THISISPOPBABY: RIOT

THISISPOPBABY, self-described “theatre makers, club creatives and good time gurls,” lands somewhere between pop culture, counter culture, queer culture and high art. Founded in 2007, the Dublin-based company regularly sells out across Ireland and stages Queer Notions, a mini-festival of queer ideas and performance.

Its shows have played to over 100,000 people (and counting) around Ireland, the UK, Australia and beyond, winning five major theatre awards, with nominations for 14 more.

"A force of nature run by Jennifer Jennings and Phillip McMahon, combining playwriting, performance, production, festivals and a tent at Electric Picnic to great effect" —The Irish Times

"Not so much cutting edge, as creators of a whole new edge of its own" —The Sunday Tribune 

"THISISPOPBABY has redefined modern Irish Theatre" —The Irish Times

Ronan Brady grew up in Roscommon picking spuds, footing turf and running away from his nettle-wielding granny every time he cursed! In a previous life Ronan was a secondary school teacher and Roscommon footballer; he's now a full time physical artist specializing in cyr wheel and duo trapeze. You can usually find him creating/performing/coaching/training/ in Taking Flight, Fidget Feet Aerial Dance and Aerial Cirque. Most of his training has taken place in Ireland with some trips abroad with help from the Arts Council. Recent projects include Cinder and the Ellas Irish tour (Fidget Feet Aerial Dance); Carnival at the Round Room, Dublin (Aerial Cirque); and 4th Islamic Solidarity Games Ceremonies, Baku. 2018 will see him making his own shows along side his duo partner Aisling Ní Cheallaigh.

In England Mark’s work includes designs for Sadler’s Well’s, Nigel Charnock, Emilyn Claid, Ricochet, Small Axe, Gaby Agis, The Royal Ballet, Sherman Theatre and Soho Theatre Companies.

Mark’s designs in Ireland include works for Irish Modern Dance Theatre, Cois Ceim, Dance Theatre of Ireland, The Peacock, Fíbín, Hands Turn, Classic Stage Ireland, Barabbas, Fishamble, Vesuvius, The Ark, Gúna Nua, The Lír, Gonzo, The Civic, Peer to Peer, Second Age, Theatre Lovett, and Barnstorm. Mark lit "I’m Your Man" for THISISPOPBABY. He has also lit many music and TV shows. Mark now works with High Resolution Lighting, a Dublin-based lighting design consultancy which specializes in television and event lighting. 

Jennifer Jennings is a co-founder and co-director of THISISPOPBABY. She also moonlights as artistic director of Neon Lights music and arts festival in Singapore. 

Recently, Jenny was arts program director for Harvest Music & Arts Festival in Australia, where she devised, curated and produced the Harvest Arts program in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane. In its debut year, the festival scooped up Best Major Festival in the FBI Sydney Music, Arts and Culture Awards and was named Best Touring Festival by AU Review. Jennifer also recently worked as head of programming for Abbotsford Convent, Australia’s most unique arts, culture and learning site. 

Previously she has been program director for Dublin Fringe Festival, festival manager for Dublin GAZE Film Festival and marketing director for the DLR Festival of World Cultures.

Nicola is a graduate of the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and The Gaiety School of Acting. Theatre work includes Deposit (Hampstead Theatre); If We Can Get Through This (24 Hour Plays, Abbey Theatre); RIOT (THISISPOPBABY/Dublin Fringe Festival); Oedipus (Abbey Theatre); A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Squerryes Court, Kent); Abyss (Arcola); Othello (Frantic Assembly/Lyric Hammersmith); London Road (Bristol Old Vic studio); King John and Hamlet (Project Arts); and Elevator (THISISPOPBABY/Dublin Fringe). TV credits include A Midsummer Night's Dream (Liverpool Everyman/BBC). As a singer, Nicola has toured and recorded with the Irish choral group, Anúna.

Alma is a composer, sound designer and musician based in Dublin. RIOT is one in a series of collaborations with THISISPOPBABY, which have included composition for their musical Elevator, many pieces for WERK, and a mad disco-trad band called Pop Céilí for their Electric Picnic stage.

Favourite theatre credits include: Riverrun (Emergency Room, worldwide tour), Winner Best Sound Design, Irish Times Theatre Awards 2013; The Elephantom (UK National Theatre and West End); and The Casement Project (ART:2016, Fearghus Ó Conchuir).

Alma is a recipient of the prestigious Next Generation Bursary from the Arts Council. She has a BA in Music (Trinity College) and an MSc in Sound Design (Edinburgh University), is a graduate of the Rough Magic SEEDS Programme 2010-11, and is one-third of acclaimed folk band The Evertides.

Alma launched her new electropop solo act THE SHE at Yestival in a blaze of glitter and sequins. Watch out for her debut EP later this year.

Emmet is an actor and writer from Dublin. He is a graduate of the Samuel Beckett Centre, Trinity College Dublin. Theatre work includes Juno and the Paycock, The Threepenny Opera (The Gate); The Train, Assassins (Rough Magic); Major Barbara, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Alice in Funderland (Abbey Theatre); The Good Father (Axis Theatre); Dublin Oldschool (Project Arts Cente); Bogboy (Tall Tales); Chicane, Shay's Story (Gúna Nua); In Real Time (Brokentalkers); Mushroom (Storytellers); Monged (Fishamble); No Messin' with the Monkeys (The Ark); Where He Lies and Lovers (Island Theatre); One (PanPan), Election Night (Bewley's Theatre); The Indian Wants the Coombe (Purple Hart), Ladies and Gents (Semper Fi / Traverse Theatre); Car Show 3 (Corn Exchange / Barabbas), and Rent (Olympia Theatre).

His work for film and television includes Pursuit, Jack Taylor: Shot Down 71, Just Saying, Two Hearts, The Silence, The Take, Legend, The Big Bow Wow, The Boys and Girl from County Clare, Inside I'm Dancing and Ella Enchanted. As a writer his credits include Dublin Oldschool (Project Arts Centre), RTÉ2 Irish television comedy series Sarah and Steve (Accomplice Television), and the IFTA-winning short film Heartbreak, originally commissioned and written for RIOT.

Cork's favorite spandex-wearing lads are on the mission to change the world with dance!

Laughs come fast and hard as the boys leap around in less clothing than a naturalist at a bongo party, and generally unleash a full dose of madness. No one does absurd dancing soap operas better than the LORDS. OF. STRUT!

Cian Kinsella and Cormac Mohally are the legends that are Lords of Strut. They mix character comedy with acrobatics, slapstick, and all sorts of weird gags to make for some pretty sexy comedy.

Adam Matthews is a singer and songwriter from Dublin. He has played and toured solo, and fronted Dublin five-piece Late Fragments over five years. He has played at music festivals and venues all over Ireland including The Abbey Theatre, Melbourne Festival and Electric Picnic Music and Arts Festival. Following recent collaborations with theatre artists like Ruth McGill and Irish Times Theatre Award-winner Alma Kelliher, Adam's recent credits include Turning Pirate's Mixtape at Vicar Street and Tiger Dublin Fringe, where he duetted with, amongst others, the incredible Lisa Hannigan. In the past year, Adam worked with THISISPOPBABY on I'm Your Man for the Dublin Theatre Festival, RIOT for Dublin Fringe, and is currently recording with a new band Phoeno.

Phillip is one half of THISISPOPBABY, and was co-creator and co-curator of the THISISPOPBABY performance venue at Electric Picnic, Queer Notions cross arts festival and WERK Performance/Art/Club.

Phillip's directing credits include Not A Funny Word (Abbey Theatre); Town Is Dead (Abbey Theatre); Dublin Oldschool (Project/NT London); RIOT; The Year of Magical Wanking, a live arena show for Rubberbandits at Electric Picnic Music and Arts Festival; and High Heels In Low Places, All Dolled Up, A Woman In Progress and In These Shoes?, all written and performed by drag superstar Panti. His plays include Town Is Dead (Best New Play nominee, Irish Times Theatre Awards); Danny and Chantelle (still here); All Over Town; Investment Potential; Pineapple; Elevator; and the musical Alice In Funderland, which premiered at the Abbey Theatre (Best Production nominee, Irish Times Theatre Awards).

Panti is Ireland's foremost "gender discombobulist" and "accidental activist.” Panti has written and performed four critically acclaimed theatre shows: In These Shoes, All Dolled Up, and A Woman in Progress. In 2013, All Dolled Up: Restitched, a reimagining of her first three hit shows, had a sold-out run at the Abbey Theatre and toured Australia. She has just finished touring the world with her stand up show High Heels In Low Places, which played to stellar reviews and packed houses across Ireland, the UK, Europe, Australia, and the US. In October 2014 she published her memoir, Woman In The Making, which was a bestseller in Ireland. Panti became an iconic figure for equality in Ireland, and in 2015 played a major role in the successful referendum campaign for marriage equality in Ireland. 

In October 2015, a critically acclaimed documentary about Panti, The Queen Of Ireland, broke Irish box office records.

Megan Riordan performs in things and also makes them. Prior work with THISISPOPBABY includes nearly all of the Dublin WERKs, Yestival, and ELEVATOR.

Other theatre includes Once (Dublin 2015-2016 and South Korea 2015); Donegal and The School for Scandal (Abbey Theatre); Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Luck, The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, True Enough!, You Remember the Stories You Wish Were True (Making Strange);This is Not a Life (Bedrock); My Name is Rachel Corrie (dir. Jim Culleton); In Real Time (Brokentalkers); The Goddess of Liberty (Gúna Nua); Human Child and Monster/Clock (Collapsing Horse); and Romeo and Juliet (Second Age).

Film and television includes: Paddywhackery (TG4), Dead Cat Bounce's Work (RTÉ 2); City of Ember, The Gift of the Magi, and Sacrifice. She also has a leading role in TG4’s acclaimed series An Klondike, which has won seven IFTAs to date, including Best Script, Best Director, and Best Drama.

James-David Seaver is a fashion and costume designer working in Ireland. JDS has served as a creative force in many Irish and international fashion houses as well as a costume designer for theatre, film and international festivals. Most notably, JDS has created and tailored the wardrobe of our very own Panti Bliss for the past eight years. 

Niall was part of a ground-breaking collective that emerged in Dublin during the 1990s, forging cross-disciplinary projects in design, art, technology, music, performance and activism (he was co-founder, producer and designer of Alternative Miss Ireland, 1987-2012). In 2000 he met Nigel Truswell and they founded the creative studio Pony Ltd., in London. With that same cross-disciplinary outlook, the award-winning studio produces work internationally, designing for print, screen, 3-D, product and performance. Niall has worked with Panti since she was born in Tokyo, and their life-long collaborations have been celebrated, published and exhibited around the world. Pony Ltd is renowned for its beautiful book design and production for artists and cultural institutions. The studio recently received great international acclaim for its work with photographer Eamonn Doyle, particularly for their large-scale installation at Rencontres d’Arles, 2016, which will now travel internationally. Since 2012, Pony has been the global design visionary for Jameson Irish Whiskey. Niall and Nigel have been working with THISISPOPBABY since her very beginnings—creating golden nightclubs, sonic boat trips around the solar system, one giant inflatable baby and the ecstasy of tomorrow!

Folk dance misfits Suzanne Cleary (Cork) and Peter Harding (Cardiff) met on the competitive Irish dance circuit, accumulating World, North American, All Scotland and Great British championship titles. They were handpicked to join Riverdance (1996-2001), touring the UK, US and New Zealand, before ending up on Broadway. After numerous other dance shows, they premiered as Up & Over It at the Edinburgh Fringe (2009) and have since performed around the world, including at the award-winning La Soirée (London, Montreal, Sydney), Spiegelworld’s Rose.Rabbit.Lie (Cosmopolitan, Las Vegas), and the legendary Crazy Horse (Paris, Geneva, London). They were special guests and semi-finalists on America’s, Britain’s and France’s Got Talent and even starred in their own stateside McDonald’s commercial. In 2010, they started an online hand dancing craze and their dance videos now have over 12 million views.