About us
Bet’n Lev Theatre formed to make and produce our first show “Remythed” in 2023 with the goal of being a new home for global queer storytelling.
Reflecting our co-Artistic Director’s heritages; Bet’n is an anglicised version of “belly” in both Arabic and Hebrew, whilst Lev is Hebrew for “heart.”
Bet’n Lev is run by joint Artistic Directors Roann Hassani McCloskey and Joel Samuels. Roann and Joel met whilst working as actors in 2016 and have since collaborated on three award-winning productions, culminating in Bet’n Lev’s debut show Remythed.
Roann Hassani McCloskey - Co-Artistic Director
Roann has over 10 years experience within the creative industries occupying many roles; they have worked as an award-winning writer (My Father the Tantric Masseur & Who Murdered my Cat), director, producer, script supervisor, production consultant and as an actor, most recently at The Shakespeare’s Globe (Hakawatis).
Roann is deeply committed to disrupting inequities in all their guises and (re)interpreting and challenging gender norms and supporting people to understand consent and bodily autonomy.
Roann is Algerian-British, Queer and many other things that have led them to focus their story-telling on the heart and humour that runs through tragedy and centres her curiosity and desire to bring stories left at the margins to the centre where they belong. Associate Artist Director Emile, thinks Roann almost certainly has ADHD.
Twitter - @couscoussista & Instagram - @couscoussista
Joel Samuels - Co-Artistic Director
Joel is a writer and performer, who trained as an actor at LAMDA with a scholarship from the Leverhulme Trust. His writing credits outside of Bet’n Lev include Sugar Coat (Southwark Playhouse) and Fever Pitch (Hope Theatre). As an actor he has toured extensively in both the UK and Europe and has a variety of television and film credits.
Joel was raised within a longstanding British Jewish secular tradition and can trace his heritage to over ten different countries. Joel is neurodivergent but he doesn’t kick up a fuss about it.
Twitter - @joeldoeswriting
Emile Clarke - Associate Artistic Director
Emile is a LIPA trained actor having appeared in a variety of commercials and films
Credits include: Crimes On Centre Court, (New Old Friends/ Bath Theatre Royal); A Christmas Getaway (New Old Friends/The Ustinov); UK Theatre Award–winning Little Mermaid, The Scarlet Pimpernel (Pins & Needles/The Egg); Love The Life You Live...Live The Life You Love (Leicester Curve); Pinocchio, Never Better (Strike A Light); We Raise Our Hands In The Sanctuary (Inky Cloak/The Albany); Shakespeare Undone (The Natural Theatre Company); Crooked Letter Crooked Letter (TNT theatre)
Audio Credits include Stoma The Musical (BBC); First Steps (BBC/Elbow)
Film and Tv credits include The Cartographer (Berlin Short Film award winner); Two AM ( by Loretta Fahrenholz); Another Day In Buenoseres (in post production) and commercials for Ritter Sport, Paypal, 118 and Sims 4.
Proudly neurodivergent, Emile has a smorgasbord of heritages from Bajan, Nigerian, Irish, English to Norwegian, with a Black British upbringing.
Twitter: @emileJclarke & Instagram: @emileJclarke
Ishmael Kirby - Associate Artist
Ishmael is a Blasian Trans-Masc artist, spanning various mediums of queer art.
They are a leader on the drag and cabaret scene as CYRO. They trained at East 15 acting school.
Credits include: Moll and the future kings (Improbable/ Sam Wanamaker Playhouse), Bridges Y Puentes (Ragroof Players/ Stratford East), Psychopomp (Fen Theatre/ Camden Peoples Theate), Glastonbury Williams Green Stage & Greenpeace Stage (Dream Nails), We stand with you (Clapham Grand/ Not a Phase), Divine Proportions (Shotgun Carousel/ The Vaults), Grills (Mirrorball / Camden Peoples Theatre)
Instagram: @ishmaelskirby
Lucy Roslyn - Associate Artist
Performer and playwright. Lucy’s credits include self-penned work Orlando, inspired by Virginia Woolf’s novel of the same name (Brits Off Broadway, Theater 59e59 New York, 2023); Pennyroyal, a story about two sisters and the experience of Premature Ovarian Insufficiency (Finborough Theatre 2022), and critically acclaimed psychological thriller The State Vs John Hayes (Edinburgh Festival, The Ustinov Studio, The Lowry Manchester, Kings Head London, Old Stone House New York). She also has an ongoing series set in the fictional 1930’s BoonDog Circus, featuring Showmanship (“Best of the Fest” Theatre503) and Goody (Les Enfants Terribles Greenwich Partnership Award).
Other credits include A Third (Finborough Theatre); Chicken Shop (Park Theatre); Mr Happiness & The Water Engine (Old Vic Tunnels); Money Vs Happiness (Nu:write Festival Zagreb, Battersea Arts Centre); and Colin Hoult’s Real Horror Show (Leicester Square Theatre).
Lucy’s work usually revolves around darkly comic stories with a queer heart. Awkward but friendly.
Instagram: @lucy_roslyn Twitter: @lucyroslyn