Clap Trap Theatre was founded in 2007 by Cal Stockbridge and Gareth Jenkins. Our aim was to create intimate productions of both new and classical works and to bring these to a wide variety of venues around Yorkshire and beyond.

Over the past eighteen years we’ve performed in arts centres, country houses, major theatres, village halls, Methodist chapels and Quaker Meeting Houses all over the UK. We’ve commissioned and performed seven new plays during this period and we’re delighted by the recent sellout tour of Switcheroo by Tom Needham which opened at the York Theatre Royal studio in May, 2025.

Our base is a small-holding near Pickering in Ryedale where we rehearse in a converted barn which we share with a small colony of bats…

Cal Stockbridge is an actor, teacher and communications skills trainer. Cal’s worked in the theatre and as a voice-over artist for forty years — both in the UK and abroad. Apart from the new writing, her favourite stage roles include Titania (A Midsummer Night’s Dream), Sister Aloysius (Doubt), Stephanie Anderson (Duet for One), Grand High Witch (The Witches), Virginia Woolf (Vita and Virginia) and the narrator in The Room Upstairs.

Cal also works as a role-play actor for medical and veterinary schools around the north of England. She is severely visually impaired and is devoted to her very eclectic menagerie of pets including Hagrid, the wolfhound, and her miniature donkey, Douglas.

Tom Needham is a North Yorkshire based, BAFTA-nominated writer with over a hundred television and theatre credits. As well as writing his own series, Cold Blood and Retrace, he worked on The Bill for twenty-five years with stints on Silent Witness, Howards’ Way, Casualty, Emmerdale, Wycliffe, Dalziel & Pascoe, Critical and EastEnders amongst others. His plays include The Wreckers, The Rape Queen, Frankenstein Live!, Impact, Blindfold, Switcheroo & The Room Upstairs. He is also a writer on The Citadel, Radio 4.

He, too, lives on the above mentioned smallholding with Cal and his parrot, Pearl…

Florrie Stockbridge is an actor, musician and one half of the acoustic duo Flo&Jones. Florrie has toured across the UK with various productions and companies bringing musical theatre to a range of festivals and venues.

She recently played a chef on The Polar Express in Skipton, Becky in The Room Upstairs and Ratty, Vin Weasel and others in Wise Owl Theatre’s Mr Toad. As well as this, Florrie works with medical and veterinary students and professionals providing roleplays in teaching sessions and exams.

Natasha is a vocalist, actor and director with experience directing and producing small scale theatre; recording and performing audio and live performance verbatim theatre; performing as a singer/musician in acoustic duo  Flo&Jones, and as lead female vocalist in the 8 piece Soul band Kirkby Soul.

Natasha is trained in Early Years Music Education and is the current Artistic Director and Youth Theatre director at Helmsley Arts Centre in North Yorkshire. She played Rachel in The Room Upstairs.

Thomas Frere trained at the RWCMD. He has been acting and directing for more than 35 years. He’s toured the land in shows such as Bittersweet, Two Gentlemen of Verona, The Great Gatsby, Brave Folk and Return to the Forbidden Planet and performed shows in numerous rep theatres including The Passion, Comedy of Errors, Twelfth Night, Anne Boleyn, Candide, Tom Jones and The Sand House.

Tom was a regular with North Country Theatre, creating the role of Hannay in the original The 39 Steps, and going on to direct and perform in many of their shows. He has also appeared in Emmerdale, The Royal, Gentleman Jack and Coronation Street, and occasionally pops up advertising comfy chairs! You can see more of his work (including a penchant for designing and making labyrinths) on his website: https://thomasfrere.com/

Dominic Goodwin’s tours include Two, The Long Mirror, Siegfried Sassoon in Not About Heroes and Touchstone in As You Like It. He also played Jack in both September in the Rain and Happy Jack, Toad in Wind in the Willows, Professor Challenger is North Country Theatre’s The Lost World and Robert in Dropping to Zero at the Edinburgh Fringe. Dominic was Dame for The Georgian Theatre Royal (Richmond) with Mother Goose, The Adventures of Sinbad and Babes in the Wood.

For Angus and Ross Theatre Company, he starred as The Monster (Frankenstein live),  King Henry VIII (Kings of Cloth of Gold) and in The Mystery of Irma Vep. Since 2009 he has played Watson in Holmes and Watson: The Farewell Tour, finishing the show in 2024 after 290 performances.  Dominic’s directing credits include Blame it on The Kaiser, Find the Lady and Dan Leno: The King’s Jester.

Paul Birch is the Artistic Director of Riding Lights Theatre Company. He is also a writer, director and facilitator. He has made work with and for Audible, AUK, Arts & Minds, BBC, Bristol Old Vic, Birmingham Rep, Cheltenham Everyman, Converge, Fairfax House, Riding Lights Theatre Company, National Centre For Early Music, NHS, York Explore Libraries and Archives and multiple collaborations with York Theatre Royal. 

He is a passionate improviser who trained at Chicago’s legendary Second City, IO and UCB. He regularly plays and performs with improvisers all over the world and loves making stuff up and helping others to do the same. 

You can find more about his work at www.paulbirchcreates.com

Flo&Jones are a northern acoustic duo covering a range of styles and genres, complete with velvety harmonies and vibrant sounds. Available to book for a variety of events. Check out our website and follow us on socials to find out more!

Home page: flo-jones

Instagram: @floandjonesmusic

Contact: floandjones