“Great Artists Steal”

Cédric discovered Theatre when he was seventeen while taking part in a two-year research Theatre Lab, organized by Ludwik Flaszen, a close collaborator of Grotowski, and Monika Pagneux, a renowned Jacques Lecoq teacher.

Headshot Cedric Merillon

In 2004, he co-founded Théâtre la Boutonnière in Paris, which focused on new writing and devised theatre. Here, he was assistant director on numerous productions with the theatre’s company in residence GCT (Groupe de Création Théâtrale). During this time he

became interested in creating new forms of theatre, and facilitated and participated in several workshops.

Cédric went on to train at Jacques Lecoq Theatre school in Paris in 2008, from which he graduated in 2010. Directly after, he completed a Masters in physical theatre, at Saint Mary's University College in Twickenham. Here, during this period of study he acted in numerous plays, and learned to love acting in English.

After leaving England, Cédric was involved in several shows, which afforded him the opportunity to travel extensively to countries such as Portugal (As Loud as Silence), Scotland and Northern Ireland (Rhinocéros), Senegal (Gamblers) and South Korea (Rêve du Papillon).

In 2012, Cédric moved to Cork where he has since performed in Cleansed (Irish première, Granary Theatre, Cork), Dradin, In Love (Galway Festival; Granary Theatre, Cork), and Bug (Half Moon Theatre, Cork).

Cédric has been a member of Theatraverse since 2011, and performed the bilingual role of Dudard in Rhinocéros. He also leads theatre workshops with the company, specialising in sessions for teenagers and adults.

Born in Amsterdam to an Indian father and a Dutch mother, Siva was brought up mainly in France, where he studied and worked in a variety of fields – including naval carpentry, IT, international commerce, and translation for NGOs – before beginning his onstage career.
After training for a number of years in the Paris region, Siva became a professional actor in 2002. With the Théâtre du Voyageur, he has played a wide range of roles in a dozen different plays, ranging from Shakespeare to devised plays inspired by non-theatrical texts.
As Siva’s career has progressed, he has been drawn to new challenges. He performed at Aurillac’s street theatre festival with Cie Grain d’ArtGile, and at Avignon summer festival with Cie Naphralytep.

With Theatraverse, Siva often performs in English: he played Jean in the bilingual adaptation of Rhinoceros, and The Man in Great Artists Steal, both of which were played at Edinburgh Festival. Siva develops and leads bilingual theatre workshops for children and young people, as well as for adults with Theatraverse.

Mélanie began her performance training when she was fifteen, at the Ecole Nationale de Cirque in Châtellerault (France). During her three years there, her time with Roser Seguar and Isona Dodero encouraged her to focus on clown work. Meanwhile, she continued to develop her skills in dance, capoeira and circus performance.

Mélanie's interest in languages led to performances in Spanish (Les Anacroniques, Toulouse) and English (Fairground Theatre, Bristol). After two years spent in England, during which time she worked on a number of productions - including the devised performance of The Red Man (Tobacco Factory, Bristol, 2008) - Mélanie returned to France to complete two years of further training at the International Theatre School Jacques Lecoq.

Since graduating from the Lecoq school, she has been involved in the creation of 38, International Theatre Company, and has worked briefly with Teatr Piesn Kosna/Song of the Goat, in Poland. She is also part of Les Désaxés du Mambo, a clown project. She has recently been working on 38's latest production, an adaptation of Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov, which was played at the 2012 edition of Théâtre du Soleil’s Festival des Premiers Pas. Melanie recently participated in a workshop with Complicite in London.

Mélanie performs in both French and English in Theatraverse’s Rhinoceros, in the role of Daisy. With Theatraverse she leads bilingual theatre workshops for all age groups.

Seamus has written plays for Belfast theatre companies Tinderbox and Chatterbox. Following his participation in the Fireworks programme for young writers, organised by Tinderbox, Seamus was asked to write Swing State Cabaret and Home Truths, both of which were performed at the prestigious MAC Theatre, Belfast. Four of Seamus’ plays have been performed at Edinburgh’s Fringe Festival, including Great Artists Steal, performed by Theatraverse.

Seamus has a Masters degree in Creative Writing from Queen's University, Belfast, and has been closely mentored by Owen McCafferty for several years. He is currently writing a play for the Lyric Theatre as part of their “New Playwrights Programme”. The first reading of his most recent play was directed by Des Kennedy in October 2017.

Recently chosen as one of 30 playwright’s for Fishamble’s “A Play for Ireland”, Seamus has also been selected for BBC NI’s new “Northern Irish Voices” scheme.