AQUEOUS HUMOUR THEATRE COMPANY - Key Persons
The band formed in Manchester when two students, Carmel McCourt and Jim Parris got together with drummer Gerry Darby (Parris' cousin). Their debut single, "Storm" reached No. 1 in the UK independent chart and Carmel was signed immediately to London Records. Their second album The Drum is Everything (produced by Mike Thorne) drew some praise. Parris and Darby conjured the effect of a full ensemble backing to McCourt's vocals, and alternated between soulful ballads, gospel, blues and jazz. The resulting singles "Bad Day" and "More, More, More" both went Top 25 in the UK Singles Chart. The following album, The Falling (produced by Brian Eno, Hugh Jones and David Motion) made Carmel moderately successful in France, achieving gold disc status, as well as charting in Belgium, Germany and The Netherlands. Carmel had a hit in France with "J'oublierai ton nom", a duo with France's Johnny Hallyday. "Sally" the first single lifted from the album sold 500,000 copies in France alone. With the critical and commercial success awarded both The Falling and the next album Everybody's Got A Little Soul, record producers were keen to work with Carmel.
Caroline is a director, writer, producer and facilitator based in the North West. She has worked for Manchester International Festival, The National Theatre of Scotland and Cumbernauld Theatre. She is currently Particitpation Programme Manager at M6 Theatre in Rochdale, alongside her freelance work. Caroline also dabbles in voice overs and can be heard in children's
Job Titles:
- Designer
- Freelance Designer and Community Artist
Nerissa Cargill Thompson is a freelance Designer and Community Artist with over 20 years experience of working in professional, community and education settings as a designer, maker and facilitator. She studied Theatre Design at Nottingham Trent University. Since graduating in 1995, she has been based in Manchester, working as a freelance set and costume designer for both theatre and film. She has also worked as a community artist, facilitating projects and workshops in a variety of visual arts, specialising in working alongside drama, music or dance workers to bring a visual element to performances and workshops. She was Head of Design for Manchester Youth Theatre from 1997-2000. Her achievements in this role included the World Premiere of Airwaves, the Manchester Evening News Special Award winning season in 1999 and a M.E.N award nomination for Agamemnon in 1998. Nerissa is Head of Design for Aqueous Humour, she adds a highly visual aspect to our work, collaborating with directors and performers and contributing to the devising process.
She has designed for theatre & film productions, including shows for the British Youth Film Academy, Arden School of Theatre, Mersey TV, Proud and Loud Arts, DIY Theatre Company, Paleface Pictures, The Lowry, Activ8, TIPP, Bury Met and many fringe productions in Edinburgh, London and Manchester.
She has worked as a scenic artist and prop-maker for theatres including the Royal Northern College of Music, Footlights Theatre School, The Lowry, Bolton Octagon, Library Theatre (Manchester) and Swan Theatre (Worcester).
She exhibited at the 2D>3D Theatre Design exhibition at the Millennium Galleries in Sheffield in 2002/3 and was part of the education team doing workshops with visiting school groups. She was also part of the SBTD exhibition in Nottingham in 2007 & 2015 and Cardiff in 2011.
Job Titles:
- Artistic Director
- Director With Z - Arts
Tom Hogan is based in Manchester where he is currently the Artistic Director of Aqueous Humour and Proud and Loud Arts. He also holds the position of ‘Director Mentor' for the North of England on the Royal Shakespeare Company's Openstages programme and is an Artist Mentor on Contact Theatre's Future Fires young artist's development programme.
Over his career he has undertaken training at the Philippe Gaulier School in Paris and with Spymonkey in both London & Manchester plus a variety of short courses in clown, devising & physical theatre run by experts such as Jeff Jonson, Nicole Kehrberger, Keith Johnstone and Augusto Boal. Tom initially trained as an Actor at Inchicore College, Dublin and has Masters Degree in Theatre and Performance from The University of Manchester.
Most recently Tom has worked as movement director with Z-Arts on their (Manchester Theatre Award Nominated) Christmas production of DUCK! with 20 Stories High. He directed Proud and Loud Arts touring production of Beyond the 4th Wall and at Contact Theatre took charge of CYAC's site-specific theatre piece People in glass cases shouldn't throw stones at Manchester Museum. Tom has tutored in Interactive Performance, Grotesque Clowning, Alternative Teaching Methods, Inclusive Arts Practice and Street Theatre at The Universities of - Manchester, Salford and Bolton as well as Hope and John Moore's Universities in Liverpool. He has lead drama residencies in H.M.P Forest Bank, Hindley Y.O.I and Barton Moss secure care unit for children and is currently Artist in Residence at Manchester Pupil Referral Unit where he runs workshops with pupils and as part of staff training. Other organisations he has worked with - M6 Theatre, TIPP, Creative Partnerships, Octagon Theatre, Oldham Theatre Workshop, Burnley Youth Theatre, Salford Youth Service, Bury MBC, Rochdale PCT & Bolton@Home.
Tom founded Aqueous Humour in 2001 through partnerships with the Lowry and the City of Salford. He has developed a variety of shows for Aqueous Humour, convincing many of the merits of the Bouffon clown and Interactive Performance. He has performed in all the Aqueous Humour professional shows at some point, most recently in Amorous Congress and as lead-singer with Bushpig in the guise of Mary-Lou Cougar. Tom has also toured internationally as part of Whalley Range Allstars, and has worked with a range of directors including Al Seed, David Byrne, Tomas McAnna, Mike Heath and Collette Murray.