KATERINA PUSHKIN

Music theatre

A young woman dressed as Dorothy cheers, raising her lollipop on high
A photo of a woman with a giant insect projected on her dress
Dancers wearing brightly coloured animal masks: a blue bear, a pink and yellow checkered giraffe, and so on
A young Black man with glasses moves a fish puppet while 2 young white musicians in sunglasses accompany him

What is my music theatre like?

  • Participatory and interactive: Audiences are at the heart of my storytelling – I love giving them a really good time
  • Emphatically live: I often use improvised music-making & characterisation to create a live feel in scripted musicals, creating a populist, uproarious vibe
  • Sensory: I like telling stories with scents, tastes, tactile and climatic effects
  • Technological: I enjoy weaving mapped / immersive projections and innovative sound tech into the show
  • Intergenerational: I’m very experienced crafting music theatre experiences for children and babies, including writing/directing 7 shows for young audiences with my company Cloud Cuckoo Land – I always make sure the grown-ups have a great time, too!
  • Inclusive: I’ve made lots of music theatre shows for neurodiverse audiences and led several majority-neurodivergent teams
Three white performers with a sea themed set play instruments and puppet a seagull

How do I make music theatre?

  • Directing scripted musicals: working with a live band or recorded score
  • Devising in the room with actor musicians
  • Crafting multilayered narratives: Weaving dialogue, verse, song, scoring, sound effects and movement together in skilful, surprising ways
  • Dramaturgy and collective writing: shaping ideas from interdisciplinary teams
  • Musical characterisation: developing musical leitmotifs alongside character movement using laban and musical clowning
  • Collaborating with a musical director, live band, and composer / arranger
  • Practical staging: blocking for music theatre, arranging underscore for audibility

My music theatre for young audiences

Watch some examples of my music theatre for young audiences from 2014-17:

The soundtrack song is The Eviction, composed by Beth Hopkins, Natalie Mason, Martha Shrimpton and myself for Cloud Cuckoo Land’s production, Ding Dong.

Ariel On The Cliff teaser video:

Performer/composer Beth Hopkins, director/writer Katerina Pushkin, filmmaker Scott Johnston, performer Lori Hopkins.

The familiar figures of Dorothy, the lion, the tin man and the scarecrow silhoutted in pinks and purples behind a projection screen, while the Wicked Witch cackles downstage
About 10 audience members stand on stage laughing
2 musicians play while three children move expressively
Some children join in with the storytelling through movement
Two young women dressed in iridescent insect outfits
Three performers and lots of children move expressively

What audiences say

It was really brilliant. You should be so proud.

– Mike Tweddle, Artistic Director, Oxford Playhouse, on ‘What Big Eyes’ by Cloud Cuckoo Land

Well done cast, a very enjoyable show to watch!

– Paul O’ Donnell, Extraordinary Us / Associate Artist, Birmingham REP, on ‘What Big Eyes’ by Cloud Cuckoo Land

A photo of Cloud Cuckoo Land performing at mac, with the tweet "Such a lovely production for the tiddlers with puppets and live music"
Jane English unravels her Irish identity and family history, especially her grandmother, to astonishing and moving effect"