meet the team

Joe Fearn

(he/him)

Joe is the founder and director of House of MASH and CircusMASH. He fell in love with circus in the USA as an educational circus practitioner. He went on to train in aerial and balance at circus school, he toured the world, then decided to settle back in his hometown of Brum in 2011, bringing his passion for circus to the city.

Jill Arbuckle

(she/they)

Jill joined MASH in the summer of 2021 as Senior Administrator. As well as finding a big pink wig in the costume room, she runs the office and we couldn’t do it without her. Jill’s background is in education and arts administration. Jill can also now juggle!

Rhian Motion

(she/her)

Rhian started as a student at Creation Climbing Center many moons ago and now performs and teaches aerial all over Birmingham. Her background is in early years and play and she brings a wealth of experience to MASH. We are super lucky to have her. Rhian also works as a Digital Coordinator at Space Plans (our online sister company).

Raquel San Gregorio

(she/her)

Raquel has been with MASH since 2015 when she came to Birmingham from Madrid. Raquel’s background is in aerial circus and education. She brings her experiences of performance, teaching, producing and inspires everyone with her absolute precision and beauty.

Nate Ballew

(he/him)

Nate acts as a coach and our Inclusivity Coordinator, and has been with MASH since 2013. Nate came from a theatrical background (physical theatre, East15) and started with MASH as a student. He has worked with us as a coach for many years, inspiring adults and young people in aerial arts.

Philippa Bradshaw

(she/her)

Pip is a true circus mom! Her oldest daughter started circus with us when we started in 2011 and since then all of her kids have joined and her family help run all our events. Philippa is our safeguarding lead and also administers a partnership with MASH and Class Act Theatrix (The Bfourteen Project). Philippa also helps out with admin and other tasks in busy periods.

Ella Raybone

(she/her)

Ella runs our social media, newsletters and marketing campaigns and finds herself travelling all around the world. Ella works for AIM Internet full time and for MASH two mornings per week. AIM Internet is our digital partner whom we are building a new community at space-plans.co.uk.

Kate Glaze

(she/her)

Kate is a freelance creative designer, who designed and manages our website & produces marketing content for us. She came on board in 2021 to redesign our website, as well as our sister site circusmash.co.uk.

Gabi Songui

Robin Dale

Rachel Boxley

(she/her)

Miky Hoops

Poppy Wilson

Charlee Oakton

Ashley Male

(she/her)

Ashley is a coach and performs and runs circus workshops around the UK. Ashley’s interest is in working with older people and circus and she is fabulous at what she does!

Jodie Murphy

(she/her)

Jodie was CircusMASH’s very first student back in 2011. Since then, Jodie has gone onto some incredible things and is now back teaching with us on our foundation youth programme.

Andy Penhallurick

(he/him)

Andy is our Rigging Manager who has been around since the very beginning. His daughter Beth was one of Mash’s first students. Andy comes from a climbing and olympic rowing team coach background and we’re super happy to have him at Mash keeping everything safe.

Chris Lamb

(he/him)

Pete Dixon

Matthew Gabrielli

(he/him)

Matthew joined us in 2024 as lead on fund-raising and strategy research. A very welcome addition, Matt also works with Women & Theatre as well as being an award-winning playwright.

Kelly Casey

(she/her)

Kelly is a theatre and educational coach at MASH. She has a background in Level3 education and theatre, with a masters in dramaturgy. Kelly writes our shows and performs with us in our community and professional work and helps us to push our thinking. We’re very lucky to have her experience at MASH!

Ben Levi Jones

(he/him)

Ben is a director, aerial acrobat, dancer and community business owner (FPS Fitness) and is shaping our outdoor trilogy of micro musicals- Hullabaloo. We’re also collaborating with Ben & FPS Fitness to develop more opportunities for people to get involved in circus arts.

Empress Gibbs

(she/her)

Empress is a fantastic skate coach that runs Skate Buddies UK. They run classes, workshops and events to empower people through skating. Empress heads up our Discovery Skate class and a Skate Buddies adult class at MASH. You might see empress skating around Birmingham convincing people that life is better on wheels. You better believe her and give it a try!

Ashley Russell

Jade Flash

Abbie Mason

Claire Rinet

Jess Hil

Iris Bertz

Caroline Davis

Stephen Morton-Prior

Daniel Skirmer

Cat Curran

(she/her)

Cat Curran, is the creator of Positive PE, a company focused on improving physical education in schools. She is also a Run Talk Run leader and a circus enthusiast and coaches with the ground circus crew on Mondays.

Charity Bousa

(she/her)

Charity joins us from the Netherlands and is an avid aerial enthusiast. Always getting involved with training all around Birmingham, Charity teaches on our Discovery Circus programme.

Drew Gossage

(they/them)

Fresh from Circomedia, Drew is a fantastic aerial and ground circus coach. They teach some of our family circus sessions and run workshops for us.

Lola Colley

(she/her)

Lola was a youth circus member for many years before becoming 18 and transitioning to a coach at MASH. Lola has some pretty incredible skills in the air and on the rolling globe. Lola teaches on our Discovery youth programme.

Mikey Rollins

(he/him)

Mikey works with our Collaborator Skate Buddies CIC and teaches on our CircusMASH discovery skate class. Mikey can be seen on his skates making everyone smile.

Ava Daniel

(she/her)

Ava was a youth circus member for many years before becoming 18 and transitioning to a coach at MASH. Ava has some pretty incredible skills in the air and on the ground. Ava teaches on our Discovery youth programme.

Ninny Burbidge

(she/her)

Ninny was a youth circus member for many years before becoming a coach at MASH. Ninny has some pretty incredible skills in the air as well as singing. Ninny teaches on our Discovery youth programme.

Francis Goodhand

(he/him)

Francis a composer, songwriter, arranger, musical director, pianist who creates music for theatre, media, events and education. Francis is working with us to develop our Hullabaloo show!

George Perez

(he/him)

George started working with MASH in 2025 with our micro musical tour Hullabaloo. George is a fantastic dancer from Kent. He graduated from Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance in 2020 and from JV2 in 2021.

Frankie Goodinson

(she/her)

Originally from Bedfordshire, Frankie studied at Trinity Laban and graduated in 2021, with a First-Class Degree in Contemporary Dance. Frankie joined MASH on our 2025 tour of Hullabaloo.

Harriet Ellis

(she/her)

Harriet has worked internationally as a professional dancer, performer and/or rehearsal director for companies including Rosie Kay Dance Company, Balbir Singh Dance Company, Keniesh Dance Company and Lisa Simpson Inclusive Dance. Harriet joined the Mash on our 2025 tour of Hullabaloo: A trilogy of micro-musicals.

Jacquie Gregory

(she/her)

Jacquie started out as a Birmingham community member at FPS fitness and started performing in CircusMASH’s community shows. Jacquie is a full time social worker and now joins the MASH team as a performer, bringing a very special group of skills to every performers. Jacquie is beautiful to watch in the air, and gorgeous to listen to as she narrates our shows.

Nerina Ivasika

(she/her)

Nerina coaches with MASH when she is back from touring circus. Generally she is around in the winter and spring months before running away with touring circus in the UK.

Jodie Southall

(she/her)

Jodie was CircusMASH’s very first student back in 2011. Since then, Jodie has gone onto some incredible things and is now back teaching with us on our foundation youth programme.