Shakespeare’s Globe is delighted to announce the cast and creative team for the return of the critically acclaimed new musical Pinocchio.
The new cast will comprise Liv Alexander as Ensemble/Swing, Amy Booth-Steel as Giacomo Cricket/The Coachman/Cat, Luke Brady as Carpenter/Rabbit Prince Charming,
Gabrielle Brooks as Blue Fairy, Josh Butler as Ensemble/Swing, and Colm Gormley as Geppetto. Returning to the cast is Lee Braithwaite as Pinocchio, Kerry Frampton as Fox, Ed Gaughan as Franzini, Lizzy Ives as Ensemble/Swing, and Kody Mortimer as Ensemble/Swing. Bartolomeo Bartolini will be joining Aya Nakamura and Andrea Sadler as puppeteers.
Based on Carlo Collodi’s original stories, Pinocchio is directed by Shakespeare’s Globe’s Associate Artistic Director Sean Holmes (Romeo and Juliet 2025), with book and lyrics by Charlie Josephine (Cowbois, RSC / Royal Court), and music and lyrics by Jim Fortune (Mr Gum and the Dancing Bear).
Shakespeare’s Globe Associate Artistic Director and Director of Pinocchio, Sean Holmes, said: “I’m delighted that our production of Pinocchio is returning this Christmas to the Globe. We were immensely proud of the show and the response from audiences who loved its humour, heart and honesty. We look forward to welcoming a whole new audience to experience this magical festive musical.”
Roberta Zuric is the Associate Director, Vicki Igbokwe-Ozoagu is the Choreographer, Grace Smart is the Designer, Peter O’Rourke is Puppetry Director and Designer, Zac Gvi is Orchestrator, and Tony Gayle is the Sound Designer.
Premiering in November 2025, Pinocchio was a hit with audiences and critics alike during its current run, with The Telegraph calling it ‘the most enchanting show of the season’, and WhatsOnStage commenting that the show is ‘brimming with enough fun and magic to warm the coldest audience member from their heart to the tips of their toes’.
Over 33,000 audience members enjoyed the show in its previous run, calling it a ‘spellbinding and wonderful show for all ages’ and ‘one of the most emotional & refreshing new family musicals this year’.
Cast biographies are as follows:
Liv Alexander is Ensemble/Swing. Liv Alexander trained at the Urdang Academy. Theatre credits include: Midnight (Sadler’s Wells East), The Great Gatsby (London Coliseum), Cabaret (Kit Kat Club/ Playhouse Theatre), Strictly Ballroom (UK Tour), Six (Lyric Theatre, UK Tour, NCL Norwegian Breakaway), Bare: A Pop Opera (The Vaults), and The Coffeeshop (Vault Festival). TV credits include: The Brit Awards (ITV).
Amy Booth-Steel will play Giacomo Cricket/The Coachman/Cat. Theatre credits include: Paddington (West End), The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry (Chichester Festival Theatre), Mates In Chelsea (Royal Court), The Odyssey (National Theatre), Assassins (Chichester), Tammy Faye (Almeida), The Magicians Elephant (RSC), Dick Whittington (National Theatre), Honest Amy (Edinburgh Fringe), Heathers (West End), As You Like It (Regent’s Park), The Assassination of Katie Hopkins (Theatr Clwyd), A Pacifists Guide To The War On Cancer (Complicité and National Theatre), Anita and Me (Birmingham Rep and Theatre Royal Stratford East), The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole (Leicester Curve), Betty Blue Eyes (Mercury Theatre and West Yorkshire Playhouse), The Light Princess (National Theatre), One Man, Two Guvnors (National Theatre), Thoroughly Modern Millie (Watermill Theatre), She Stoops To Conquer (National Theatre), Nicked (Hightide), Swallows and Amazons (Bristol Old Vic), Sister Act (West End), The Sound Of Music (West End). Screen work includes: Maud (Channel 4), Call The Midwife: Sisters In Arms (BBC), Down Cemetery Road (Apple), Silent Witness (BBC), Late In Life (BBC), One Day (Netflix), Nolly (ITV), Blue Jean (BBC/BFI), Stath Lets Flats (Channel 4), The Mind of Herbert Clunkerdunk (BBC), Buffering (ITV), Call The Midwife (BBC), Close To Me (Channel 4), Newark Newark (Channel 4), Zomboat (ITV), Doctor Who (BBC), The Year Of The Rabbit (Channel 4), Wannabe (BBC), Coronation Street (ITV), The Windsors (Channel 4) and Doctors (BBC).
Luke Brady will play Carpenter/Rabbit Prince Charming. Previous work at Shakespeare’s Globe includes The Merchant of Venice, Twelfth Night, and The Taming of the Shrew. Theatre credits include Game of Thrones: The Mad King and As You Like It (RSC); Hercules (Theatre Royal Drury Lane); SuperYou (Lyric Theatre); Assassins (Chichester Festival Theatre); The Prince of Egypt (Dominion Theatre); Sweeney Todd (Adelphi Theatre & Chichester Festival Theatre); Vernon God Little (Young Vic); The Fantasticks (Duchess Theatre); Tarantula in Petrol Blue (Alderburgh Music); Nightfall (Edinburgh Festival). Film credits include Murder on the Orient Express (Fox). TV credits include: Miracle Workers (TBS); Fresh Meat (Channel 4).
Lee Braithwaite will play Pinocchio. Theatre credits include: Twelfth Night (Theatre Clwyd), The Other Place (The Shed (NYC); National Theatre), Pinocchio (Shakespear’s Globe), Cowbois (RSC & Royal Court) & Laughing Boy (Jermyn Street). Television credits include: The Lord of the Rings: the Rings of Power (Amazon). Film credits include: Peter, We Live in Time & Cubs.
Gabrielle Brooks will play Blue Fairy. Previous work at the Globe includes: Comedy of Errors and Cymbeline. Other theatre credits include: Get Up, Stand Up! The Bob Marley Musical (Lyric Theatre; Olivier nominated), Fire Fire (Arcola), Coven (Kiln Theatre), Mozart: Her Story (Theatre Royal Drury Lane), The Big Life (Theatre Royal Stratford East); Mlima’s Tale (Kiln Theatre); Once on This Island (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre); J’Ouvert (Harold Pinter Theatre); Anna Bella Eema (Arcola Theatre); Midsummer Night’s Dream (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre); Our Lady of Kibeho (Royal and Derngate); Twelfth Night (Young Vic); The Way of the World (Donmar Warehouse); The Wizard of Oz, Everybody’s Talking About Jamie (Sheffield Crucible Theatre); Queen Anne (RSC / Theatre Royal Haymarket); Lazarus (Kings Cross Theatre); Synergy Play (Theatre 503); The Strangers Case (Liverpool Everyman); Red Snapper (Belgrade Theatre); The Book of Mormon (Prince of Wales); Our House (Savoy); Hairspray (UK Tour: Stage Entertainment); Avenue Q (UK Tour: Cameron Mackintosh). TV and film credits include: Shadow and Bone (Netflix); J’Ouvert (BBC Four); Coming Down the Mountain, Grangehill (BBC); Notes on A Scandal.
Josh Butler is Ensemble/Swing. Theatre credits include; Why Am I So Single? (Workshop & Garrick Theatre), Bronco Billy (Charing Cross Theatre), and Ride The Cyclone (Southwark Playhouse).
Kerry Frampton will play Fox. Kerry is the Artistic Director of Splendid Productions. Previous work for Shakespeare’s Globe includes A World Elsewhere, the Olivier award nominated Rough Magic and Midsummer
Mechanicals co-written with Ben Hales, and Pinocchio. Other theatre credits include: I Love You, But… (Camden Peoples Theatre, The Vaults Festival); UBU (Splendid Tour); Wonders Wonders Wonders (Junction Theatre); Red Riding Hood versus The Wolf, The Epic Adventures of Robin Hood (Stantonbury Theatre); The Odyssey, Woyzeck (UK & SE Asia Splendid Tour); Antigone, Medea, The Trial, Dr Faustus, The Good Woman of Szechuan, Animal Farm (Splendid UK Tour); The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui (UK Tour / National Theatre’s ‘Watch This Space’ Festival); Carnival Messiah (Leeds Playhouse / Queens Hall, Trinidad); A Change of Mind (Sadlers Wells); A Midsummer Night’s Dream (ADC Theatre). Directing credits include: Little Red Robin Hood, Sleeping Beauty & The Beast, Goldilocks & the Three Musketeers (BAC); Puss in Moon Boots; and the OFFIE winning The Legend of Moby Dick Whittington. Kerry also works as a visiting director and lecturer at LAMDA, LIPA, and Trinity Laban.
Ed Gaughan will play Franzini. Ed Gaughan is a critically acclaimed, award-winning actor, writer, comedian, director, musician and composer. Previous work at Shakespeare’s Globe includes scoring Hamlet. He’s the voice of Baron Greenback in BBC’s Dangermouse, Gideon in Sky TV’s Brassic (to which he’s also a contributing writer) and the co-creator, co-writer and star of the BAFTA and BIFA nominated movie, Skeletons, which won the ‘Michael Powell Award For Cinema’ at The Edinburgh Film Festival. Ed is a ‘Peter Sellers Award For Comedy’ nominee. As a screen actor, Ed has appeared in numerous films and TV shows including Black Mirror (CH4) The Regime (HBO) and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. A prolific voice actor, he has given life to a multitude of characters in animation (Dangermouse, Q Pootle 5, Capture the Flag), and regularly appears on BBC Radio 4. He was one of the writer/performer/musicians in BBC Radio 3’s much acclaimed Beautiful Cosmos Of Ivor Cutler. Ed lends his many voices to an abundance of podcasts including Pushkin Industries smash hit ‘Cautionary Tales’ and Audibles recent Agatha Christie reboots. A regular on the London and UK comedy scene for many years, Ed works as a solo standup, in double act with Andrew Buckley, and in regular collaborations with Will Adamsdale and cult favourites The London Snorkelling Team. Ed has performed at many UK and international comedy festivals and venues including Edinburgh, Vault, Latitude, Glasgow Comedy, Machfest, The Big Chill, Brisbane, Galway, Soho Theatre, Camden Roundhouse and The Bill Murray. As a comedy director, he has created shows with some of the UK’s most loved stand ups, sketch teams and clowns, including Josie Long, Milton Jones, Pappy’s, Barry Cryer and Spymonkey. Ed works in the theatre as an actor, writer, director and composer with many of the UK’s leading Theatre’s and companies including Shakespeare’s Globe, NT Studios, NT Scotland, Filter Theatre, Lyric Hammersmith, Manchester Royal Exchange, Bristol Old Vic, Northern Stage, Liverpool Playhouse, RSC and BAC (where he was an associate artist for many years). As a musician, Ed has performed numerous gigs including Glastonbury, London Jazz and Porto Jazz Festivals, and as a composer for stage, screen and audio. His scoring work also includes the award-winning Symphony from Nabokov. Ed holds a BA in Jazz from Middlesex University.
Colm Gormley will play Geppetto. Previous work for Shakespeare’s Globe includes As You Like It (2026, 2020), Romeo and Juliet, Much Ado About Nothing, The Winter’s Tale, The Taming of the Shrew, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Tempest, The Merchant of Venice, and Twelfth Night. Other theatre credits include: The Rivals (Orange Tree); An Interrogation (Hampstead Downstairs); Cowbois (RSC/ Royal Court); Othello, Warhorse (National Theatre); The Winter’s Tale, King Lear, All’s Well That End’s Well, I’ll Be The Devil (RSC); Alice In Wonderland (Creation Theatre/ Big Telly); Mother Courage And Her Children (Headlong/ The Royal Exchange); The Country Girls (Chichester Festival Theatre); A Handful Of Stars (West End/ Theatre 503); Twelfth Night (Sheffield Crucible/ ETT); Dancing At Lughnasa (Royal And Derngate/ Oxford Playhouse); Melmoth The Wanderer (Lyric Theatre Belfast/ Tron Theatre Glasgow); Truth & Reconciliation (Royal Court); Still, The Blackbird Sings (Playhouse Derry/ Project Theatre Dublin); Arsenic And Old Lace (Salisbury Playhouse); Death Of Long Pig (Finborough Theatre/ Jerwood Space); Philidelphia Here I Come/Aristocrats (European Tour With Ourobourus); Twelfth Night (York Theatre Royal); Fighting Irish and The Boy With The Bomb In His Crisps (Belgrade Theatre, Coventry); The Time Step (Linda Marlowe Productions/ Theatre 503); Smilin’ Through (The Drill Hall);The Ladies Cage (Manchester Royal Exchange/ Finborough Theatre); The Water Harvest (Theatre 503); Merry Christmas Betty Ford (Lyric Theatre Belfast); The Early Bird – By Leo Butler (Ransom); The Resistible Rise Of Artuo Ui, The Seagull, Twelfth Night, Family Voices, The White Devil, Three Sisters, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Mercury Theatre Colchester); Elizabeth (Kabosh); Tricky (Blood In The Alley); The Blind Bird (Gate Theatre); and Kvetch (Artcore). Television credits include: Invisible (Mammoth); McDonald and Dodds, Victoria Season 2, Titanic, Ultimate Force (ITV); Officially Special (Sky); Locked Up Abroad (Channel 5, National Geographic); River City, The Message (BBC Television); and The Toys that Built America (National Geographic). Film includes: Flying Cranes (Runner Films); Downhill (Outsider); Jimmy’s Hall (16 Films); Country of Hotels; and Bloody Sunday (Paramount).
Lizzy Ives is Ensemble/Swing. Lizzy trained at Guildford School of Acting. Previous work at Shakespeare’s Globe includes Pinocchio (2025). Theatre credits include Now That’s What I Call a Musical UK Tour 24/25 (ROYO).
Kody Mortimer is Ensemble/Swing. Kody trained at The Royal Academy of Music and the University of Chichester. Theatre credits includes: My Fair Lady (Chichester Festival theatre); The Red Shoes (Royal Shakespeare Company); Romeo & Juliet(Duke of York’s Theatre); Sunset Boulevard (Savoy Theatre); Assassins (Chichester Festival Theatre); At Last, Its Summer (The London Palladium); Hex (National Theatre); 101 Dalmatians (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre); Hairspray (London Coliseum); Gypsy(Royal Exchange Theatre). Voice Over credits include: Dutch Caribbean Coastguards (Season 2) (National Geographic); Vida the Vet (UK) (BBC); Ronja the Robber’s Daughter (Season 1 & 2) (Netflix); Riyadh Season Wembley Promo (Sky Sports Box Office); Patsers (A Team Productions).
Bartolomeo Bartolini is a Puppeteer. Bartolomeo trained at the Curious School of Puppetry and at East15 Acting School in physical theatre. Puppetry credits include: THE WALK (Good Chance Theatre & Walk Productions), Venus and Adonis (RSC), The Dancing Frog (Kneehigh), The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse (The Puppet Barge). Research and development credits include work with Kneehigh, Improbable, Significant Objects, and Naked Frank Theatre.
Aya Nakamura is a Puppeteer. Aya Nakamura is a London-based theatre-maker, puppeteer, and puppet maker originally from Japan. Over the past 15 years, she has worked on numerous children’s and adult puppet productions for a variety of theatre companies, including Improbable, Theatre-Rites, The Old Trout Puppet Workshop (Canada), Polka Theatre, Handbendi Brúðuleikhús (Iceland), Little Angel Theatre, Oily Cart, Horse and Bamboo, Norwich Puppet Theatre, Jacksons Lane, and Unicorn Theatre. Recent highlights include puppeteering one of The Weirdos’ puppets for Coldplay’s Music of the Spheres World Tour, performing in front of 63,000 audience members. Aya also runs the award-winning company Rouge28 Theatre, which has toured productions both nationally and internationally.
Andrea Sadler is a Puppeteer. Andrea is an actor, singer, puppeteer, writer and director. Recent credits include Little Shop of Horrors (Northcott Theatre, assistant director), development work on Dear Mum (Frances Barry), the role of Jen in Mine (Northcott and tour), Lambe Lambe project She is the Fairies’ Midwife, working alongside students outside of mainstream schooling and Videk’s Shirt for The Puppetellers (International Theatre Festival for Young Audiences Iași, Romania) She recently directed Baby Panda’s The Thing About Goats, The Missing Note and When Christmas Went Crackers. She performed inside a working abattoir in Iceland with Kneehigh at the Hvammstangi International Puppetry Festival in 2024, winning The Fox Award for Excellence in Puppetry Theatre. Prior to that she was working on the development of Cubic Feet’s new show, The Quilt, at National Theatre Studios. Andrea performed throughout 2024 in Little Angel’s Dogs Don’t Do Ballet, which she co-wrote, and which has toured extensively since 2012. Andrea performed with Tall Stories for much of 2023 in the Olivier-nominated The Smeds and the Smoos (West End, national tour and Singapore). Puppetry credits include Five Little Monkeys/ Five Little Christmas Monkeys (Baby Panda), The Dong With a Luminous Nose (Metal Rabbit/ Cubic Feet/ Monstro Theatre), Little Angel by the Sea (co-writer and performer), A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings (Kneehigh), Cindermouse, Fantastic Mr Fox, The Fabulous Flutterbys, Goldilocks, The Wild Night of the Witches (Little Angel Theatre) and Bookstory (Monstro Theatre). Other favourite roles include A Christmas Carol (Antic Disposition); Round the Horne: Revisited (national tour); The Canterbury Tales (Royal Centre, Nottingham), The Basil Brush Show for CBBC. Andrea’s own company, Baby Panda, is in the final stages of developing new show Heidi Unlikely, for a 2027 production, based on the classic children’s book, Heidi.
Creative team:
Associate Director – Roberta Zuric
Book and Lyrics – Charlie Josephine
Choreographer – Vicki Igbokwe-Ozoagu
Designer – Grace Smart
Director – Sean Holmes
Music and Lyrics – Jim Fortune
Orchestrator – Zac Gvi
Puppetry Director and Designer – Peter O’Rourke
Sound Designer – Tony Gayle
