Craig Baxter - Playwright
Craig studied Zoology at Sheffield University and Playwriting at Birmingham University. His stage plays include St James and the Tattoo Man, Taking Liberties, The Ministry of Pleasure, The Animals, Hard Sell, Big Bang, Relics and Spearcarriers. He has adapted two of his plays for BBC Radio 4: The Thrill of the Chasteand Monogamy. He dramatised the correspondence between Darwin and Asa Gray on stage for the Darwin Correspondence Project (Re:Design) and those of Charles and Emma Darwin for the BBC World Service (Like Confessing a Murder).

Patrick Morris - Director
For Menagerie he has directed Claire MacDonald’s Correspondence, Naomi Wallace’s The Retreating Worldand Between This Breath and You, along with new plays by Amanda Whittington, Craig Baxter and Jennifer Farmer. In 2005 he directed his first opera, Abraham on Trial by Andrew Lovett. As a performer, he has worked extensively in the USA as well as in numerous Menagerie productions including Out of Your Knowledge, Hard Sell and Frobisher’s Gold. Patrick is co-founder and Associate Artistic Director of Menagerie.

Issam Kourbaj - Designer
Issam is Artist in Residence at Christ’s College, Cambridge. Born in Syria, he trained In Damascus, Leningrad and London and comes from a fine art, architecture and theatre design background. His work has been exhibited in three continents and is held in a number of collections, including The British Museum. For the last few years, Issam has drawn inspiration from the world of science, particularly light and optics: his camerae obscurae were recently displayed at the Botanic Gardens and at Kettle’s Yard House. He is also in the process of designing an Analemma sundial and recently published Cambridge Palimpsest. Given Issam’s interest in time, light and transformations, Newton’s work has proved an irresistible beacon for him.

Caroline Rippin - Isack
Acting credits for Menagerie include: Stand By Your Van(2009), Four for Jericho(Hotbed 2009), A Sudden Visitation of Calamity(Hotbed 2008), Frobisher’s Gold(2006); Motherfucker Island, In The White Highlands, Stormin’ Jack Norman(Hotbed 2002 and 04); Michelle and The Landlady(Edinburgh Festival and tour). As a Director, Oran’s Message(Hotbed 2008), Black Light(Hotbed 2006). Caroline also co-produced and directed Menagerie’s Heat Festival and coordinated their Young Writers programme in 2005. Caroline also runs Snapshot Theatre, which provides issues based workshops in the public sector.

Neil Jones - Newton
Theatre: For Menagerie includes many roles in 2006 and 2009 Hotbed festivals. Other theatre includes: Valentine / Orsino in Twelfth Night(No.1 Tour, Bill Kenwright / Thelma Holt); Enkidu in Gilgamesh(Classworks / Belgrade, Coventry); Sanderson in Another Country (Arts Theatre, Covent Garden). TV includes: Horace Charlton in Take A Girl Like You (Amis / Andrew Davies, BBC). Radio: Neil was a grand finalist in this year’s prestigious Norman Beaton Fellowship competition.

Paul McCleary - Sir Isaac
Born in County Durham, Paul worked as a foreign exchange dealer before training at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. He has worked regularly at The RSC, National Theatre, and Brittain”s leading regional theatres, Work in the last 18 months: Theatre: Our Friends In The North(tour), Oedipus(NT),The Price(New Vic), Peter Quince in The Fairy Queen(Glyndebourne) which tours to Paris & New York later this year, and King Of The Gypsies (Edinburgh Festival). Radio: The Crowded Street(BBC R4). TV: Holby Cityand The Bill.

Laura Hammond - Stage Manager
Laura graduated from the University of Essex in 2008 with a degree in Drama. Since completing her degree she has been working as a theatre technician at the Lakeside Theatre. Other credits include Company Technician for By The Way (ChoppedLogic) Adriano Adewale’s Sound Journey(Segue), The Ginge, The Geordie and the Geek(G3), Lighting Designer for Fruit of the Womb(Mossy Coat Productions), and Stage Manager for the Hotbed Festival, Stand By Your Vanand Re:Design(Menagerie).

Jesse Noy - Costumes
Cambridge-bred fashion enthusiast and Graduate Fashion Week Gold Award winner 2005, Jesse studied fashion and textiles at Bristol UWE, collection a 1st class BA(Hons). Returning to her hometown in summer 2007, Jesse is a keen fashion designer and stylist; she is now part of Christ’s College visual arts studio; working with local magazine Velvet and the RSPCA Emporium 61.

Nick Ellis - Sound Design
Nick Ellis is a composer, writer, illustrator and animator, based in Cambridge; he also runs the commercial marketing organisation The Ellis Partners. Much of his current output is animated video; after touring Pirate Jenny, the multimedia musical, he is currently working on The Illustrated Hard Times, from the Dickens’ classic. Another side to his output is classical music, he recently composed and performed his ‘Fen (Piano) Sonata’ at the Fen Edge Festival.

Alexander Swarbrick - Assistant Designer
Alex is currently in his final year at Anglia Ruskin University, studying Film, TV and Theatre Design. Specialising in Theatre design, he has designed and built one stage set for a University production ‘Portraits of Artemisia’ and has worked with the Menagerie Theatre Company for the Hotbed festival this summer.

With thanks to all the people who have helped to develop Let Newton Be! Denis Alexander, Helene Barrell, Matt Brown, Rob Iliffe, Shelley Innes, Pete Langman, Gary Mackay, Elizabeth Smith, Rob Ashbee.

Thanks also to:the board of Menagerie, Lester Lloyd- Reason, Nigel Atkinson, James Barlow, Liffy Gorton, Sue Grace; Dr Mia Gray; Jonathan Hellyer- Jones; all at Citylife Enterprises; The Faraday Institute: Denis Alexander, Katie Turnbull, Clare Redfern, Zoe Binns, Polly Stanton; Dr Anson Cheung and Jonathan Edge of Trinity College; Classworks Theatre, Colchester Mercury Theatre; Richard Fredman and Ian Cutting at Hills Road Sixth Form College.

The Faraday Institute for Science and Religion based at St. Edmund’s College, Cambridge, engages in research on the relationship between science and religion. The Institute also engages in the public understanding of science and religion through lectures, the media, and the arts. The Institute is interested in multidisciplinary approaches to contemporary and historical issues, and in bridging the gap between the sciences and the humanities. www.faraday-institute.org

Newton Image: with thanks to the Master and Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge.