The Queer House Presents: Since U Been Gone (Edinburgh Preview)

Billy is a London-based theatre director, maker and writer. He is a founding member of the devised theatre company Breach, and most recently directed and co-wrote its 2018 Fringe First Award-winning show It's True, It's True, It's True. He studied theatre at Warwick University and Queen Mary, where he was awarded the Principal’s Prize and Marjorie Thompson Award. Previously, he worked as a theatre journalist and critic for publications including The Scotsman.

HighTide is theatre company and charity that has an unparalleled twelve year history of successfully launching the careers of emerging British playwrights. They discover and nurture new talent, provide creative development opportunities for playwrights and other creatives, and stage high quality theatre productions both in the East Anglia region and nationally through their festivals and touring. They enable new and underrepresented playwrights to express their visions of contemporary politics and society, demonstrate their creative potential and therein showcase the future of theatre.

E Howe is a freelance theatre maker who trained in Applied Theatre at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. They frequently work within the criminal justice system directing internal, issue-based performances across the UK.  E Howe joined The Queer House in 2018 to help run their GET IN THE HOUSE events. Most recently, they stage managed and assisted the making process on And The Rest of Me Floats (Bush Theatre, 2019). They also manage the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art’s Outreach department, regularly organising and coordinating workshops and schools tours across the country.

Recent theatre includes: Vessel (BAC); Long Live Queen James (Whitehall Palace); The Secret Keeper (UK Tour); O’Brien in 1984 (Oxford); The Importance of Being Earnest (Birmingham Rep); Everyone (BAC); The Haunting of Hill House (Liverpool Playhouse/Sonia Friedman); Early Days of a Better Nation (Coney/UK tour); Chris Goode’s Monkey Bars (Fringe First, Traverse/UK tour); The Bear (ClerkinWorks & Improbable UK tour); Improbable's Panic (Barbican/Sydney Opera House/UK tour). Other theatre includes shows at Northern Stage, Young Vic, Cottesloe, Lyric Hammersmith, Nottingham Playhouse, New York off-Broadway, Brisbane Festival, West Yorkshire Playhouse, Curve Leicester, ICA, Almeida, Old Vic. TV includes : Dr Who, Humans, Holby City, EastEnders, Dalziel & Pascoe, My Family, Sugar Rush, The Office & Dean Spanley. Angela runs her own theatre company ClerkinWorks and is an Associate Artist with Chris Goode & Company and Improbable.

Lydia Birgani-Nia is a design consultant and art director. Currently she is the Branding Consultant for Dashing Tweeds and the artist Natasha Kumar. previously, Lydia has consulted and collaborated with brands including: Selfridges, Harvey Nichols, Wales Bonner, Nike and Canon. Lydia also started The Fashion Hub, the first E-platform for fashion/art/lifestyle in Abu Dhabi.

The Queer House is an artists’ agency and producing house for LGBTIQ+ actors, writers and makers. The Queer House debut double bill of shows previewed at the Gate before premiering at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe as part of the HighTide/Assembly Disruption Festival 2019 were they were included in the Guardian top picks and the Stage 18 best shows of the fringe. One of the shows, Pink Lemonade by Mika Onyx Johnson, was revived at the Bush Theatre in September 2021 before transferring to Contact, Manchester in November 2021. The Queer House's GET IN THE HOUSE scratch event has been at the the Yard, the Bush and Omnibus Theatre. Select credits for The Queer House artists include: Dear Elizabeth (Gate Theatre); The Nevers (HBO); Living Newspaper (Royal Court); Overflow (Bush Theatre); Cyrano de Bergerac (West End); I May Destroy You (BBC/HBO); HANNA (Amazon Prime); Gangs of London (Sky); I’ll Take You to Mrs Cole! (Complicité); Parakeet (Boundless); Malory Towers (Wise Children); The Feed (Amazon Prime).