MEET OUR AMPLIFY MENTEES
Daniel Farmer Patel
Daniel is based in Gloucester. In 2022 he was Creative Producer for Voices Gloucester and during this time fundraised and produced his own project Flashback Foods, from which he is keen to build upon finding ways we can all connect through the universal language of food. In 2019 he wrote, directed and produced his own theatre show as part of Sparkfest. Most recently, he is working for Strike a Light as Assistant Producer as well as finding and developing independent projects that challenge and question social norms. He is a member of JOLT in Gloucester as part of GCT (Gloucester Culture Trust) providing artists from all over Gloucestershire a space to explore and create in a safe environment.
Cheng Keng
Cheng Keng graduated from Royal Central School of Speech and Drama Scenography MFA. He is an artist/designer in performance art originally from Taiwan and based in London currently. Cheng works with set, lighting and video to build the visual narrative and dramaturgy.
Since 2015, He has designed and created works in contemporary performance, opera, experimental theatre, devising performance and online exhibition.
Shamica Ruddock
Shamica Ruddock is an artist found often working with sound. She has designed sound for various artist moving image. This includes the short film Mira and Mei by artist Alexis Parinas, exhibited at the Barbican in 2019 as part of Concrete Salon.
Within their own practice Shamica has exhibited works with the South London Gallery, Margate Now, Barbican and Tate Britain.
Live performances also include a presentation of 'Re-Imagining In-Conversation'—an ongoing audiovisual venture developed in collaboration with interdisciplinary artist Hannan Jones—as part of the 2022 edition of internationally acclaimed Glasgow based contemporary music festival.
MEET OUR AMPLIFY ALUMNI
Trevor Joseph
Trevor originally worked in construction and subsequently joined The National Theatre’s ‘Goods In’ team in 2007, and the Stage Crew in 2011. Since leaving the NT he has worked as Stage Crew at ENO and ROH for a season each.
In November 2019 he secured a full time Show Crew job on Cameron Mackintosh’s new version of Les Mis at The Sondheim Theatre in the West End. On this production he was responsible for his own show plot. Trevor made the most of his transferrable skills during lockdown by working in customer services.
He is currently developing his experience further through technical roles in film and TV.
“AMPLIFY has been brilliant. As a stage tech I was a Black guy standing back and watching – not much opportunity for growth. I had started to question my career but AMPLIFY has made me realise I can get the skills and qualifications and I will make it. It offers networking, opportunities, and possibly work. It is a home base and an open door. I don’t want this to end! I really need my two warriors to carry on supporting me.”
Pascale Kasirabo
Pascale is British-Rwandese. He joined Tangle aged seventeen and went on to study theatre and producing at the University of Kent achieving a BA (Hons) whilst continuing to practice theatre and film professionally in the UK.
He worked with Tangle from 2010-2017 as assistant director/producer on Here & Now, Global Community, Dream Nation, The Mandela Project, Steering Through Stars, Towards the Sun, and No One is an Island whilst also project-managing seven Tangle Cafés and numerous other events.
Since 2017, Pascale has been based in Kampala, Uganda, working in the private sector. He is currently in the process of starting up an NGO helping children affected by HIV/AIDs and homelessness.
“No place or family holds a greater place in my heart and life than Tangle. Tangle was my genesis, it is the place where everything becomes clear, issues of identity, authorship and practicing theatre all become real. Tangle is my second family, outside of the mother and father nucleus Tangle is my other family.
My journey with Tangle is how I'd want other people to experience and engage with Tangle, from the Family Cafe, to helping me with Drama School monologue auditions, to being offered the Trainee associateship opportunity, to then becoming an integral part of this family.
I was with Anna and Tangle between the age of 16/17 years until now and I can honestly say that they have been an instrumental part in the individual I have become.”
Credits include: The Zone (Taoyuan art centre); A Hundred Words of Snow (OSO art centre); Pennyroyal (Finborough Theatre); Sankofa: Before the whitewash (Roundhouse); Birdie and the Animal Kingdom (Harrow art Center); Beauty and the 7 Beasts (Brixton Jamm); Borders (Drayton Arms and OSO Art Centre); 7homes (Online exhibition); Extremist (CSSD); @iContact: Mirror Talk (Tour)'; Blue Island 99 (International Dublin Gay Theatre Festival, Sydney Fringe Festival); and Hello World (Taiwan).
Pierce McFarlane
Pierce is a Lighting Programmer and technician. He graduated in Creative Lighting Control BA (Hons) from Rose Bruford in 2020 and is currently a Trainee Lighting Technical Operator/Lighting Visual Supervisor at BBC’s Eastenders. He aims to become a Lighting Director in the future. Pierce joined AMPLIFY in 2020 shadowing Tangle’s Volpone Lighting Designer and helped set up the production at one of the tour locations.
“I really enjoyed my placement with Tangle. It helped me gain knowledge and experience in relation to lighting and taking a production on tour. I want to thank Anna, John and Mark for the opportunity to train with Tangle and would strongly recommend others to get involved.”
"Amplify was completely transformative in helping me reset as Covid completely stopped our industries. Anna and Mark were vital for me to gain perspective on how to develop as a producer, and a theatre maker, and helped me gain core tools to move forward in the industry. Anna has continued to stay in touch and is always on the other end of the phone for support, and I feel extremely lucky to have developed such a supportive relationship with an incredible mentor. I hope to continue working with and supporting Amplify!”
Shivaike Shah
Shivaike is currently a production secretary at Marvel and an Associate Artist with B3 Media. Before joining AMPLIFY he worked in various roles at London Fashion Week, catwalks and catalogues as backstage manager, presentation manager and show producer.
In 2020 he worked with Theatre Centre as Schools Outreach Coordinator. In the same year, he went on to set up his all-global majority production company Khameleon Productions, receiving two successful ACE grants, private funding from the UK and US, and a partnership with Digital Theatre. Through Khameleon, Shivaike is developing a show and preparing to become Brown University’s Artist in Residence. He is also working on a short film which will tour over 25 different locations across 12 American states in Spring 2022.
Shivaike has recently received a third ACE grant for Organisational Development; a feat, he says, that would have been impossible without Tangle’s help.
Brent Tan
Joining us in 2022, Brent is a Production/Stage Manager in training at LAMDA. He has an interest in Immersive Theatre and touring. He believes in building a strong foundations in technical skills to support his craft. In the future, he aspires to be a producer that dives into interactive theatre. He would like to support others as how Tangle has supported him.
Brent has worked on WeRNotVirus2 by Moongate Productions as a Stage Manager. He was also assistant producer & stage manager for Amaterasu: Out of the cave by Papergang theatre. He also had his work placement with Bush Theatre’s Fair Play and New Diorama’s Police Cops The Musical.
Haley Yiu
Haley is a Hong Kong and Filipino creative based in Manchester. Originally from Hong Kong, she came to the UK to pursue theatre and has recently graduated from the University of Manchester with a BA in Drama and Film Studies.
With experience in producing, acting, sound design, stage management and directing, Haley is a jack-of-all-trades. Her passion for theatre drives her to learn about all the different roles and aspects in theatre. Haley joined AMPLIFY in 2023 to learn more about producing and lighting design, hoping to further explore these two fields of theatre. In the future, she hopes to inspire children and young adults to engage more with theatre, especially those from Asian communities.
Lau Batty
Lau Batty joined Tangle as Trainee Participation Producer, a new post funded by Creative Access and curated by our partners at Prime Theatre in 2020. In 2021 Lau became Tangle’s Trainee Associate Artist, working on AMPLIFY and KUKURA programmes.
Lau is a writer, director and creative facilitator who has worked with Tangle, New International Encounter, Lightbox Theatre, Unique Voice and the Regional Theatre Young Directors Scheme - New Directors South West.
She previously worked as a producer with Prime Theatre and PAPER Arts and is the Director for the Atamai Tutor Centre, in Bristol, which aims to tackle inequalities in education.
Lau is proud of her British and Polynesian heritage: Lau’s father is British, and her mother is predominantly Tuvaluan with some Kiribati and Danish heritage, and she was raised across the South Pacific and Southern Africa.
As a child, Lau lived on Tristan Da Cunha, one of the world’s remotest islands, and she was raised across the South Pacific and Southern Africa. She is passionate about Caribbean poetry and wrote her dissertation on Derek Walcott and Kamau Braithwaite.
Genesis Kickstart Fund
We are proud to have been granted the Genesis Kickstart Fund supported by the Genesis Foundation to expand our AMPLIFY programme into 2021 and beyond.
Receipt of one of the Genesis Kickstart Fund grants will afford Tangle a vital platform to continue delivering its offstage skills development scheme for emerging technical theatremakers from diverse heritages and backgrounds. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.