Creative Team

Paterson Joseph

WRITER/ Co-Director

Paterson is one of the UK's finest actors and his debut play as writer SANCHO: AN ACT OF REMEMBRANCE was first co-produced and performed at the Oxford Playhouse in 2011, then twice toured the US, including the Kennedy Center in Washington and the Brooklyn Academy of Music, New York. It was performed in London in 2018 at Wilton's Music Hall and is published by Bloomsbury.

Paterson's debut novel THE SECRET DIARIES OF CHARLES IGNATIUS SANCHO was published in 2022 by Dialogue Books in the UK and Henry Holt in the US, and has been nominated for six prestigious literary awards, winning the Royal Society of Literature's Christopher Bland Prize 2023 and The Historical Writer's Association Debut Novel Prize in that same year. 

​His first book Julius Caesar and Me: Exploring Shakespeare's African Play is published by Bloomsbury.

As an actor, Paterson’s recent credits include WONKA and BOAT STORY on BBC 1.

Michael Vale

Co-Director/ designer

Michael Vale has designed the sets and costumes for well over 200 theatre and opera productions both in the UK and abroad including those he has directed.

Companies he has worked with include: The Royal Shakespeare Company; The National Theatre; The Royal Opera House; English National Opera; Glyndebourne Festival Opera; Opera North; English Touring Opera; De Vlaamse Opera, Antwerp; Los Angeles Opera; New Zealand International Art’s Festival; The Ibero-American Theatre Festival in Bogota; Hong Kong Academy for the Performing Arts; Galaxy Theatre, Tokyo; Warsaw Globe Theatre Company; Munich Biennalle; The Black Theatre of Harlem; Lyric Hammersmith; The Royal Court; Almeida Theatre; Soho Theatre; Manchester Royal Exchange; Birmingham Rep.; West Yorkshire Playhouse; Sheffield Crucible; Liverpool Playhouse and Everyman Theatre; Nottingham Playhouse; Old Vic Bristol; Old Vic London; Edinburgh Lyceum; Oxford Playhouse; English Touring Theatre; The Royal Festival Hall; The Queen Elizabeth Hall; The Sage, Gateshead; Wales Millennium Centre; Battersea Arts Centre; Spymonkey; Kneehigh Theatre Company and Told By An Idiot, with whom he is an Associate Idiot.

Ben Park

Associate Director / musical director

Ben Park, an award-winning Composer and musician renowned for his work in multi-BAFTA and Oscar-nominated film, as well as internationally acclaimed theatre and dance. 

Former Associate artist to the Royal Opera House, Opera North & Oxford Playhouse, he is a recipient of the ORAsingers-Tate Modern prize.

Since 2010, Ben has collaborated with Paterson arranging and producing music for his theatrical productions, culminating in the release of the album "Sancho - His Life and His Music."  

Currently, Ben is arranging a new album of Sancho's compositions to be recorded and live-streamed 26th March 2024.

Linda Haysman

costume designer

Linda originally trained as a theatre designer but has pursued a career as an established costume designer. She has worked in theatre, but primarily works across television and feature films. Designing for Sancho has been an exciting return to her roots in costuming for the stage.

Starting out as a costume designer at the BBC, Linda’s work has taken her all over the world, designing for a whole range of genres and formats, including drama, comedy, documentaries and children’s TV. Her portfolio includes projects for the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Sky, Netflix, and Amazon. Her work ranges from period dramas to modern comedies, her most recent being cosmopolitan drama Riches and lively romantic comedy The Lovers. Linda’s next project will be designing costumes for BBC One’s Death in Paradise.