About the Company
“We feel the Hysteria team is without a doubt amongst the most talented in the new generation of UK physical theatre performers.” Joseph Seelig, Director, London International Mime Festival
Since forming in 2005, Inspector Sands has created two critically acclaimed, sell out shows which have toured extensively in the UK and to countries around the world. They have also carried out workshops with practitioners and young people on tour and as part of longer term projects at the Lyric Hammersmith and BAC.
Inspector Sands are committed to creating outstanding theatre which fully embraces its live medium, incorporating visual, sound, textual and physical elements into a strongly integrated whole. Thematically, they are interested in exploring how global events and trends affect the detail of everyday life.
The Company
Ben Lewis is Joint Artistic Director of Inspector Sands. Other work includes, as a writer, two radio plays, Tiny and Blue Sky Thinking, for BBC Radio 4. As writer/director, he has co-created two pieces of music theatre with composer Dafydd James, The Village Social (National Theatre Wales) and the Total Theatre Award-winning My Name Is Sue (Soho Theatre/UK tour). He is currently part of the Soho Theatre's writer's residency scheme, the Soho Six. Performing credits include: Pinocchio (Theatre Royal Northampton); A Quiet Afternoon (Stamping Ground, Riverside Studios/UK tour); Beautiful Cosmos (The Tron); Naked Neighbour (Tramway); The Night Before Christmas (Macrobert). He also co-founded People Can Run, co-creating their shows Aruba, Fish Story, The Ushers and the short film Happy Birthday. Ben trained at LAMDA.
Giulia Innocenti is Joint Artistic Director of Inspector Sands. Other acting work includes: One Thousand Paper Cranes (Catherine Wheels, dir. Lu Kemp), The 13 Midnight Challenges of Angelus Diablo (RSC/Latitude: dir. Lu Kemp); 1984 (Blind Summit; dir. Mark Down); Cymbeline (Kneehigh; dir. Emma Rice); …Sisters (The Gate/Headlong); Pinocchio (Theatre Royal Northampton); Madam Butterfly (ENO; dir. Anthony Minghella, ); Low Life (Blind Summit; dir. Mark Down); Macbeth (New Wolsey; dir. Mary Swan); Lady Macbeth (Quebracho Theatre, Lille; dir. Monica espina). She was co-founder of Attic People, whose Drip (NSDF award; Tap Water Award for Best Physical Theatre) toured the UK and internationally. Giulia trained at the Jacques Lecoq School in Paris.
Lucinka Eisler is Joint Artistic Director of Inspector Sands. She is also artistic director of Stamping Ground Theatre (A Quiet Afternoon - BAC/ Riverside Studios/ touring; Generation - Central School). Other work as a performer includes The Pirate Project (Improbable/Lucy Foster) plus projects with Wonderful Beast, the Royal Opera House, Oxford Literary Festival, Shams, FletcherWilson and Shunt. Lucinka worked with Theatre O on Three Dark Tales and The Argument (assistant director/ co-writer), assisted Rufus Norris on Tintin (Young Vic) and was staff director on Market Boy (National Theatre). She recently co-directed Reykjavik for Shams (The Roundhouse/Zoo Venues, Edinburgh). Lucinka trained at the Jacques Lecoq school in Paris and is a visiting lecturer at the Central School of Speech and Drama.
Associate Artists
Elena Peña (sound designer) was associate sound designer for If That's All There Is and will be sound designer for Mass Observation. Other sound design credits include: Gambling (Raz Shaw – Soho Theatre), The 13 Midnight Challenges of Angelus Diablo (RSC), Quimeras (Edinburgh International Festival, Playhouse), The Internationalist (Gate Theatre – Assistant Sound Designer), Unbroken (Gate Theatre), Plasticine (Southwark Playhouse), The House of Yes (Birmingham School of Acting), Under Milk Wood (Northampton Theatre Royal), Love & Money (ArtsEd), Building Babble (Attic People), Fish Story (People Can Run), Punch and Judy Redux (Dissentertainment). Sound credits Include: Festival of Firsts, Summer Collection, Helen Chadwick’s Dalston Songs and Voices Across the World, ROH Linbury Theatre. She began her theatre career with Paco Peña’s Flamenco Dance Company touring to major international venues, from the Sydney Opera House to London’s Royal Festival Hall.
Lu Kemp (director) directed If That’s All There Is and will direct Mass Observation. Lu works as a director and dramaturge for new writing, physical theatre and dance. Other recent directing credits include: One Thousand Paper Cranes (part of the Made In Scotland Showcase 2011); Burn Me Dead (currently in development at the National Theatre Studio; a new version of Bulgakov’s Master and Margarita by Carl Grose and Jonnie Broadbent); The 13 Midnight Challenges of Angelus Diablo by Carl Grose (RSC at Latitude). She is currently directing John Donnelly’s Encourage the Others (Almeida LAB) and a new English version of Kopergeitry’s Titus by Jan Sobrie. Lu trained on the LEM at Lecoq, Paris, and with Anne Bogart’s SITI Company, New York.
THE BLACK CAT (from MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH), Photo by Stephen Dobbie