Ola is an actor with experience working as a school, nursery, and language teacher, and as a nanny for several years. She has a degree in Sociology and Psychology from the University of Edinburgh, as well as Acting from the MGA Academy. Ola is passionate about supporting children in finding out what they love (her favourite is when that happens to be theatre), exploring the world through creative lenses, and helping children develop empathy and understanding of the world and other people through drama.
0131 629 0292
info@strangetown.org.uk
Meet more of the Team
Cara Watson
Cara Watson is a Scottish actor and emerging playwright. She holds a 1st (BA) Hons in Acting and has recently completed an MSc in Playwriting at The University of Edinburgh.
Recently, Cara was a co-writer and performer in a series of biopic films about the Scottish Suffragettes, which is now exhibited in Perth Museum.
She is also co-founder of New Writing collective Untie My Tongue Theatre. With her experience and passion within both theatre and filmmaking in Scotland, Cara is very excited to be working with Strange Town.
Anna Whealing
Anna is a highlands-born writer, theatre-maker and producer. She has worked with community groups, volunteers, children, artists and industry members. Anna has produced award-winning short films and documentries, run workshops for emerging writers, created several new-writing audio series, organised scratch nights for performance artists in Glasgow and dabbled in stage managment. Basically, she’ll say yes to everything and loves a challange! Anna is currently a creative trainee on textLAB, a writers programme run by Scottish Youth Theatre and Playwrights Studio Scotland. She has acted as Assistant Director for A Play, A Pie and A Pint and Mull Theatre.
Ellie Duncan
Ellie is a Scottish theatre-maker, facilitator and performer, who graduated with a First Class BA (Hons) in Drama and Dance with Kingston University and Edinburgh College in 2023.
Ellie has been involved in the industry from a very young age and has experience and training in both Film and Stage. Ellie is fascinated about moments of history and implementing that into her work. In 2023, she wrote and co-directed her own show ‘The Fool’ which was set in the regency era and performed in The Voodoo Rooms.
Ellie enjoys exploring theatre through improvisation and play and strives to create work that activates the voice of young people, whilst having a lot of fun in the process.
Pollyanna Esse
Pollyanna has worked with Strange Town for 2 years assisting various workshops. She graduated from Edinburgh University in 2022 with a Fine Art degree and is now training to be an Art Physiotherapist.
She has worked in theatre throughout her life and found her love for directing and producing in her final year of her undergraduate degree. In 2022, she wrote and directed her own Fringe show, going on to work for a New York based Theatre company. There she produced a programme for young and emerging playwrights as well as taking their show to Fringe in 2023. Some of the playwrights she mentored have now been commission to write for multiple theatres in New York. She has always had a love for arts education and giving people the space and opportunity to express themselves.
She has worked for Edinburgh International Festival for the past 2 years as their Digital Content Officer. So she has an strong organisation head too as well as being a creative at heart!
She recently set up Ophelia Hare Arts, where she aims to develop creative experiences that challenge the barriers of pay for early career creatives. She believes that no matter who you are, you should have access to the arts and experience the freedom of expression.
Marion Geoffray
Marion Geoffray is a performer, theatre-maker and arts educator with over a decade of experience in the performing arts and education sectors. She’s had the chance to collaborate with leading arts and cultural organisations in Scotland (Imaginate, Lyra, YTAS, Starcatchers, NGS, Fringe Society, EIF and of course Strange Town!) as well as in F.E/H.E (University of Stirling, Edinburgh, RCS, QMU and The Scottish Institute) delivering high quality and engaging artistic projects and acting training.
She has a strong background in youth theatre, community engagement and creative learning. At the heart of her work is a socially engaged practice founded on rights-based and play-based approaches. She likes to use devising, new writing and physical theatre to create performances on the themes of communication, home, and identity, often adopting a multi-sensory and multi-cultural approach. As a migrant artist living and working in Scotland, she is highly passionate about offering a fair, inclusive, innovative and diverse access to the arts for all while championing the next generation of Scottish artists.
Credits include: PROM(ise) an immersive experience about prom night, Where Are You? A multilingual pop up performance commissioned by Imaginate and Arts in Tongues, a mini-web series for families about cultural, artistic and historical heritage in Edinburgh which won the Creative Edinburgh Collaboration Award in 2021.
James Beagon
Youth Theatre Manager
James is a director, playwright and creative learning facilitator who has lived and worked in Edinburgh for the past 15 years.
He has worked with Strange Town since 2015 and has written and directed a number of Strange Town productions, most recently Livin’ On A Prayer (Traverse, June 2025). Other Strange Town writing credits include Stolen Futures (Traverse, June 2019) Beneath the Surface (Traverse, June 2022) and My Kind of Weird (Traverse Theatre, June 2024). In addition to his role as Youth Theatre Manager, he currently directs the Tuesday 8-25s youth theatre group.
Previous credits with his own group Aulos Productions include the award-winning Fringe productions First Class (2014) and Gobland for the Goblins (2017) and the award-nominated Women of the Mourning Fields (2015) and Antigone na hEireann (2018).
James has worked extensively as a freelance drama practitioner with companies including East Lothian Youth Theatre, Lyceum Youth Theatre, Youth Theatre Arts Scotland, Theatre Sans Accents and Acting Out Drama School.
He holds an MFA in Directing from Edinburgh Napier and an M.A. (Hons) in Ancient and Medieval History from Edinburgh University and has run workshops and guest-lectured at both institutions.
