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Mark Smith - Actor, Director, Teacher & Producer
'a magical and rich blend of finely-tuned storytelling and acting'
John Roberts - writing about Beasts and Beauties
This is link to a recent blog post, published by The Reviews Hub entitled: Starting again - My love affair with theatre. GUEST BLOG: Starting Again - My Love Affair With Theatre - The Reviews Hub
A bit about Me:
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Mark is a multi-award-winning actor and director and has worked for over twenty five years as a professional devisor, director, improviser, storyteller and workshop teacher. He brings a wealth of knowledge in regards to developing stories and he loves making things up spontaneously. His PhD is based on these very subjects.
Mark was Artistic Director of Spike Theatre from 2008-2014 and devised or directed all of their theatre shows to date. Spike theatre was a small scale theatre Company, which toured improvised / devised work nationally and internationally for Fifteen years. He has produced worked for venues, festivals and companies - regionally, nationally and internationally. He has a passion for developing new work either through collaborative theatre making or with the playwright. Mark continues to develop, direct and perform (improvisation). |
Mark trained at Liverpool John Moore’s University (1993-1997), and undertook further training at Hope St. Ltd (1997-1998) in Children & Young people’s theatre and Physical theatre. During this period of time he worked with some of the countries foremost theatre practitioners/companies such as Paul Hunter, Jos Houben, Andrew Dawson and Trestle Theatre amongst many notable others.
Mark has been teaching regionally, nationally and internationally for the past twenty five years. He has taught at a variety of Institutions such as Hope University, Bradford University, LIPA, Exeter University and The Hothouse (Los Angeles). He teaches both in formal and informal education settings. He is currently a Senior Lecturer at a LJMU. Mark is passionate about developing the next generation of improvisers / theatre makers and mentors numerous new and emerging artists/companies across the North. |
'It’s a farce which makes fun of itself; and, in an age of forgettable comedy showcases and over-produced national theatre, it’s a refreshing and masterful piece of original storytelling.'
Andrew Latimer - writing about The Games
Directing Credits:
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(2005) - Jason and the Argonauts (2005) - Backwater (2005/06) - This Side Up (1) (2007) - The Adventures of Robin Hood (2007/08/09) - Gin and Tonic and Passing Trains (2) (2008) - Alice in Wonderland (2008/09/10) - Legless and Armless (3) (2009) - Aesop’s World (2009/10) - Hoof Jnr. (2010) - Top of the World (2010) - When I wake up I want to be famous! (2010) - Grimm’s Tales (2010) - The Games (4) (2010) - Danny the Champion of the world (2011) - The Games (5) (2011) - Alice at the Dock (2011) - Beasts and Beauties (6) (2012) - The Games (2012) - How to read minds and influence people (7) (2012) - Pieces of Eight (2012) - A Christmas Carol (2013) - Sink or Swim (2013) - I can make you a mentalist (8) (2014) - A life in 5 scenes (2014) - I can make you a mentalist (2014) - The Judgement of Hakim (2021) - The Bunker (2022/23) - The Fly (2022) - Story Pot 1/2/3 (2022/23) - The Incomplete Works of Shakespeare (2023) - Talk to the Hand (2023) - Curator of Liverpool Improvisation Festival |
(1) Nominated for best show at Singapore arts awards 2005
(2) Voted one of the picks of 2007 by Flying Inkpot critics Singapore Nominated for Best Show at Baltimore Visual Theatre festival 2008 (3) Shortlisted for Best comedy show at the Brighton fringe festival 2009 (4) Winner of Best comedy and Production Liverpool Daily post reader awards 2010 (5) Nominated for Best comedy, production and director Dark Chat Awards 2011 Nominated for Best show by Broadway baby and 3 Weeks 2011 (6) Voted one the picks of 2011 by The Public Reviews critics (7) Winner of Three weeks Editors choice award 2012 Winner of Best Cabaret at the Brighton Fringe festival 2012 (8) Nominated for Best Cabaret at the Brighton Fringe festival 2013 |