OUR STORY
Anna Barkan (Associate Tutor & Director) has been teaching at the London Academy of Music & Dramatic Art (LAMDA) for nearly four years now. Throughout that time, she has spread her love for and knowledge of Michael Chekhov's acting technique, developing a shared language with hundreds of actors but also designers and Movement/Voice practitioners.
Years before conversations about this production began, Anna started to dream about utilizing that shared language to create an ensemble-focused company of former students and other LAMDA teachers - a very rare, very unique theatre-making body nowadays and one that harkens back to the rich days of repertory theatre.
Anna also knew that Tennessee Williams' play ORPHEUS DESCENDING would be the first piece she would direct. And so, Conjure Productions was born.
MEET OUR FOUNDERS
Anna Barkan
Co-Founder & Artistic Director of Conjure Productions
Director of ORPHEUS DESCENDING
Anna Barkan is a Russian Director and Acting Teacher, who studied at the prestigious Vakhtangov Theatre School in Moscow and at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. She is a co-founder and the Artistic Director of Conjure Productions. She also holds an MA in Actor Training & Coaching from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in London, where her research included working with International multilingual casts. Anna’s practice is rooted in the Stanislavsky System and the Michael Chekhov technique. She has been teaching and directing at LAMDA for nearly 4 years. For over 20 years, Anna worked as an actor on stage, film and TV in Russia and the UK and formed CHAIKA Theatre company where she directed and produced premieres of lesser-known Russian classics in original translations. Previous credits include 'White Nights' (New End Theatre), 'Darkness' (Chelsea Theatre), 'Feast During the Plague' (Edinburgh Fringe Festival). Directing credits at LAMDA include 'The House of Bernarda Alba', 'The School for Scandal', 'The Storm', 'Three Sisters', 'Cherry Orchard', 'The Seagull' and 'The Lower Depths'. Anna is very excited to bring Tennessee Williams's masterpiece 'Orpheus Descending' to the Cockpit Theatre as the debut production of Conjure Productions with a group of very talented recent LAMDA graduates amongst the cast and creative team.
Anastasia Bunce
Co-Founder of Conjure Productions
Executive Producer of ORPHEUS DESCENDING
Anastasia is a theatre and film director based in London who specializes in directing new writing and modern classics. She is the Artistic Director of Patch Plays, a company devoted to staging new work that explores animal ethics and climate change. She recently assisted Alex Howarth on the Off-Broadway Musical 'Life Line'.
Anastasia trained in MA Theatre Directing at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts. Recent credits include 'The Inseparables' (Finborough Theatre), 'Blood On Your Hands' (Southwark Playhouse), the critically acclaimed Off West End Award finalist comedy 'Meat Cute' (Gilded Balloon, Edinburgh Fringe Festival), 'Darkie Armo Girl' (**The Stage, Finborough Theatre). 'Summer and Smoke' (Exeter Phoenix). A life long fan of Tennessee Williams, she is very excited to be co-producing and assistant directing 'Orpheus Descending' with a very talented cast and crew.