The Ophiolite

Philip de Voni is a writer of plays, poems and narrative fiction. Of Cypriot and British heritage, he grew up mainly in the UK and studied English and Theology at the University of St Andrews. He lives permanently outside the UK but spends some time each year in Nicosia and London. The Ophiolite is his first full length stage play.

Kerry Kyriacos Michael, a second-generation North London Cypriot, was Artistic Director & Chief Executive of Theatre Royal Stratford East from Sept 2004 to Sept 2017.  For 13 years, he forged the Theatre’s commitment to develop new work & provide a platform for under-represented voices in the Arts.  He is now the Creative Director of Theatro Technis

In March 2018 Kerry won Artistic Director Of The Year at the OFF WEST END Awards; awarded the Freedom of the City of London and in the 2018 Queen's Birthday Honours List, he was made a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) for services to the Arts.

Kerry’s Theatre directing credits include new plays, musicals and operas, including Takina Gupta's play, Love and Stuff and Tariq Jordan's play, Ali and Dahlia. John Adam’s I Was Looking At The Ceiling & Then I Saw The Sky (co-production with Barbican), The Harder They Come, (transferred to the West End & tours of Canada and USA), Ray Davies’ Come Dancing (Winner What’s On Stage Best New Musical) and a new production of The Who’s Tommy - embedding creative BSL,  Captioning and Audio Description. (Winner UK Theatre Awards Best Touring Production 16/17).  

Cory Shipp is a set and costume designer working across all ranges of performative work across the UK. Cory trained at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama.

Theatre (as Designer) includes: The Mikvah Project (Orange Tree Theatre); Hansel & Gretel (Chiswick Playhouse), Cyrano de Bergerac, Easy Virtue (The Watermill Theatre); Mr Burns: A Post-Electric Play, RENT, Return to the Forbidden Planet, Vinegar Tom, Caucasian Chalk Circle, 6 Characters , Let The Right One in, (Mountview Theatre Academy); Another Planet (The Gramophones Theatre Company); Justice in a Day (Theatr Clwyd); Anyone Can Whistle (Southwark Playhouse, Grey Area Theatre); Deffro’r Gwanywn (Y Cwmni); Glacier (Old Fire Station); The EU Killed My Dad (Jermyn Street Theatre); The Book of Eternity, (Northern Opera); Ice at the End of the World, (Omnibus Theatre); Hansel and Grettel (Creation Theatre); Northbound Boy, (Kings Head Theatre); Cinderella, Educating Rita, (Barn Theatre); Pontypool, (Wales Millennium Centre) and A Role to Die for (Marylebone Theatre, Barn Theatre).

Theatre (as Set Designer) includes: Wipe These Tears (Bezna Theatre Company); Justice in a Day (Theatr Clwyd); Sweet Charity (ArtsEd); The Lion, The B!tch and The Wardrobe (Wales Millennium Centre), Son of a Bitch (The Thelmas); Codi and Shades of Blue (Sadlers Wells, Matsena Dance);

For more credits and images:  coryshippdesign.com

TheGeorgeNET (Georgijs Gaisins) is a dynamic and multidisciplinary creative working across theatre directing and lighting design. His practice bridges theatre, film, installation, and performance art, using a distinct visual language and conceptual depth, his work challenges traditional boundaries of storytelling and form.

A graduate of the University of the Arts London – Central Saint Martins, where he earned a Master’s degree with Distinction in Performance: Design and Practice, Georgijs previously completed a BA in Theatre Production (Directing) at Middlesex University, developing a strong foundation in stagecraft and collaborative creation.

His portfolio spans dance, contemporary theatre, performance, and musicals, with recent credits including This Is My Family (Southwark Playhouse), Nullspace Motel (touring production), 1984 (Omnibus Theatre), Seeking Shadows (Rich Mix), and I JUST LIKE YOU – A GAY MYTH (Theatre503).

TheGeorgeNET’s work has been featured and exhibited internationally, including a lighting and sound installation at Pushkin House, London, in collaboration with the Fetish collective. His recent theatrical project Technological Singularity was featured in BlackPepper Magazine, reflecting his ongoing commitment to redefining performance through bold, hybrid forms of artistic expression.

José Guillermo Puello is a composer/sound designer based in Manchester, originally from the Dominican Republic. Since graduating from the University of Manchester with a PhD in Composition in 2015, he has worked in theatre, dance, podcast and the concert hall.

As Sound Designer: In the Beginning Woman Was the Sun (HOME and tour); Dynamic Flight (Tour); WrestleLadsWrestle (HOME); Nancy’s Orange (Theatre by the Lake); Meetings (Orange Tree Theatre); Bungalow (Theatre503); The Great Privation (Theatre503);  Dream School (The Space); Stray Dogs (Theatre503); There’s no Planet B (Theatre Deli); Legacy (Royal Exchange Theatre). As Assistant sound designer: The Human Body (Donmar Warehouse); Rock, Paper, Scissor (Sheffield Theatres).
As Composer: Northern Opera Group; OperaNorth; Manchester Chamber Choir; MusicAbierta; soundSCAPE Exchange; Dominican Republic National Youth Orchestra; Fourth Wall Ensemble; Manchester Camerata.

Nefeli Kentoni

Nefeli Kentoni (b. 1998, Cyprus) is a London-based director, writer, and interdisciplinary artist whose work responds to the remains of a world in constant flux. Through theatrical and cinematic forms, she investigates the gaps between language and image, the performer-viewer relationship, and the lightness of existence. Weaving tenderness, absurdity, and humour, she dismantles reality and

reconstructs it within unpredictable landscapes. Nefeli is a graduate of the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and Central Saint Martins (UAL), where she was nominated for the MullenLowe NOVA Award. Her work has been presented internationally at institutions and festivals including

Tate Modern, Barbican Centre, Prague Quadrennial, The Place, Nicosia International Festival, Dance House Lefkosia, Rialto Theatre, and the Chengdu– Chongqing International Theatre Festival.

She was Writer in Residence at Tate Exchange and part of the Barbican’s Young Visual Arts Group for two consecutive years. Her short film Fragility of Language won the Screendance Short Film Competition at the 36th Leeds International Film Festival. Her performance Katabasis was a finalist at the Offies Awards 2025, and received the Best Director Award at the Chengdu–Chongqing International Theatre Festival, where her performance Wall of Babel also won Best Play.

Elena Yianni

Elena Yianni is a Greek Cypriot Theatre and Film Director working with bold new writing by

and about underrepresented voices. She holds a First-Class BA (Hons) in Applied Theatre

and is an alumna of the Young Vic’s Fresh Direction Programme and the Lyric Hammersmith

Young Associate Programme. She is drawn to stories about people - exploring identity,

culture, politics and the realities of life today - as well as stories with a thread of hope. Her

practice is shaped by care, curiosity and collaboration. Recent credits include Swedish

Meatballs (Theatre503) and Ghost Light (The Hope Theatre).