Bec Applebee

Directing

Being able to facilitate my own ideas and to Direct and co Direct with Simon Harvey on my own productions has been a very different phase in my career. It has been a challenge and a joy.

I have been very fortunate to work as a Director with some exceptional companies, very often working as a Theatre Performance Director on larger multidisciplines productions.

Youth Projects

Porthleven Oral History Project Porthleven School
Spring 2007
Youth Theatre Projects The Carnival
Kneeghigh Wild Works/2005

Directing and Co directing credits:

Bec Applebee Presents:
Oh Mary 2010-2021
The Ugly Sisters Spring 2015
Darke Women
Krill

Rogue Theatre:
Rogue Theatre is one of Cornwall’s most popular and successful theatre companies with their very own unique style. Performing in the woods in all weathers. It is an invitation into the land of Faye. When the company were starting out I acted as Co Director and Mentor for

Madame Lucinda’s Wonder Show
Autumn 2006 & 2007
Pathway to the Red Sun
Autumn 2008
Beauty vs The Beast

Autumn 2005

Theatre Performance Direction:

Wild Works
The Old Man with Enormous Wings

Incandescence Circus Theatre Company.
As a younger performer I trained in Acrobatics and Static Trapeze at Fooltime in Bristol ,so it has been my great pleasure and privilege to work as the Theatre Performance Director with Artistic Director Satya Lapman and her incredible team

Incandescence is a highly innovative and exciting Circus Theatre company that has been producing and touring circus productions both nationally and internationally for the last 17 years to over 50 different countries.
Although based in Cornwall the performers are drawn from an international and culturally diverse pool with different religious and performance traditions.  This cultural fusion gives a unique richness to the performances and Incandescence values this diversity as one of its greatest assets.

For incandescence I work as the Theatre director for large touring shows, having worked on:
Cirque Elemental
Esmerelda’s Night Circus
Alice in Wonderland
Vintage Circus

Associate Lecturer Falmouth University

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Curriculum Vitae

Bec Applebee

(she/her)
Equity no: M00127903
Hair: Dark Blonde/ Brown
Eye colour : Hazel

Bec is one of Cornwall’s recognised creative practitioners having been trained in Cornwall’s unique style of ‘Do It All theatre’. She is a strong deviser, improviser and physical theatre performer. Bec has worked first and foremost as an Actor and Musician but also as a

Director, Deviser, Producer and Workshop leader. Bec has worked in the Theatre Industry for over 30yrs and has performed with some of Cornwall’s foremost and ground-breaking companies. 

She has worked in many very unusual performance spaces, from tiny village halls, school halls in South African townships to the National theatre and the Albert Hall. Performing in mining wastelands, stormy beaches and ponds to derelict castles; village greens and the Minack theatre. She continues to tour, nationally, internationally as well as locally. 

Theatre Experience :

Kneehigh Theatre: 

Bec started her career as a member of Kneehigh Theatre in 1986 working intensively with the company as a core member for 20 years working mainly as an Actor but also as workshop leader. She performed locally and internationally in shows such as Peer Gynt, Strange Cargo, Ship of Fools, Windfall, The Red Shoes, The King of Prussia, The Riot, The Ash maid, The Wooden Frock , Ghost Nets 1 and 2 (over 20 shows)

Bec chose to stop international touring with Kneehigh to raise her young family. This was not an easy career choice. She then returned to take part as the Empress Catherine the Great in their final performance project Random Acts of Art in 2021.

WildWorks:

Bec was also a founder member of Wildworks working with Bill Mitchell on his site-specific projects firstly within Kneehigh and then in the newly formed specialist site specific company that is now Wild Works. She worked as an actor, devisor, workshop leader and performance director for the Three Island project The Old Man with Enormous Wings and Souterrain.

In the summer of 2022 Bec was delighted to be working with the company once again as part of the performance team for ‘I AM KEVIN’  this new, epic, site specific show took place at Carlyon Bay in St Austell with new Artistic Director Mydd Pharo. Bec worked as an actor, singer and puppeteer. This extraordinary show has now been launched as a full-length film.

Bec Applebee Presents:

Having made the decision to create a more sustainable work life balance for herself ,Bec took the opportunity to create, devise and produced several of her own shows to great critical acclaim. Reviving her one woman show “Oh Mary!” as a Covid friendly production, performing at the Minack theatre during the Summer 2020 and continuing to tour nationally from May 2021.

Her shows include : 

Oh Mary! (2008-2021)
Small scale and outdoor. Mary Bryant and all other characters. Based on the incredible life story of Mary Bryant. This is a one woman show physical theatre show with an epic original traditional Cornish sound track ( Co Directed with Simon Harvey, words by Anna Murphy, Choreography by Helen Tiplady and the soundtrack was recorded with 10 musicians)

Darke Women (2018):
Village Hall touring – Variety of Characters.
A tribute to the work of the playwright Nick Darke .This is a three woman show using selections from Nick’s most accredited work but also airing some old scripts that have never been heard before.

The Ugly Sisters (2015):
Village Hall Touring: – Charity
Co-Directed with Simon Harvey. This was a family show gently exploring the notion that body dysmorphia has been normalised and accepted as we are so used to seeing photographs that are altered. The show had a series of schools workshops around the subject of healthy self image

Krill
Bec worked in collaboration with Suzie West and Rob Mannear to create a new production team “Krill”. Brought together as a proactive team and as a reaction to Covid 19 . Together they produced four ‘LIVE’ Covid safe events throughout the summer and autumn 2020 enabling local freelance practitioners to work. The Shows made were  Our proud Roots, Dancing in your streets 2, Dark Stories and Spooky  

Recent Acting Credits

Goldentree productions: Site Specific Community event (2023)
Tormentors Krew Capn’

Trebah Gardens: site specific (2022)
The Tempest – Caliban

Scary Little Girls (2022)
Sea Cry – Tamara

Wild works (2022)
I AM KEVIN – Deadalus, Fate Chorus, The Boy Puppeteer.

Hall for Cornwall (2022)
Behind the Postcards – Story teller

Hall for Cornwall (2021)
Treasure Island – The Voice

Cousin Jack’s theatre/ Trebah gardens: 

The Mousehole Cat  (2007-2021)
Mouzer puppeteer and Narrator for The Mousehole Cat in rep in Mousehole’s Soloman Browne hall village for 6 yrs. The show has recently on to the USA and Londob

Percy Pengelly and the Wibble Wobble
online reading (2020)- Various Characters

Operation Neptune
Trebah gardens: site specific (2019) – Rose

Yskynna
Estah – Estah’s Story with at Heartlands: site specific (2019)

Cscape
The Guide – Hansel and Gretel 2017: site specific production 
If the Shoe Fits : children theatre show – Multiple parts  
The Venus Flower: Site Specific production – the Cornish Woman

Scary Little Girls
Dracula the Kisses : Outdoor production at Minack/ Heligan – Renfeild  

Golden Tree productions
Solo Singer and Puppeteer -The Man Engine 2016
Gogmagog – Gogmagog 2014
Various Characters -Kernocopia and Weather the Storms, 2012 (part of the Weymouth Olympic opening ceremony ) 

The National Theatre
Actor/ Musician in the two hander Imagine That 

Bec often works as a performance director for Incandescence circus and has been a mentor for Rogue theatre

Recent Community Projects:

The Grand Ball Project (2022-2023)
Artistic Director/ Producer.

The Grand Ball Project commissioned by The Isles of Scilly Museum, with partners Creative Islands, The St Mary’s Theatre Club and the Five Islands Academy and with grant funding from The Arts Council was a community Arts project devised and directed by Bec. Working with The Isles of Scilly community to create a fully encompassing series of events for the whole community.

The project was broad reaching working with participants taking part from the Five Islands Primary school through to The University of the Third Age. It generated a new play, a new musical composition, The Grand Ball Barn dance , an exhibition, a full school project week, 4 x new films, a story quilt and 52 meters of hand made community picture bunting.

Musical Experience:

Alongside her acting Bec has a complimentary career as a traditional Cornish Folk Artist playing with 4 Bands as a singer, percussionist and scoot dancer

Didjan
This is the newest collaboration , a duo with singer and musician Richard Trethewey.  Bec and Richard are passionate about telling the unbelievable stories of remarkable characters that have given Cornwall such a strong sense of identity. Didjan have a creative approach to their music, incorporating a wide variety of tools such as fiddle, cittern, crowdy crawn, voice, spoken word and dance. Whilst a small morsel, Didjan create a sound and vision that goes beyond their number and are already creating a wave of excitement for what is to come!

Tosta Banda
Formed for Donostia’s celebrations as European city of culture. 2016
Bec represents Cornwall as the Kernewek singer and musician. The band includes 11 musicians and singers from Atlantic Coast countries such as Scotland, Wales, Friesland, Ireland, Wales, Cornwall and the Basque Country. It is the first time that the instruments, rhythms, songs, styles and dances of these cultures have come together in an updated way to reinvent and reinterpret their original songs. Producing an original concert-show, with music and dance that shows the importance of minority and diversity. In the show, these songs are also added to the contemporary Basque dances of Kukai along with dances of the Celtic culture.

Skillywidden
Bec plays with the Nos Lowen band Skillywidden. Legends of Cornish Celtic dance music Skillywidden frequently pack dance floors with their take on the Nos Lowen style of Cornish dance music.

Dalla
Bec played with Dalla for 18 years as a singer and Percussionist recording  5 albums: A Richer Vein, More Salt, Rooz, Cribber, and K5. Dalla could be described as the first Supergroup in Cornish Celtic Music. Being instrumental in the earliest sparks of the revival in Cornish traditional Music.

 Bosena Film  Kara Kana Cornish Language primary school songs

Film:

I AM KEVIN – Wild Works new feature film of the site specific show performed at Carlyon Bay in 2022
Hevva Hevva Cornish Voices; O-region and Falmouth Museum film
Bosena Film  Kara Kana Cornish Langauage primary school songs

TV  and radio credits:

BBC 1 TV series ‘Down to Earth’ 
BBC 4 radio series On the rocks by Christopher William Hill
Post Cards and The King of Prussia by Nick Darke

About Bec

I was brought up in Cornwall and went to College in Liverpool and I have continued to train throughout my career. Working first and foremost as an Actor for over 30 yrs,

I am an experienced Theatre Director, Workshop leader and Producer with a keen interest in physical theatre and story telling: Working with an ensemble, promoting women in the work place and creating interesting teams.

I am a Traditional Cornish folk musician and singer with over 25 years of experience.

For over 5 years I am an Associate lecturer at Falmouth University.

Being based in Cornwall I would say that my career path has been unconventional.

Early Days

I started out as founder member of Bedlam Theatre cooperative who’s philosophy was to create accessible family shows throughout Cornwall using song , shadow play and acrobatics.

I spent my formative years as a core member of Kneehigh Theatre. working with Artistic Directors Mike Shepherd, Bill Mitchell and Emma Rice. Kneehigh’s dynamic and rigorous approach to creating work meant that we had to develop a very eclectic and versatile approach to performing.
We worked with devising , ensemble , ‘The Fool’; training physically, using music, song, poetry and scripts to build shows with the Story at the centre . Being a part of this vibrant , robust, uniquely Cornish style of performance that developed during the 80’s and 90’s has continues to influence the industry and my own approach to work to the present day.

Local and International Touring

I have performed with some of Cornwall’s foremost and ground-breaking companies which include Kneehigh Theatre, Wildworks, Goldentree Productions, Cousin Jack’s Theatre.

My theatre work has taken me around the world to a wide variety of countries and communities including America, Malta, China, Syria , Cyprus and throughout Europe. I have worked with local Communities in spaces such as a deserted Taverna on the Green line in Cyprus and with local children in the school halls in the townships of Soweto in South Africa.

I was an actor and performance director for Bill Mitchell at the inception of Wildworks Theatre that specialises in Site specific theatre

I have experience of performing solo in ‘Oh Mary!‘ as well as being part of a large multinational ensemble The Tosta Banda performing on stages and in venues as diverse as the National Theatre to school halls in the township of Soweto.

I feel privileged to have worked as a core member of some of the Uk’s most prestigious and ground breaking theatre companies.

Mum

After becoming a Mum in 2005 I changed direction reducing international and international touring with other companies and concentrated on producing and creating my work more locally in Cornwall and the South West region as Bec Applebee Presents:

Music

As a Singer and Musician I have been involved in the regeneration of traditional Cornish music and dance with bands Dalla, Didjan and Skillywidden for over 25 years, more recently representing Cornwall as a Kernewek singer with the Tosta Banda in Donostia – St Sebastion for their City of Culture in 2016.