Marie Aggas - designer, As You Like It
Marie is currently studying for a degree in theatre design at the Wimbledon School of Art. She is also currently working with Enrique Vargas for LIFT. She was Wardrobe Assistant on The Revengers Comedies at the Questors Theatre and Design Assistant on Show of Hands' tour of The Phantom of the Opera (including to Battersea Arts Centre), on Cyrano de Bergerac at the Bridewell Theatre and on The Price of Love for Proteus Theatre Company in Basingstoke, where she held an exhibition of her 3-D work at the Willis Museum in October 1995. and where she designed and stage managed the 1995 Fashion Show at the College of Technology.
Phil Bannister - Trombone, The Lighthouse
Mitch Barber - Defence Counsel, The Investigation
Mitch was born in Melbourne, Australia. Following his successful early career in Australia, he is now making a name for himself in this country. Recent theatre credits include Brandon (lead) in Rope and Bo Decker (lead) in Bus Stop. Work in the classics includes performing at the RSC this summer in Measure for Measure, the title role in his own production of Richard III and Duncan/Porter in Macbeth. Television credits include Space Precinct, As Time Goes By, Open Fire and The Demon Headmaster. He has also made a feature film, Two Bad Mice, which is due for release in 1996.
Alison Bell - designer, The Investigation
Alison Bell graduated in 1993, gaining a degree in Art with Dance. Since then she has pursued her career in theatre design on varius productions, including The Magic Flute with Bloomsbury Opera and several summer events with The National Trust. Alongside working in the theatre and creating private work for exhibition, she has been active in community arts projects. This has involved dealing with children, people with learning difficulties and a drug rehabilitation group.
Emma Bird - Ruth, The Woods
Emma started acting professionally at the age of seventeen in a BBC2 screenplay, NEEDLE, written by Jimmy McGovern and directed by Gillies McKinnon. Since then her many TV productions include MEDICS (Granada), SEVENTEEN (C4), PICCADILLY CIRCUS BY NIGHT (BFI), HORSES FOR COURSES (BFTS) and TALES FRON THE CRYPT (for USA). Most notably in 1992 she played Max in series 8 of CASUALTY (BBC1). Her most recent TV appearance was OUT OF THE BLUE (BBC1), screened in early September. Her theatre credits include the premiere of CRUSH by John McKay at Chester Gateway Theatre.
Zoë Booth - Flute, Alto Flute, The Lighthouse
Lorraine Bruce - Phoebe, As You Like It
Lorraine Bruce was born and brought up in Greater Manchester. In her teens she moved with her family to London. After an early start with the National Youth Music Theatre she trained at ALRA as an actor. After leaving college she enjoyed a healthy career as a session vocalist. She is thrilled to be returning to the theatre in As You Like It and hopes you are, too.
Lotte Buchan - assistant director, The Woods
Lotte graduated from Liverpool John Moores University where she wrote and directed THE FUNDING at The Unity Theatre and devised and directed SUFFRAGETTE at Liverpool Museum of Life. In the last twelve months she has stage/company managed NOTHING BUT THE RUTH at the Edinburgh Fringe, CYRANO DE BERGERAC, DAMN YANKEES and OTHELLO at the Bridewell Theatre and TWELFTH NIGHT at the Old Bull Arts Centre.
Alex Caldon - Trumpet, The Lighthouse
Norman Chancer - Duke Frederick, As You Like It
Norman arrived in the UK in the early '60s and is now an ardent Glenda Jackson supporter - he considers himself a north Londoner. His work has been largely film: Local Hero, Victor Victoria et al and television. He has also appeared in or directed several West End and fringe plays. Most recently, he was seen emerging from a Florida swamp in Kavanagh QC.
Ian Coulson - Charles the wrestler,Silvius, As You Like It
Ian served a five year apprenticeship with the People's Theatre in Newcastle, playing roles from Jackie, Close the Coalhouse Door, to Dracula, Dracula the Musical. He toured Moscow and Leningrad as Bill Sykes, Oliver Twist. Ian trained at E15 Acting School, after which he toured pubs and fringe theatres with his self-devised show Dempsey and Coolpiece, ending at the Kings Head, Islington. Television work includes appearances in Byker Grove and recently in Rough Justice. His theatre debut was as the lead in Alex Ferguson's autobiographical My Uncle Freddie for the Northumberland Theatre Company: Ian's performance as Lecky won him much critical acclaim. When not acting, he works with special needs children, as drama and music tutor.
Margaret Crosby - stage manager, The Lighthouse
Hal Cruttenden - Witness, The Investigation
Hal trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama, where roles included Arturo Ui in The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui and Posthumus Leonatus in Cymbeline. Since leaving he has appeared in Another Country at the Man in the Moon and in the films The Madness of King George and The Eliminator. Hal is a successful stand-up comic and also works as a freelance radio broadcaster.
Harry Curtis - conductor, The Lighthouse
Harry studied conducting on the Advanced Conductor's Course at the Royal Academy of Music under Colin Metters, George Hurst and Sir Colin Davis. He graduated with the Diploma with Merit as well as the Ricordi, Henry Wood, Harold Craxton Memorial and Earnest Read Conducting Prizes. As well as being conductor of the London Chamber Group, Harry is Music Director of the University of London Orchestra and Chorus, the St. George's Philharmonic Society and the Harlow St. John's Chamber Orchestra. He is also assistant conductor of the Oratorienchor Hannover and the Jugendsinfonieorchester Hannover. He formed The London Chamber Group in 1996 to provide a platform for talented young professionals who have recently left music college. As well as performing music from the baroque era to the present day, it aims to explore the lesser-known works of well-known composers and is currently engaged in a series of reworkings of Handel's operas. Under Harry's direction it recently recorded Schubert's 5th Symphony with the Scandinavian recording company Skref and will record two Mozart piano concertos with them in November.
Simon Davies - tenor, The Lighthouse
Simon sang as a baritone in the chapel choirs of Trinity and King's Colleges, Cambridge, but on gaining a scholarship to the Royal College of Music started to sing tenor. He has sung opera roles for various English companies, including Mozart's Tamino for Surrey Opera, Don Ottavio and Rossini's Count Almaviva for Court Opera and last summer the title role in Hérold's Zampa with Opera Omnibus in Haslemere. He performed the role of Sergei in Shostakovich's musical Cheryomushki for Pimlico Opera at the Lyric, Hammersmith. He has given a recital of French chansons in the 'Festival Estival' in Paris and a concert of songs by Benjamin Britten in the Louvre. In 1993 he sang Britten's Serenade in the Melle Festival near Poitiers, the following year performing it in the Queen's Hall, Edinburgh. In 1995 he performed a programme of drinking songs by Purcell and his French contemporaries at Versailles and that Autumn toured Spain with Gustav Leonhardt as tenor soloist in Bach's The Coffee Cantata. Recent oratorio engagements include the St Matthew Passion at the Barbican and Beethoven's Missa Solemnis in Norwich. Simon's solo recordings include Bach's Hunt Cantata with The Parley of Instruments, a collection of Madrigals and Solo Cantatas by Antonio Caldara with the Wren Baroque Soloists and the role of Sergei in Cheryomushki on the BBC label.
John Davitt - defendants Capesius, Boger and Scherpe, The Investigation
John trained at the Webber Douglas Academy, graduating in 1984, since when he has appeared with various repertory companies including Channel Theatre Company and The Library Theatre, Manchester. He has toured extensively, playing Nana in the premiere of the British musical Peter Pan as well as Stan Laurel in a US tour of Laurel and Hardy by Tom McGrath. His TV appearances include various criminals in Crimewatch UK and, most recently, a postman in The Bill. John is also a reader for the RNIB Talking Book service.
Jonathan Deverell - Witness, The Investigation
Jonathan has worked in television, theatre, radio and film. Since graduating from the Guildford School of Acting and Dance, his theatre credits include: Ralph in Hull Truck's tour of Bouncers; Adrian Boswell in the national tour of Bread; de Chavigny in Caprice and Germain in It's Impossible, both at The Swan Theatre in Stratford and The Traverse in Edinburgh; and Orlando in As You Like It at The Polesden Lacey Open Air Theatre. Television credits include: Levi Singer in the BBC Screen One Wall of Silence; and roles in the BBC's Bread, The Detectives and Health and Efficiency, ITV's The Bill and Channel 4's Trial and Error and The People's Game. Jonathan has appeared in a feature film, Dead Lucky, Radio 4's They Cast Four Shadows and has also worked in voice-overs, film dubbing and commercials.
Hari Dhillon - Orlando, As You Like It (Jermyn Street)
Hari graduated from Webber Douglas in July 1996. He played Appanna in Naga Mandala at the Leicester Haymarket and will soon be seen in the upcoming film Eleven-One-Ninety-Seven.
Tiffany Dunlop - Celia, As You Like It
Tiffany recently graduated from Webber Douglas. Theatre roles there included: Katharine, The Heiress; Marianne, Tales from The Vienna Woods; Duchess, Duchess of Malfi; Natalya, A Month in The Country; Rowdy, How It Hangs; Emma, Betrayal; Lydia Languish, The Rivals; Agnes, Dancing at Lughnasa; Armande, The Learned Ladies and Jane in The Libertine. Previously she played Catharine in Suddenly Last Summer at the Chichester River Studio.
Sebastian Dunn - Oliver. As You Like It
Sebastian studied Drama at Exeter University. Since leaving in the summer of 1996, he has appeared in Journey's End at the Springfield Theatre in London and Twelfth Night at The Haymarket in Basingstoke. His previous theatre includes Romeo, Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth (Title role), The Tempest, Twelfth Night, The Sneeze, The Business of Murder, The Oresteia, The Erpingham Camp, Revenge and Bedroom Farce. He has also directed The Seagull in Hollywood, USA.
Toby Eddington - Jacques, As You Like It
Toby trained at the Mountview Theatre School and privately with Dorothea Alexander. His work spans theatre, film, television and radio. Theatre credits include: Roman, Corpsing; Stephen Fauldgate, Beethoven's Tenth - both at the Tristan Bates Theatre, Covent Garden; Malvolio and Peter Quince, Twelfth Night and Midsummer Night's Dream at the Leeds Shakespeare Festival; Ivanov (lead) for Whittington Enterprises; Marlow, She Stoops to Conquer at the Pentameters Theatre; Nicholas, Crossfire and Lucifer, Doctor Faustus - both at the Kings Head; Lambourde in La Tête des Autres and Cokane, Widower's Houses - both at the Chelsea Centre. Films include The Changeling and shorts for various film schools. Television: Peak Practice. Radio: the chorus in a production of Pericles.
Stuart Eminson - Clarinet, Bass Clarinet, The Lighthouse
Sophie Field - designer, As You Like It
Sophie is currently studying for a degree in theatre design at Winbledon School of Art, where she was Students Union Ents designer/decorator from Sept 1996 to March 1997. She worked as Wardrobe Assistant on The Revengers Comedies at the Questors Theatre, as Costume Assistant for a 1996 Fashion Show and as ASM for the 1996 Wimbledon School of Art costume show.
Christopher Foster - bass, The Lighthouse
Christopher graduated from Newcastle University in 1985 with a BA (Hons) Mus., specializing in singing and Tudor church music. In 1991 he won an NFMS Young Concert Artists' Award for men's voices which led to engagements with choral and concert societies throughout the UK at venues such as the Purcell Room, the Queen Elizabeth Hall and Gloucester, Ripon, Southwark and Truro cathedrals. Operatic roles include: the title role in Britten's Noye's Fludde; Baron Douphol (La Traviata) for Clonter Opera; the title role in The Marriage of Figaro for Surrey Opera and Loseley Opera; covering the role of Count Almaviva (Le Nozze di Figaro) for John Eliot Gardiner; and studying Nick Shadow (The Rake's Progress) at the Britten-Pears School for Advanced Musical Studies.
Christopher has sung on French radio: with Philippe Herreweghe and La Chapelle Royale and with Mark Minkowski and Les Musiciens du Louvre - the latter leading to his debut at the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam. Performances for Radio 3 have included the world premiere of Donizetti's cantata Christopher Columbus with the BBC Concert Orchestra and Britten's The Rescue of Penelope at the Aldeburgh Festival with the BBC Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Nicholas Cleobury. With the same orchestra he recorded Schön Ellen by Max Bruch and he appeared at the 1994 Proms as Judas in Joshua Rifkin's performance of the St Matthew Passion. His Festival Hall debut was in Schumann's Manfred with the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Andrew Davis. He recorded Purcell's Timon of Athens with DG and Radio 3 under the direction of Trevor Pinnock. Christopher was a finalist in the 1995 Richard Tauber Competition at the Wigmore Hall. Most recently, he took part in the Latvian premiere of The Dream of Gerontius. In February 1997 he sang in Le Rossignol with the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Pierre Boulez at the Festival Hall which then toured Brussels, Messina, Ferrara, Rome and Lisbon.
Emma Fryer - designer, The Woods
Emma was born in 1969 and graduated with BA Hons in Three Dimensional Design from Wolverhampton. She arrived in London in 1992 and has done sculpture work for exhibitions, window displays and fashion shoots. She worked as a jewellery maker at the Royal Opera House from 1992-1995 and has done freelance costume and prop work for Martin Adams and Robert Allsop. She was Assistant Designer for DON GIOVANNI at the Battignano Opera Festival, Italy; Costume Assistant for the Cholomondleys' tour, CAR; and Costume Supervisor for OPERA SPECTACULAR at The Royal Albert Hall, the Johann Strauss Gala at the Royal Festival Hall and a concert performance of DIE FLEDERMAUS at the Barbican. While studying on the Motley Design Course, she did a design placement on TALES FROM THE CITY with the Royal Court Young Peoples' Theatre. She has designed costumes for the aerial dance company MOMENTARY FUSION and costumes and set for a new dance piece HAMSTERS IN MIRRORSHADES at The Place Theatre.
Edward Gardner - assistant conductor and repetiteur, The Lighthouse
Frank Gerssen - designer, The Lighthouse
Born in Holland, Frank trained at the Architectural Assocaition School of Architecture and the Motley Theatre Design Course. In 1995 he was a Linbury Prize winner and is currently living in London. Theatre work includes set and costume design for Shining Souls (Traverse, 1996) and Beyond Therapy (New End, 1996). He has also worked as assistant designer to David Fielding on Capriccio (Garsington, 1994), Henk Schut on Armstrong's Last Goodnight (Lyceum, Edinburgh), Laura Hopkins on The Rake's Progress (Welsh National Opera), Tim Hatley on Les Miserables and Andrea Chenier (Karlstadt, Sweden), Ariadne auf Naxos (Scottish Opera) and The Maids (Donmar Warehouse).
Natalie Hackner - Audrey, choreographer/dancer , As You Like It
Natalie trained at the Gordon Wilson Academy of Theatre Dance and went on to further her training at the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts. On leaving, she formed a singing quartet which toured India. On her return, she worked on various television projects, including the well known series Heartbeat, Commercials, Zoo, This Morning and satellite. Theatre work includes Mephistopheles, Chelsea Opera, pantomimes and backing vocals for various bands.
Charles Hart - Touchstone, As You Like It
Charles was born in London and educated in Maidenhead and Cambridge. Since then he has acted, sung and written lyrics for songs and musicals. He has composed lyrics for The Phantom of the Opera and Aspects of Love; written music and lyrics for television: Watching and Split Ends, Granada TV, and also for radio: Love Songs, BBC Radio. He plays the violin - poorly - and piano, speaks German and flies aeroplanes. Other work has included radio presentation for Classic FM and recitation for Facade, Orchestra of St John's Smith Square. Television: The Vampyr, BBC2, for which he also provided the text. Film: Intimate Relations, Handmade Films/Boxer Films - for which he also provided the dog. He is the recipient of two Ivor Novello Awards and has been twice nominated for a Tony Award.
Silas Hawkins - Prosecutor, The Investigation
Trained Richmond Drama School (Surrey). Theatre credits include: Ulysses and Priam in Troilus and Cressida for London Theatre Base; Paez in The Amazon Macbeth for Brighton Actors' Theatre; Andrey in Three Sisters for Workshop 5 Theatre Company; Ghost of Hamlet's father and Mortinbras in Fortinbras Gets Drunk for Timepiece Productions; Herod in Wilde's Salomé for London Rep Theatre Company (shared with Stuart Rose!); Baptista Minola in The Taming of the Shrew and Friar Laurence in Romeo and Juliet for Open Hand Theatre Company's Cambridge Shakespeare Festival '94. Radio: adaptation of Fingarner's PC Snow White. Film: Foreign Moon (Anglo-Chinese co-production). TV: yes, please!
Naomi Hipwell - Horn, The Lighthouse
Simon Hirst - defendants Baretzki and Stark, The Investigation
Trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, graduating in 1994 with the Dennis Cartledge Award for commitment to the school. He last played Clym Yeobright in a nine-week West Country tour of The Return of the Native from Bath Theatre Royal. Other roles include Spurio in The Revenger's Tragedy for F.O.D. Theatre Company (dir: Nick Bamford), Ben in The Dumb Waiter for Absurd Theatre (dir: Peter Handley), Conlag/2nd Cook in The Romans in Britain by Howard Brenton (dir: Richard Howard) and Norbert Lagertooth in The Bristol Flyer for BBC Radio (dir: Shaun MacLoughlin).
Valerie Hunkins - Witness, The Investigation
Born in Leeds. Trained in London at Middlesex Polytechnic. Theatre work includes God's Second in Command at The Royal Court Theatre Upstairs (dir: Richard Wilson), Moon on a Rainbow Shawl at The Almeida Theatre (dir: Maya Angelou), Peer Gynt and Racing Demon at The Royal National Theatre, La Bohème and Simon Boccanegra at the London Coliseum. Television work includes Hard Cases (Central TV), A Sense of Guilt (BBC), The Bill (Carlton), Conspiracy of Cells (YTV), TV presenter (BBC Open University), Casualty (BBC), Gallowglass (BBC), Us Girls (BBC) and Just Us (YTV). Film work includes National Film Festival '94 (dir: Mike Leigh) and Ladybird, Ladybird (dir: Ken Loach).
Bret Jones - Amiens, As You Like It
In 1996 Bret appeared at the Nottingham Playhouse and the West Yorkshire Playhouse in the original production of Ben Elton's Popcorn. He also performed in a studio production of Tennessee Williams' one act play Talk To Me Like The Rain And Let Me Listen... while in Nottingham and Leeds. Bret spent 1995 as the lead in the original British cast of Hot Shoe Shuffle. He previously appeared in Anthony Van Laast's Shall We Dance and in She Stoops to Conquer by the Re:creation Theatre Company. With Ryan Francois' authentic jazz dance company Zoots And Spangles, he has performed in many theatres in the UK, Germany, Austria, France, Switzerland and Norway. Bret has appeared in the Children's Royal Variety Show, a Cadbury's Dairy Milk commercial and Channel Four's Signals. He was featured as a guest artist with Ryan Francois in the BBC's Come Dancing series and in Robert Palmer's video Riding High. Bret is currently teaching at the Arts Educational Schools.
Sarah Káldor - assistant director and stage manager, The Investigation
Sarah Káldor trained at Richmond Drama School before doing a degree in Drama and Music at Brunel University. She spent a year working in Paris, where she performed at the Chaillot Theatre. She is an excellent singer and cellist. She is half Hungarian.
Hannah Kellas - Cello, The Lighthouse
Marina Kovacevich - composer and pianist, The Investigation
Born in Belgrade in 1973, she began composing at an early age and has studied with several leading Yugoslav composers. She has won numerous prestigious awards including first and second prizes in the National Piano Competition of Yugoslavia. She is currently studying composition with Robert Saxton on a scholarship to the Guildhall School of Music, where her works are regularly performed. She combines her career as a composer with giving recitals and writing her thesis. She has composed the music for two films commissioned by a major charity.
Catherine Lett - Violin, Tam-tam, The Lighthouse
Rowan MacCallum - Orlando, As You Like It (Greenwich)
Rowan graduated from LAMDA in 1996. Parts included Angelo in Measure for Measure. Christy Mahon in The Playboy of the Western World and Prospero in The Tempest. Recently he was Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet and Marco in Arthur Miller's A View from the Bridge.
Neil MacLeod, M.A. (Oxon) - Adam, As You Like It
Neil worked for Save the Children before training at Richmond Drama School. Theatre includes: Measure for Measure; Elder Spencer, Edward II; Mr Slocombe, All That Fall; Gentleman/Patron, Oh What A Bloody Circus!; Dr Morel, The Isle of the Departed; Augustus, When the Barbarians Came; Louis B. Mayer, The Tailor-Made Man; Captain Boyle, Juno & The Paycock; Father, Voyage Round My Father; Captain Biggar, Come On, Jeeves!; Baptista, The Taming of the Shrew. Film: Reg, Valparaiso. Television: Class Act II; J.I. Thornycroft, Extreme Machins/Hovercraft.
Chris Magdziarz - Sir Oliver Mar-Text, Jacques de Boys, dancer/Bright Young Thing, As You Like It (Greenwich)
Chris started dancing at the late age of 18. Since then he has choreographed and appeared in several productions. After competing in Latin American dancing for 3 years he became Southern Region Amateur Champion but stopped after being accepted at the Academy of Live and Recorded Arts on their 3-year Performing Arts course. Parts played at ALRA include Mike, A Chorus Line, Chairman/Sir Charles Warren, Jack the Ripper, Ernst, Cabaret and Bert Baxter, Adrian Mole.
Aideen Malone - lighting designer, The Lighthouse
Aideen trained initially in Trinity College, Dublin as a lighting designer before moving to London where she completed her studies at Goldsmith's College, University College London. Her lighting credits in England include: Resistance (Old Red Lion); Consuming Desire (Cockpit): Still Ringing (Barclays New Stages 1995, Nottingham); Bloody Poetry and Deek and Shirl Dice with Death (The White Bear); Flip (Hen and Chickens); Visitation and The Happiness Compartment (Oval House); The Kissing Game and Corpsing (Tristan Bates Theatre); Freefall/Restless Farewell (BAC) and Frankie is Good Peggy is Fine and the House is Cool and The Boys Next Door (The Grace Theatre). Her opera credits include: W11 Children's Opera; Opera Spezzata's Orfeo and Euridice (Riverside Studios/Drum Studio, Plymouth) and Jigsaw Music Theatre's Funny Shorts. Her work with Konkrete Theatre Company includes: Murderer Hope of Women (Greenwich Studio Theatre/BAC); Savannah Bay (New Grove); Mephisto (Riverside) and Black Champagne (ICA). Her set and lighting credits include: The Rock Station - a Liffey Sreet production (Finborough Theatre) and Berenice (Man in the Moon). She is joint Artistic Director of Liffey Street, a London based Irish Theatre Company.
Derek Mannway - Duke Senior, Corin, As You Like It
Derek came late to professional acting after a number of years in personnel management, both in the UK and overseas. Theatre roles include: Frank, Educating Rita; Escalus, Romeo and Juliet; Selsdon Mowbray, Noises Off; Judge, The Cenci and Fray, Far From the Madding Crowd. Television/Film includes The Knock, Hard Men and low budget shorts: Dom's Night and Keep It In The Family. Derek is married and lives in Essex.
Catherine McGeoghegan - Double Bass, The Lighthouse
Jonathan David Mellor - stage manager, As You Like It (Jermyn Street)
Jonathan trained at ARTTS International under Laurence Olivier's one-time assistant director John Sichel. Since then he has directed, taught, perforemd and written in York, Edinburgh and now London. Designing lighting and sound for Jermyn Street Theatre is just "another way of making sure I'm never out of the theatre". He is currently working on a PhD and is directing Morag McLaren's one-woman show in London and on tour.
Nic Mollison - lighting designer, The Woods
Nic trained at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts in Perth, where he studied Lighting Design for Theatre, Film and Television, specialising in Theatrical Lighting Design. On graduating in 1995, Nic came to London to assist Rick Fisher on several productions including RAT IN THE SKULL (Duke of York's), SWAN LAKE (Sadlers Wells) and TAP DOGS (Queen's Theatre). Most recently, Nic has been working on the Opera Holland Park 1996 season. In Australia, Nic's design credits include the musical RAGS, directed by Kris Stewart, and BODY TORQUE - 13 dance works by young choreographers at the Perth Institute of Contemporary Art (PICA).
Stuart Morrison - Sir Oliver Mar-Text, Jacques de Boys, dancer/Bright Young Thing, As You Like It (Jermyn Street)
Stuart trained at the Italia Conti theatre school in London. Since leaving college, Stuart's credits have included television appearances in The Bill (Thames), Casualty (BBC), London's Burning (LWT), Grange Hill (BBC), Pink for a Boy, Equinox, Eastenders (BBC), Dempsey and Makepiece, Tonight with Derek Jamieson and as a guest singer on a 14-week television series in Greece in 1991. He subsequently guested on several programmes in Greece in 1992 and is presently working on a current affairs programme of his own. Theatre credits include Carl in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (National Tour), Mike TV in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (National Tour), Ron in Hair - The New Generation (National Tour), Wayne in Hold Tight It's 60s Night (National Tour), Eddie in 70 Girls 70 with Dora Bryan (National Tour/Vaudeville Theatre), Roger in She Stoops to Conquer and Jamie in St Oscar (Leicester Haymarket Theatre), Ladies Night (National Tour), Bob Barking in Me and My Girl and Levi in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dream Coat (both at Chelmsford Civic Theatre) and the roles of Jan Warwick in The Unexpected Guest (Devonshire Park, Eastbourne), Anthony Marston in And Then There Were None and Ronnie in Out of Order by Ray Cooney. Stuart has also worked in pop music and has had four singles to date - Qu'est Ce Que C'est, European Boy, San and Love's Unkind with his group Bandana. The band also appeared on many children's TV shows and pop programmes including a week with Lizzie Webb on TV-AM and running a dance team for the Telethon-1990, which was followed by a tour covering most of Greece with Michalis Raganis - the Greek counterpart to Phil Collins! Stuart had a dance record out last year called Airport. Pantomme credits include Dick Whittington (Theatre Royal, Plymouth), Mother Goose (Grand Theatre, Swansea), Prince in The Sleeping Beauty at Poole Arts Centre with June Brown and Wendy Craig, Aladdin in Aladdin and Prince in Sleeping Beauty (Billingham Forum) and last Christmas he was at Windsor as Dandini.
Omar Mostafa - defendants Hofmann, Broad and Breitwieser, The Investigation
Omar was born in Cairo. During his teens he was frequently involved in plays and modelling work and and made several commercials. After a degree in literature he came to the UK to pursue his acting studies, taking lessons from Dorothea Alexander (Professor at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama). He has also studied at the City Lit and the Drama Centre and recently graduated in Drama from City and Islington College. He has had the pleasure of doing workshops with Max Stafford-Clark (The Libertine & The Man of Mode), Théâtre de Complicité (choral work), The Kosh (Sian Williams - dance and movement), Trestle Theatre Company (mask) and Polly Teale (Babies by Jonathan Harvey). He performed in Skirting the Issue, directed by Jane Harrison, at The Royal Court.
Ashwin K. Mushran - defendants Frank, Klehr, Schlage and Bednarek, The Investigation
Ashwin K. Mushran was born in Bristol, brought up in India and is of English, Indian and German extraction. He trained at the Drama Studio, London, where amongst other roles he played Konstantin in The Seagull, Troilus in Troilus and Cressida and Yoyo in Three Birds Alighting on a Field. His most enjoyable role to date has been the much appreciated Punter at Casino in Midsummer Opera's production of Partenope at The Lyric, Hammersmith. Ashwin graduated from the Drama Studio in July 1995.
Chris Nicholson - Guitar, banjo, The Lighthouse
Carolene Nijeboer - Witness, The Investigation
Carolene Nijeboer was born in Australia of Dutch parents and spent her early years in The Sudan, Venezuela and Argentina. She trained at the Welsh College of Music and Drama. Since leaving college in July 1993, she has already featured as Mrs Toynbee in The Love of a Good Man at the Arts Threshold in London, played the title role in The Snow Queen at Canterbury and worked at the Chester Gateway in Wuthering Heights and Amadeus. Most recently, she played the role of Miep in The Diary of Anne Frank at The Haymarket Theatre in Basingstoke. A proficient flute player, Carolene is fluent in Dutch and Spanish.
Andrew Novell - Witness, The Investigation
Andrew Novell was born in Redhill, Surrey on August 2nd, 1968. He spent some time at a primary drama and ballet school in Croydon before his family moved to live in Chard, Somerset in 1975. He became heavily involved with drama at school, but left at 16 to work as a groundsman at the Cricket St Thomas Wildlife Park. Later, he studied art and drama at the Somerset College of Art and Technology, which led to work at The Brewhouse, Taunton. In 1990, he returned to London to follow a career as a professional actor and, after working on the fringe, studied at The Poor School in King's Cross, graduating in June 1995. Since graduating, he has done a schools tour and played Ariel in the Cherub Company's production of The Tempest, directed by Andrew Visnevski.
David Oyelowo - fight arranger, As You Like It
David is currently in his second year at the London Academy of Music nd Dramatic Arts. Theatre Credits include Tiger Brown in the National Youth Music Theatre's tour of Threepenny Opera, Aufidius in Coriolanus and Ralph in Bouncers, both at last year's Edinburgh Festival. David has just won Best Stage Combat Performer in the Drama School Conference stage combat competition. Fight Choreography credits include Brave New World's Macbeth and Coriolanus.
Peter Polycarpou - Nick, The Woods
Peter began his career at the Unicorn Theatre for Children as Sadko in SADKO AND THE FISH WITH FINS OF GOLD. Since then he has toured extensively and worked in many regional repertory theatres, productions having included GREASE, THE FRONT PAGE, SNOOPY, YOU'RE A GOOD MAN CHARLIE BROWN (Snoopy in both productions), SEXUAL PERVERSITY IN CHICAGO, MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING, THE TAMING OF THE SHREW and ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA.
In the West End, Peter was an original member of the LES MISERABLES company, where he took over the roles of Grantaire and Thenardier. He spent two years with the RSC (Stratford and London) gaining critical acclaim for his Aaron in Deborah Warner's award-winning TITUS ANDRONICUS. Other RSC work includes Micha in A QUESTION OF GEOGRAPHY, Calymath in THE JEW OF MALTA and THE NEW INN by Ben Jonson. Peter created the role of John in MISS SAIGON (Theatre Royal, Drury Lane) and took over the role of The Phantom in Andrew Lloyd Webber's THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, having played Heathcliff in Martin Yates' and Steve Deveraux's adaptation of WUTHERING HEIGHTS (Oxford Fire Station).
On television, Peter is best known as Pauline Quirke's husband Chris Theodopoulopoudos in BIRDS OF A FEATHER (BBC1). Other credits include CAPITAL CITY, RICH TEA AND SYMPATHY (YTV), THE PROFESSIONALS and also BSB's futuristic JUPITER MOON. Peter has written two full length plays, SEARCHING FOR THE LEMONS and CYPRIOT GAFFITI, both performed at London fringe venues. He is a prolific song-writer and can be heard singing Alan Hawkshaw's theme tune to TV's LOVE HURTS, which leapt into the charts at Nº 26 on its single release on the EMI label.
Most recently Pater starred with Jessica Martin and Dave Willetts in a new musical, LONELY HEARTS by Tricia Ward, directed by Stephen Rayne at the Oxford Fire Station; THEY'RE PLAYING OUR SONG at the Cockpit Theatre; HAPPY END at the Bridewell Theatre, London, directed by Jonathan Best; and as Emile de Becque in SOUTH PACIFIC at the Drill Hall. In 1996, Peter has played the roles of: Domingo Mercante in the movie of EVITA, with Madonna and Jonathan Pryce: Phil Green in the 60's movie musical SWEAT: and Scoop Rosenbaum in the British premiere of Wendy Wasserstein's THE HEIDI CHRONICLES at the Greenwich Theatre.
Stuart Rose - Judge, The Investigation
Stuart was born in 1949 and trained as an actor at the Corona Academy in 1965, going on to act extensively in films and television. He co-founded the London Rep Theatre Company in 1987, for whom he most recently co-directed Oscar Wilde's Salomé, also playing the part of Herod. His last London stage appearance was as Capulet in Romeo and Juliet Get Laid Out at the Man in the Moon for Comic Relief, directed by Andrew Saltman. Stuart is married with a 2 1/2-year old son and remains firmly convinced that Mark is the best production he has ever been involved in.
Jo Roylance - repetiteur, The Lighthouse
Orlando Schenk - bass/baritone, The Lighthouse
Orlando studied history at Durham University and then at the GSMD for two years. Oratorio experience includes St John and St Matthew Passions (Bach), Handel's Messiah and Haydn's Creation. Operatic roles include Don Alfonso in Mozart's Cosi Fan Tutti for Opera Live at the 1997 Covent Garden Festival, Elviro in Handel's Xerxes for The Early Opera Company, Papageno in Mozart's Magic Flute for British Youth Opera, Uberto in Pergolesi's La Serva Padrona, Host in Vaughan Williams' Sir John in Love for British Youth Opera and Captain Thicknesse in Malcolm Williamson's English Eccentrics. Future plans include Don Pinto in Weber's Die Drei Pintos for Opera Omnibus and Figaro in Mozart's Marriage of Figaro for Opera For All. Operetta experience includes Baron von Dremarck in Offenbach's La Vie Parisienne, Will Atkins in Offenbach's Robinson Crusoe for British Youth Opera and Todd in Sondheim's Sweeney Todd. He continues to study with David Pollard.
Hansjörg Schmidt - lighting designer, As You Like It
Hansjörg is Technical Director of Mainbrace Theatre Co at the Brockley Jack Theatre in London. He gained a first class honours degree from Goldsmiths College. He designed the set and lights for Mainbrace's productions of East, Sweeney Todd, Pinocchio, King Ubu and The Elephant Man (lighting only). Other credits include The Power and the Glory (Etcetera) and Stand (Pearce Institute, Glasgow). Hansjörg also worked as Production Manager on Mephisto (Riverside), 100 Years of Enchantment (Oval House and Union Chapel) and Savannah Bay (New Grove). Directing credits include The Kiss of the Spider Woman and Spring Awakening, both at Brockley Jack Theatre.
Robert Shaw - director, Artistic Director of Inside Intelligence
Robert graduated from Cambridge University
in 1979. In May 1995 he founded Inside Intelligence, for whom he has
directed the British premieres of David Mamet's The Woods, with Peter
Polycarpou, his own translation of Fermín Cabal's ¡shoot!
with Don Gilet, Raad Rawi and Danielle Tarento and One God, One
Farinelli! with Richard O'Brien. In January 2009 he will direct
the world premiere of his own stage version of Three Women by Sylvia
Plath. He translated Fermín Cabal's Tejas
Verdes, which
received its UK premiere at the Gate in 2005 with Gemma Jones, directed
by Thea Sharrock. In June 2006 he directed the British premiere
of Ana in Love
by Paloma Pedrero, translated by himself, with Maisie
Dimbleby, Anne Firbank, Jessica Oyelowo,
Isobel Pravda and Judith Scott. This
play was originally commissioned to mark the first anniversary of the
Madrid terrorist bombings in 2004 and it was premiered in London to
mark the first anniversary of the 2005 London attack. Robert's
other
productions include As You Like It with Jessica Oyelowo and Michael
Wildman, for which he wrote the music, and the Investigation
byPeter Weiss. In opera, Robert has directed the London premiere
of The Medium, performed by Jane Manning, and
The Lighthouse, both by Sir Peter Maxwell Davies. He directed the
British premiere
of The Prince by David Drane and Dutchman by Leroi Jones at Riverside
Studios where he also assisted Keith Hack on The Dance of Death,
starring Alan Bates and Frances de la Tour. He directed The
Investigation by Peter Weiss, Waiting for
Lefty by Clifford Odets, Statements after an Arrest under the
Immorality Act by Athol Fugard with Vincent Ebrahim and Fear by Mark
Brennan (co-director)
at the sadly missed Sir Richard Steele Theatre in Camden, of which he
was joint Artistic Director and where he assisted Roger Michell on
David Mamet's Sexual Perversity in Chicago with Michael Feast.
Other directing work includes Inferno XXXIII by Michele Celeste at
the Gate, Reunion by David Mamet at the Duke's Playhouse, Lancaster,
Tell Me That I'm Dreaming by Mark Brennan at The Place, The Poker
Session by Hugh Leonard, Measure for Measure, The Ruling Class by
Peter Barnes, A Little Night Music by Stephen Sondheim and The
Hostage (An Giall) by Brendan Behan - one of the hits of the 1981
Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Robert is also a jazz pianist/composer and
speaks French, Spanish and Russian fluently and German, Serbian and
Arabic well. He has used his languages in volunteer work for Amnesty
International, which included the crises in former Yugoslavia and
Central Africa.
He is a Diploma-qualified TEFL teacher and has worked in Madrid
(including
for the British Council), as Director of Studies in Yugoslavia (in
1992, where he also read the news for a satellite TV station) and in
Saudi Arabia (twice). In 1995, he travelled overland by car from Riyadh
to
London. He is the International Representative of the Chekhov
Memorial Theatre in Taganrog, Chekhov's birthplace.
Gregory Sheppard - Viola, The Lighthouse
Ben Shirazi - defendants Lucas, Kaduk, and Hantl, The Investigation
Ben is an Iranian-born actor, who gave up his career in banking to pursue his love of acting. He recently finished a 2-year drama course at the City Lit, Holborn. Credits to date include Azdak in The Caucasian Chalk Circle, Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire and minor roles in TV and commercials.
Theresa Topliss - adminstrative and design assistant, As You Like It
Theresa was brought up in England and Saudi Arabia. She read French and German at Cambridge University, after completing an Art & Design Foundation course at Brighton University. Visual design and artistic skills have always played a prominent role. Theresa was Artistic Director for the Corpus Christi College May Ball at Cambridge in 1993 and designed the College Rag Float in 1992. She organised and took part in yearly Art Exhibitions during her years at Corpus, receiving First Prize in 1993. Theresa assisted on theatrical productions throughout the University.
Claudia Townsend - Stage Manager, The Woods
Claudia graduated from Warwick University where she stage managed several productions, including THE BLIND at the Edinburgh Fringe. After spending two years working for charity she resumed her stage management career, most recently at Waterman's Arts Centre, Brentford. This year, she worked at The Other Place, Stratford-upon-Avon, and stage managed the play BIG BURGER CHRONICLES at the Belgrade Studio, Coventry and at this year's Edinburgh Fringe.
John Treherne - stage manager, As You Like It (Greenwich)
Having acquired a BSc and MA in totally unrelated subjects, John took up technical work in the music business. He has worked as a freelance technician since 1985 with a variety of artistes and productions. Recent work includes sound and lighting design/operation for Atlantic Soul Machine, The Corbett Theatre, The Red Door Theatre Company and a new theatrical band A Nice Derangement.
Mark Warden - tenor, The Lighthouse
Since completing the Opera Course at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Mark has sung with many touring opera companies including Mid Summer Opera, Clonter Opera Farm, Mid Wales Opera, Surrey Opera and City of Birmingham Touring Opera. Roles included Torquemada (L'Heure Espagnole) and Tom Snout (Midsummer Night's Dream) at the Guildhall, Dancairo (Carmen) for Mid Wales Opera and Don Curzio (Figaro) for Surrey Opera. He is currently appearing in Britten's Church Parables with the City of Birmingham Touring Opera.
Jessica Watson - Rosalind, As You Like It
Jessica played Polly Peachum in Brecht's The Threepenny Opera at The Edinburgh Festival, on Broadway and The Lyric Theatre Hammersmith. She has played Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady, Catherine in The Winslow Boy and Mowgli in The Jungle Book.
Christopher Whitehead - musical director and pianist, As You Like It
Christopher Whitehead began playing the piano at the age of seven. By seventeen he had achieved his Grade 8 piano and flute and was awarded a scholarship to train as a church organist. However, deciding upon a full stage career, Chris won a scholarship to train at the Academy of Live and Recorded Arts on the 3-year Musical Theatre course. Productions at ALRA include: A Chorus Line (Al Deluca), Jack the Ripper (Blue Nose Stack), Adrian Mole - The Musical (Nigel), and Ensemble in Cabaret and Godspell. Professional work includes: Dido and Aeneas at Broomhill and Un Ballo in Maschera at Holland Park Theatre. Musical Direction includes: Sherlock Holmes - the Musical at Sittingbourne, Sleeping Beauty Pantmime season at Farnborough and Twentieth Century Musical as deputy MD. Chris teaches singing at the Actors Centre, where he is also the resident accompanist for the Musical Theatre Workshops, and also at various stage and drama schools across London.
Michael Wildman - Hymen, dancer/Bright Young thing, As You Like It
Michael trained at the Doreen Bird College. He appeared at the Questor's Theatre and the Beck Theatre playing lead roles. Michael has also appeared in last year's feature film Bring Me the Head of Mavis Davis.
Simon Williams - Percussion, The Lighthouse
Nathan Williamson - Piano, celeste, The Lighthouse
go home
see reviews