GRUFF formed as part of a collective, during which they invited many collaborators, performers to train as part of their ensemble. Devising and making theatre, requires the openness, attunement and imagination that comes with seeking like minded individuals. GRUFF are grateful to all of the practitioners that they have had the experience to work with and for them to train as part of the company.
Although the company stopped making work as a collective in 2019, the combined dynamic interest of the four members have meant that they are continuing to re-imagine devised interdisciplinary performance in many ways. GRUFF receives support from Institute for Culture and Creative Entrepreneurship and are members of The Chekhov Collective UK.
Collectively the four members have worked with Allied Productions, ARBONAUTS, National Theatre Studios, Punchdrunk Enrichment, RIFT, and Serpentine Galleries. They have presented work in spaces across London including; Ambika P3, Balfron Tower, Nunhead Cemetery, Platform Southwark, Shoreditch Town Hall, St George’s Church, St James Hatcham Church, The Space and Waterloo Tunnels. Formed whilst at Goldsmiths University of London the company have since co-founded and trained with The Chekhov Collective UK alongside further training at LISPA, LAMDA and Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. The company has taught at The Brit School, British American Drama Academy (BADA), Goldsmiths University of London, University of Kent and Morley College London.
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Tom Bostock is a queer director, performance maker, and live artist from Essex and can be found somewhere in the gap between theatre and live art making shows. Tom is interested in interdisciplinary, scenographic, experimental performance, exploring strangeness, the grotesque, encounter, and the possibilities of liveness usually in site-specific or site-responsive settings. Tom trained at Goldsmiths in Theatre and Performance, The Young Vic on Springboard, and has trained extensively in Michael Chekhov Technique with Cass Fleming, and seminal teacher Graham Dixon, and has collaborated with Louise Mari & Nigel Barrett and RIFT as a solo artist. Tom is also a founding member of The Chekhov Collective UK.
Alistair Foylan is a producer and theatre maker with over 8 years of experience devising and delivering commercial and community projects. He has worked extensively in the youth sector and on community arts projects and is an experienced researcher. He currently works for Coram Shakespeare Schools Foundation producing the annual Shakespeare Schools Festival, the world’s largest youth drama festival. As a Researcher, he has delivered projects for organisations such as The National Theatre, BBC, Design Council, Versus Arthritis, Cancer Research UK, and Ofcom amongst others. He studied Theatre & Performance at Goldsmiths, University of London. Alistair is a member of The Chekhov Collective UK.
Phoebe Naughton is an actor, director & theatre-maker who studied Fine Art at St Martins before going onto devising & performance at Goldsmiths and then finishing with her training at Royal Central School of Speech & Drama. Her work predominantly looks at creating absurd worlds for audiences to step into, using ensemble training and a mix of realism and the grotesque. Past credits include Scenes from the End of the World (Yard Theatre), Central Goes South (Southwark Playhouse), The Interview (Monobox Playstart), A Midsummer Nights Dream (Alexandra Palace), Without that Certain Thing (VAULT Festival), The Third Day (Sky/HBO), Capital of The C (Channel 4 Random Acts), The Key Workers Cycle (Almeida Theatre).
Holly Shuttleworth is a Producer who works with artists and art galleries to realise interdisciplinary, multi-format projects through HS Studio. The studio has worked with art organisations including the Serpentine, Whitworth Art Gallery, and Manchester Art Gallery and partners on ambitious artist-led programmes and exhibitions centring social practice, ecology, embodied practice and systems change. The programmes we take on are often grounded in the sacred development of relationships between people and non-humans through artistic practices. Programmes include Economics the Blockbuster (2023), What Kind of City? (2022), Equilibrium (2022), Sensing the Planet (2021) Back to Earth and Serpentine Podcast (2019-2021), Listening to the City (2021), General Ecology including The Shape of a Circle in the Mind of a Fish. (2018-2021). Performance: RAFTS: Live, Rory Pilgrim (2023), Unending Love, Alex Baczyński-Jenkins (2023), Automobile, Joe Namy (2019) and Park Nights (2019 + 2018). Holly studied Theatre & Performance at Goldsmiths, University of London where she co-founded GRUFF, a theatre company.