NMT Automatics
Tempus Fugit: Troy & Us
The doorbell rings. A radio crackles. Ancient and modern conflicts collide, as the wife of a soldier fighting in Afghanistan is plunged into visions of the Trojan War. Inspired by Andromache and her warrior husband Hector, Bea discovers how tales from antiquity can shed light on her present and hold the key to her future.
Imbued with text from Homer’s Iliad, alongside modern interviews with 21st-century military personnel and their partners, this critically acclaimed production explores the love, joy and grief of a couple grappling with the shadows of war.
For this production NMT Automatics, have brought together a special team of creatives that have worked with some of the most internationally renowned contemporary theatre companies including 1927, Gecko Theatre, Theatre Re, Barefaced Greek and Les Enfants Terribles
First seen at The British Museum’s ‘Troy’ Exhibition in 2020, ‘Troy and Us’ has been extensively developed with The Centre for the Public Understanding of Greek & Roman Drama (St Andrews University), and Alice König & Nicolas Wiater’s Visualising War Project.
‘Troy and Us’ is supported by Arts Council England, The Classical Association, Army and the Arts, Trestle Theatre Company, & The Redbridge Drama Centre.
Suitable for audiences 12 +
“Hard hitting, deeply moving, almost haunting, entirely compelling … a must-see piece of theatre whose relevance will never fade,” ★★★★★ Theatre Weekly
“Truly an enactment of the phrase ‘Theatre of War’.” ★★★★ LondonTheatre1
“An original imaginative production with moving performances” ★★★★ Broadway Baby
‘Three-to-see’ recommendation in ThreeWeeks
“A masterclass in text-based realism… physical storytelling and mask work” PocketsizedTheatre
“Stunning mask work and physical storytelling, this production is profoundly authentic.” ‘Best of the Fringe‘ The Edinburgh Reporter
Tickets available here
Cast list
Bea
Genevieve Dunne
Alec
Noah Young
With voiceovers from:
Konstantinos Kavakiotis & Nasia Papadopoulou
Creative list
Director
Andres Velasquez
Dramaturg
Máirín O’Hagan
Co-creator
Jennie Dunne
Co-creator
Jonathan Young
Lighting Designer
Josephine Tremelling
Set & Co-Sound Design
Nathan Johnson
Co-Sound Design
Chris Prosho
Creatives
NMT Automatics was formed by Jonathan D’Young, and David Hermann after they graduated from Middlesex University’s BA Performing Arts Drama course in 2003. The company devolved for a while to concentrate on individual projects, but was brought back with renewed vigour in the Autumn of 2013 and has since been joined by East 15 and Lecoq graduate, Jennie (Genevieve) Dunne.
Co- Artistic Director 
Jonathan has over 20 years’ experience in the industry, as an actor, movement practitioner and creative. He originally trained at Middlesex University under the tutelage of John Wright (Trestle & Told by an idiot). Following that, he worked with numerous companies and directors as an actor, whilst developing his love of music as a drummer, percussionist and front man of the theatrical post-punk grunge band Myernark.
He later combined all of this experience into developing the theatre company, NMT Automatics. As Co- Artistic Director he has produced, written, composed and created narrative based work that has explored free movement, choreography, multi-media, object manipulation, expressionism, naturalism, epic, poor and total theatre.
In 2019 he completed a Masters in Movement: Directing and Teaching at The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in 2019. He has since taught at Rose Bruford, Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, The University of West London, The School (formally the Poor School), and ArtsEd.
Co-Artistic Director
Jennie (Genevieve) Dunne is an actress who studied languages at Cambridge University. She then trained at Jacques Lecoq Theatre School and East 15 Acting School.
Jennie’s Lecoq training inspired NMTA’s use of object manipulation in The Orpheus Project and her acrobatic-dance background enabled a development of adagio-style movement in Dido and Pandora. Credits as choreographer include: The Cambridge Fool’s When In Rome; Where’s Your Mama Gone (Hen and Chickens); The Matchgirls (RDC); The Abominable Snowman (Moon on a Stick Productions). Praise includes: ‘outstanding choreography’ (WhatsOnStage).
Jennie is a regular performer and facilitator for the internationally renowned theatre company 1927, including lead roles in worldwide hit shows Golem, The Animals and the children took to the streets and Roots.
https://jenniemaydunne.wordpress.com
Key Collaborators
Over the years we’ve had the pleasure of working with some fantastic collaborators, here is few of them:
Andres Velasquez is a Columbian born freelance theatre maker with training from Teatro Libre de Bogota & the International School of Corporeal Mime in London. For the last 18 years he has worked on over 30 UK theatre productions. He is a long-term collaborator of critically acclaimed & internationally renowned companies including 1927, Gecko Theatre, & Theatre Re, for whom he performed in “Nature of Forgetting” & “Birth”. Andres came on board as Director of Tempus Fugit, for the the British Museum performances and following R&D. His specialist mime background enabled him to create compelling narratives, using just the actor’s bodies, and enabled the company to limit text and dialogue to only the most essential. Andres is collaborating with us again on our current project based around ‘visualising peace’…
Máirín O’Hagan is a writer & director who specialises in the Classics as well as feminist retellings of history. Her company, Barefaced Greek, make contemporary films using classical Greek text, with a view to providing free educational online content for the study of ancient text and language. The films have been shown internationally, including at the Victoria and Albert Museum. Mairin has also collaborated on a research project, using Greek Chorus to positively impact climate change, culminating in a performance which toured to universities around the world. Recently, she has been working with the University of Georgia and the Archive of Performances of Greek and Roman Drama, exploring how ancient text acts as a springboard for modern thinking on victory and gender. Mairin’s other company, Queynte Laydies, tell stories about brilliant women hidden in history. Their current play, ‘Lady Percy,’ is a response to Shakespeare’s Henry IV, inspired initially by Mairin’s own experience of being a military partner during Britain’s engagements in Iraq and Afghanistan. Lady Percy was a finalist at the American Shakespeare Centre’s ‘New Contemporaries Project.’ She was the dramaturg for Tempus Fugit, and is working with us again on our current project based around ‘visualising peace’…
Dr Alice König is a senior lecturer for the School of Classics at the University of St Andrews. She is co-lead on the Visualising War Project, which Tempus Fugit was developed in collaboration with. She wrote ‘Visualising War: Interplay Between Battle Narratives Across Antiquity’ which explores the evolution of war stories across 1500 years, identifying shared tropes & shedding light on the cross-cultural development of ancient discourses of war & gender which have profoundly influenced post-antique mindsets and behaviours. She also works closely with the Defence Cultural Specialist Unit and the Specialist Infantry Group, with a view to building capacity in military individuals & groups, to harness cultural intelligence, to help prevent or mitigate the effects of future conflict. Her research, experience & knowledge played a vital part in the development of Tempus Fugit, and we are delighted that we will again by collaborating with her and her team on a new show about ‘Visualising Peace’.
David Hermann is a writer, musician and MA in Comparative Literature at UCL (http://hermannist.com). His work has appeared in Litro, The Junket, and Scarf among others. He lives in Berlin and California where he has composed for TV in Germany and Switzerland as well as collaborating extensively with Dog Eared Films (London).
Rion Willard is an architect, designer, artist and musician. He runs The Thinking Hand Studio (TTHS) and has recently set up The Business of Architecture Podcast. Rion has exhibited internationally & featured in various publications.
A previous collaboration with artistic director Jonathan saw the creation of an interactive architectural installation, which investigated human communication, within a rhythmical performance piece, parts of which were featured in the Pask Present Exhibition, Vienna. He has also toured and performed extensively as a musician with the highly acclaimed theatrical ‘Post-punk Pop-rock’ group Myernark.
Rion created the artwork & set for Dido as well as set consulting on Pandora’s Box and graphic design.
NMT Automatics 