Tinderbox Team
Artistic Director – Patrick J O’Reilly
Patrick is a theatre maker/performer based in Belfast Northern Ireland. Since 2016, I have been appointed as Artistic Director for Tinderbox Theatre Company based in Belfast where he has implemented a vision of liberation and playfulness for the development and celebration of artistic collaboration in Ireland. His greatest passion lies in the roots of shamanism, ritual and the mask; to connect with the sacred nature of theatre to engage our communities to the power of performance in theatre.
His training initially followed a vocational path receiving a BA Hons in Brighton back in 2003. He subsequently worked as an actor and writer for 7 years before finishing studies at the Le Coq school in Paris.
There, he was given the invaluable space to explore and discover the incredible potential of the Imagination through play and all of my work to date aspires to ignite, connect and re-imagine a new world of making art.
He aspires to work in true collaboration with artists, participants and audiences. He believes creativity is a shared experience where we all are equally responsible in creating space and sharing stories as an interdependent ecology.
Company Manager – Alice Malseed
Alice is a writer and theatre maker based in Belfast. She has been writing and producing since 2014. Her work has appeared across the UK, Ireland, in Sri Lanka and New York. Her play The Half Moon, directed by Emily Foran and produced by Green Shoot was produced at the Mac and for a community tour in Belfast. Her show ‘Anthem was a hit at Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival 2021. Alice’s monologue ‘Haven’ was part of 1st Origins Irish Festival in New York, and recorded by the Lyric Theatre for their ‘Listen at the Lyric’ series in Autumn 2020 – the show was New York Time’s Critic’s Pick in January 2021. Her show ‘Jade City’ was at Bunker Theatre in London in September 2019, produced by View From Here Theatre Company.
Alice was part of BBC Writersroom Belfast Voices group 2018-2019 and Lyric New Playwrights Programme 2018.
Alice was awarded a Jerwood New Work Fund in 2019 to support her work and she received the Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival Theatre Award in January 2021.
Recently Alice has been working as a Project Manager/Assistant Producer with Kabosh.
If you would like to reach out to Patrick, Alice or Ciaran, you can contact us here.
Creative Development Practitioner – Ciaran Haggerty
Ciaran Haggerty is a graduate of The International Film School of Wales, who specialises in writing and theatre-making. Since graduating, Ciaran has worked with a variety of companies within the creative arts sector, including Pintsized Productions, Kabosh, Tinderbox, Three’s Theatre Company, Framed Arts, Manifesto Poetico, Everything in Between, and Outburst Queer Arts Festival. Ciaran is a writer with extensive experience of writing for magazines, online content, theatre and film. Including being the head editor of Inspire Weddings magazine and the runner up for an E4/Channel 4 pilot writing scheme, in 2014. As well as working with a variety of film and television companies across the UK and Ireland including; Belfast Film Festival, Big Hug Productions London, Walden Media, Generator Entertainment. Ciaran also crowd funded and directed Belfast based documentary: Jules, Belfast’s best kept secret, working along side actress and writer Victoria Armstrong. Most recently, Ciaran has worked with choreographer Jennifer Rooney on a short film for One Dance UK and BBC arts called Flight, which is now available on BBC Iplayer.
Funded by ArtWork Fund
Tinderbox’s Board of Directors
Stephen Beggs (Chair)
Stephen is a freelance actor, director, facilitator, writer and producer. He has a Theatre Studies Degree from the University of Ulster. He was the Manager of Bruiser Theatre Company for 12 years, leaving to go freelance at the end of 2013. Since then he has been creating his own work in theatre; working with most of Northern Ireland’s fantastic theatre companies and festivals; and facilitating arts projects in the education and healthcare sector. He premiered his solo show ‘The King Of East Belfast’ at the 2020 EastSide Arts Festival.
Stephen has been a Board member since December 2018.
Lisa McGinley
Lisa is Head of Operations of the MAC, a vibrant arts centre in the heart of Belfast that has welcomed over 2 million visitors since opening in 2012. Lisa has been with the MAC for 8 years and has over 20 years senior management experience with large customer facing organisations including Belfast International Airport and My Kinda Town, an international chain of restaurants and bars. Most recently she has managed the redevelopment of the MAC Café Bar in December 2018.
She is on the Strategic Development and Advocacy Task Group of the Cathedral Quarter Trust which supports the development and protection of the built heritage of The Cathedral Quarter. Lisa has studied at Trinity College Dublin, is a Business and Management Graduate from Queen’s University Belfast and is currently completing a MA in Cultural Heritage and Museum Studies at Ulster University.
Lisa has been a Board member since October 2019.
Janine Walker
Janine Walker is an actress, dramatist and drama facilitator. She is co-founder of Spanner in the Works Theatre Company and was a participant in Tinderbox Theatre’s Play Machine Actor Training Programme 2018/19. From 2007 until 2014, Janine was appointed as Board Member of The Arts Council of Northern Ireland.
She has worked in the arts sector in Northern Ireland for over 20 years – as Arts Manager at Arts & Business NI and General Manager at Arts Care. She is a law graduate from Queen’s University Belfast and has a Masters with Commendation in Drama & Performance Studies, also from Queen’s University Belfast. Janine is currently the Arts Officer (Programming) for Newry Mourne & Down District Council and is based at Down Arts Centre in Downpatrick.
Janine has been a Board member since Oct 2019.
Lee Robb (Secretary)
Lee is the founder of Positive Carrickfergus CIC which is focused building community and a sense of belonging in Carrickfergus. She is also co-founder of Repair Cafe Belfast and loves helping out at their pop up community repair events and working with her co-founder to help new repair cafes get up and running outside Belfast.
Lee has also worked with a range of arts organisations as an employee and as a freelancer, including Culture Night, Wheelworks and Belfast Community Circus School. She has more than 20 years experience in the voluntary and community sector with significant experience designing funding programmes and processes for the National Lottery Community Fund. Lee is obsessed with how to create positive change and trained as a coach when working with NLCF. As part of that work she acquired a qualification in Systems Thinking in Practice from the OU in 2017.
Lee has been a Board member since December 2020.
Sally Rees
Sally Rees is a creative and enthusiastic teacher with 25 years experience teaching Drama and Performing Arts. She is Leader of Learner for Creative and Expressive Arts at Enniskillen Royal Grammar School. Sally co-wrote the CCEA A level Performing Arts specification and is the serving Principal Moderator.
Sally also works as a freelance events and project manager, currently as project support for Wilde ISLAND TOWN, and Festival Manager: Enniskillen for Arts Over Borders – Happy Days Enniskillen International Beckett Festival and Wilde Weekend. An avid advocate for the Arts in Fermanagh, Sally is an active Chair of Dylan Quinn Dance Theatre, and Co-chair of FODC Arts and Culture Forum.
Rachel Leitch
Rachel has been the Marketing Manager at the Lyric Theatre, Belfast – Northern Ireland’s only full time producing theatre since January 2019. Leading on strategy for the theatre’s marketing with a focus on PR, Lyric produced shows and supporting visiting companies, Rachel has a passion for new writing and work.
Rachel has worked for various organisations in the Not-for-profit/charity sector in the past 10 years, primarily in the arts but also for grant-maker, the Community Foundation for Northern Ireland. She is involved with the change-makers group hoping to encourage and ignite change in the arts, new ways of working and collaboration.
Rachel has been a Board member since December 2020.
Christopher Travers
Chris is Head of Marketing at Tate galleries. He was previously Head of Engagement and Sales at the Federation of British Artists and the Mall Galleries. Prior to this he worked in Australia for 6 years holding CMO positions at the Art Gallery of Western Australia and the Australian Centre of Moving Image.
He has a 25-year career in communications management spanning broadcasting, sport, arts, music, health, events and human rights. Previous UK roles include Director of Marketing Communications and Audiences at the British Film Institute; Head of Consumer Marketing for BBC Global News; Head of Marketing at Welsh National Opera and the Barbican Centre; and Director of Strategy and Communications at The Royal Parks during the run up to the 2012 Olympics.
Chris worked in Burma on HIV prevention, Ireland on BBC Music Live festival and was Chair of Diversions Dance Company in Wales.
Chris has been a Board member since February 2021.
Matthew Jeffrey
Matthew trained at the Lyric Theatre’s Drama Studio programme whilst studying Drama at Queen’s University Belfast. He is a classically trained singer and has experience performing with the likes of St. George’s Choir, Belfast, Northern Ireland Opera, Voices of Ireland, Concentio Chamber Choir and various other musical ensembles.
Upon graduating from Queen’s University Belfast in 2015, Matthew joined Belfast-based corporate communications agency Lanyon Group where he is now a Senior Associate. He has worked across all aspects of Lanyon’s corporate communications activity, with a particular focus on PR & media engagement, branding, design & creative outputs; and events management & production.
Matthew has been a Board member since February 2021 and is also a member of the CBI NI Future Leaders Forum.