Cardiff's leading musical youth theatre /young people's theatre group

The Unknown Theatre Company was formed in February 1997 as a non-profit making association. It was founded by a group of four parents who decided that there weren't enough opportunities for young people to perform in the area.

Two of those original parents have now moved on, but the Company continues to expand and develop with an ever-eager group of volunteers to help with the daily running of the company.

• People
• Venues
• Shows

People

It all began with our first production of Peter Pan (The Musical) in 1997. The talented David Lawrence, who later went on to study opera in London, was both MD and Director, with Jane Donoghue, who produced this and subsequent shows for the Company. David was succeeded as Director by Vic Atkins and as Musical Director by Matt Brind. 

Directors/choreographers
Vic Atkins's first show with the Company was Dazzle when he joined us as Choreographer, moving on to become director when David Lawrence left to pursue his career. He has directed almost all our major productions, including our first forays into the Wales Millennium Centre, Dance of the Dragon (2005) and Just So. Alongside directing and choreographing most of the Company's musical shows he continues to develop his own skills by performing and directing regularly with other local companies.

Other directors who have worked with the Company so far include Greg Ashton, Philip Michell and Lon David, who joined us in 2003 to direct Eat Your Heart Out! Lon directed our first serious drama: the double-bill, Changing Lives, in early 2006, and our first show especially for younger members, How to Eat Like a Child in February 2007. Since 2006, One-Act plays are now entered annually into the Glamorgan Drama League's One-Act Play Festival, and in 2008, the Company tackled its first full-length play The Oedipus Plays, also directed by Lon.

Musical Directors
Matt Brind was encouraged by the Company to develop his music-writing skills, when we commissioned him to write two musicals. One of these, Dance of the Dragon, received funding from the Millennium Commission, whilst the other, Gold Woman, was funded by the committee and cast members. Dance of the Dragon (Philip Michell/Matt Brind) went on to be one of the winners of the Sony Global Search for New Musicals as part of The International Festival for Musical Theatre in Cardiff, when it was entered by the Company. 

Eventually, work took Matt to London (though he did return to Cardiff to run our highly successful 2004 Summer School), and two very talented sixth form students from Whitchurch High School took over - Jonathan Mann and Joe Hood - developing their expertise through working with the company, and only leaving us to study music in London. Since Nell's Belles in 2005, Ben Davies, a music graduate from Cardiff University, and now a full-time music teacher, has been our Musical Director, joining us on our 2005 tour to Monaco with Dance of the Dragon and accompanying us to St Avertin for our 2006 tour. Dave Winterbottom, who sometimes performs as an actor with the company, also plays for us when needed, joining us for How To Eat Like a Child in 2007.

Technical
The Company has benefitted from excellent technical support, particularly from Lucy Chiplin, who joined us as follow spot operator with Dracula Spectacular, has stayed with us ever since and who now does all our lighting and makes our main technical decisions.

Producer and the rest of the team
Jane Donoghue, our Producer, is the person whose passion, vision and tenacity are behind the Company's breadth of activities. Jane was one of the founder members of the Company, and has worked tirelessly to find money and other resources to ensure that Company members are offered opportunities they are unlikely to find elsewhere. As is the case in all the Company's work, it was Jane's imagination and determination that gave the Company the opportunity to work with the Japanese Kawagachi Youth Musical Company when they co-presented Cinderella with us in Cardiff in 2001, and then took us to Japan in 2002 for the Quest Gate performance.

Jane is more than ably supported by Annette Littlechild who concentrates on our Front of House activities, but also supports the Company's work in countless - and vital - ways. Annette has been involved with the Company since it began, but became more formally involved as a committee member in 1998. Her support and input is to be found in every Company production.

The Unknown Theatre Company is extremely fortunate to have our own in-house photographer, Jenny Hibbert, whose work can be seen on many of the photoalbum pages for the later shows on this site. Jenny has been an Associate member of the Welsh Photographic Federation since November 2007, and in April 2008 received her CPAGB (Credit Photography Associated Great Britain). Her work has also recently been featured in the industry magazine Photography Monthly after she won a competition. Jenny was also one of the founder members of the Company.

The Company also benefits enormously from the input and commitment of committee member Geraldine Roberts, who sews. And then some.

Kelly Littlechild's expertise at stage makeup is also regularly drawn upon by the company.

In 2008, Jenni Phillips joined the team as Patrons Secretary and Corporate Sponsorship Manager, seeking external support for the work of the company.

To see photos of the current committee, go to our About Us page.

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Venues

The Company has performed in a number of venues across Cardiff, ranging from the more intimate spaces, such as the Sherman Studio Theatre, to our most regular venue: the 250-seater Howardian Centre. We have also taken two productions to the Weston Studio of the Wales Millennium Centre, as well as performing on its Tesco Stage. In 2007 we performed our special 10th anniversary concert at Duffryn Gardens as part of the summer festival. We also perform at Roath Church House and at various venues across Cardiff as part of our charity activities.

We have performed in other theatres, such as the Dylan Thomas Theatre in Swansea, where the Glamorgan One-Act Play Festivals are held, as well as other theatres across the world: in Japan, Monaco, France and Edinburgh.

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Shows

The Unknown Theatre has produced a large number of shows. Details of each production can be found by clicking on our Past Shows link.

It has always been part of The Unknown Theatre Company's aims to allow its members to experience other forms and types of performance, beyond conventional musical theatre shows.

As a result, Company members have:

• represented the UK at the World Festival of Amateur Theatre held in Monaco
• taken 4 shows to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival
• toured to Japan, and then played host to a Japanese company in return
• forged links with and twice visited the High School for the Performing Arts in New York
• taken a show to a French drama festival and hosted the French home company's return visit and performance in Cardiff
• performed regularly at The Glamorgan Drama League's annual 'Glammies' ceremony (see the photos from the 2007, 2006 , 2005  or from the 2004 evenings)
• performed for Senior Citizens in homes and clubs such as
• Penylan Home
• St Albans Nursing Home
• Other residential homes in Cardiff Bay, Ely, Roath
• participated in Community productions for
• Alzheimer's Association Christmas Parties (twice)
• 'Make a Difference Day' charity performance for LATCH/BARNARDO's
• entered musical competitions, such as the
• 21 years and under, Stage Musical section at the Miners' Eisteddfod (which we won)
• BBC Radio 3 Choir of the year (see the page for the event)
• staged informal concerts and musical entertainments for a variety of causes and in a number of locations such as
• Roath Church House
• St Philip Evans Church
• St Margaret's Church
• participated in a highly successful summer school.  Read all about it here.

The committee is always looking out for opportunities to stretch the Company through new experiences, such as tours, exchanges and concerts etc.   Please do contact us if you have an idea you think might be of interest to the Company.

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