Alex Harvey

Artistic Director
Head of Rigging / Equipment

Alex studied singing and fine art at university before training at Circomedia, the academy of circus and physical theatre in Bristol. He has been Artistic Director of Ockham’s Razor since 2004 and has performed in, devised and co-directed their shows which have won awards, received critical acclaim and reached audiences around the world.

He has also performed with Improbable, the English National Opera, the Metropolitan Opera New York, the National Theatre, Rosemary Lee, Amici Dance Theatre Company, Oily Cart, Kathryn Hunter & Marcello Magni and Theatre Rites. Alex is also a consultant for equipment design and creative rigging and has worked with companies/artists such as Emma Rice, Wild Children, The Globe, Maisie Whitehead, Sadiq Ali & Out of Order to help them develop and realise their ideas. He is a qualified circus instructor and has run circus theatre workshops worldwide.

Charlotte Mooney

Artistic Director
Head of Press / Fundraising

Charlotte initially trained as a dancer. While at Sussex University studying Literature she discovered a passion for visual theatre and went to Circomedia to train in aerial and physical theatre. She has been Artistic Director of Ockham’s Razor since 2004 and since then has been devising, directing and performing their work. Alongside this she has also performed with Improbable & ENO, Theatre Rites, Oily Cart, Blue Eyed Soul, Roswitha Gerlitz & Metropolitan Opera. She has worked as a director / movement director for numerous companies including Oddly Moving, Oily Cart, Proteus, Gossamer Thread, Charmaine Childs, HandsDown Circus, She Said Jump, Sadiq Ali, Roundhouse Street Circus Collective and the National Centre for Circus Arts. She has taught devising and directing on the BA course at National Centre for Circus Arts and currently teaches on the MA in Directing Circus at Circomedia.

Charlotte also performs as a storyteller onstage, at festivals, in schools and around campfires across the UK and as a contributor to podcasts such as The Moth.

Alison King

Executive Producer

Alison is the Chief Executive of Turtle Key Arts, a performance arts company that devices and produces original work with a particular emphasis on making art available to all. She has been running the company with Charlotte Cunningham, the Artistic Director, for over twenty-five years, in which time, it has made a significant impact on the arts nationally and internationally.

She is an award-winning theatre and film producer and has produced many great artists and companies, currently Turtle Key Arts are working with Ockham’s Razor, Amici Dance Theatre company, AIK Productions, Open Sky Productions and Sadiq Ali, all of which have created critically acclaimed impactful shows that tour nationally and internationally. Turtle Key Arts have been at the forefront of developing and delivering inclusive outreach and participation projects in the fields of dementia, autism, HIV and dyslexia - working regularly in partnership with organisations including Reading, Durham and Oxford University, Wigmore Hall, English Touring Opera, Royal College of Music, National Portrait Gallery, Lyric Hammersmith and many venues world-wide.

Alison graduated from Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts in 1992 in Stage Management, Technical Theatre and Design. She initially worked as a freelance Stage Manager and Production Manager before joining Turtle Key Arts. Alison is currently the Chair of The National Centre for Circus Arts and was the Chair of The Independent Theatre Council from 2017-2022. Alison is also Chair of Mime London and Open Sky’s advisory boards. She is a published author on Stage Management and Production, and lectures at Universities and colleges, across the UK.

Steve Ryan

Film Maker

Steve Ryan is a documentary filmmaker with an interest in telling stories that explore the unseen aspects of our world.

Born in Galway, Ireland, he initially studied philosophy in Northern Ireland and Belgium, before studying theatre, dance and circus. For 15 years he worked as an acrobat and physical performer, touring internationally in cities like Berlin, Sydney and New York with the award-winning contemporary circus company Ockham’s Razor on several of their shows. In 2017 he became an associate artist Ockham’s Razor.

He also directed and worked on several large-scale site-specific shows in the U.K. and around the world.

His interest in videography and films started when he began making films about his experiences as a performer - allowing the viewer access to the hidden life of an artist. This interest in telling unique, underrepresented stories led him to projects that engage with stories from the global south and with marginalised communities in general. His films combine storytelling with a sense of justice, humour and beauty.

He currently lives in New York City and is finishing a project about a young priest in rural Ireland, as part of a Master’s programme in documentary filmmaking with the University of the Arts London (UAL). He seeks those things that will change his world.

Nathan Johnston

Choreographer

Originally from Middlesbrough in the North-East of England, Nathan graduated from London Contemporary Dance School in 2010.

Nathan’s choreographic debut was as Co-Choreographer with Jorge Crecis, Making ‘36’ on Edge 2011 now known as 12 as part of Carlos Acosta Dance Company Rep. I was the Choreographer for Ockhams Razor’s show ‘Tess’, Nathan is also Associate Director for Upswing. Other choreographic credits include: ‘Remount Choreographer’ for Scottish Opera’s ‘Nixon in China’, Birmingham Commonwealth Games Opening and Closing Ceremony 2022 as a Lead of the choreography team, Lead by Corey Baker, Associate Choreographer for ‘Bridge’ produced by Imangineer Productions. Green Flag TV advert, London Studio Centre, Middlesex University, Upswing Aerial, Scottish School of Contemporary.

Nathan performed Ockham’s Razors show ‘Belly of the Whale’. Other performance credits include: Punchdrunk in ‘The Duchess of Malfi’, in collaboration with English National Opera, Upswing, Jorge Crecis, Secret Cinema, Corey Baker Dance, Rhiannon Faith, Levantes Dance Theatre, Zoielogic Dance Theatre, Nearly There Yet Circus Theatre, Can’t Sit Still Theatre, Jabuti Theatre, C-12 Dance Theatre, Dina Abu Hamden, Jess & Morgs and Improbable Theatre/LA Opera, amongst others.

Tina Bicât

Designer

Tina Bicât designs and makes for big and small performance of contemporary dance, circus, installation, unwieldy outdoor community events, intimate naturalistic shows, physical theatre, transformations and tricks. She either makes her designs herself or collaborates with other makers and assistants to bring them to reality.

Her recent work, involving different aspects of set, costume, puppets, props, and effects, includes collaborations with Ockham’s Razor, The National Trust, NIE with the Young Vic and the Unicorn Theatre, Kew Gardens, Brunskill &Grimes, The South Bank Centre, Punch Drunk, Dead Rabbits, RedCape Theatre, The Barbican Centre, Amici.

Integrated Dance Company, The Oxford Story Museum and Turtle’s Model Theatre, a project which bring the backstage world of theatre to schoolchildren.

She is an Associate Artist with Ockham’s Razor, won the Critics Circle award for her work with Punchdrunk and has written seven books on aspects of theatre practice. She lectures here and in France on design and creative thinking but is happiest in the workshop or inventing in a collaborative rehearsal room.

Phil Supple

Lighting Designer

Following a long and varied career in stage and production lighting, Phil now specialises in artworks and designs for site specific performances, large scale outdoor and public art projects.

Credits include Speed of Light, Ghost Peloton and Hinterland for NVA; Watermusic at Aarhus 2017 and Wondrous Stories at Birmingham 22 Festival both for Motionhouse; Freedom on the Tyne for the Freedom City Newcastle celebrations in 2017; Beautiful Thing for GDIF 2018; Great North Star for GDIF/ City Games & Great Exhibition of the North 2018; Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red the installation of 888,264 ceramic poppies for Historic Royal Palaces at the Tower of London in 2014, and 2018’s Beyond the Deepening Shadow - the Tower’s fire and light artwork seen by an audience of over 300,000 and The Drop a large scale temporary architectural lighting artwork at Lumiere in 2023. Phil is creative director of Leonardslee Lights an illuminated trail in rural West Sussex, now in its 6th year with an annual audience of over 70,000.

In 2020 he graduated with distinction from The Bartlett Institute / UCL MSc Light and Lighting course – Europe’s premier architectural lighting design training programme. Phil was nominated at The Lighting Design Awards in 2011 and 2017and led the UCL team that won The Society of Light and Lighting’s Ready Steady Light competition in 2019.

Turtle Key Arts

Turtle Key Arts is a registered charity that produces and devises original, inclusive art to entertain and inspire. They believe that access to the arts helps to improve the quality of life by bringing people together, offering creative opportunities, social inter-action, confidence and self-esteem.

They are award winning theatre and film producers, that produce a number of innovative and original theatre, dance and circus companies that make work that tours nationally and internationally, including the critically acclaimed, internationally renowned Ockham’s Razor and the unique integrated Amici Dance Theatre Company.

They have a long track record of running excellent arts projects, free to all participants, for disabled, disadvantaged and socially excluded people including people with dementia, young people with autism spectrum conditions, dyslexia or living with HIV.

In a typical year their projects reach a national and international audience of 30,000, they work with up to 3000 participants and engage around 400 freelance artists. They regularly support artists through mentoring and consultancy and lecture across the UK sharing their experience and best practice.

Turtle Key Arts have been producing Ockham’s Razor since 2006 and it is a special and enduring partnership, rooted in shared values and ethos and the desire to affect change through art. Both organisations have been at the forefront of contemporary circus theatre and together have created work that has won awards and toured nationally and internationally. Turtle Key Arts are honoured and delighted to continue to work with Ockham’s Razor and are excited to see what the future brings for this inventive and inspiring company.

Tina Koch

Artistic Director Emerita
(2005 - 2021)

Tina studied cultural science and aesthetic communication, specializing in Live Art and Visual Theatre at the Hildesheim University/Germany. She went on to train in acrobalance and aerial at Circomedia academy of circus and physical theatre in Bristol/UK, as a circus instructor at the Zentrum fuer Artistik und Theater in Lahr/Germany and most recently in physical theatre at the London International School of Performing Arts (LISPA). Tina has extensive experience teaching circus and physical theatre all over Europe in a diverse range of contexts and to a wide spectrum of ages, most recently on the BA at NCCA and on the MA Performance Design and Practice at Central St. Martins and the MA in Directing Circus at Circomedia. As well as directing, devising and performing work as artistic director of Ockham’s Razor, she was instrumental in building Ockham's Razor into one of the UK's leading contemporary circus companies. Tina has worked with La Fura dels Baus, Wildwux, Improbable, Amici Dance Theatre, Oily Cart, Theatre Rites, English National Opera and Metropolitan Opera New York. Her directing work besides Ockham’s Razors shows includes big ensemble pieces like National Centre for Circus Arts ‘wrap, tear, scrunch’ and ‘Impulse’ as well as Stefano Di Renzo’s intimate one man shows ‘On My Way’ and ‘Hold On’. She has been circus consultant and aerial movement director on Oily Carts ‘Mister and Mrs. Moon’ and most recently Levantes Dance Theatre’s ‘The Band’. You can reach her directly at tinaxkoch@gmail.com and follow her on Instagram/Twitter @tinaxkoch and Facebook: www.facebook.com/tinaxkoch