our youth grows in a wasteland... with a little help

Meet the team!

 We have been continuing our year of audio with a very special commission from Urban Wilderness. our youth grows in a wasteland takes our passion for site-specific theatre experiences out into Hanley Park in an exciting new project inspired by young people’s experiences of outdoor spaces. Collaboration is always at the heart of our work and on this project particularly so - we are delighted to introduce you to the our youth grows in a wasteland team!

Meet the team below and keep your eyes on Urban Wilderness’ website from mid September 2020 onwards to experience the final audio pieces.

IAN IKUESAN / STOKE MEMES

VERBATIM CONTRIBUTOR/PERFORMER

Ian Ikuesan is a social activist and the owner of Stoke Memes’ Instagram page. He has worked with Kwanzaa Collective, Potboiler Theatre, and with groups as an activist for BLM (Black Lives Matter) in Stoke-on-Trent. Ian was part of the group that organised the first Stoke-on-Trent Black Lives Matter protest in Hanley Park in June 2020. Ian said “I’ve thoroughly enjoyed working with Potboiler as I was able to experience a new side to being interviewed. I’ve also worked with some new amazing people i’ve never worked with before”.

SAM DEAVILLE

ACTOR

Sam Deaville is a young actor from Stoke-on-Trent. Wastelands is his first professional role. Sam said, ‘I was born, brought up and am still living in Stoke-on-Trent. Although I work as an engineer in a local firm, I have always dreamed of being an actor. About 12 months ago I decided to do something about it so found myself an acting coach and agent, and signed up to Acting Mechanics Screen Acting classes. I had my first role at the end of last year in a short film for Staffordshire University. Working with Potboiler will be my first professional role. I am delighted that it should be such an interesting project.”

KATIE CANNON

ACTOR

Katie Cannon is a young actor from Staffordshire. She recently graduated from the University of Birmingham in Drama and Theatre Arts. During her time there she was involved in projects such as research and development at the RSC and various student productions in film and theatre. She is due to start at Guildford School of Acting to do MA Acting in 2021.

ADAM MCREADY

SOUND DESIGN

Adam P McCready is a composer, sound designer, musician and sound recordist specialising in creating audio narratives from electronically and digitally manipulated audio. Known for his work on theatre and dance productions he has also created several interactive sound installations for galleries and museums as well as music scores for small independent films and sound designs and compositions on many audio drama and podcast series. Listen to his work at www.soundcloud.com/poeticalmachines and www.poeticalmachines.co.uk

MATT THOMASON

COMPOSER

Matthew Thomason is a composer working film, theatre and contemporary dance. His most recent works include: Long Way Back (film - 2021), A Short Film About Ice (documentary 2020), The One Memory Of Flora Banks (theatre 2020) as well as being a recording artist under the same name. Matthew specialises in solo piano works, small ensemble pieces and ambient electronic works. Matthew was raised in the Stoke-on-Trent area before moving down to Falmouth, Cornwall where he now lives with his wife and daughter. 
www.matthewthomasonmusic.co.uk

KAT HUGHES

& KAT BOON

POTBOILER DIRECTOR / WRITER

We loved creating this project inspired by and with local young people. We are increasingly interested in how as a local company we can work with and for the wonderful communities of Stoke and Staffordshire - teenagers are no exception. We have found the young people we have met during the process to be incredibly generous - the stories they shared with us were moving, funny, political, ordinary and extraordinary.

We also want to use Potboiler as a platform for sharing local stories without owning them - the verbatim piece from Ian in particular is not our story, but we are privileged to give this powerful account another platform through the commission.

The fictionalised pieces performed by Sam and Katie were based on common themes from our interviews with teenagers and were written by Kat Boon. The three pieces were directed by Kat Hughes.

Top five images by Urban Wilderness.