The Creatives
Ian McCracken
Artistic Director
Ian is a graduate of the Guildford School of Acting and his career has spanned many aspects of theatre including acting, directing, composing and production managing. He is also a stage combat instructor and independent fight director working at leading drama schools, universities and theatres all around the UK.
He first started working with Image Musical Theatre as an actor in their 2003 adaptation of 'The Railway Children'. He returned to the company in 2005 to play the part of Geppetto in 'Pinocchio' and has subsequently continued to work closely with Image in a variety of roles within the company.
Robert Hyman
Composer
Robert has spent over twenty-five years training aspiring professionals for a career in theatre and working with and encouraging some of the best professional actors in the industry. He is a Conductor, Composer and Arranger of note with over thirty scores to his credit. He has been exclusive composer to Image Musical Theatre since 1993.
No stranger to the world of theatre for young people originally a teacher of singing at Italia Conti Stage School, he is currently Musical Director to Theatretrain (also since 1993) and was also commissioned by the BBC to contribute songs to the last series of ‘Boogie Beebies’.
Since 1998 Robert has worked extensively as a composer and MD at Theatre Royal Stratford East. He is currently writing the score and lyrics for ‘Dick Whittington’ to be performed there this Christmas which he also provided for the 2007/8 Christmas show ‘Cinderella’ which was nominated for an Olivier award for Best Production in Affiliate Theatre.
As a conductor he has worked at the Royal Albert Hall, the Sibelius Academy Finland, the Queen Elizabeth Hall and the majority of West End Theatres. Other credits include: ‘The Big Life’ at the Apollo, Shaftesbury Avenue and ‘Come Dancing’, (written by and starring former Kinks front man Ray Davies).
In 2012 he was MD for the Graeae Theatre Company production of the Ian Dury musical ‘Reasons To Be Cheerful’ which toured the UK and with whom he was seen performing ‘Spasticus Autisticus’ to a worldwide TV audience at the Paralympics Opening Ceremony.
Katherine Penton
Costumier
In the early days Katherine designed many shows for Image and found that the only way of getting out of doing any more was to have three children. Now all the children are at school she can no longer think of any more excuses to get out of her work so thankfully her wonderful costuming talents have returned to Image.
Kris Abrahams
Assistant Director / Administrator
Kris is a professional actor with numerous credits to his name and a graduate of the Arts Educational School in London. He joined the Image family back in 2009 as an actor in 'The Railway Children'. His love of the work that Image produced saw him understudy numerous roles before being offered the chance to have more involvement in the day-to-day running of the business. Recent credits include EastEnders.
Robin Hood
Brandon McCaffrey
Brandon is a Northern Irish actor currently based in Manchester. He trained at the Cumbria Institute Of the Arts. His credits include Wee Sam in BBC’s Soft Border Patrol, Seppings In Jeeves and Wooster and Jake Richards in Blood Runs Deep which he performed at the Liverpool Epstein. Since graduating Brandon has also toured the UK with murder mystery company Highly Suspect and TIE company Enact Solutions. Brandon's own company Two Player Game Productions with playwright Cat Sharples specialise in premiering and promoting new writing in the North of England.
Alexandra Lansdale
Alexandra graduated from the University of York in 2017 with a degree in Music. Since then, she has been performing on set and stage, completing a series of educational films for the NSPCC and filming for the BBC (Criminal Histories, The Sunday Politics Show). Most recently, she filmed a new comedy-horror out in Normandy (The Haunting of Lanquetot). Her theatre credits include, The Tales of Robin Hood (Will Scarlett), Three Sisters (Olga/Multi-roler), Our Writer at the Edinburgh Fringe (Morphine), Sense & Sensibility UK & Ireland Tour and China Tour (Marianne), Little Women UK & Ireland Tour (Amy), Little Women China Tour (Jo), A Christmas Carol National Tour (Christmas Past/Tiny Tim). Alexandra is delighted to be joining Image Musical Theatre in Robin Hood in her first TIE tour!
Max Caswell
Max has trained at the Young Actors Theatre in Islington. In training he has played the roles of Jesus in'Jesus Christ Superstar', Priest in 'Machinal', and Johnny in 'Skin A Cat'. He is also a member of the National Youth Theatre.
The Reluctant Dragon
Daniel Furguson
I’m a 23 year old actor/musician based in Cambridgeshire, UK. I hold a degree in Performing Arts from Buckinghamshire New University, and have performed in a variety of productions- including panto, musical theatre, contemporary plays and short films. I’m also a self-taught guitarist, and enjoy writing my own music as well as performing covers.
Laura Samson
Laura trained at the University of Cumbria and later at East 15 gaining an MA in Acting.
Since graduating Laura has performed in the UK, Europe and China with various different companies. Performing plays, musicals, and Shakespeare to young audiences.
Laura is very much looking forward to working for Image once again, having previously toured in Wind in the Willows 2017/18
Joshua Picton
Joshua Picton has recently graduated from East 15 Acting school with a first class degree in Acting. He has played a variety of roles through his career, including the starring role in Arthur Miller's classic 'All My Sons' as Joe Keller and Sir Toby Belch in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. Joshua has previously toured with a 'Theatre in Education' company educating secondary school pupils about the dangers of cyber bullying; and is delighted to be making his profession debut with Image Musical Theatre.