan (Leeds Playhouse), Alice in Wonderland (HOME).
Film: Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, The Batman, A Christmas Gift from Bob, The Gallery.
Television: Eric (Netflix), G’wed (ITV), Temple (Sky).
HENRY ROBERTS WRITER
Henry Roberts credit Mark Ratcliffe
Henry Roberts is a writer and photographer. His plays have been performed across the UK and Ireland, including at Summerhall, Riverside Studios and Camden People’s Theatre. Close Enough to Touch previously performed at Theatre503 and was longlisted in the RSC’s 37 Plays Project. His other works have been longlisted by the Traverse Theatre and for the Verity Bargate Award. As a photographer, Henry mainly shoots theatre productions and portraits. His work was shortlisted for the 2023 Photography Foundation Awards. His journalism on art and culture has appeared in The Guardian, The Independent, The Economist, ArtReview, Prospect, A Rabbit’s Foot, Metro, Little White Lies, Aesthetica, Wallpaper*, DAZED, among other publications. He has twice been longlisted for the Anthony Burgess/Observer Prize for Arts Journalism.
CHERYL MARTIN DIRECTOR
Cheryl Martin credit Lian Furness
Cheryl became Artistic Director of Red Ladder Theatre Company in January 2024. Alongside her writing and directing, Cheryl has supported writers and practitioners at Contact Theatre, Traverse Theatre Edinburgh and Oldham Coliseum, and worked with Community Arts Northwest on a series of community plays. In 2015 she co-founded LGBTQ+ Global-Majority performance arts company Black Gold Arts. In addition to being an Edinburgh Fringe Total Theatre assessor and judge, Cheryl was also Co-Artistic Director of Manchester’s grassroots Global-Majority-led publisher and writer development company Commonword and is Co-Director of Manchester Pride’s Candlelight Vigil. Close Enough to Touch is her third production for Red Ladder following Sanctuary in 2024 and A Proper Merry Christmess in 2025.
ALEX MITCHELL DRAMATURG
Alex Mitchell credit Mark Ratcliffe
Alex Mitchell is a theatre director and dramaturg and the Artistic Director for Silent Uproar, an award-winning theatre company championing queer stories and new writing that isn’t afraid to be filthy, funny, political or deeply heartfelt. Recent credits include A Super Happy Story (About Feeling Super Sad) by Jon Brittain with Matthew Floyd Jones (Young Vic), Dead Girls Rising by Maureen Lennon (UK Tour), Shit Life Crisis by Olivia Hannah (Hull Truck Theatre), The Night of the Werewolves: Live! by Olivia Hirst and Vampires! Vampires! Vampires! by Eve Nicol (Freedom Festival).
CHRIS BROWN MOVEMENT
Chris is an interdisciplinary artist working across film, live performance, and research. They teach an ecosomatic pedagogy developed with a Fellowship at the University of Manchester in the UK and beyond. Credits include How Soon Is Now? (LOWRY, Quays and Touring), Maria (53Two), Come To The Place I’m From (Gorse Gill Studios), Angry Brigade (Cockpit), Private Lives (Hope Mill Theatre), Balkan Erotic Epic (Aviva Studios), I Want Nothing To Do With This (Zarts), Land/e/Scapes (LOWRY, Studios), LOB (Mac Belfast), THIS TOWN (Contact).
ADAM FOLEY LIGHTING AND VIDEO DESIGNER
Adam Foley credit Ian Hinley
Adam is the Head of Production at Silent Uproar, one of the ALD Lumières for 2020 and continues to tour nationally and internationally alongside his design work. This is his fifth show for Red Ladder and his ninth for Silent Uproar. His theatrical credits include:
Vampires! Vampires! Vampires!, Night of the Werewolves Live, Sh!t Life Crisis, Dead Girls Rising, The Golden Fleece, A Super Happy Story (About Feeling Super Sad), Pig, and Small Plans (Silent Uproar); Sanctuary, Taxi, My Voice Was Heard But It Was Ignored and Smile Club (Red Ladder); Isabelle, We Used To Be Closer Than This, Robin Hood, The Little Mermaid, Cinderella, Aladdin and Dick Whittington (Middle Child); Going Out Out (HOME & Karl Sydow); A Christmas Carol (Derby Theatre), These Majestic Creatures (The SJT) The Little Mermaid, Pop Music, The Culture, and Our Mutual Friend (Hull Truck Theatre); Men Behaving Badly, Haywire, A Role to Die For, Some Mothers Do ‘Ave’ Em, I’m Sorry Prime Minister I Can’t Quite Remember, and Around the World in 80 Days (The Barn); The Wedding Party (Oldham Coliseum); Small Wonders (Punchdrunk); The Jungle Book (The Dukes); Patient Soldier (Storytime & Seven Dials Theatre);To the Moon and Back (Concrete Youth); The Merry Wives (Northern Broadsides); Sleeping Beauty and Aladdin (CAST)
LUKE MCDONNELL ASSISTANT DIRECTOR
Luke is a Manchester based Director, Theatre Maker and Performer. Luke works extensively as a facilitator for ODD Arts, Coram Shakespeare Schools and is the new Creative Associate for one of the countries leading climate theatre companies, Ergon. Theatre credits include: The Trials (Bolton Octagon, Young Company), Is There Anybody Out There? (Contact, R&D), Have a Break, Have a Kit-Kat (Empty Space), Foundation (Dukes, Lancaster).
MARK MELVILLE SOUND DESIGNER
CORY SHIPP COSTUME AND SET DESIGNER
Cory Shipp credit Andrew A B Photography
Cory is a set and costume designer working across all ranges of performative work across the UK. Cory trained at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama.
Theatre (as Designer) includes: The Mikvah Project, Richmond Myths (Orange Tree Theatre); Cyrano de Bergerac, (The Watermill Theatre); Mr Burns: A Post-Electric Play, RENT, Return to the Forbidden Planet, Vinegar Tom, Caucasian Chalk Circle, 6 Characters , Let The Right One in, (Mountview Theatre Academy); Another Planet (The Gramophones Theatre Company); Justice in a Day (Theatr Clwyd); Anyone Can Whistle (Southwark Playhouse, Grey Area Theatre); Deffro’r Gwanywn (Y Cwmni); Glacier (Old Fire Station); The EU Killed My Dad (Jermyn Street Theatre); The Book of Eternity, (Northern Opera); Addysgu Rita, (Theatr NaNog); Ice at the End of the World, (Omnibus Theatre); Hansel and Grettel (Creation Theatre); Northbound Boy, (Kings Head Theatre); Cinderella, Educating Rita, (Barn Theatre); Pontypool, (Wales Millennium Centre); A Role to Die for (Marylebone Theatre, Barn Theatre); Noel and Gertie, (Mayflower Studios); The Ophiolite, (Teatro Technis); and Oberon, (BBC Proms).
Theatre (as Costume Designer) includes: Unfortunate: A Musical Parody (Fat Rascal Theatre Company/Underbelly Festival); Bandstand, Sweeney Todd (ArtsEd), Big Fish (Mountview)
Theatre (as Set Designer) includes: Wipe These Tears (Bezna Theatre Company); Justice in a Day (Theatr Clwyd); The Lion, The B!tch and The Wardrobe (Wales Millennium Centre), Son of a Bitch (The Thelmas); Codi and Shades of Blue (Sadlers Wells, Matsena Dance); For more credits and images: coryshippdesign.com
JANE ANDERSON CDG CASTING DIRECTOR
Jane Anderson is a London born but Manchester based Casting Director for Stage and Screen. She has worked in casting for over 20 years and recently became an Industry Associate at LAMDA providing advice and support to their graduates. She continues to cast her freelance projects between the North and London and is a proud member of the Casting Directors Guild of Great Britain and Ireland. This is her first time casting a project for Red Ladder.
Stage credits include: Going Out Out (HOME Mcr), Kinky Boots (Chester Storyhouse), The Clothes They Stood Up In (Nottingham Playhouse), The Walk – The Sleeping Child (MIF21). Screen credits include: The Ancestors (BBC Film/RedBag Pictures), Lagging Series 1 (CBBC), Creeped Out (CBBC/Netflix), Viking Destiny (Fatal Black/Misfits Entertainment), Bucket (BBC/Company TV), Spying on Hitler’s Army: The Secret Recordings (Channel 4/October Films), BAFTA Cymru winning Convenience (Urban Way).
TOM BLACKBAND TECHNICAL DIRECTOR
Tom started his professional career working with bands in and around North London and then touring Europe with Chris Barber’s Jazz and Blues Band and Kenny Ball and His Jazzmen. He moved north and became Technical Manager at City Varieties Music Hall before continuing his freelance career and working for various production and theatre companies including Production Light and Sound, Red Ladder Theatre Company, Firefly, Phoenix Dance, Wrongsemble, and Theatre By The Lake.
AMY BLAKE as VOICE OF ISLA
Amy Blake is a northern actor whose television credits include Brassic (Richard Stoddard, Sky & Calamity Films) and Casualty (Sean Healy, BBC). Recent stage work includes A Christmas Carol (Amy Leach, Leeds Playhouse), Dweeb-A-Mania (Hannah Stone, Polka) and The List of Suspicious Things R&D (Elin Schofield, The Lowry). She loves good stories and good tea.
CHRIS LLOYD EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
Chris Lloyd credit Lian Furness
A Red Ladder employee of twenty years, Chris is still in constant awe of the talent he has to work with at the company. Lloydy stumbled across Red Ladder after stints at the West Yorkshire Playhouse, Rosehill Theatre in Cumbria, three years in the south of Spain and ten years in London at Theatre Royal Stratford East and The Shaw Theatre in Euston.
Never happier than when sitting in his parlour counting his pennies Chris occasionally emerges, blinking, into the theatrical spotlight for opening nights, launches, free lunches and end of tour thrashes.
LOUISE MANIFOLD STAGE MANAGER
Louise is a Derbyshire based Stage Manager. Originally from a performing background, she made the transition to Stage Management over 15 years ago.
Theatre Credits include: Manchester Royal Exchange (Great Expectation, Brief Encounter, Sweat), Bolton Octagon (Jungle Book, Shirley Valentine, A Christmas Carol, Memory of Water), The Dukes Lancaster (Robin Hood, The Wizard of Oz, Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella), Gecko (Kin), Red Ladder (Glory, Smile Club, We’re not Going Back, Sanctuary).
Stephen Butterfield Technical Placement from Leeds City College.