Bread and Bus Stop are an opera and theatre-making team based in Dorset and London. Founded in 2024, our hope is to make joyful, curious, surprising, beautiful shows.
“Bread and Bus Stop” is a childhood mis-interpretation of the seaside village of Burton Bradstock in Dorset, where Laura (founder) grew up. It’s a reminder to cherish home and childhood creativity.
Producer/Director
Laura Hounsell is a director and producer from Dorset and a graduate of Edinburgh University.
She launched Bread and Bus Stop in 2024, with an open air production of Mozart's Bastien et Bastienne. She aims to make surprising, beautiful theatre which forefronts the joy of creation, searches for truth amongst the chaos and finds magic in the mundane.
She has studied theatre-making at the Central School of Speech and Drama and the National Youth Theatre, Puppetry with Tiny and Tall Productions and opera-making during an observership at the Dorset Opera Festival.
She is the Resident Director with Apropos Theatre, with whom she directed 'Terrence the T-Rex' at the Edinburgh Fringe. (‘Something very special indeed’ - The New Current.) With Apropos, she is now in the research and development stage of a new piece of children’s theatre; 'The Truth About Trees'. Upcoming work as a director also includes 'Salt and Noise', currently in R&D with Blue Hour Productions.
Laura is also a filmmaker and is currently co-producing an independent documentary about London’s Laundrettes called Washing Away - www.instagram.com/washingawaydoc
You can hear Laura's podcast - Artists' Impressions - here: shows.acast.com/artists-impressions
Resident Conductor
Oleksandr Filiak is a London-based conductor and a recent graduate of The Royal Academy of Music in London, where he earned a Master's degree with Distinction and won the DipRAM prize for an outstanding final performance.
Recent engagements include conducting a production of W.A. Mozart's Bastien und Bastienne at The Holme Amphitheatre in Dorset and making his debut at the Tête à Tête Opera Festival in London. Recently, the world premiere of the opera King Stakh's Wild Hunt by O. Podgaiskaya at the Barbican Theater, for which Oleksandr had been assisting at the beginning of last season, was nominated for the Laurence Olivier Awards 2024 in the category of Outstanding Achievement in Opera.
Other recent opera productions he has successfully assisted for include J.F. Handel's Ariodante at the Royal Academy of Music, R. Dove's The Monster in the Maze, and L. van Beethoven's Fidelio at the Theater und Orchester Heidelberg. During his time at the Royal Academy of Music, Oleksandr has received coaching from esteemed conductors including Sian Edwards, Sir Mark Elder, Edward Gardner, John Wilson, Alice Farnham, Simeon Pironkov and Daniel Capps. Oleksandr's musical journey began as a pianist and horn player. He obtained a BA with Honours in Piano from the National Music Academy of Ukraine and received training as an organist and harpsichord player.
Creative Producer
Jack is a filmmaker from South London. He primarily films theatrical productions for the west-end and UK. He also has experience filming live arena concerts, events and documentary pieces. He has recently worked as a camera operator on The Lion King, Hadestown, Stranger Things: The First Shadow, Michael Buble: The Higher Tour 2023 and Strictly Come Dancing Live Tour. He recently directed the ‘Terrence the T-Rex’ Trailer and multi-camera archive film for Apropos Theatre and music video ‘Boudoir Tears’ for music artist ‘Pixia’. His passion project, a mockumentary called ‘The Panda’, which he created with Jonah Mann, won an award at the ‘Night of Comedy Shorts’ festival in Milan and received an official selection for the Serbest International Film Festival.
As well as being behind the camera, he has performed on the stage, produced theater and lighting designed for some amateur productions in London. His routes to opera started aged 11, when he performed in the Royal Opera House's 2013 revival production of Britten's ‘Gloriana’.
You can find more information and his showreel here: www.jacksullivanfilm.com