Imagining Animals

Historic Royal Palaces (HRP) is an independent charity that loves and looks after six of the most wonderful palaces in the world: the Tower of London, Hampton Court Palace, Kensington Palace, the Banqueting House at Whitehall, Kew Palace, and Hillsborough Castle and Gardens. 

Its work combines conservation, research, and storytelling, bringing nearly 1,000 years of royal history to life through daily live programming, exhibitions, events, learning programmes, and community engagement. They also look after over 60,000 objects, including the internationally significant Royal Ceremonial Dress Collection, a collection of royal and court dress, from the 16th century to the present day.  

Official Site | Historic Royal Palaces 

Instagram: @historicroyalpalaces
TikTok: @historic.royal.palaces
X: @TowerOfLondon and @HRP_palaces
Facebook: Tower of London and Historic Royal Palaces 

Mervyn Millar is a puppeteer, theatre director and Artistic Director of Significant Object, a company he founded to create visually striking, emotionally resonant work through puppetry and object-based performance. Over several decades, he has been a leading figure in the development of contemporary puppetry in the UK and internationally.

He is well known for his work as part of the original creative team for War Horse, and has worked extensively with the National Theatre, Handspring Puppet Company, and the Royal Shakespeare Company. His directing and puppetry credits include Aïda at the Paris Opera, Circus 1903, The Hatchling, Paul McCartney’s Appreciate, and My Neighbour Totoro (Associate). He was awarded an Arts Foundation Fellowship for his work in puppetry.

@thismervynmillar 

Significant Object – Welcome 

Suzy Willson is a multi-award-winning British choreographer and director. She co-founded the performance company Clod Ensemble and, over nearly three decades, has created an extraordinary body of work that pushes the boundaries of choreographic practice. Her work is provocative, uncompromising and finely crafted, and has been presented internationally in art galleries, theatres, dance houses and public spaces.

Recurring themes include the chorus and collective movement, the ethics of care and medicine, architecture and the built environment, and the movement of natural phenomena. From the choral lament Silver Swan in Tate Modern’s vast Turbine Hall to AnAnatomie, which dissected Sadler’s Wells’ auditorium and stage, Suzy’s work consistently invites audiences to see familiar spaces from new perspectives.

She is an Honorary Professor at Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, and a regular contributor to journals and books on performance and medicine.

@clod.ensemble
Suzy Willson – Clod Ensemble

Paul Clark is a British composer, musician and educator, and Co-Artistic Director of Clod Ensemble, the London-based performance company he co-founded with choreographer Suzy Willson. His work sits at the intersection of music, theatre and performance, and he has created critically acclaimed original scores for almost all of Clod Ensemble’s productions. 

Clark’s compositions range from intimate acoustic pieces to large-scale electroacoustic and multi-speaker installations, often developed in direct dialogue with movement and visual performance. Alongside Clod Ensemble, he has collaborated widely across disciplines, working with artists including opera singer Renée Fleming, producer Danger Mouse, Manchester Collective, and theatre director Katie Mitchell, for whom he has written more than thirty scores.

He is also the founder of Ear Opener, an education initiative supporting young people to develop confidence and skills in music composition through workshops, schools programmes and online resources. His work in this field has made him a leading advocate for accessible, cross-genre music education.

Clark’s practice is characterised by experimentation, collaboration, and a sustained interest in how sound interacts with bodies, space and storytelling across contemporary performance.

@clod.ensemble
Paul Clark – Clod Ensemble 

Amah-Rose Abrams is a London-based art journalist and writer working in broadcast, printed media and online. She is a contributing editor for Wallpaper* and has written for The Art Newspaper, artnet News, frieze, The Guardian, World of Interiors, Monocle and The New York Times. She curated exhibitions at Frieze – No.9 Cork Street, London and in Venice.

Sophie Pavelle is a science communicator. Her debut Forget Me Not: finding the forgotten species of climate-change Britain (Bloomsbury, 2022) won The People’s Book Prize for Non-Fiction and was longlisted for the Wainwright Prize for Conservation Writing. Her writing appears in the TLS, New Scientist, National Geographic Traveller, the Guardian. Her latest book To Have or To Hold: nature’s hidden relationships (Bloomsbury, 2025) was longlisted for the Wainwright Prize for Conservation Writing. She works for the Wildlife Trusts and is developing projects for BBC Radio 4.

Christie Swallow is an artist and designer who collaborates with birds and urban ecologies. Christie is currently in residence at the Young V&A as the Designer in the Shed, where they are co-creating bird housing with young people. As 2024/25 Design Researcher in Residence at the Design Museum they researched Parakeets and explored how current understandings of nature fail to encompass the rich complexity of modern ecological entanglements. Christie works through co-design, textile, programming and animal architectures.

Arji Manuelpillai is a poet, performer and creative facilitator based in London. He was the Jerwood/Arvon Mentee mentored by Hannah Lowe. Arji’s debut pamphlet Mutton Rolls was published with Out-Spoken Press in 2020 and his debut collection Improvised Explosive Device was released in the Autumn of 2022 with Penned in the Margins. This highly acclaimed book was noted in The Telegraph’s Top 20 poetry books of the year, as well as in The Guardian’s best recent poetry section. It was also the Winter PBS selection and Shortlisted for the Derek Walcott Prize. Arji is host of Arji’s Poetry Pickle Jar, a podcast for poetry fans and he is also the PBS pamphlet choice selector.  Arji has written many commissions for names including Her Royal Highness, Princess of Wales, The Southbank Centre, The Royal British Legion and The Sea Containers Hotel.

Ben Thompson trained at Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
Theatre credits include: The BFG (RSC/CFT), Toto in The Wizard of Oz (London Palladium), Pongo in 101 Dalmatians (Regent’s Park), Napoleon in Animal Farm (UK Tour), The Walk with Amal (Good Chance), The Lorax (Old Vic), Treasure Island, The Light Princess and War Horse (National Theatre), Twelfth Night and Richard III (Shakespeare’s Globe), His Dark Materials (Birmingham Rep).

Aki Nakagawa‘s theatre credits include: My Neighbour Totoro (RSC), Tattooer (Charring Cross x Umeda Theatre), Lord of the Flies (Leeds Playhouse), Garden of Words (Park Theatre), The BFG (RSC) Television includes: Boarders (BBC3). Trained at: Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and UPS Academy in Tokyo.

Parkey Abeyratne is a physical actor & puppeteer who works extensively in Theatre & Opera. Trained at Circomedia: Centre for Contemporary Circus & Physical Theatre. Recent stage credit: RSC’s The BFG, a co-production between RSC, Chichester Festival Theatre, Esplanade Singapore & Roald Dahl Story Company. Other notable stage credits include Mozart’s ‘Die Zauberflöte’ (Glyndebourne), Spitting Image Live (Birmingham Rep/Phoenix Theatre), Dvorák’s ‘Rusalka’ (Garsington Opera/Edinburgh International Festival), Philip Glass’ ‘Satyagraha’ (LA Opera/ENO), Sally Cookson’s ‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’ (Leeds Playhouse/Bridge Theatre).

Fukiko Takase is an acclaimed dancer, choreographer, and educator blending contemporary dance, music, and visual art.
She has danced with Company Wayne McGregor and Akram Khan, and collaborated with icons like Thom Yorke, Hikaru Utada, and Danny Boyle. Her diverse choreography spans stage and film, including projects for United Visual Artists and Nina Simone. An Honorary Professor at Shikoku University, she regularly works with Clod Ensemble and Neon Dance, actively strengthening international artistic exchange between the UK and Japan.

Estela Merlos Parreno danced with Cannes Jeune Ballet (France) and IT Dansa (Spain) before joining Rambert (UK, 2008 – 2014). She has since collaborated on projects across dance, theatre, opera and film as a performer and rehearsal director with Akram Khan Company, Shobana Jeyasingh Dance, Marcos Morau | La Veronal, Boris Charmatz | Terrain, Merce Cunningham Trust, among notable others. She teaches internationally and has presented her own choreographic work across Spain and the UK. Estela is a certified practitioner of the Feldenkrais Method ®.

Vidya Patel is a UK-based choreographer and performer creating interdisciplinary work that draws on her Kathak dance training and collaboration to explore themes of  identity, belonging, and empowerment. She has performed with artists/companies including Sir Richard Alston, Gary Clarke, Thick & Tight, and Hetain Patel, amongst others with work presented at Sadler’s Wells, the Royal Opera House, Tate Modern, and V&A. She is a Sadler’s Wells Young Associate (2020/22), Philharmonia Artist in Residence (2024/25). www.vidyapatel.com @_vidyapatel

Rachele Rapisardi is a London-based dance artist with over 15 years of professional experience across the UK and Europe. She has worked as a performer, teacher, and rehearsal director with companies including Clod Ensemble, Protein Dance, Lost Dog, Hofesh Shechter, AKC, and Russell Maliphant. Committed to community engagement, she works with children and vulnerable adults, using dance and movement to foster creativity, connection, and artistic expression.

Preetha Narayanan is a violinist, composer, and educator with a unique musical story that crosses countries, cultures, and genres. Merging Western and Indian Classical training with a wide range of influences from her collaborations and research, Preetha is sought after for her distinctive voice and unique sound. She is the co-founder of genre-defying string duo Balladeste (“…an extraordinary and beautiful listening experience” Folk Radio UK) who have released 3 albums to great acclaim of all original music with a fourth set to release November 2026.

Kostantinos Glynos is a London-based qanun player. He performs Balkan, Greek, Turkish, Arabic, Flamenco, as well as Early and Baroque Western music. He has collaborated with dancers, visual artists and composers, and he has performed in world music festivals in the UK and Europe, as well as highly acclaimed UK venues such as Barbican, Union Chapel, Minack theatre, Southbank Center and more. He is a core member of Idrisi Ensemble, Mandalakia, Amena, The Turbans and Flamenco meets Makam.