Ben Samuels

Director, Limbik Theatre (UK)

Ben Samuels is an award-winning producer and writer. His genre-defying work extends from visual storytelling and music theatre to interactive fiction and immersive audio, and celebrates ensemble, collaboration, and internationalism. He received his BA in Postcolonial Studies from Brown University (USA), and received his MFA at the London International School of Performing Arts (LISPA), where he was supported by a Jacob K. Javits Fellowship for Theatre Arts. As the Artistic Director of Limbik, he catalysed the company’s ground-breaking work at the intersection of immersive digital technology and live performance. This includes Fatherland (2019), which pioneered the use of real-time motion capture and immersive virtual reality technology in live theatre. In Limbik’s earlier output, he co-created and performed in the company’s first show, The Harbour (2010), which won the “Creative Award” at the Prague Fringe, and Ghost Town (2012), on the California Gold Rush and economic collapse. Ben directed Limbik’s next two projects, about NHS nurses who work on organ donation cases (The Messenger, 2014); and a dystopian future in which women from developing countries work as human garden ornaments (The Forecast, 2017, inspired by George Saunders’ short story, “The Semplica Girl Diaries”). Throughout the pandemic, Ben focused on creating new work for immersive, spatial audio. His short story “The Garden”, a text-based story for smartphones and tablets accompanied by a 3D audio soundscape, was selected for a Nesta Alternarratives Bursary, and is currently on BBC Taster.