Polly Tisdall (Artistic Director)
Polly was named Young Storyteller of the Year in 2011 and founded Rambling Heart in the March of that year to explore and forge connections between theatre and traditional storytelling. She wrote and directed Rambling Heart’s first production The Stories that Shakespeare Knew for the RSC Open Stages and produced the company’s second piece for The Three Week Window Festival. She now co-directs the company with Tamar Williams. Polly is a resident director on the Birmingham Rep’s Foundry Programme and works freelance as a theatre director and performance storyteller. She is currently directing The Man at Sea – Tales from the Odyssey for a West Midlands tour in Spring 2013, and Now it’s Over by Alex Townley for Rep100’s Hidden Histories. Her one woman/one man performance storytelling piece, The Man in the Moone and the Journey Thither, is currently touring throughout the Midlands. Previous directing credits include Taking Stories Home (Telford Mind Well-being Centre/Telford and Wrekin Council) Jorinda and Joringle (Spark Children’s Arts Festival) and Baba Yaga Bony Legs (Edinburgh Fringe).
Polly also runs a wide range of community workshops and projects with young people and adults including work with The Traditional Arts Team, Escape Community Arts and Cambridge University. She loves avocados, sunshine and large windows.
Polly’s website can be found here.
Tamar Williams (Associate Director)
Actor, folk singer and morris dancer, Tamar also recently won Young Storyteller of the Year 2013. Originally from Cardiff, she has previously studied at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama and performed with the National Youth Theatre of Wales. Since moving to the Midlands to study Drama and Theatre Arts at the University of Birmingham, Tamar has worked with a number of theatre companies in the area including Birmingham Rep, Tin Box, Red Trouser Theatre and Turnright Productions. She is a versatile and experienced performer, having performed in panto, musicals, devised and scripted theatre. She is also an experienced teacher, having delivered performing arts-based workshops both overseas in the USA and in the UK. In the summer of 2013, Tamar will be undertaking a production internship at The Moth, a storytelling company based in New York. She constantly misses the mountains of Wales and her passion for Rambling Heart is one of the few things that stop her from escaping back over the border.
Tamar’s website can be found here.
She tweets funny panda videos here.
Conor Whelan (Literary Officer)
Conor Whelan is a performer, poet and playwright. After early performances such as a seagull, he
went on to study Literature and Theatre at Leeds University. Two of his plays were produced there,
another at West Yorkshire Playhouse through Peepolykus’ The Ionian Enchantment. Acting took
him to Edinburgh Fringe in Splinters of Light (4* Scotsman, Three Weeks). 2013 sees him on the
Devising Theatre and Performance Course at London International School of Performing Arts (LISPA).
He performs poetry and stories at festivals and on local radio, and is published in magazines and
anthologies. He is also Fiction and Poetry Editor at Dead Ink Books, and Programme Coordinator at
Venturer Camp 2013.
Deadinkbooks.com // woodcraft.org.uk/activities/venturer-camp-2013
Portfolio here.
Olivia Zetterstrom-Sharp (Outreach)
Olivia is a graduate of Drama and Theatre Arts at the University of Birmingham. She has delivered a number of community theatre projects including at Telford Mind and Mixit Stage Schools. Recently, she has also designed and delivered Supported Learning workshops at Midlands ArtsCentre (mac).
Rambling Heart 