What we do
We are leaders in interactive storytelling and impact design, using everyday tech to make play with a purpose.
Making play to spark change
Coney is an acclaimed arts and social change charity. We’re on a mission to spark change through the power of play.
For over 15 years, we’ve honed our expertise co-creating interactive experiences, ranging from bespoke games designed for individuals, to city-wide adventures for tens of thousands.
Every Coney experience aspires to make the world a little lovelier. From nurturing self-care and resilience for individuals and their communities, to inspiring action affecting impactful change beyond.
Our distinctive, playful practice lands almost anywhere you can imagine – in schools, museums, workplaces, theatres, on streets and online.
We’re BAFTA winning, listed in The Stage 100, and ‘pushing at the boundaries of theatre and technology’ (Lyn Gardner, Stagedoor).
Learn about our practice Our story Our partners Meet the team
Our partners
As well as creating our own work, we’ve made projects for and with a wide range of esteemed partners over the years. From working with schools across the UK, to collaborating with arts and heritage organisations (including Barbican, The National Theatre and The National Archives) and NGOs (including Greenpeace and Teenage Cancer Trust). We also work with universities (including Manchester University and University College London) and local authorities (including Wandsworth Probation and The City of London Corporation).
What magic could we make?
Curious about the change we could spark for you? Whether you are an individual, a small charity or a national organisation, let’s see what we could create together.
Learn more about our work Get in touch
What’s behind ‘Coney’?
In 2006, following an adventure made on Valentine’s night along the banks of the Thames, a rather secretive network of theatre-makers were invited to create an adventure that wove a mystery through the National Theatre’s labyrinth of foyers and corridors, engaging curious members of the public, culminating in a finale that took over the entire building for a night.
In order initially to get security passes without drawing attention to themselves, the makers needed a company name. So they coined Coney Communications as a fictional PR company. The following year, when they decided to become a more public-facing company, they remembered ‘Coney’…. and several chapters later, here we are now.
Coney is an older word for a rabbit. This is the start of a playful secret about Coney, and the entrance to a quite literal rabbit hole. Supporters of Coney receive an invitation to jump down this rabbit hole – become a Friend of Coney today and we’ll point you in the right direction.
Meet the team
Coney HQ is our core team – the people producing and facilitating the work of Coney.
The HQ team
Emily Davis
Producer
What do you do in your Coney hat?
I’m Producer for Coney, which means I have a finger in lots of artistic pies. I manage projects of different shapes and sizes and with different partners, and do whatever production support is needed to make magic things happen in unlikely places. One day I might be visiting a primary school with a box of crafts, another I might be casting for a short film and another I might be sat with my head in a spreadsheet (but who doesn’t love a spreadsheet?)
What other hats do you wear?
I produce my own theatre projects as an independent, and for the wonderful Poltergeist Theatre. I really like producing! Recent stuff I’ve done includes Ghost Walk by Poltergeist, a geo-located audio play in the City of London, and work.txt, a play with no actors, performed entirely by the audience. I’ve also written criticism for Exeunt magazine and have just got a DYCP grant to focus on international producing.
What excites you most about Coney?
It’s the focus on audiences for me. Every single thing we do is putting an audience member at the very centre, and is thinking about their journey and experience from the outset of the artistic process.
What’s your favourite game?
Odds on. I’m an absolute sucker for a dare as well.
Kit Denison
General Manager
What do you do in your Coney hat?
As General Manager of Coney, I am responsible for keeping the HQ engine turning over. That means wearing a lot of hats, including day-to-day communications, finances and operations, and generally making sure the people and culture of Coney are well looked after.
What other hats do you wear?
I’m a musician of sorts. I play whatever instrument I can get my hands on (usually something you hit or pluck) and I am fortunate to play with some really excellent artists. These currently include the theatrical and wonderfully slippery artist Rubie, 60s influenced indie- pop band The School and the ethereal songwriter Austel. Widening access to music education and demystifying music making has been a central thread of my career to date. One of my proudest achievements in this area has been producing the Ear Opener video series – a free resource which brings together a diverse range of musicians to break down big musical ideas. I am also Development Manager for Purple Moon Drama, who run lots of brilliant activities to help young people from marginalised backgrounds to develop craft and connections in creative industries.
What excites you most about Coney?
Everything is play and nothing is what it seems.
What’s your favourite game?
This certainly isn’t my favourite game, but I am embarrassed to admit that one of the first things I do every morning is play Wordle. But that’s starting to feel more like an obligation than a game…
Photo by Ross Kernahan.
Marie Klimis
Senior Producer
What do you do in your Coney hat?
I work across the Coney programme, bringing together creative and production teams to plan and deliver projects and finding ways to develop ideas into full productions.
What other hats do you wear?
I am one of the directors of 27 degrees, a migrant-led immersive theatre company specialised in socially-engaged shows in unusual places. We’ve performed in church crypts, museums, tunnels under the Thames and inside people’s homes. I also work as a writer and designer for solo projects, specialising in immersive storytelling projects combining sound design and traditional crafts. I like making work for public spaces, from streets to libraries. As a producer, I’ve also worked for companies such as the City of London Festival, the Horniman Museum or Europalia International.
What excites you most about Coney?
So many things. The playful activism. Sharing gifts with strangers. Finding ways of connecting individuals who wouldn’t meet otherwise. And rabbits. Obviously.
When was your last adventure?
I have a 3-year-old, so daily adventures are the only way to survive: last night, we went on an adventure to hunt the runaway toothbrush. After multiple perils, we caught it and teeth were brushed.
Farah Najib
Marketing & Admin Officer
What do you do in your Coney hat?
I’m Coney’s Admin & Marketing Officer – that means general administrative support for the company, plenty of organisation, as well as socials and marketing for Coney. If you’re making contact with our admin inbox, it’s likely me you’ll be chatting with. And our Tweets are mostly written by me!
What other hats do you wear?
I’m also a writer, facilitator and freelance theatre critic who trained at the Royal Central School of Speech & Drama. Since graduating in 2019, I’ve been part of writer’s groups at the Royal Court and Soho Theatre, the latter of which awarded me the 2020 Tony Craze Award for my new play Dirty Dogs. I’ve been commissioned by Theatre of Debate, UCL and Popelei. I write reviews for Exeunt, The Stage and the Evening Standard.
What excites you most about Coney?
For me, it’s Coney’s commitment to playfulness for all ages, in all places. Having spent a lot of time working with young people, I’ve seen how we lose our sense of playfulness and openness to adventure as we get older – but not at Coney!
What’s something you’re really curious about?
Black holes – intriguing, terrifying, existential-crisis-inducing!
@ohheyfarah
Photo by Ross Kernahan.
Tassos Stevens
Director | CEO
What do you do in your Coney hat?
I have at least two hats – one as director of Coney HQ and one as a maker sometimes on projects. I’m quite good at a lot of things as a maker rather than brilliant at one thing, but most distinctively useful as an interactive dramaturg and learning fast about developing better impact frameworks.
What other hats do you wear?
I sometimes make work as a storyteller – Telephone made for Coney is also part of this practice – and as a game designer, part of the team making the old iPhone hit Papa Sangre. And I teach regularly. Other/past hats include a chef, an undercover researcher, a secret agent trainer, and a PhD in Psychology.
What excites you most about Coney?
I’m really driven by figuring out just how play sparks change. I’m most often moved by the surprising and brilliant things that playing audiences do, and I’m constantly excited by the chance to learn from the amazing array of colleagues and collaborators who make up the wider family of Coney.
Are rules made to be followed?
Rules are made to be played well with, sometimes following, sometimes bending or breaking as long as that makes it play better (for everyone).
What’s something few people know about you?
That I might have been in a Batman film.
Toby Peach
Associate Director: Young People & Families Programme
What do you do in your Coney hat?
I’m Associate Director of our Young People & Families programme here at Coney. This means I am normally found working with our resident group of young makers, the Young Coneys, or makings bits for young people that are landing in places we are collaborating with. I’ve had the pleasure of making pieces that have landed in National Trust grounds, inside Alexandra Palace and arrived in mysterious boxes in schools across the UK.
What other hats do you wear?
I’m a Maker in many guises away from Coney, most commonly as a Director and Performer. I run a CIC called Beyond Arts that uses arts projects to work for and with young people who’ve experienced cancer to develop the cancer narrative in the UK – we’ve made interactive digital stories for children’s hospitals, participatory theatre show and podcasts. I wear my Creative Climate Leader hat with pride too; it means I regularly explore the impacts of the climate crisis in my work.
What excites you most about Coney?
I’ve been with Coney for many moons now and have always been excited by the power of play and how we can use that to work well with communities we engage with. I’m excited about our next steps with our Young People & Families programme and how this will evolve over the next few years.
What’s your favourite game?
My favourite game changes regularly, as I love making up games with people, but recently I made a game with a group of peers called Fruit Kebab that was built together from bottle caps skimming across a table. It soon became a game with in-depth rules that involved the Lemon line of Truth, Banana Bonuses and a clash of the Mangoes, Pears and Oranges.
The Makers of Coney
As well as our small but mighty HQ team, we work with a national network of associate artists who respond creatively to diverse briefs, themes, sites, audiences, and event scales. Our Guild and Associates have unique skills and knowledge of our playful practice; they are our trusted and regular collaborators. With this collaborative approach, we ensure that every Coney project benefits from the expertise and creativity of a diverse and skilled team – resulting in innovative and impactful experiences.
We also facilitate connections and exchange of practice with a wider network of creatives. Anyone can join the Network of Coney here.
Associates and makers in the Guild
Afreena Islam-Wright, Afsana Begum, Angela Clerkin, Anne Langford, Anne Odeke, Arlo Howard, Astrid Breel, Barbara Cala-Lesina, Ben Pacey, Brent Grihalva, Brigitte Adela, Cesía León-Alvarez, Chloe Mashiter, David Finnigan, Dinah Mullen, Dom Garfield, Ed Naujokas, Eliza Cass, Ellie Browning, Emma Frankland, Eve Leigh, Fran Moulds, Gareth Damian Martin, Gary Campbell, Georgia Symons, Georgina Bednar, Harriet Bolwell, Hoda Adra, Janisè Sadik, Jeannine Inglis Hall, Kathryn Beaumont, Kieran Lucas, Kirsty Harris, Maz Hemming, Mel Frances, Michelle McMahon, Morag Iles, Naomi Stafford, Rachel Hosker, Rebekah Murrell, Rhianna Ilube, Richard Popple, Ruth Sutcliffe, Segen Yosef, Suzanna Hurst, Tassos Stevens, Toby Peach, Tom Bowtell, Will Drew, Yusra Warsama.
Board of Trustees
Phil Clark – Director, Filip Communications
Annette Corbett – Creative Director, Rough Information
Hannah Davey – Art and Actions Coordinator, Greenpeace
Lydia Hayes – Head of Development, Breathe Arts Health Research
Simon Michaels (Treasurer) – Partner, HW Fisher LLP
Sydney Nash (Chair) – Director/Vice President of Public Affairs, International Alliance for Responsible Drinking
Jenna Omeltschenko – Director, Down to Earth
Ben Payne – Director, B&G LLP
Please note that Rabbit is never here.
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Support us
As a registered charity, we’re powered by our community of audiences and supporters. Join us on our mission to spark change through play.
Blog
Take a deep dive into our practice or find out about our latest projects with this selection of articles by Coney HQ and our wider network.
