Who?

David Cumming is a multi-award-winning, horse-toothed show-off who has a knack for making theatre that people actually want to watch. An actor, writer, director and musician, David specialises in shows that break the mould, smashing comedy, drama and music together to create work that is ‘full of energy, wit, fun, anger and…joy’ (The Times). His ability to ‘wrench pathos out of the darkest corners of the funhouse worlds he conjures’ (The Stage) keeps audiences coming back for more and critics regularly reaching for that 5th star. With his most recent work making The Guardian’s Top 10 Theatre Shows list two years running - Frankenstein: How to Make a Monster in 2018 and Operation Mincemeat in 2019 - David is fast making a name for himself as an innovator in his field.

As Co-Artistic Director of two companies, Kill the Beast and SpitLip, David has to date made four ‘deliriously imaginative, genre-busting horror-comedies’ (The Stage) , two ‘offbeat cult classic podcast series’ (Irish Times) that ‘batter you into laughter’ (The Guardian) and one full-blown musical with ‘a finely varied score, and lyrics that shame most big musicals by their dexterousness and ingenuity.’ (The Observer).

His show Frankenstein: How to Make a Monster - a beatbox retelling of the classic gothic tale which he co-created/co-directed with Battersea Arts Centre’s Beatbox Academy - was performed in the Main House of the prestigious Traverse Theatre as part of the British Council’s Edinburgh Showcase 2019. Unanimously lauded by critics and audiences alike, Frankenstein was the Best Reviewed Show of Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2019, garnering more 5 star reviews than is legally decent, with a number of critics picking out the ‘outstanding choreography and co-direction from Conrad Murray and David Cumming’ (The Scotsman). The show, which was recently named the BankSA Pick of the Week at the Adelaide Fringe Festival 2020, is currently out on a two-year world tour and is set to wow international audiences in Australia, Brazil, USA, Canada, China and Peru.

A shortened TV version of the show is currently in post-production and should hit British screens in Spring 2020.

David currently has a number of irons in the fire, not least of all working with a leading British theatre producer to develop SpitLip’s musical Operation Mincemeat for a larger audience, with a view to it hitting a West End venue in 2021. He is also composing the music for a new, 6-part dark comedy podcast series for BBC Sounds (due for release in Summer 2020) and developing a number of optioned TV ideas with Kill the Beast.

He is currently unrepresented and awaiting your call