High Hearted theatre was formed in 2010 by Gemma Kerr and Marcelo Dos Santos.

We create original work for non-conventional theatre spaces, placing an emphasis on narrative and new writing. Our shows explore the relationship between the performer, the audience and the space in which the work happens. Our first production, Lovers Walk opened at the Brighton Fringe before transferring to Southwark Playhouse in 2010. Since then we have been commissioned by Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse as well as the Greenwich & Docklands International Outdoor Festival.

Who Are We?

Marcelo Dos Santos - Writer

Marcelo is a Brazilian/Australian writer based in London. In 2014 Marcelo adapted the Lionboy books for Complicite (**** Financial Times, The Guardian, The Times). The production opened at the Bristol Old Vic and toured extensively in the UK before being remounted at the Tricycle as part of an international tour which included the New Victory Theater on Broadway. He is currently under commission to NBC International to write a new sitcom and is developing a play with the Royal Court having been a writer on attachment there and a member of their ‘supergroup’ writing programme.

Credits include: Lionboy (adaptation, Complicite); New Labour (RADA); Open Plan (RWCMD); Trigger Warning (Young Vic/Shoreditch Town Hall); Moshing Lying Down (Shunt/tour); Lovers Walk (co-writer, High Hearted Theatre/Southwark Playhouse); Feel Sad About Japan (Present Tense, Nabokov); Safety (Made in Hackney New Writing Festival, Arcola).

Gemma Kerr  - Director

Gemma is a director and theatre-maker based in London. Her directing work in addition to High Hearted includes: Macbeth (Omnibus Clapham, **** Time Out); Clothes Swap Theatre Party by Gabriel Bisset-Smith, Tim Price, Evan Placey, Alison Carr & Ben Ellis (Derby Theatre), Scarberia by Evan Placey (York Theatre Royal) Airswimming by Charlotte Jones (Courtyard Theatre); Hitting Town by Stephen Poliakoff (Southwark Playhouse). Gemma is an Associate Artist at Omnibus in Clapham, and Associate Director of Forward Theatre Project.