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)

Kate Glaze

(she/her)

Kate is a freelance creative designer, who produces 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 has worked with us for many moons as a coach and workshop leader. She performs in community shows and has a full time job outside of Circus.

Andy Penhallurick

Chris Lamb

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)

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