Welcome
Ben is Co-Artistic Director of Scottish theatre company Grid Iron. He works almost exclusively in the field of location theatre and site-responsive work and from 2004-2008 was a Director of the Dutch theatre company Muztheater.
Recent work includes Tryst for Grid Iron at Stavanger 2008, The Tailor of Inverness for Dogstar and Yarn for Grid Iron at Dundee Rep; Grid Iron's first production for children, Pauline Mol's Once Upon A Dragon; Grid Iron's tenth anniversary production of Roam, co-produced with the National Theatre of Scotland, which was the world's first theatre production to take place in the airside and landside areas of a working airport; and Night Flight, for Muztheater, staged in an aircraft hangar in Den Helder Airport, the Netherlands. Recent freelance work includes The Tailor of Inverness for Dogstar at the Edinburgh Festival (winner of 3 awards) and Bint Jbeil (work-in-progress for the National Theatre of Scotland).
For Grid Iron he has directed Tryst (Stavanger 2008); Yarn (with Dundee Rep); Once Upon A Dragon; Roam (winner of five awards including the Best Production Award from the Critics Awards for Theatre in Scotland); The Devil's Larder (winner of four awards including the Herald Archangel, Total Theatre and Scotsman Fringe First Awards 2005); The Story of the Death of Najib Brax (British Council project in Beirut); Naw Nader Men Al Houb (Grid Iron and Takween (Jordan) co-production with the British Council); Those Eyes, That Mouth (winner of seven awards); Variety; Fermentation; Decky Does A Bronco (Scotsman Fringe First Award 2000), Monumental, Gargantua, (Fringe First Award); The Bloody Chamber (Herald Angel Award) and Clearance.
For Muztheater he has directed Aan de Zaan 01, Spaanse Schans, Night Flight, Romeo Delta and the current work-in-progress Kop vol Spijkers.
From 2000-2002 he was an Associate Director of the Almeida Theatre in London where he created the acclaimed Participatory Projects programme. His productions included Caledonian Road, A Chaste Maid in Cheapside, The Whizzkid, Decky Does A Bronco (UK tour co-produced with Grid Iron); Ghost Ward, The Last Valentine and Into Our Dreams.
He has taught site-responsive theatre in Lebanon, Jordan, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, South Africa, Scotland and England.
New in 2010
- Huxley's Lab Grid Iron/Lung Ha's co-production
- Peter Pan US Tour
- Decky Does A Bronco 10th Anniversary revival for 5 month UK tour
Latest News
December 2009
Peter Pan opens at the O2 on 1st December for a strictly limited 6 week season. Ben conducts with co-director Maria Oller the first week's workshop with actors from Lung Ha's and Grid Iron to map out the territory of the production of Huxley's Lab.
November
Ben commences 3 weeks re-rehearsal for the O2 performances of Peter Pan, working in more live music, script and design changes.
October
Ben continues initial research and scripting for the forthcoming Lung Ha's / Grid Iron co-production Huxley's Lab, which investigates our contemporary slide into eugenics. Initial casting begins. Recasting also for the re-staging of Peter Pan at the O2 for Christmas.