James Joyce’s The Dead

Niamh Cusack, Narrator 

Niamh Cusack is a well known and much loved stage and screen actress. She can now be seen in the Channel 4 series BIG MOOD alongside Nicola Coughlan and Lydia West. Most recent film work, all out soon 2024/2025: WE LIVE IN TIME directed by John Crowley (StudioCanal / Sunnymarch), MIDWINTER BREAK with Lesley Manville (Film4), IN THE LAND OF SAINTS AND SINNERS with Liam Neeson & Ciarán Hinds, FOUR MOTHERS with James McCardle, and UNWELCOME directed by Jon Wright. In theatre most recently: as ‘Gertrude’ in HAMLET opposite Billy Howle; Brian Friel’s FAITH HEALER opposite Aidan Gillen; playing ‘Lenu’ in MY BRILLIANT FRIEND at the National Theatre Olivier; and ‘Lady Macbeth’ at the Barbican opposite Chris Eccleston in MACBETH. In television: Chris Lang ‘s upcoming I, JACK WRIGHT, THE TOWER (ITV) playing ‘Claire Mills’, Shane Meadows’ THE VIRTUES (Channel 4), REBELLION (RTE/Netflix), THE BEST OF MEN (BBC), and THE HOLLOW CROWN (BBC).

Jamie Powe, Conductor

Jamie was awarded a scholarship to study at the Royal Academy of Music, where he achieved a distinction in his choral conducting MA. He was also awarded the Thomas Armstrong prize for outstanding choral leadership. Jamie was one of the 2018/19 Young Conducting Scholars with Sing for Pleasure and has worked with Genesis Sixteen as conducting scholar, and he is currently Musical Director of Laurelin Voices, The Fourth Choir, The New London Singers, Putney Choral Society and The Aubrey Singers. In 2022, he conducted the Fourth Choir at the Royal British Legion Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall in front of the royal family and on prime time BBC 1.

The Fourth Choir

The Fourth Choir was formed in 2013 with the aim of representing the LGBTQ+ community on London’s classical music scene. The Choir has sung polyphony in Heaven nightclub and at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern. They have also performed at the British Museum, the V&A, the Royal Albert Hall, the Wigmore Hall, and the Chapel Royal at Hampton Court Palace. The Choir is particularly interested in combining theatrical dramatic narrations by distinguished actors with choral music. Previous collaborations include My Beloved Man at Snape Maltings, Aldeburgh with Radio 3’s Petroc Trelawny and Classic FM’s Zeb Soanes, reading the love letters of Peter Pears and Benjamin Britten; Shakespeare’s Sonnets read by Tobias Menzies; and Shoulder to Shoulder, a celebration of Dame Ethel Smyth at the Barbican, narrated by Juliet Stevenson.

Guy Hoare – Lighting Designer

Guy has been designing lighting for dance, theatre and opera for over 20 years; he has been based in London since 1998 as a freelance designer but creates work throughout the UK and internationally.

His designs for dance include Arthur Pita’s The Metamorphosis and Mark Bruce’s Dracula which won the South Bank Award for Dance in 2012 and 2014 respectively. He has created work with companies in Germany, Italy, Sweden, Portugal, Cuba, Lebanon and Australia; In the UK he has designed work many choreographers including Christopher Bruce, Shobana Jeyasingh, Akram Khan and Alexander Whitley. Since 2015 he has been collaborating with Gandini Juggling on several cross-artform pieces.

In London, his theatre designs include work for the National Theatre, Donmar Warehouse, Royal Court, Young Vic, Old Vic, Almeida, and Kiln as well as several pieces in the West End. In 2019 he designed Sea Wall / A Life at the Hudson Theatre on Broadway.

Opera credits include the Royal Opera House, English National Opera, Scottish Opera, Bregenz Festival and National Theatre, Brno; he has also designed multiple productions for English Touring Opera, including the 2014 Olivier award-winning season of King Priam and Paul Bunyan.

In 2010, he was nominated for Best Lighting Designer at the TMA Awards (for A Christmas Carol); He has been nominated three times at the Knight of Illumination Awards – in 2009, 2012 and 2013 (in Opera for The Magic Flute; in Dance for The Metamorphosis; and in TV for the filming of The Metamorphosis).

Guy is currently an Associate Artist at Wilton’s Music Hall in London.