Jill Akhurst
Director – Palace of Varieties; Bazaar and Rummage; Night Must Fall.
Director's Assistant The Accrington Pals
Singer of saucy songs; Actor Fallen Angels; Two; Arsenic And Old Lace; The Vortex; Dark of the Moon; Lady Chatterley's Lover.

I directed Night Must Fall twenty years ago in London, where it was a great success.  I had a good cast then, but I've got an even better cast now.  This is a superbly written play which, with good actors, cannot fail to keep the audience in a state of suspense right up until the last moment

Jill recently appeared at the Gulbenkian as Clara in The Vortex by Noel Coward and has sung the part of Lotte Lenya in “I’ve Looked in the Window at Diamonds” for the Really Promising Company.

One of her favourite roles was as Aunt Abby in Arsenic And Old Lace for the Canterbury Players in October 2009.

Derek Standing
President
Set Design & Construction

Some 42 years ago, Derek responded to an urgent advert from Canterbury Dramatic Society and although only 18 he got a job and even survived giving the cast a nightmare on his first set because he did not know that one has to add size glue to the powder paint.

Recent productions: RolePlay; The Birthday Party; The Accrington Pals; Play It Again Sam; Fallen Angels; Much Ado About Nothing; The Vortex; Night Must Fall; The Importance of Being Earnest; Barefoot In the Park; Lady Chatterley's Lover.

Liz Findlay
Actor: Play It Again Sam; Much Ado About Nothing;
Stage Manager The Birthday Party, La Ronde, The Accrington Pals, Gosforth's Fete; Play It Again Sam, Fallen Angels, Blue Remembered Hills; Two; Arsenic And Old Lace; The Vortex; Night Must Fall.

Liz joined the players in 2005 as prompt for Roleplay, rose to the position of chief of teapot bearing and has been stage managing since then in Pinter's "Birthday Party", Ayckbourne's "Gosforth’s Fete", Schnitzlers "La Ronde", Whelan's " The Accrington Pals" and Woody Allen's Play It Again Sam in which she also took the part of Vanessa.

Liz is trained in Fine Art and has exhibited locally. She designed the posters for Fallen Angels, and Blue Remembered Hills, Much Ado About Nothing and The Vortex.

Liz is going into business for herself, as a fully qualified Blue Badge tour guide, for which www.kent-and-sussex-tours.co.uk is the website.

Ben Holliday
Actor, Night Must Fall.

Ben Holliday has been acting for around twelve years with numerous Kentish groups. He started out as a sallow youth with the Young Arden Theatre group in Faversham and Kent Youth Theatre in Canterbury. After passing through the gulf of adolescence, he became involved with The Arden Theatre Group, Grass Roots, The UKC Drama Society, the Herne Bay Playmakers and the Kent Shakespeare Company. Recent roles have included 'director' and 'Sir Henry' in 'Hound of the Baskervilles', 'Caliban' in 'The Tempest' and 'Gus' in 'The Dumb Waiter'.

In his spare time, Ben enjoys playing the bass guitar in his folk-rock band, Green Diesel.

Sally Parker
Actor: Bazaar and Rummage; Roleplay; La Ronde, Two; The Vortex, Night Must Fall, Barefoot in the Park.

Sally made her stage debut as Noddy at FHODS Little Theatre at the age of ten, and on leaving school played Honey in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf". She made connections with CDS while acting in "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight" and was immediately cast as the prompt for "Dr Faustus". She went on to play Pattie in "Season's Greetings", Dr Scott in "Who's Life is it Anyway", Olivia in "Twelfth Night", Julie-Ann in "Roleplay", Ilsa in "La Ronde", Bell-Bell in "Bazaar and Rummage", the Landlady in "Two" and Olivia in Night Must Fall. Sally is currently a full-time mother.

Andreas Lowson
Actor: La Ronde; Play It Again Sam; Fallen Angels; Much Ado about Nothing; Arsenic And Old Lace; Night Must Fall.

Andreas is descending the ladder of nobility. In La Ronde, he was only a count whereas the previous year he was a duke (Twelfth Night) and before that a prince (Caucasian Chalk Circle). He has, however, deigned to play mere commoners in such roles as a dotty priest (Gosforth’s Fete), a burglar, an inspector (Disposing of the Body), a solicitor, a boss and an eccentric puppeteer uncle and now, a husband, for Noel Coward's "Fallen Angels", then back all but full circle as Count John in Much Ado about Nothing.

Sharon Gair
Treasurer
Actor: Much Ado About Nothing; The Accrington Pals; Bazaar and Rummage; Night Must Fall.

Sharon has recently returned to acting, after having a break in 2005/06 to undertake real-life motherhood! She returned in 2007 as Annie Boggis in ‘The Accrington Pals’.

Whilst she has enjoyed all her roles over the years, from Rattigan to Coward, some of Sharon’s real favourites are: Linda Loman in ‘Death of a Salesman’, Muriel Wickstead in ‘Habeous Corpus’, Alison Porter in ‘Look Back in Anger’, Elvira in ‘Blithe Spirit’ and Sybil Railton-Bell in ‘Separate Tables’.

It has been interesting for her to revisit “Night Must Fall”; in 1995 she played the part of Olivia Grayne.  

She is also Treasurer for the Players.

Ruth Cameron.
Actor: Much Ado About Nothing; Bazaar and Rummage; Arsenic And Old Lace; The Vortex; Night Must Fall; Lady Chatterley's Lover.

Ruth was a singing, dancing, and acting child and won the best actor prize for Lady Macbeth at age 16. Despite gaining a provisional place at the Hampstead School of Drama, she did not follow an acting career. In the 1980s Ruth co- produced a school pantomime with the writer John Larr and took part in local sketches, but then did not return to drama until 2006 when she joined the Canterbury Players; Ruth has been involved in most productions since. This includes singing in Marie Lloyd songs in "Palace of Varieties", being an attendant in "Much Ado About Nothing" and performing the outrageous, yet poignant part of the blaspheming vulgarian Margaret Gittings in "Bazaar and Rummage" the 'innocent' murderess in “Arsenic And Old Lace” and the shocking socialite Florence in Noel Coward’s “The Vortex”.

Carmen Leandro
Actor: Dark of the Moon; Night Must Fall.

Carmen played 60 year old Claire Zachanassian in “The Visit” at Barton Court School in February.  She has also played Estella in “Great Expectations” at Kent College.  After her performance as a witch in “Dark of the Moon” for the Canterbury Players last year, she has come down to earth with the part of Dora, Mrs Bramson’s young maid in Night Must Fall.

Mike Ayris
Actor: La Ronde; Play It Again Sam; Arsenic And Old Lace; Day After The Fair; Night Must Fall.

Michael has been with the Canterbury Players for many years, first acting in Sailor Beware at the old Marlowe. He went on to study theatre at the Rose Bruford College and worked professionally for a time. His love of acting keeps him in touch with the society and he is always open to new challenges.

Mark Charles Smith
Actor: For Canterbury Players Gosforth's Fete; La Ronde; Fallen Angels; The Accrington Pals; Much Ado About Nothing; Arsenic And Old Lace; Dark of the Moon, Night Must Fall; The Importance of Being Earnest, Barefoot in the Park.
Sound Engineer for Blue Remembered Hills.
For Chilham Players: Seasons Greetings
For Kent Shakespeare Company: Twelfth Night.
A monologue orator for The Penis Monologues for the theatre company, Unfinished Business

Mark has appeared in a number of Canterbury Players productions, as well as end of year short films at universities in Canterbury and Hastings, as a film extra for various productions filmed in Kent including "The Other Boleyn Girl", "Wild Child", the 2011 production of "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy", as a player in a Chris Tarrant TV programme, as a major player in a KETV production called 'The Sea Shall Have Them' and recently took part in a pilot for a new sitcom aimed at getting onto the UK terrestrial channels.

Mark is looking for more TV and film work to get him out of the office once in a while.

My Facebook page.
Links to recent videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LY9qcWjPomk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwE-cdMAu88

Gill Moon
Actor: Dark of the Moon; Night Must Fall.

This is Gill's first attempt at acting since joining the Canterbury Players in 2007 when she appeared in Palace of Varieties.

Gill met several Canterbury Players members while appearing in the community opera Promised Land which was part of the 2006 Canterbury Festival. This venture led to the forming of The Really Promising Company in which Gill has appeared in several shows.

She also appeared on stage as a slave with Ellen Kent's Moldovian Opera Company in Aida at the Marlowe theatre, and as a dead sailor singing Bright Eyes with the Spy Monkeys at the Gulbenkian Theatre in 2009.

This play appealed to Gill because of the fun of a barn dance and the church revival scene. So she was tempted to have a go!

Since joining Canterbury Players Gill has made many good friends and shared a lot of memorable times. She is thoroughly enjoying being part of Dark of the Moon production.
Gill

Sid Moon
Actor: Blue Remembered Hills; Two; Canterbury Tales; Dark of the Moon; Night Must Fall.

My first appearance on stage since leaving school was in 2006 when I appeared in the Canterbury Festival community opera "The Promised Land" performed at the Marlowe Theatre. It was there that I met members of Canterbury Players and finding them such a friendly bunch decided to join.

Since then I have been involved in productions every year, those being "The Palace of Varieties", "Blue Remembered Hills", " Two" and the "Canterbury Tales".

Elswhere I enjoy performing in musical productions and have been in " Titanic" with Herne Bay Operatic Society. "Kentish Tales", "Drood", "Rackrent" and " I've Looked in the Window at Diamonds" with the Canterbury based Really Promising Company.

I am thoroughly enjoying the "Dark of the Moon" and thank everyone involved for allowing me to be part of it.