Cast and Creative Team Announcement for This is Makina!

The Customs House and Boundless Theatre are excited to announce the cast and creative team for their production of This Makina!

‘This is Makina!’ will invite audiences to embark on a thrilling ride through the pulsating beats of Makina music. Set in the heart of South Tyneside, this gig theatre experience will capture the vibrant essence of the region, intertwining local stories with universal themes of identity, community and the power of music to unite.

The three performers taking charge of the piece, are Jordan Mullen who trained at South Tyneside College on their  Performing Arts BTEC. He most recently performed as Rob in Owen Saunder’s Down the Lines, and has performed in National Theatre Connections in 2022 and 2023, at The Customs House and The Firestation, Sunderland. Jordan is particularly interested in developing his practice with movement and dance and is delighted to be part of the Creative Team for This is Makina!

Ben Gettins, is a 23 year old actor/writer from Sunderland. His theatre credits include Down The Lines at The Customs House and Sugar Baby over at Alphabetti Theatre. He recently featured as Harry in Brain Training as part of Live Theatre’s Elevator Scratch night. Ben performed in this year’s Your Voice Your Future: North East also at Live, while his debut play Wearmouth had its premier outing at The Customs House that same week. Ben is thrilled to be performing back at The Customs House and comes from a background in which Makina music was hugely influential. He can’t wait to help bring it to the world of theatre.

Joe Henderson is from South Shields, and his specialism is in movement, in particular breaking.  Now studying at The University of Salford, he’s performed as an MC and hosted The Customs House Breakdance Jam ‘Mean Teens’. Joe is really looking forward to performing on home soil, and being part of This is Makina with The Customs House and Boundless Theatre.

Directing the project will be Boundless Theatre creative associate Pav Christodoulou. Pav is an artist, director and dramaturg. His work spans live and immersive performance, games and game design, audio and sound design. Pav was part of running both the Boundless Drama Club and Boundless Accelerator, working with 16-25 year old artists to develop their own creative voice. He has worked both in industry and community settings with a wide variety of collaborators and participants including The Yard Theatre, Camden People’s Theatre, Phosphoros Theatre and others. His current work is focused on developing immersive audio participatory experiences and work that explores music and ritual. 

We have beats from DJ A.D.S and lyrics from MC Drop Dead Fred.

Christina recently Directed ‘Grown Up Writin’ at the venue and is writing the piece as lead Dramaturg.

Christina most recently was part of the RSC’s 37 plays which was presented at Northern Stage,  she played Alwen in ‘The Odyssey’ – National Theatre/Fire Station,   Heather ‘THE WASP’ and appeared as ‘Louise’ in ‘The Hunt for Raoul Moat’ (ITV) her other credits include ‘Gaze’ -(NORTHERN STAGE)  ‘Art of Facing Fear’ (Theatre Os Satyros),  ‘Credit’ (Cap-a-Pie),  ‘Sugar’ (Open Clasp- BBCiPlayer), ‘Goldilocks & the Three Bears’ (QDOS Theatre Royal Newcastle),  ‘Under Milk Wood’ (Northern Stage) ‘Rattlesnake’ (Open Clasp), ‘Beyond The End Of The Road’ (November Club-Tour/SAGE) ‘Key Change’ (New York Theatre workshop, Off Broadway and UK National Tour & Live filming Space/BBC ), ‘Sugar’ (Open Clasp at Live Theatre), ‘5 Dead Nobody’s’ (Customs House), ‘Clothes Swap Theatre Party’ (Forward Theatre & Derby Playhouse), ‘Dolly Mixtures’ (Customs House), Make do and Mend performed at European Parliament, ‘From there to you, from here to me’ (Odd Man Out), ‘Turning Pages’ (Live Theatre), ‘Season Ticket R&D’ (Northern Stage), ‘Prince’, ‘Queen’ & ‘Dandini’ (Tyne Theatre), The Frights (Alphabetti Theatre & Theatre N16 London), Hull’s Angel (Ensemble 52), Gaslight On Grey Street (Theatre Royal Studio), Pied Piper Project & Cautionary Tales From The Trenches  (November Club), Flock (ZENDEH), ‘Dick’ in Dick Whittington & ‘Aladdin’ in Aladdin (Barnsley Lamproom Theatre), The Selkie (Sage Gateshead), The Bodies (Live Theatre), Nowt To Look At (BBC Radio Drama), George Gently (BBC) and feature film The Magdalene Sisters .  Christina is represented by Janet Plater Management.

Rob Drummer, Boundless Co-Artistic Director & CEO says: ‘We can’t wait to work with the frankly incredible The Customs House and their incredible young creative community on ‘This is Makina!’ We had the pleasure to get to know each other during our 2018 production of DRIP and now we’re excited to get back to South Tyneside and create a totally unique music theatre experience.’

Tickets are available via the website: https://customshouse.co.uk/music/this-is-makina/