Rehearsal Pictures.

Sarah Gooch
Actor: Much Ado About Nothing; The Birthday Party; La Ronde; The Accrington Pals; WPC in "Bazaar and Rummage" by Sue Townsend..
Performance Director Blue Remembered Hills; Two; Day After The Fair; Canterbury Tales
Stage Manager - RolePlay
Social Secretary & Actor

Sarah has been involved in theatre since the age of thirteen and has been a member of Canterbury Players for the past ten years. Recent acting roles with Canterbury Players include Meg in “The Birthday Party”, the actress in "La Ronde", Viola in “Twelfth Night” and May in "The Accrington Pals".

Jo Purvis
Assistant Director: Day After the Fair
Actor: Canterbury Tales
Occasional Stage Manager: The Vortex

Jo has always loved the theatre and spent most of her childhood playing various Dickensian waifs and strays.

As a natural bossy boots, she relished the opportunity to hone her organisational skills as Assistant Director for Day After the Fair.

She is looking forward to making her first stage performance for the Players in the Canterbury Tales and reprising her key role of official tea-maker.

Nigel Banks
Actor: Much Ado About Nothing; Two; Canterbury Tales

Nigel comes from a theatrical family & is an experienced actor, director & teacher. He spent over 15 years in Cumbria appearing in over 50 productions at The Brewery Arts Centre, Kendal playing everything from God in the Medieval morality play ‘Everyman’, to The Devil in a large scale community show called ‘The Bogeyman’. Other favourite roles include Lysander in ‘A Midsummer’s Night Dream’, Jerry in ‘Zoo Story’ & Canon Throbbing in ‘Habeas Corpus’. In 1985 he directed his first full length show, ironically, ‘Bazaar & Rummage’ by Sue Townsend which is to be performed by the Players in 2009. Other directorial credits include O’Casey’s ‘Shadow of a Gunman’, Arthur Miller’s ‘The American Clock’, Middleton & Rowley’s ‘The Changeling’, Brian Friel’s ‘The Loves of Cass McGuire’ & Jim Cartwright’s ‘Two’.

The Pinnacle of his Cumbrian theatrical career was adapting, directing & acting in a production of ‘Hamlet’ which toured to India in 1994. Doing two performances in the same evening in 34C heat, wearing RSC hired costumes certainly qualified for the “Acting under Difficulty” heading - & that was before the Delhi Belly started taking its toll amongst the cast!

Nigel moved to Kent in 1996 & joined Playcraft. His first role with them was Mr Smith in Ionesco’s ‘The Bald Prima Donna’ directed by Stewart Ross. He then played the title role in ‘Macbeth’ appearing opposite Sarah Gooch & ‘An Inspector Calls’. His final show for Playcraft was ‘Waiting for Godot’ by Samuel Beckett in 2000 in which he played Lucky.

The experience of acting in a small cast production of a challenging piece of drama alongside Alan Pope & Brian Ross led indirectly to the formation of Ashcan Theatre Company with which Nigel has been closely associated ever since. He has played the roles of Michael in ‘Someone to Watch Over Me’ by Frank McGuinness, Geraldo in ‘Death & the Maiden’ by Ariel Dorfman, George in ‘Duck Variations’ by David Maet & most recently in March 2008, Yvan in ‘Art’ by Yasmin Reza. He also directed Pinter’s ‘Old Times’ for the Company & ‘On An Average Day’ by John Kolvenjach.

He is delighted to be making a return to the Gulbenkian stage in ‘Much Ado About Nothing.’.

Lisa Nightingale
Actor: Two; Canterbury Tales
Lisa has been acting since a very young age. She studied at the Laine Theatre Arts school in Epsom Surrey and then gained a degree in Drama at Rose Bruford College of speech and drama. Theatre work includes;

Fanny in Far From the Madding Crowd., A tour of the south of France in which she played the Nurse in Romeo and Juliet. Polly in The Gut Girls at the ICA in London. Luce in The Comedy of Errors for the Nuffield Theatre Southampton. Mary in Low Level Panic.

Lisa helped found the IN A SPACE theatre company in 1996 where she helped write and direct various plays; she is most proud of JANIS a play of the life of Janis Joplin, which was performed in Brighton.

Lisa spent many years teaching drama at the Italia Conti school based in London. Lisa has recently joined the Canterbury players.

Sid Moon
Actor: Blue Remembered Hills; Two; Canterbury Tales

Blue Remembered Hills will be Sid's first shot at straight acting (if you forget the school nativity play). He did not start performing until he passed 50 when he played the part of a miner in the community opera, "Promised Land" as part of the Canterbury Festival in 2006.

It was there that Sid met Sarah, the Director for Blue Remembered Hills and John Rye who plays the part of Donald in this production. Last year Sid and Gill, his wife, had great fun being part of Canterbury Players Palace of Varieties show.

"I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of Canterbury Players for the warm welcome they have given us and the friendships we have made within the society."

Adam Summers
Actor: Much Ado About Nothing; Two; Day After The Fair; Canterbury Tales
Assistant Stage Manager: Arsenic And Old Lace
Assistant Stage Construction and Lighting Engineer: Bazaar & Rummage

Adam joined the Canterbury Players as a result of an email that asked him to come along to an audition for 'Much Ado About Nothing'. The rest as they say is history.

Adam has always loved drama and as a result, studied the subject at college. He has appeared in a number of productions, where he has played roles such as Hatch in 'The Sea', Algernon in 'The Importance of Being Earnest' and Napoleon in a musical version of George Orwell's 'Animal Farm’.

He is greatly looking forward to future productions with the Players.

Phil Gittins
Actor: The Glass Menagerie; Desire Under the Elms; The Birthday Party; Much Ado About Nothing; Arsenic And Old Lace; Canterbury Tales

From early school performances in “Joseph and his Technicolour Dreamcoat” and “The Jungle Book” to a Sixth Form review in which he played Ben, one of the “Flower Pot” men, Phil has a long held passion for acting, performing and filmmaking.

He came to Canterbury in 1994, to study Radio, Film & Television at Christchurch University College and following several college films and local productions he joined the Players in 2002 for the role of Tom in “The Glass Menagerie”.

A teacher of English, Media and Film studies, Phil enjoys cinema / filmmaking, writing and watching football in his spare time.

Phil is excited at his first Shakespearian role!

Ellie Gee
Actor: Much Ado About Nothing; Two; Canterbury Tales

Ellie is excited to be seen on stage with Canterbury Players for the first time as Hero, in ‘Much Ado about Nothing’ having previously hidden back stage in ‘Blue Remembered Hills’ and ‘Fallen Angels’.

Before moving to Canterbury for University however she appeared in both ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ as Helena and ‘Romeo and Juliet’ as the Prince at Wokingham Theatre.

As a trainee primary school teacher Ellie enjoys telling people what to do and hopes one day to convert her experience with five year olds into directing actors.