Bios:

Ruth Sullivan (www.ruthsullivan.co.uk ) is an award-winning Foley Artist with hundreds of TV and film credits, including The Lawyer (Shardlake), The Lazarus Project, Peaky Blinders, Scrapper, Bodyguard, The Death of Stalin, The Life and Death of Peter Sellers (for which she has an Emmy), Eyes Wide Shut, Downton Abbey, Killing Eve, Peppa Pig, Criminal Record, One Day, Top Boy and The World is Not Enough.

Ruth is passionate about developing live Foley sound for the stage and is often called on as Foley Consultant for theatre productions. She performs live Foley in Simon McBurney’s Die Zauberflöte/The Magic Flute in opera houses all over Europe and at the Metropolitan Opera, New York, and regularly collaborates with Katie Mitchell, most recently as Foley originator and performer in Cow | Deer at the Royal Court Theatre.

She regularly leads workshops for theatre and film students, including at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and the BFI Film Academy, run by Eastside Studios. During the pandemic she contributed to the Sensory Stories project piloted by Tyne and Wear Archives and Museums, creating and recording a series of Foley sound effects made using household objects. This in turn led to involvement in two more projects based on works by Constable and Monet, which was run in conjunction with the National Gallery. For the Bravo 22 and The Drive Project she developed what she thinks was a world first during lockdown: a Foley sound workshop on Zoom! She is a regular participant with Modus Arts, an Arts Council funded NPO, and their series of Foley Nights, which provide an opportunity for attendees to make live sound effects in direct response to a selection of film clips. She has presented many talks to students, both in person and online, and participated in Q&As at film festivals and screenings.

As a sound designer, productions include Ink by James Graham, Brighton Rock by Graham Greene adapted by Bryony Lavery (Tower Theatre); One Day When We Were Young by Nick Payne (Hen and Chickens); falling for by Ellie Ward (Bridge House Theatre); A Dream Play by August Strindberg adapted by Caryl Churchill, Mules by Winsome Pinnock (Tower Theatre); The Net by Zoë Guzy-Sprague (Tristan Bates Theatre); Di and Viv and Rose by Amelia Bullmore (Theatro Technis); The Ladykillers by Graham Linehan (Upstairs at the Gatehouse); Might Never Happen by Doll’s Eye Theatre Company (The King’s Head Theatre & UK Schools Tour); The Accrington Pals by Peter Whelan and Gormenghast by Mervin Peake (Bridewell Theatre).

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Carolyn Downing (https://www.carolyndowning.co.uk/) is a freelance sound designer, working both nationally and internationally. She enjoys working closely with directors, performers and other creative collaborators, from rehearsal room to performance space, to create cohesive and fully integrated designs with the desire to push the boundaries of sound as an artistic medium within theatre. Over the years, Carolyn has built strong and successful relationships with freelance directors and theatre companies alike, including the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Royal Court and Frantic Assembly. Carolyn also has a wealth of experience in the creation and leadership of sound design workshops and has worked with establishments such as Central School of Speech and Drama, Central St. Martin’s College of Art and Design, Wimbledon College of Art and Mousetrap Theatre Projects. She also has experience working in other media genres, including film, animation and exhibitions (including fashion) and live events – and wishes to continue to flourish in these too.

Carolyn was awarded the Tony for Best Sound Design for Life of Pi in 2023, having been nominated for an Olivier Award for the same show in 2022. She also received an Olivier nomination for the Sound Design for Summer and Smoke at The Almeida and Duke of York’s Theatre in the West End in 2019 and had previously won the Olivier for her Sound Design for Chimerica at The Almeida (which transferred to the Harold Pinter Theatre in the West End) in 2014.

Future Work Includes: Ness (a digital soundscape set at Orford Ness, which has been a miliary testing site and is now an internationally important nature reserve) and an RSC production of Roald Dahl’s Big Friendly Giant.

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Zoë Svendsen (zoë/her) is director, dramaturg, writer, researcher. As Artistic Director of Metis Arts Projects (UK) – metisarts.co.uk – Zoë makes participatory theatre performances and installations exploring ecological crisis and capitalism, including: Ness Displaced / Ness: an audio landscape (HighTide 2025)Wild Dress (Hawkwood Centre for Future Thinking); the Amt für Zuwart und Gegenkunft @reEDOcate me! Floating University, Berlin; the cabaret improvisation show, Love Letters to a Liveable Future (Cambridge Junction); the video installation Factory of the Future (Oslo Architecture Triennale); the Artsadmin Green Commission, WE KNOW NOT WHAT WE MAY BE (Barbican), World Factory (Young Vic/tour/book).

Zoë also works as dramaturg to reimagine classic texts for the contemporary stage with London theatres including the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, The Globe, the National Theatre, the Young Vic and the Royal Shakespeare Company. Zoë regularly works with the composer and sarod player, Soumik Datta, to create theatre-concert hybrids exploring migration and memory, including Mone Rekho (Edinburgh International Festival; international tour) and Borderland (Queen Elizabeth Hall, with the London Philharmonia Orchestra/Kings Place).

Zoë is Associate Artist at Cambridge Junction, and lectures on dramaturgy and performance at the University of Cambridge, undertaking practice-led research. Zoë’s book, Theatre & Dramaturgy, was recently published by Bloomsbury. As Associate Artist at the Donmar Warehouse in 2022 Zoë developed the concept of ‘climate dramaturgy’, a holistic approach to climate conscious artistic practice. As Associate Artist and AHRC Knowledge Exchange Fellow with HighTide Theatre Company, Zoë embedded the practice across the organisation, and its network of writers across the Eastern region. Zoë’ has contributed an article on on ‘climate dramaturgy’ to the International Theatre Institute’s journal (in English and German). In September 2023, Zoë curated a day-long event for theatre directors, with the three National Theatres (Scotland, Wales, UK), to explore the challenges and affordances artist-led climate care. Zoë is a founding member of the Naked Theatre, a pan-European theatre network initiated by Belgian theatre director, Luk Perceval.