VAULT Festival 2023 - Programme
CAST
Gina - Emma Richardson
Ink Lord/Ensemble - Robbie Bellekom
Westie/Charlie/Ensemble - Sofia Engstrand
Kevin/Xanthie/Ensemble - Francesca Forristal
Creative Team/Crew
Director/Dramaturg - Micha Mirto
Writer/Producer/(Puppeteer) - KT Roberts
Puppet Design- Robbie Bellekom
Movement Director/AD - Coral Tarran
Sound Design - Hollie Buhagiar
Artwork - KC Lylark
EMMA RICHARDSON - GINA
Emma Richardson is delighted to be back playing Gina. During her acting career, Emma has worked for the BBC, Comedy Central, ITV and many more. Theatre work includes productions at The Soho Theatre, Arcola, Southwark Theatre, Comicon and Excel Centre Mainstage. Her career highlight was doing a plant rap for BBC teach to explain flower anatomy to kids (Google it).
ROBBIE BELLEKOM - INK LORD/ENSEMBLE & PUPPET DESIGN
Robbie is an actor, puppeteer and writer. They trained at East 15 Acting School before going on to study at the Curious School of Puppetry. Theatre credits include , Rotterdam (Richter Theatre), Pinocchio (Norwich Puppet Theatre), Awful Auntie (BSC) and Another Winter’s Tale (Dogwood Productions). Radio includes Omnispace, No Finer Life and Vaughan Williams at the Royal College of Music.
Robbie is also a core cast member of the podcast Flintlocks and Fireballs and can be seen in the short films Diomysus and Dungeons and Pronouns.
SOFIA ENGSTRAND - WESTIE/CHARLIE/ENSEMBLE
Sofia is an actor, comedian, and audiobook narrator. Having trained professionally in dance, she later turned her hand to comedy, studying clowning at Ecole Philippe Gaulier and improv at The Groundlings in LA. She is delighted to be making her return to VAULT Festival, finally, in her fourth production with the dream team that is Dolls in Amber. Her recent credits include “News Revue” (Canal Cafe Theatre), award-winning short films “Do Not Touch” and “Viskar i Vinden” (No Context Productions) and “The Liberator” (Netflix).
Sofia performs regularly at stand-up venues across London and her audiobooks can be found on Audible (and anywhere else audiobooks exist in the hopes you’re trying to avoid Bezos).
FRANCESCA FORRISTAL - KEVIN/XANTHIE/ENSEMBLE
Francesca Forristal (non-binary, hairy writer-performer) by day; award-winning drag king Christian Adore by night! Their drag has featured on the BBC and BBC Bitesize, improvising ‘Sequins, Spoofs, and Salaciousness!’ [Guardian] - one of the 'top names in the capital' [Guardian]. Recently nomm’d for The Stage Award 2022 Best Book/Lyrics, Forristal’s latest "original and edgy" [The Guardian] musical, PUBLIC DOMAIN was The Times' Pick of the Week, and had a West End transfer to The Vaudeville Theatre. Their musical, P.S. I'm a Terrible Person - in which Forristal starred - made the Styles and Drewe Mentorship Award shortlist 2021, and received a merit award from LA New Voices Project 2021. Forristal’s screen work includes Netflix's Blood, Sex, and Royalty, '22; they have original shows in development with Amazon Prime, Disney Plus, and Heartstopper’s SeeSaw; they're a BAFTA Connect member; and their stage play Oddball was a finalist in the Edinburgh TV Festival 2020 New Voice Awards (supported by Netflix). Represented by Jethro Thompson at Curtis Brown. For Musical Theatre, contact Helen Clarkson and Alastair Lindsey-Renton. @dragprov @forristalwrites
MICHA MIRTO - DIRECTOR/DRAMATURG
Micha Mirto is a dramaturg & director. Examples of her work include: I,Dido (Non Vaughan O'Hagan) which has been adapted into a short film winning 24 awards internationally; Disney's immersive The Nutcracker and the Four Realms and award nominated Room Service (Richard Fitchet); Newsrevue (the worlds longest running sketch show); Cross Examined a courtroom drama for Penguin (in collaboration with James Patterson) and MiLife a theatrical commision for the NHS then adapted into a cartoon starring Jo Brand. Her shows have been nominated for Off West End awards four times and cyber punk peice Lethe (Noga Flashion) played at The Kings Head Theatre to 4/5 star reviews and a standing ovation nomination. She was shortlisted for the Vault 5 and is currently working on radical queer feminist westling show Sasquatch.
KT ROBERTS - WRITER/PRODUCER (& PUPPETEER)
KT is a screen and stage writer with a keen interest in elevated genre, and particularly in subverting dated tropes with a fresh female-driven and LGBTQ+ perspective. She is represented by Jethro Thompson at Curtis Brown, has an unlikely Neuroscience degree from Cambridge. She’s a member of BAFTA Connect, and was selected for Fright-Fest New Blood Scheme ‘21, WFTV Mentoring Scheme ‘22, and EIFF Talent Lab ‘22. KT is currently lead writing premium grounded sci-fi thriller series EYLAND for Anton, with BAFTA winning director Otto Bathurst (PEAKY BLINDERS, BLACK MIRROR, HALO). She co-wrote Lorna Tucker’s features, BARE, for Raindog/the BFI and KILL ‘EM ALL for Greenacre. KT has just been commissioned to write a grounded sci-fi for SF Studios and her debut original concept feature, MERMAID X, received early development funding from the BFI with producer Douglas Cox (HOST, DASHCAM). KT has had original TV series picked up by SeeSaw and Erebus, and is working with Augenshcein, Open Book Productions, Stockholm Syndrome-TV, and Causeway Pictures.
CORAL TARRAN - MOVEMENT DIRECTOR/ AD
Coral is overjoyed to be working Dolls in Amber again. Coral trained at Lamda before moving to New York to continue her studies at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. She is a founding member of the multi award winning Mischief Theatre, and one of the creators of their Olivier nominated show Lights, Camera, Improvise!
Directing credits include, but not limited to; Daddy Issues (UK Tour, BBC Popcorn shortlisted) Bunker (The Lion and Unicorn) Raise Your Hand if you Want Dad to Die! (Theatre503) Am I Happy Yet? (The Lion and Unicorn, Offie nominated 2020) Hop! (The Space).
HOLLIE BUHAGIAR - SOUND DESIGN
Hollie Buhagiar is a multi award-winning Gibraltarian composer based in London, who specialises in crafting bespoke scores for film, TV and Theatre. Graduating from Leeds College of Music with first-class honours in Music production, she then went on to complete a Masters at the prestigious National Film and Television School. Hollie recently scored the Netflix Original 'Seal And The City', the three-part BritBox series 'Extinction Rebellion: For Life', 'UNFAIR' a Comedy Pilot with Channel 4, 'CRADLED ' for Channel 4's BAFTA-nominated Anthology Series 'On The Edge' and 'Sandstorm (ملاقات) ' the first short Pakistani Film ever to premiere at the Sundance Film Festival. Hollie's experience spans worldwide and includes work for the likes of Film 4, Netflix, Sky, Channel 4, BFI, NOWNESS, Creative England, Tate, The Guardian, Film London, VICE and BBC. Her projects have received critical acclaim winning various prestigious awards, these include a BAFTA, a Porsche Award, a Gold British Arrow, a McLaren Award and two Unity Award nominations.
KC LYLARK - ARTWORK
KC is a life-long artist/ disaster gremlin who started digitally painting in 2020. This poster was their first ever promotional project and they are so excited to finally see the characters jump from poster to stage - where they also created artwork for the puppets! When KC isn't drawing they are producing shows and playing DnD.