The Vanishing Elephant
Adi Chugh
Adi trained at The Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, UK and was immediately cast in a bold, award-winning verbatim play at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival which kicked-started his career and transported him over to NYC’s SoHo Playhouse Theatre and back to London’s Off West End stage.
Within six months, Adi landed his first feature film as a lead alongside NY-trained, theatre and Bollywood veteran Vinay Pathak. Since then, Adi has gone on to deliver larger-than-life characters for the West End & Off-West End stages in London and earn roles directed by Oscar-winning directors. His work spans several mediums including film, TV, on-demand series, voice over and stage in six languages, thanks to his polyglot capabilities.
Theatre credits include: The Vanishing Elephant (New Victory Theater, NYC), Dubailand (Finborough Theatre, London), Bayadère – The Ninth Life (Sadlers Wells Theatre, London), 5 Guys Chillin’ (SoHo Playhouse, NYC). Films credits include: “Shakuntala Devi” (Sony Pictures), “Bell Bottom” (Emmay Entertainment). Television credits include: “London Class” (MBC), “Never Kiss Your Best Friend” (Zee Productions).
David Morgan
David is the former Artistic Director of The Magik Theatre in San Antonio, Texas. In his twenty years there, David served in a variety of capacities, including playwright, director, award winning designer (sets/lights/sound), and technical director. His musical adaptations and productions of The Jungle Book, Treasure Island, and Pocahontas became successful national tours for Magik. David also initiated the Theatre for the Very Young programme for Magik’s youngest audience members, as well as a successful multi-year teen internship programme.
David was the production coordinator/designer for Luminaria: Arts Night in San Antonio, a citywide public art event that drew over 350,000 people to the city’s downtown parks and venues for several years, and is an installation artist himself. In a freelance capacity, David has written plays and designed sets for opera, symphony, ballet, and museum companies. In 2015, he created San Antonio’s first-ever Renaissance festival, which brought over 100 performances to 30,000 attendees, involving over 150 artists.
David is proud to have been involved with many Cahoots productions, including puppeteering in The Vanishing Elephant (NYC) and Shh! We Have a Plan (China), as well as having his shows, The Untold Truth of Captain Hook and Geppetto premiere in Belfast.
Iris Schmid
Iris was born in Tyrol, Austria, and worked in the Austrian and German industry for many years (Burgtheater, Odeon Theater, Theater Erfurt, Dschungel Wien) before graduating from RADA’s MA in 2022.
Major projects in the past were The Great Elephant Chase (dir. Mervyn Millar, Significant Object), The Last Days of Mankind & Alma – two multi-hour immersive productions (dir. Paulus Manker), What if Birds (dir. Euripides Laskaridis), Iphigenia in Vienna (based on Gary Owen’s Iphigenia in Splot) and Theatre for Young Audiences such as The Vanishing Elephant at New Victory Theater in New York and When we were Wild at the MAC (dir. Paul Bosco Mc Eneaney), Alice in Wonderland, Pinocchio or the solo shows The Alphabet of Dreams & Little Red Riding Hood.
James Grimm
James is an actor from Greenisland. He trained at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, graduating in 2021. He is one of the many returning cast members that performed in the original off-Broadway production, which received the New York Times Critics Pick in October 2023. James has just come off the back of performing in ‘The Pitch’ by Philip Catherwood, which sold out despite its limited run.
After performing in Belfast, James will be flying back to London to start rehearsals for ‘The Crumplezone’. As well as stage, James has been involved in numerous short films that have gone to film festivals, such as ‘Home Sweet Home’ by Maëlle Leggiadro (London Global Film Awards, Roma Short Film Festival, Tokyo International Short Film Festival), ‘You Alright Mate’ by James Mason (Short Is Beautiful Film Festival) and ‘Straight Out of Compton’ by Mark Hammett (New York Hip Hop Film Festival, British Urban Film Festival).
James is also the Narrator in an upcoming Titanic video game, ‘Titanic: Honor and Glory’.
Katriona Brown
Katriona Brown is a Sheffield born and bred actor and puppeteer. She is very excited to have joined the cast of The Vanishing Elephant.
Her theatre credits includes: The Hatchling (Triggers Stuff), Crimes On Centre Court (New Old Friends), Around The World In 80 Days (York Theatre Royal & Tilted Wig tour), There’s A Rang-Tan In My Bedroom and Other Stories (Little Angel Theatre), Chum-o-logues (Southwark Playhouse), Twirlywoos live on stage tour (MEI), The Smurfs, international arena (MEI), Kipper’s Snowy Day (Slot Machine), The Dinosaur Show (Blue Orange Theatre), The Wind In the Willows (Scripts for Supper), Elmer The Patchwork Elephant Show (Selladoor), Invisible Me (House of Stray Cats), Jekyll and Hyde (Scripts for Supper), The Dream Factory (House Of Stray Cats) and The Comedy Of Errors (Exeter Northcott).
Madhav Vasantha
Madhav Vasantha is a London based actor with a strong background in comedy and improv.
His recent work includes Crackerjack! Series 1 and 2 on CBBC/BBC one and can be seen on BBC iPlayer in the UK. He also played Hero Showoff in Starry Tantrums which debuted on Amazon Prime.
He recently finished a run of a 2 man play called Rajesh & Naresh in the Edinburgh Fringe festival and in the Camden Fringe festival.
Maeve Smyth
Maeve Smyth is an actor from Portstewart, Co. Derry; her TV credits include The Tourist season 2 (BBC 1) and Dalgliesh (Channel 5/US & Canada streaming).
Maeve has worked extensively in theatre in Belfast – her Lyric Theatre credits include The Colleen Bawn, The Threepenny Opera, We Like it Here and No Citation. Other theatre credits include The Cassandra of Ulster (Smock Alley Theatre) and Under the Hawthorn Tree (The MAC).
Maeve is a professional singer and voiceover artist; her most recent audiobook narrations are Versions of a Girl by Catherine Gray and Quickly While They Still Have Horses by Jan Carson. Maeve is predominantly an actor but wrote and directed her first short film End You, which was recently screened at an F-rated film night at The Strand Cinema. She is currently writing her first feature film.
Philippa O’Hara
Philippa O’Hara is a professional actor and singer from Belfast. She has been lucky enough to tour Ireland, China, Norway and America five times with various Cahoots NI shows. She is a guest vocalist with Lush! Classical and Cream Classical performing in huge venues with symphony orchestras in front of up to 18,000 people, videos of which have garnered over 9 million views on YouTube. She performs regularly with her sister as the O’Hara Sisters at prestigious events all over the U.K. and Ireland including The Players’ Dinner at The Open 2019 and at extremely exclusive, bespoke events at The Tate Modern, London. Her recent theatre credits include The Vanishing Elephant at New Victory Theatre, New York, Secrets Of Space USA tour, and Cinderella at the MAC.
Terrance Fleming
Terrance is happy to be working with Cahoots again, but on their home court. Terrance is originally from Mobile, AL. It’s not always noticeable, but certain words give it away. From Murphy high school, he chose to further his education at the University of Southern Mississippi (USM), where he received his BFA in acting.
Next stop for Terrance was Baltimore. During his time in the DMV, he’s had the privilege to collaborate with many different theatres and many talented artists. STC: King Lear, Much Ado About Nothing, The Lehman Trilogy, Woolly Mammoth Theater: Incendiary, CSC: Romeo & Juliet, Dracula, Henry V, Measure for Measure, Her Majesty and Sons: Twelfth Night, Richard III, BSF: Hamlet, Center Stage: Dream Girls, Artscentic: The Wiz, Aida, Memphis, Little Shop of Horrors.
Terrance was an athlete, prior to acting. He still finds ways to maintain that part of him. Flag football is a go-to. One of Terrance’s favorite things to say is “If you’re gonna do it, do it.”
Charles Way – Writer
Charles is one of Britain’s leading writers for children and young people. In 2016 he was honoured by Action for Children’s Arts for his contribution to children’s theatre. Charles began writing plays professionally in 1978 when he joined Leeds Playhouse TIE team. He has now written over fifty plays, and his work is produced all over the world. ‘Sleeping Beauty’ and ‘The Search for Odysseus’ were both nominated as Best Children’s Play by the Writer’s Guild of Great Britain and ‘A Spell of Cold Weather’ won the award in 1996.
His play about the percussionist Evelyn Glennie, which was first produced at the Polka Theatre, was nominated as Best Children’s Show by the TMA, as was ‘Nivelli’s War’ for Cahoots NI which transferred to Broadway in 2017. His version of ‘The Borrowers’ won the award in a production for Northern Stage directed by Erica Whyman in 2014.
He has enjoyed a close relationship with the Unicorn Theatre in London for whom he wrote ‘The Flood’ published by Collins and in 2004 ’Red Red Shoes’ which won the English Arts Council’s ‘Children’s Award’. He was commissioned by the National Theatre for the ‘Assembly’ project to write ‘Alice in the News’, which has subsequently been performed by children all over Britain. In 2010 Charles was the recipient of the prestigious German children’s theatre prize for ‘Missing’ about child poverty and in 2004 ‘Merlin and the Cave of Dreams’, was nominated for a Helen Hayes award for the ‘Outstanding New Play’ in Washington DC.
Recent works with Cahoots include ‘The Vanishing Elephant’, ’When We Were Wild’, ‘Cinderella : The Midnight Princess’, ‘The Ghost House’, ‘The Grimm Hotel’, ’Under the Hawthorn Tree’, ‘The Assistant’s Revenge’ and ‘Secrets of Space’.
Paul Bosco Mc Eneaney – Creator & Director
Paul Bosco Mc Eneaney is from County Armagh, Northern Ireland, and is the Founder and
Artistic Director of Cahoots NI.
In his role as Artistic Director, Paul has produced and directed many productions, most recently The University of Wonder & Imagination LIVE (USA Tour 2024), The Vanishing Elephant (New Victory Theater, New York, 2023), When We Were Wild (MAC, Belfast 2023), Danny Carmo’s Mathematical Mysteries (USA Tour 2023) Cinderella : The Midnight Princess (MAC, Belfast 2022), The Ghost House (Immersive Walk-Through Experience, Belfast 2021), Secrets of Space (USA Tour 2022), The Grimm Hotel (Immersive Walk-Through Experience, Belfast 2021).
Prior to this, previous productions include Nivelli’s War, Milo’s Hat Trick, The Assistant’s Revenge, Pinocchio, The Incredible Book Eating Boy, The Elves and the Shoemaker, The Snail and The Whale and The Gift.
His recent theatre writing credits include; Penguins, Shh! We Have a Plan, Egg, and Lights! Camera! Maths!
Paul has worked extensively as an illusion consultant on many different productions, ranging from Shakespeare in the open air to Broadway musicals. As an actor, Paul was nominated for the prestigious Ian Charleson award and received a Commendation from the National Theatre for his performance in A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Lyric Theatre, Belfast.
In November 2011,The Belfast Metropolitan College honoured Paul with an Award of Distinction for his contribution to the Arts.
Helen Foan – Puppetry Director and Designer
Helen is a puppetry director, designer, workshop facilitator, and co-artistic director of Foan & Fortune puppetry company. She has worked extensively in devised theatre, focusing on highly visual work using movement and puppetry. She works as a puppetry directing mentor and puppetry teacher at East 15 Acting school.
Helen’s work as a designer and director of puppetry includes: The Vanishing Elephant (Cahoots, New Victory Theater), When We Were Wild (Cahoots, The MAC), Cinderella (Cahoots, The MAC), Whispering Willow (Wassail Theatre, tour), Henry V (Passion in Practice, The Sam Wanamaker Playhouse), Hamlet (Seven Stages, New Hampshire USA) and The Worst Princess (Full House Theatre, tour).
Helen works regularly as a puppet maker with leading puppetry company Significant Object. Productions include: Circus 1903 (World tour, Royal Festival Hall), My Neighbour Totoro (The Barbican Theatre), and Aida (Paris Opera House).
Ashleigh Cheadle – Puppetry Associate
Ashleigh is a puppeteer and puppetry director working across TV, Film and Theatre.
Her Theatre work includes: Animal Farm UK Tour, Baby Joey in War Horse for the National Theatre, The London Olympics Opening Ceremony, Ariodante at Palau De Les Arts, The Magic Flute for Glyndebourne & BBC Proms, The Shepherds Life at Theatre by the Lake, Duck Death and the Tulip at The Orange Tree, A Dogs Heart for Complicité & English National Opera, Dino World Live US Tour.
Her Film & TV work includes: DON’T HUG ME IM SCARED for Channel 4, Fungus the Bogeyman for Sky & Imaginarium, Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore for Warner Brothers, Aladdin for Disney.
Puppetry Director credits include: The Lord of The Rings at The Watermill, Paddington Lo-commotion at Blenheim Place, The Dinosaur show at Southwark Playhouse, Snow White at Hippodrome Theatre Halifax, Hansel & Gretel at Chiswick Playhouse.
Associate puppetry director for The Bear at The MAC Birmingham and Alice’s Adventures Underground in Shanghai.
Jayachandran Palazhy – Choreographer
Jayachandran Palazhy, Founder and Artistic Director of Attakkalari Centre for Movement Arts Bangalore is an internationally sought after dancer and choreographer at the forefront of the contemporary Indian movement arts scene.
Driven by Attakkalari’s underlying philosophy “Traditional Physical Wisdom, Innovation & Technology”, Jayachandran is deeply committed to extending the reach of contemporary movement arts. His groundbreaking work makes Indian movement expressions of contemporary reality more visible both nationally and internationally.
A Physics graduate from Kerala, Jayachandran trained in India in Bharatanatyam, Kathakali, Indian folk dances and the martial art form of Kalarippayattu. Jayachandran then trained at the prestigious London Contemporary Dance School and also studied Classical Ballet, Tai Chi, Capoeira and African Dance. During this time he established the Imlata Dance Company which was supported by Arts Council of England. While in the UK, he was awarded the Barclays New Stage Award for innovative work and selected to represent the UK as an emerging choreographer in an international forum.
City Maps, TransAvatar, Purushartha, For Pina…, Mei Dhwani, Aadhaara Chakra, and Bhinna Vinyasa to name a few of his productions, have received widespread critical acclaim and toured extensively internationally and within India.
Jayachandran works extensively as a consultant in different parts of the world. He has led several artistic residencies, presented papers and delivered lecture demonstrations. Jayachandran was invited as a respondent for seminars and residencies in Switzerland (through Pro Helvetia Swiss Arts Council), in London (at the South Bank Centre), China (to lead a workshop on “Tradition and Innovation”), Germany (by the International Tanzmesse nrw & the Free University of Berlin), France (by the French Embassy for the Biennale de Lyon), Israel (by the Suzanne Dellal Centre), Japan (by the Kobe – Asia Contemporary Dance Festival), South Korea (with Dance Theatre CcadoO), Sweden (by the Museum of World Cultures and the Swedish School of Textiles) and the U.S. (for the Philadelphia Live Arts Festival).
Jayachandran is currently the curator for contemporary dance for the Serendipity Arts Festival (Goa) and the Attakkalari India Biennial (Bangalore). He is also directing NGARIKA, a seminal interactive online archive on Indian Somatic Expressions.
Sabine Dargent – Set and Costume Designer
Sabine Dargent specialises in scenography, visual concept, costume and set design, visual events and illustrations.
Sabine works on sets and designs of all kinds and all scales, including dance, theatre, operas, but also events, street theatre and exhibitions.
Sabine was educated in France, including Duperré National Applied Art School, where she received a Masters in conceptual art. Sabine then began to develop a career in set design in both France and Ireland, twice winning best theatre set design in the Irish Times. Sabine’s work has travelled the whole world through plays and dance pieces.
Past work with Cahoots NI includes The Incredible Book-Eating Boy, Pinocchio, Under the Hawthorn Tree, Milo’s Hat Trick, Nivelli’s War and The Vanishing Elephant.
Her full work can be seen on her website www.sabinedargent.com
Caroline Mirfin – Costume Maker
Caroline first worked with Cahoots in 2017 creating costumes for their production of Penguins. Prior to that she has had a varied career within costume starting at Glyndebourne Opera. From there she moved to London working at various film studios on films such as Star Wars, Harry Potter, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.
She has also worked in TV on Cold Feet, Red Cap, Holby City, Paradise Heights and The Bill and for many theatre and opera companies including The National Theatre, Birmingham Rep, Birmingham Opera Company, Chichester Festival Theatre and Aldeburgh Opera Festival. In Europe her work has taken her to The Amsterdam Opera House, Brussels Opera, Aix en Provence Festival.
More recently Caroline was involved with The Birmingham Commonwealth Games in 2022 and The Eurovision Song Contest in Liverpool in 2023.
Aoife Kavanagh – Composer and Sound Designer
Aoife Kavanagh is an Irish composer and sound designer active across a variety of music disciplines, including dance, theatre, circus, film, and contemporary music. Aoife is particularly interested in composing for interdisciplinary work and collaboration with other artists.
Recent compositions and designs for theatre include The Vanishing Elephant at the New Victory Theatre; Reunion(Landmark Productions) and The Saviour (Landmark Productions – Irish Rep New York); Ghosts (Landmark Productions/Abbey Theatre); The Long Christmas Dinner (Abbey Theatre); Tom Moran is a Big Fat Disgusting Filthy Liar (Edinburgh, Sydney & Melbourne Fringe festivals); and My Sister in this House (The Lir Academy). Aoife has also assisted leading Irish sound designers including Mel Mercier on Children of the Sun (Abbey Theatre/Rough Magic) and Denis Clohessy on King (Fishamble).
Aoife’s dance credits include Ballet Ireland’s The Glasshouse. Other regular collaborators include Roisin Whelan Dance (Iomhá, The Galaxy of Occupations and Man Down), and Aisling Ní Cheallaigh and Jenny Tufts (Nasc, Ar Scath A Chéile, Dúlamán). She was one of two awardees of the Contemporary Music Centre’s Emerging Composer Scheme 2022-24, and has written for choirs and instrumentalists throughout Ireland. Aoife has also composed for several short films and assisted composer/producer Anna Rice on projects such as Andrea Corr’s ‘The Christmas Album’.
Pallavi MD – Music Consultant and Composer
Pallavi MD is a singer, composer, actor and filmmaker from Bangalore. She comes from a family of artists and has a degree in Hindustani classical music from The Benares University.
She has been performing Kannada poetry (bhavageethe) for the last twenty eight years. She has been composing music for theatre, dance and television. She has won the META Best Actress award for her solo theatrical piece C Sharp C Blunt. Her play ‘Shilpa, the Indian Singer App’ has won the Best Play Award at the Secondo Festival Switzerland, 2014 and ZKB Patronage Prize at the Zurcher Theater Spektakel, 2014. ‘Playgrounds’, a short film she wrote and directed, won the Best Film award at Hong Kong International Film Festival and Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles.
She has won the State award best Playback Singer in the year 2007, and the State Kempegowda award for her contribution in the field of music. She has been awarded the prestigious Ustad Bismillah Khan National Award for her contribution to the field of music. She has performed jugalbandis with classical musicians, and has been a part of many fusion and world music ensembles. She has been a part of many international and interdisciplinary collaborations. She is keen on collaborating with multidisciplinary artists and looks for projects that experiment with form and content.
Simon Bond – Lighting Designer
Simon Bond is an experienced Lighting Designer and former Senior Lighting Technician at Birmingham Repertory Theatre.
Lighting designs for Birmingham Repertory Theatre include: Constructed, A Thousand Splendid Suns (UK tour), Brummie Illiad, Jekyll & Hyde, Orange Polar Bear (Seoul and Birmingham), Rebus – Long Shadows (UK tour), Whiphand (Birmingham & Edinburgh Festival), 101 Dalmatians, To Sir, With Love, Looking For John, The Quiet House, Rotters’ Club, Of Mice And Men (UK tour), Never Try This At Home, Circles, Come Heavy Sleep, Hopelessly Devoted, The Legend Of Mike Smith, Europa (Birmingham, Bydgoszcz, Dresden, Zagreb), Hip Hop Hero, Wounded, Gravity, Travesties, The Importance Of Being Earnest, Notes To Future Self, Cling To Me Like Ivy, Looking For Yoghurt (UK, Japan, Korea).
For Stan’s Café: The Just Price Of Flowers, Finger Trigger Bullet Gun, Made Up, The Capital.
For Pentabus Theatre: Strawberry Fields, White Open Spaces.
For Royal Birmingham Conservatoire: Macbeth, Lady Windermere’s Fan, Naked, The Tempest, The Terror, Phaedra, Women Of Troy, Rhinoceros, Mary Queen Of Scots Got Her Head Chopped Off, The Crucible, Punk Rock, Cloud 9, Hayfever, Dracula, Hedda Gabler.
For Custom Practice: As You Like It, A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
For Cahoots : The Vanishing Elephant, Penguins, The Grimm Hotel, The Ghost House, Cinderella : The Midnight Princess, Secrets of Space and The University of Wonder & Imagination.
Ross McDade – Production Manager
Ross McDade has been working as a freelance production and stage manager since 2001 and has worked dozens of shows across the UK and Europe. Most recently with Cahoots NI – The University of Wonder & Imagination, The Vanishing Elephant, Danny Carmo’s Mathematical Mysteries, The Grimm Hotel and The Ghost House. He has extensive experience in production management, lighting design, sound design and set design and construction. Ross is currently a member of the technical teaching team at Queen’s University Belfast and is production manager of the Brian Friel Theatre at Queen’s University.
Steve Ball – Company Manager
Steve Ball was the founding Artistic Director of The Play House, an educational theatre company in Birmingham and Associate Director at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre. He has written, directed and produced drama and dance programmes for BBC Education and has taught at universities in the UK, USA and Australia.
Sincere thanks to our funders for their generous support
