Meet the Team

Riptides don't occur on their own, they need other forces to combine and blend in order to emerge. 

This page highlights the powerful professionals, Riptide collaborates with.
Who they are and what they do.

  • Alexander has extensive knowledge of site-based and immersive performance. He has worked with both Internationally-renowned company Punchdrunk (The Drowned Man, 2013) and BAFTA-nominated You Me Bum Bum Train (2012).

    Riptide's Artistic Director, Alexander, specialises in immersive and interactive work. He has directed large-scale immersive events and has gone on to make work internationally in the US and Australia.

    Alexander specialises in one-on-one performance and has a particular focus on intimacy and care within performance.

    Alexander regularly teaches undergraduates and postgraduates at Leeds Conservatoire, the University of Leeds and Northern School of Contemporary Dance.

    Alexander mentors Arts Council DYCP award winners and is available for mentorship in 2026.

FOUNDER | ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

  • Molly brings extensive experience of devising and delivering quality cultural programmes and events in diverse settings.

    As Head of Events at The Piece Hall Trust, Molly oversaw the transformation of the Grade 1 listed building, a flagship cultural regeneration project in the North of England. She curated and delivered an ambitious year-round programme to acclaim, underpinning the strategic success of the venue. Highlights include establishing the music concerts for 5.5k capacity audiences and creating large scale spectacles such as The Blondin Gala.

    At Somerset House, London, Molly managed high profile events including Film4 Summer Screen, music concert series and the famous ice rink, alongside projects such as PJ Harvey's Recording in Progress with Artangel.

    While a Producer at the Norfolk & Norwich Festival, a 16 day multi artform festival, Molly delivered a wide range of projects, including Submerged Spaces by Bill Viola, an exhibition commissioned with Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts and the UK Premier of Robert Wilson’s Walking, a vast immersive performance in the North Norfolk landscape.

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER

  • Sophie Watson runs Studio Sophie.

    At its core, Studio Sophie encompasses design, creativity and construction. It is a one woman band, with support from a host of talented individuals from across the industry to help translate your ideas into a reality that does what it should and looks good whilst doing so.

    Sophie Watson (the woman behind the brand) approaches projects with a thoughtfulness and a curious mind. Sophie has over ten years experience of working in the events industry, managing workshops, large builds and projects as well as large teams of people. She takes joy and pride in her work and this enthusiasm translates into strategic yet innovative designs and builds. Studio Sophie commits itself to getting to know its clients and working collaboratively towards a shared vision. Sophie welcomes in person discussions at her studio or over the phone.

DESIGNER

  • Kayleigh is a theatre director and facilitator. She creates reinterpretations of classics, interactive and site-responsive work and digital experiences. She seeks to facilitate democratic rehearsal processes with a focus on collaboration and co-creation.

    Kayleigh was long-listed for the JMK Directors Award 2020; shortlisted for Les Enfants Terribles Award for Best Girl by Christine Mackie; won GM Fringe Award for Best Comedy Play & Manchester Theatre Award for Best Fringe Performance for The Loves of Others & received a JMK bursary & Leverhulme Arts Scholarship to assistant direct Javaad Alipoor & Kirsty Housley on Rich Kids: A History of Shopping Malls in Tehran (Scotsman Fringe First 2019).

    She co-founded the Shakespeare partnership between Hope Mill Theatre & Girl Gang for which she directed Hamlet (2018) & Romeo & Juliet (2019) & is co-producing A Midsummer Night’s Dream (dir. Kate Colgrave Pope - postponed 2021). She has directed work at Pleasance Courtyard, Lowry, Oldham Coliseum, Hidden Door Festival, 53two etc & has received commissions by & created new work at Royal Exchange, HOME (as Associate Artist with supported company Babel Theatre), Dukes Lancaster, Oldham Coliseum (Venues North supported production) & Unity Theatre.

    Kayleigh works extensively with young people & vulnerable groups. She is a practitioner at the Royal Exchange and has facilitated for Barbican at HOME with Tamasha, Cardboard Citizens, Shakespeare Schools Festival etc. She has trained actors at ALRA North, ICTheatre and Hope Aria Academy.

    Kayleigh has been vital in the creation of the digital version of The Lucky Ones, which premieres in February 2021 for online audiences.

ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR

  • Lily is a freelance community theatre practitioner, project manager and creative in the Leeds area. She graduated from The University of Leeds with a degree in Theatre and Performance with a year abroad studying at Shanghai Theatre Academy, China and with a Masters in Applied Theatre and Intervention.

    Her current work is wide-ranging and includes engaging lonely and isolated older adults through the arts in partnership with organisations such as Leeds Playhouse and Yorkshire Dance.

    Lily also received funding to run a collaborative arts group (made up of older adults) who curate arts events across Yorkshire.

    She is a creative who enjoys working with non-traditional audiences in non-traditional spaces. She enjoys Theatre that takes individuals on theatrical journeys that challenge current thinking on creativity and the arts.

ASSOCIATE ARTIST


  • Joe has a degree in computer game design and a Masters in acting, which have been meshed into a career as a physical puzzle designer.

    He has been working in the immersive theatre/escape game world for the last five years now and in this time has worked on Time Run Ltd.

    Escape Plan Ltd and on the new Sherlock Holmes experience 'The Game is Now' in London. Joe is also the co-founder and creator of The Detective Society a play-at-home escape-game.

    Joe worked as an Associate Artist on The Lucky Ones: Lucy and is very much looking forward to continuing the journey with Riptide, advancing this new genre of long-form immersive theatre.

ASSOCIATE ARTIST


  • Hetty joined the team on a year-long placement where she helped create multiple performances including; The Lucky Ones, An Odyssey and Project Intimacy.

    Hetty is co-founder of Hitcher Encounters, an all female immersive theatre company.

    Hetty has also worked on The Director’s Diary podcast.

ASSOCIATE ARTIST

  • Growing up in a rural, working class, area has inspired Ryan to create work that actively involves audiences. No one gets to sit on the periphery or feel left out.

    In 2018 Ryan was commissioned to create the interactive, American Football experience COMMIT (Royal Exchange Theatre: CoLab Festival). It pitted two teams against each other to secure the commitment of a black American Football player. By any means.

    That experience of creating a wide range of tasks & games (from decorating your own cookie cake to eavesdropping on opponents’ phone calls) and playing plenty of Pokemon Blue & Disco Elysium this year, has inspired the tasks you will play in The Lucky Ones.

    Ryan’s work spans multiple disciplines: Video DJing (National Theatre, HOME) through to Acting (Latitude Festival, Royal Exchange Theatre) & Devised work with non-performers (We Will Probably Never Meet, Boundless Theatre).

    With Riptide, Ryan has collaborated on Sonder providing the voiceover for one of the multiple narratives. He has recently been involved in the making of the new digital version of The Lucky Ones. His role has been to look at the audience's experience and gameplay of the piece.

    Outside of work, he works as a private American Football coach. He mentors diverse, working-class young men across the North West.

ASSOCIATE ARTIST


  • Chris O’Connor is a professional playwright who has written for organisations such as the Leeds Playhouse, BBC Radio and Red Ladder Theatre Company. He has also worked in community theatre running courses and workshops for Chapel FM, Hawksworth Older People Support and most recently in a dementia care home. He also co-hosts the Mantality podcast.


    His first professional production was The Life and Soul in 2016 with Red Ladder Theatre Company, which is still touring and has performed at venues such as the Carriageworks Theatre in Leeds, Park Theatre in London and The Playhouse in Derry. The piece deals with mental health issues and suicide in young men and has raised a considerable amount for charity. He has recently extended this piece with Red Ladder, renamed The Parting Glass, further exploring the themes raised in The Life and Soul and looking at the impact of suicide on those left behind. It has just finished its’ 2019 tour and will be returning in 2020. He also worked with Buglight Theatre Company, based in Doncaster, in 2017 on a play called Marching on Embers, which explored radicalisation in Northern Ireland focusing on a fictionalised IRA terror cell post-Brexit. The piece toured the North of England, with a 4* review from the Yorkshire Post commenting that the ‘play proves that some of the very best drama happens outside London.’ In 2018 he worked with the Leeds Playhouse and BBC Radio on a radio play, Exodus, about migration which was performed live over five nights in Leeds and broadcast on BBC radio, and BBC iPlayer, as part of their Airplays initiative.

    He has worked with Riptide on their immersive experiences: The Lucky Ones, The Lucky Ones: Lailah, The Lucky Ones III, their site-based Christmas experience The Lost Present as well as an immersive journey through the Leeds Playhouse called A Quest for the Lost Story.

    In 2022 he wrote The Trial, an adaptation of Kafka's novel, with Proper Job Theatre.


    More Information: https://www.chris-oconnor.co.uk/

WRITER | ASSOCIATE ARTIST