Howard Gayton is a dramatist, writer, and musician currently based in Devon, England. He has worked for many years as a theatre director, performer, playright, and teacher specializing in Commedia dell'Arte, as well as other forms of mask theatre and physical theatre. He is interested in all manner of tricksters, zanni figures, fools, and sacred clowns, as well as in the use of masks in drama, myth, magic, and religious rituals around the world.

The Ophaboom Theatre Company:

In 1991, Howard and Geoff Beale co-founded Ophaboom, a London-based touring company dedicated to contemporary Commedia dell'Arte.

In its earliest form (in 16th century Italy), Commedia dell'Arte married the rough entertainments of traveling street peddlers with the classicism of Greco-Roman drama and the masks of Venetian Carnival -- using stock characters to create a vibrant, slap-stick, highly physical (and often subversively political) form of comedy theatre. Performed outdoors on high trestle stages in busy piazzas and market squares, Commedia was beloved by audiences all across medieval and Renaissance Europe. Its themes can be found time and time again in the works of Shakespeare, Moliere and other great European dramatists.

Drawing on medieval theatre, trickster tales, and Commedia's origins, Ophaboom set out to create a contemporary style of Commedia dell'Arte that would resonate with modern audiences of all ages. Working in four languages (sometimes all in the same show!), the company has performed extensively throughout the British Isles and all across Europe, as well as traveling as far afield as North America and Southeast Asia. Ophaboom has been written about in books and journals, studied at drama schools, and is widely regarded as the leading Commedia troupe in England today.

Pictured above: Publicity photo from "Robin Hood," 2002; Ophaboom performing in France, 1995 (photo by Jamie Lewis); Ophaboom performing in San Marco square, Venice, 1995 (photo by Midori Snyder).

 

Other Theatre Work:

In addition to his work as a director and performer with Ophaboom, Howard has also directed shows for other physical theatre companies in England and abroad, and he works as a consulting director/ script-doctor for productions in need of special assistance. 

In partnership with Geoff Beale, he teaches Commedia and physical theatre at drama schools including East 15 in London, Hope Street in Liverpool, and the ESMAE School of Music and Dramatic Arts in Porto, Portugal.  He has also created, directed, and performed in puppet shows for  The Little Angel Theatre in London and The Norwich Puppet Theatre in Norfolk, and done maskwork with Daughters of Elvin, a medieval music troupe in Devon.   
Pictured above: Geoff Beale (left) & Howard Gayton (right), New York City, 2008.

 
Writing:

Howard has created play scripts in the Commedia style with the other members of Ophaboom, radio plays with Owen Powell, and is working on a graphic novel, John Barleycorn Must Die -- the first of several planned comics projects with artist Rex Van Ryn. He and Rex maintain a weekly blog where they explore the creative process behind their collaboration, and where they interview other artists, writers, filmmakers, etc., in the "Around the table with. . ." series.

Howard's articles on mask theatre and Commedia have appeared in books and drama magazines, and in the online Journal of Mythic Arts. He has also published a chap book of poetry, To the Desert, with art by the Arizona photographer Stu Jenks.   

 

Music:

Howard plays guitar, mandolin, accordion, and percussion, and is currently a member of two Devon-based bands: The Nosy Crows, an alt-folk band consisting of Jenny Dooley (vocals), Stephen Dooley (percussion), David Wyatt (lead guitar and bouzouki), and Howard (vocals and rhythm guitar); and Cuckoo Club, an alt-swing band consisting of Susie Yorke and Poppy (vocals), Bobby Gilbert (piano), and Howard (percussion and backing vocals). He is also a member of Beat Root: a village drumming group for participants of all ages that performs at community events.

 

Background:

Howard was born in Gloucestershire, raised in Oxfordshire, attended Exeter University in Devon, and was based in London for many years while he toured around the world with Ophaboom. He returned to Devon in 2004, where he now lives in a small village at the edge of Dartmoor with his wife, writer/artist  Terri Windling, and his young dog Tilly. His daughter, Victoria Windling-Gayton, is currently an apprentice chef in one of London's top kitchens.

In addition to receiving a BA in Drama and English from Exeter University, Howard studied Physical Theatre at the Desmond Jones School in London, and The History of Western Esotericism as a graduate student at Exeter University. He has also researched the use of masks in Native American and Mexican-American communities in Arizona with the aid of an Arts Council England grant.

His other interests include travel, dog training, sleight-of-hand magic, learning new instruments and new languages, reading history, and training in Bagua Zhang at the Dragon Temple School of Internal Martial Arts.

 

Ophaboom's production of Faustus, 1999

 

Ophaboom "Casanova" rehearsal sketch by Stephen Dooley, 2005

 

  
Hamburg, Germany 1993

 

Devon, England 2010