Meet the Elemental Artists
Meet our four Elemental Artists who will take part in our new talent development programme this year.
Click here to watch a short video introducing our artists.
Nicola Crawford
Lighting Designer
Originating from Gloucestershire, Nicola is a lighting designer. She is passionate about creating personal, contemporary designs with an intelligent use of colour and layering to tell stories. Her work as an associate/assistant lighting designer helped her gain experience on larger scale productions, working with and learning from designers such as Ben Cracknell, Zoe Spurr and Nic Farman.
"I’m really excited to be an Elemental artist this year. I’m looking forward to working with other early years creatives and seeing how we all grow with the Watermill."
Pierre Flasse
Sound Designer
Pierre is a British/Belgian sound designer, composer, performer and educator. He is an artist that channels intuition and vulnerability into his sound, transcending genres and resonating deeply with audiences. He is an avid collaborator and theatre maker, composer's assistant to Sally Potter OBE, and writes for numerous originals projects.
“I'm absolutely thrilled to be an Elemental artist with the Watermill. I really feel my style of creating and learning resonates really closely with the Watermill's approach to theatre, and I can't wait to get started collaborating and working with them in the programme. I'm really looking forward to having an opportunity to shadow and learn from the in-house technical team here, and also to experiment with my own design in all the opportunities there are to do that: with the other creatives on the programme, with a mentor, and assisting on a show!”
Tyler Holland
Theatre Director
Tyler Holland is working as assistant director on our forthcoming production of The King’s Speech - is a director and writer from the West-Midlands. Specialising in new writing and radical re-imaginings of classic texts, Tyler’s work brings voice and communication to the forefront of their practice through the lens of magical realism. Tyler’s writing has been nominated for the both the PapaTango and Bruntwood Prize.
“As someone who believes theatre serves to congregate and not to segregate, I am so excited to be beginning a new relationship with The Watermill Theatre. I’m a theatre-maker from rural England who stammers, so I’m going to begin new conversations surrounding the voice, communication and what it means to be fluent and dis-fluent in provincial regions. Elemental provides the incredible opportunity to begin that discourse by assisting on The King’s Speech, a story incredibly personal to my own experiences, before continuing that conversation through sustained mentoring, time and space to develop new ideas for future life.”
Jacob Wu
Set Designer
Jacob Wu is a theatre designer and a scenographer from Hong Kong. He was trained in Scenography (MFA, Royal Central School of Speech and Drama), complementing his academic foundation in Set and Costume Design acquired in his hometown. Jacob’s work explores the intricate relationship between migration, diaspora and their living space. His work was staged at numerous venues, including the Museum of Home and the Crypt Gallery. His performative workshop Be Right Back explores from the lens of children in perceiving the uncertainties of a daunting world way larger than them; the piece was staged at the Stockholm Fringe Festival 2023 and won the Audience Choice Award. Apart from his previous residency as a set designer at Chung Ying Theatre Company (HK), Jacob has crafted site-specific installations and assisted in the design of Giselle for the National Ballet of Japan (2022). Currently, Jacob also serves as a Specialist Technician at Wimbledon College of Arts, UAL, where he works with students to hone their skills in model making and set design and supervises technical workshops.
“I'm thrilled and honoured to have been selected as an Elemental Artist. This programme provides an incredible platform to hone my skills and explore new creative endeavours, pushing the boundaries of what I can achieve. I'm excited to work with an amazing team and learn from my cohort, who come from different disciplines. I also find that the Watermill Theatre is deeply rooted in the community, and I’m thrilled to be a part of it.”