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Amit Lahav is the Artistic Director and founder of Gecko. He was born in Israel and grew up in London where he trained with theatre and dance creators including Lindsay Kemp, and David Glass with whom he spent four years in South-east Asia working as a facilitator making theatre with street children.
Shortly after returning to the UK he formed his own company, Gecko. Its shows are created in the UK with an international ensemble and tour world-wide. Amit’s methodology emphasises emotion, physicality, metaphor, breath and musicality, developed in a unique language of training, performance, devising and teaching which is used to generate relationships around the globe.
Amit has created seven critically acclaimed Gecko shows; Taylor’s Dummies, The Race, The Arab and the Jew, The Overcoat, Missing, Institute and The Wedding, all of which have toured nationally and overseas.
In 2015, Amit created and performed in The Time of Your Life, broadcast live on BBC4 as part of Live from Television Centre, followed in 2020 by a feature film version of Institute as part of BBC Arts Culture in Quarantine.
Gecko is currently in the process of developing its own creation space on Ipswich’s Waterfront, where the company is based.
Shôn Dale-Jones is a producer, director, performer and writer. He was Artistic Director of Hoipolloi from 1994 to 2020. Over this 25-year period he created 24 stage plays, 5 BBC radio dramas, 3 site-specific pieces, a few short films and various online projects. His work has been presented in over 200 UK venues, 9 London theatres, in 20 countries across 6 continents and has been translated into 7 languages. Partners he has worked with include the BBC, Barbican, Royal Court, Sydney Opera House and Meyerhold Theatre, Moscow. His work has been supported by Arts Council England, The British Council and National Theatre Studios. He is the winner of BBC Audio Drama Award; Edinburgh Fringe First Award (2); Total Theatre Award and has been nominated for a Prix Europa. Most recently he created The Loose Change Trilogy - The Duke, Me & Robin Hood, The Ladder - which raised almost £100,000 for vulnerable children, supporting the work of Save The Children and Street Child United. He is currently working with Ontroerend Goed in Belgium; writing a show for teenagers for Brageteatret in Norway; collaborating with Metis Arts on Love Letters to a Liveable Future and creating a new solo show for National Theatre Wales.
Gecko’s appearances in London International Mime Festival:
2004 The Race, Battersea Arts Centre
2005 The Race, Battersea Arts Centre
2008 The Arab and the Jew, Studio Theatre, Lyric Hammersmith
2014 Missing, Linbury Studio Theatre, Royal Opera House
2015 Institute, Linbury Studio Theatre, Royal Opera House
2019 The Wedding, Barbican Theatre