Who are we and what do we do?
We make learning fun through song.
Ensonglopedia is a Registered Charity who create musical shows and videos, and run workshops, to inspire the next generation of artists and scientists. Most of our work is aimed at upper primary and lower secondary ages, though we pride ourselves on making work which will appeal equally to young people and adults. We increasingly work with SEN(D) groups. We are based in Lewes, East Sussex, and tour our shows all over the UK and internationally.
The first Ensonglopedia show was created in 2016, we officially incorporated as a limited company in 2019, and we became a Registered Charity in November 2024. Here are some of the people who do stuff with us, either regularly or just from time to time:
JOHN HINTON
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
John writes and performs our songs and shows. He set the company up in the first place.
John trained at the Jacques Lecoq school in Paris, and has a degree in Drama from Hull. Before founding Ensonglopedia, he wrote and starred in all three parts of Tangram Theatre Company’s award-winning ‘Scientrilogy’ of musical comedies about Darwin, Einstein and Curie. He is originally from Sweden, and now lives in Sussex.
LAURA MUGRIDGE
PERFORMER, WORKSHOP LEADER, ASSISTANT DIRECTOR
Laura will be performing in our new show ‘Light Fantastic!’. She works with John to deliver workshops to children and their families, and also helped him to direct the “Puddle…” show.
Laura is a theatremaker and performer. She makes shows about tiny details to be performed in unusual spaces. She once performed a show at the top of a hill and once in a tiny campervan. She also runs workshops with children to create stories and adventures.
KAT JOYCE
DIRECTOR
Kat is directing our new show ‘Light Fantastic!‘.
She is a director, writer and scenographer, and the Co-Artistic Director of physical theatre ensemble Tangled Feet. Kat specialises in devised and collaborative work, and has produced and directed work including spectacular large-scale outdoor shows for audiences of several thousands, ambitious intergenerational work with performers aged 8 to 84, and outdoor promenade audio/physical shows.
HELEN VINE
PERFORMER
Helen performs in our latest show The Puddle at the End of the World.
Helen is a UK-based actress & writer working on stage, screen and radio. She studied English and Drama at the University of East Anglia before moving to London to train at the London School of Dramatic Art. She then went on to train with the Royal Shakespeare Company and at Pinewood Studios. She also narrates audiobooks.
RUCHIKA JAIN
PERFORMER
Ruchika performs in our latest show The Puddle at the End of the World.
Ruchika is a UK-based theatre and film actress. She has performed across the UK and India, and has appeared extensively on film and TV including most recently: “The Nan Movie” (dir. Josie Rourke), and Warner Brothers’ “The Sandman”. Ruchika is skilled in Bollywood and Latin American dance styles and speaks English, Hindi, Punjabi, Urdu.
CHARLOTTE MACKIE
PROJECT MANAGER / PRODUCER
Charlotte is managing our projects, which means making sure all the right amounts of money goes to the right people and that everything happens on time.
She works for a number of arts organisations, individuals and networks to manage projects and programmes and produce touring work. Currently this includes Ensonglopedia; Portsmouth Cultural Education Partnership; UK Dance Network; Omar Khan and Made by Katie Green. She was previously General Manager at Stopgap Dance Company, and Producer for Nuffield Southampton Theatres.
TAMZIN AITKEN
Strategy & Fundraising Consultant
She advises us on fundraising, budgets and company strategy.
Tamzin is an award-winning producer, fundraiser and strategic consultant with over 20 years’ experience in opera, music, theatre. She has worked with Royal Opera House, London Philharmonic Orchestra and English National Opera, before becoming a freelance consultant. She has since worked with organisations including BBC Young Composer, Wilton’s Music Hall, Glyndebourne, Southbank Centre, NSDF, Handpicked Productions, the Hallé, St. Endellion’s Summer Festival and VOPERA.
SARAH WALPOLE
COSTUMIER & PROP-MAKER
Sarah makes all the costumes and props for our live shows.
Sarah is an artist, costume maker, wedding reception beautifier and apple-lover. www.sarahwalpole.co.uk
VLAD SOKOLOV
MUSIC PRODUCER
Vlad records and mixes all our audio, and makes sure the music we use as backing tracks in live shows and in videos sounds great.
Vlad is a music producer, composer, DJ and chef, originally from Serbia and now based in the UK.
MICHAEL HINTON
COMPOSER
Michael writes the orchestral backing to a lot of our music, and acts as a musical advisor on all our work.
Michael studied music at Oxford University. He is a professional pianist and composer. In the late-70s he programmed pioneering electronic music software at EMS in Stockholm.
CAROLINA ORTEGA
DIRECTOR / DRAMATURG
Carolina directed, and helped to write, our Ensonglopedias of British History and The Human. She has been the Sustainability Consultant on our last two shows.
Carolina is a Venezuelan director, dramaturg and performer. She studied at RADA and the University of London. She trained as a performer at City Lit, LISPA and SMASH (Berlin), as well as with John Mowat, Lee Delong, Lorna Marshall and Philippe Gaulier, and is currently studying Documentary and Biographic Theatre at UdK Berlin.
She has directed and acted as dramaturg for shows with Blauhauch, Alex Carrillo, Tangram Theatre Company, Spalien Acecraft, Scandimaniacs, Idreman, Enrico D. Wey, Jesper Pedersen and Nassim Soleimanpour .
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
We have an active Board of Directors who meet at least four times a year. They are:
CAROLINE ATKINS
Science teacher at St Andrew’s CE School, Worthing
DR DARREN BASKILL
Outreach Officer & Teaching Fellow at Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Sussex
PROFESSOR JENNY MANDER
Professor at the Faculty of Modern & Medieval Languages, and Co-Director of the Centre for the Study of Global Human Movement, University of Cambridge
JOLIE BOOTH
Artistic Director of Kriya Arts & Museum of Ordinary People
DR INÊS VARELA-SILVA
Senior Lecturer in Human Biology at the School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences, University of Loughborough