Matt Harper-Hardcastle

PAST 

MAY 2019

• Colder Than Here - Next Door But One - Director

August 2018- April 2019

• Love. Life. - Connecting Youth Culture - Performer and Facilitator
• Romeo and Juliet - York Theatre Royal -Director 

January- July 2018

• Any Mother Would with Next Door But One - Writer and Director
• These Walls - York Theatre Royal - Director
• Good Grief - Workshop Leader
• How We Came to Be - Once Seen Theatre Company - Director

October - December 2017

• Kaspar the Wild - York Theatre Royal - Director
• The Factory - Fuse Theatre - Assistant Director and DSM
• A Christmas Carol - Once Seen Theatre Company - Director
• Community Confident - Camphill Village Trust - Facilitator

January - September 2017

• Any Mother Would - Next Door But One - Writer and Director
• Forward to Victory - York Theatre Royal and York Castle Museum - Director
• Midsummer Night's Dream - Once Seen Theatre Company - Director

June-December 2016

• Oedipus - Once Seen Theatre Company - Director
• Oklahoma! - Grand Opera House York - Assistant Director
• Pandora - York Theatre Royal - Assistant Director and Writer
• Aladdin - Once Seen Theatre Company - Director

January - May 2016

• The Boy Who Swallowed a Wolf - A Theatre in Education piece with York Theatre Royal Youth Theatre - Director
• The Holding Place - An original storytelling piece exploring the syrian refugee crisis (York Theatre Royal) - Writer and Director
• James and the Giant Peach - Upstage Centre Youth Theatre - Director
• Letters to Eve - Converge (York St John University) - Director
• Matilda the Musical - Upstage Centre Youth Theatre - Director

September - December 2015

• Use your Loaf - A comic fable exploring democracy as part of Parliament Week 2015 - Once Seen Theatre Co.
• Oliver! - the classic musical performed with a twist, with Upstage Centre Youth Theatre

June-September 2015

• The Wizard of Oz - Musical in a Week at Upstage Centre Youth Theatre.
• Canterbury Tales with Once Seen Theatre Company
• West Side Story at The Grand Opera House, York
• Where I'm Stood - a groundbreaking piece of touring verbatim theatre exploring the hidden stories of York's future generations 

January- May 2015

• Babe the Sheep Pig with Upstage Centre Youth Theatre
• Working towards Performance course with Converge
• In My Father's House at Fairfax House with York Theatre Royal
• Here One Minute at National Railway Museum with York Theatre Royal

September - December 2014

• Director for Six Lip's Theatre's House of Tragic She
• Writer and Director of The Snow Queen: A New Musical at Upstage Centre Youth Theatre
• Next Door But One return to Centre for Global Education, York.

April - August 2014

• Director of 'Swear by the Moon' - Once Seen Theatre Company
• Director for 'Mysteries for Our Age' - York Theatre Royal
• Next Door But One takes workshop to care workers
• House of Tragic She goes to Brighton Fringe
• Assistant Director for Grand Opera House York's Stage Experience production of Our House

January-March 2014

• Director and Writer of 'Of Myths and Mortals' and Director of 'The Jungle Book' for Upstage Centre Youth Theatre
• Visiting Lecturer at York St John University with level 2 performance students.
• Next Door But One take Role Play workshop into City of York Council

September - December 2013

• Artistic Director for Once Seen Theatre Company's 'Giving up the Ghost'
• Director of INTO THE WOODS jr at Upstage Centre Youth Theatre (Autumn 2013)
• Next Door But One delivered a programme of Playback and Forum Theatre Workshops as part of the Centre for Global Education's Hidden Stories project  and also for the Joseph Rowntree Foundations 'Let's Talk About Loneliness' and 'Better Life: Valuing Our Later Years' conferences

August 2013

• Assistant Director for Ambassador's Theatre Group's Stage Experience production of Footloose
• Director and Writer of TECH [NO LOGIC] at Upstage Centre Youth Theatre 

April - July 2013

• Officially launched the collective Next Door But One
• Became Artistic Director for Once Seen Theatre Company - a part of the self advocacy group for adults with learning difficulties, York People First
• Playback Theatre with Joseph Rowntree Foundation - Confidence in Community
• GREASE - Musical in a Week project with Upstage Centre Youth Theatre
• Nothing but the Youth - an exchange project between Upstage Centre Youth Theatre and Riding Lights Youth Theatre
• Writer in collaboration - Poe by Six Lips Theatre.

January - March 2013

• Director of 'ACTUPSTAGE' at Upstage Centre Youth Theatre of The Girl Who Cut the Moon in Half.
• Youth Theatre Practitioner at York Theatre Royal, working on 'Where Shadows Go at Night'.
• Visit to Filey Ladies Monday Club to run a Playback Theatre workshop.

September-December 2012

• Director of 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland' at Upstage Centre Youth Theatre.
• Actor (playing the role of Pathway) in Six Lips Theatre's 'Journey of Lights'.

August 2012

• Assistant Director for Stage Experience's 'Fiddler on the Roof' at Grand Opera House, York.
• Supporting Associate on Six Lips Theatre's 'Keep Up!' - an interactive multi sensory show aimed at families.

June/July 2012

• Director of 'Hanging Around'; a devised outdoor performance for Upstage Centre Youth Theatre
• SingUpstage Director for 'Triple Threat' at Upstage Centre Youth Theatre.
• Stagecoach Scarborough present 'Shine 2012'

April/May 2012

• Actor and Assistant Director for Six Lips Theatre's 'The Government Inspector' 

March 2012

• Director of The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 and 3/4 with Upstage Centre Youth Theatre.
• Staging Director for Upstage Spring Cabaret 2012.

February 2012

• Cindy. Director of Upstage Centre Youth Theatre's Musical in a Week project!

January 2012

• Person-in-Law with Six Lips Theatre.
• Second Argument Paper presented at the Young Programme Final. 

December 2011

• Honk! The Musical performed at Upstage Centre Youth Theatre.
• Interview with York Press and published blog; "Disability is real and it is now". CLICK HERE

• Blog published by The Guardian and Scottish Review (Oct/Nov 2011). CLICK HERE
• York St John Graduate Prize Showcase at York Theatre Royal

• Argument paper (“Dribblers please sit on the left”; the underbelly of disability segregation and acceptance.) presented as part of Young Programme, winning Young Thinker of the Year 2011 (Societies, Associations and Institutions)
• HOOKED with Six Lips Theatre, co-written and directed by Matt Harper

• Autumn Director for Upstage Centre Youth Theatre. Supported by the BBC Performing Arts Fund.

• Start work with York Theatre Royal on their Graduate Prize.
• Collaborating on two projects with Six Lips Theatre as associate artist.

• Recently performed 'Incorrection' (Performance Art). ARTWORK. The Beautiful Meme, York.
• MAY BLOG! Could Disability be the next Glam Rock Era?

• PRESS INTERVIEW. CLICK HERE

• APRIL BLOG! Stuck Between Rocks and Hard Places: The Smokescreen of Disability Perceptions