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WINTER PRODUCTION 2008:
"Much Ado About Nothing" by William Shakespeare.
Performance: November 6th - 8th, 2008, at the Gulbenkian Theatre.
Additional matinee performance on Saturday 8th, at 2pm.
Tickets: £10 (Concessions: £8)

Katherine Durio

Director: Much Ado About Nothing"
Actor: Audrey in "Blue Remembered Hills"

Katherine has been dancing, singing and acting since she could walk. Many lessons later, an acting degree from Bretton Hall, a post grad at The Bridge Theatre Training co. and Katherine's CV has roles ranging from Sandy in Grease to Viola in Twelfth Night. Professional work also includes Mae in Anthony Minghella's 2003 film "Cold Mountain". Having had the taste for the big time Katherine is now happily living in Wye and working with The Canterbury Players. Audrey in Blue Remembered Hills was Katherine's first role with the company and she will make her debut directing for The Players later in the year with "Much Ado About Nothing".

Tony Johnson
Actor: RolePlay, Much Ado About Nothing

Tony made his acting debut in the first year at Grammar school, when he was cast as the Virgin Mary in a Nativity play.

"The embarrassment of this put me off acting for about twenty years, until I joined the Charing Guild of Players with the proviso that I would play only male roles.

"This seems to have worked reasonably well for the last 40 years, with a couple of best actor awards sprinkled amongst the fifty productions I've appeared in since.

"I played Malvolio in our 2005 production of Twelfth Night and I'm delighted to have been cast as Leanato in this production of Much Ado About Nothing."

Geoffrey began his acting career as Professor Theophilus Brainwave in a sci-fi play at his junior school in the 1930s.

After being Secretary of his college dramatic society at university, he became a junior school teacher and over his career directed more than twenty plays on the school stage.

Retiring to Canterbury in 1989, he joined the Canterbury Dramatic Society in 1998 for a production that never reached performance.

As Secretary, he helped to bring about the reuniting of C.D.S. with Playcraft in 2003 and established the pattern of regular performances before the public at the Gulbenkian Theatre, the Whitstable Playhouse and other venues.

He has appeared in seven productions of the group and directed the performance of the play ‘597’ connected with the unveiling of the statues, in Canterbury, of Ethelbert and Bertha by Prince Michael of Kent in May 2006 and will appear as Signor Antonio in Much Ado About Nothing.

Ellie Gee
Actor: Much Ado About Nothing;

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.

Sarah Gooch
Actor: Much Ado About Nothing; The Birthday Party; La Ronde; The Accrington Pals.
Performance Director (Blue Remembered Hills),
Stage Manager, 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".

The first was Harold Pinter’s ‘The Birthday Party’ where she was the official teapot bearer between Acts II & III. Following the success of teapot placement, she was cast as Councillor Mrs Pearce in Alan Ayckborne’s ‘Gosforth’s Fete’. Louise proved herself to be a massive hit when Charlie Jubber (Gosforth) omitted to catch her as she fell off the podium backwards.

In Schnitzler's ‘La Ronde’, she played a prostitute which was lucky as Louise was concerned about being typecast! Louise also appeared in the production, "The Accrington Pals" by Peter Whelan. Here, she played Sarah, a hardworking but fun loving mother in her late twenties.

Louise is seeking film extra work, her public profiles on casting websites can be found HERE and HERE.

Tessa Taylor
Actor: Much Ado About Nothing;

Tessa has been a Drama teacher in London and Surrey. She trained in Cheltenham from 1960-63, performed at the Everyman Theatre, and then directed school plays at the Thorndike in Leatherhead.

Moving to Canterbury in 1991, she joined Playcraft, played (among other rôles) Maggie in ‘Hobson’s Choice’ and Natasha in ‘Three Sisters’. Last year she completed her training for the Church. So she has gone from the stage to the classroom to the pulpit. There is a theme there!

Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing is her first production with the Canterbury Players.

Ian is one of the major stalwarts of the Canterbury Players, working hard behind the scenes to ensure everything runs smoothly: organising sponsorship; publicity; ticket sales; venues; taking part in the choice of performances and a great deal more besides.

His first production, as a director with the Players, was Alan Ayckbourn's "Seasons Greetings". This was a joint production between Playcraft and Canterbury Dramatics Society, before their merger into The Canterbury Players. Since then, he since been involved in one way or another with virtually every - if not all - productions. This includes directing "When we are Married" in November 2004; Harold Pinter's "The Birthday Party" and later, Alan Ayckbourn's "Gosforth's Fete", here giving a few of the newer members the opportunity to take their first tentative steps on stage - after which they have never looked back.

Richard Spencer
Actor: Much Ado About Nothing;

Richard has recently joined the Canterbury Players & is really looking forward to taking on his first acting role in over 15 years as Don Pedro in Much Ado About Nothing. He has always loved the theatre since early childhood, appearing in a variety of school productions such as ‘Smike’, ‘Robinson Crusoe’ & ‘Joseph and his Techni-coloured Dream Coat’.

Richard was a member of The Woodchurch Players where he took on a variety of roles in plays & pantomimes as well as backstage work on sound, lighting & set design. Richard has finished concentrating on his career in accountancy & now post qualification, several years later, he is set to tread the boards again.

Andreas Lowson
Actor: La Ronde; Play It Again Sam; Fallen Angels; Much Ado about Nothing

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".

Back all but full circle now as Count John in Much Ado about Nothing.

Samuel Stolton
Actor: Raymond in "Blue Remembered Hills"; Count Claudio, Much Ado about Nothing.

Samuel has held a passion for acting, theatre and film for many years, and prior to joining the Canterbury Players, has taken up roles such as Jimmy Porter In John Osborne's 'Look Back In Anger' in which Samuel portrayed the classic 'angry young man' to critical acclaim. Samuel is a keen musician, actively playing the electric and acoustic guitar. He also likes to keep himself busy by learning Italian, reciting Shakespeare, writing poetry, scriptwriting, and playing a number of different sports. Samuel plans to pursue a professional acting career one day, and is very grateful for all the help that The Canterbury Players have offered him.

Geoff Dale
Actor: Much Ado About Nothing;

Geoff began his acting career at the tender age of 5 as the Angel Gabriel, and it could be said that it has been all downhill since then!

He has worked with the Kent Youth Theatre, National Youth Theatre, and with local groups including Dover Operatic, Kent Countryside Productions, Grassroots and the Arden Theatre to name but a few.

He was most recently a very bloody Banquo, thoroughly enjoying working with the prosthetics makeup artist, and is looking forward to his first Players production, Much Ado About Nothing.

Adam Summers
Actor: Much Ado About Nothing;

Adam has been involved in drama since a young age.

He studied and achieved his BTEC National Diploma in Performing Arts and has appeared in local productions across Kent.

This is his return to performing after an eight year gap and his first role with The Canterbury Players, in Much Ado About Nothing.

Mark Charles Smith
Actor: (For Canterbury Players Gosforth's Fete; La Ronde; Fallen Angels; The Accrington Pals; Much Ado About Nothing;
(For Chilham Players) Seasons Greetings
Sound Engineer for Blue Remembered Hills.

Mark joined the RAF in 1974 and performed his first stage piece - in a wind-blown tent in the Falkland Islands - in 1982. This was as one of the "Three Degrees" song trio, miming to a recording and dressed in a chiffon dress - a dangerous thing to do with several hundred other airmen removed from their wives and girlfriends for some months. He is now a director of the succesful online marketing company, Internet Marketing Kent Ltd.

Mark has appeared in end of year short films at universities in Canterbury and Hastings and also as a film extra for various productions filmed in Kent including "The Other Boleyn Girl" and "Wild Child" which is released in August 2008. Mark is looking for more extra work to get him out of the office once in a while. See his profile pages on Universal Extras.

Nigel Banks
Actor: Much Ado About Nothing;

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, & is currently directing the next production ‘On An Average Day’ by John Kolvenjach.

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

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.)

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 and has launched a new small business for which www.canterburyart.co.uk will be the new website. She designed the posters for Fallen Angels and Blue Remembered Hills and Much Ado About Nothing.

Sharon Gair
Treasurer
Actor: Much Ado About Nothing; The Accrington Pals

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’.

She is Treasurer for the Players.

Phil Gittins
Actor: Tom in “The Glass Menagerie”, Eben in “Desire Under the Elms” and Stanley in “The Birthday Party”. Is currently playing Verges in “Much Ado About Nothing”.

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!

Camilla Hamer
Actor: Much Ado About Nothing

Camilla is a 6th form student at Highworth Grammar School studying in particular music and performing arts.

She is currently working towards grade 8 singing and she has been a member of the Kent County Choirs for years. She has recently sucessfully auditioned for the Kent Youth Choir. She is a member of the Ashford based Ark Drama 2000 and has had a leading role in Fame and Gel.

Much Ado About Nothing is her first appearance with the Canterbury Players.

Ruth Cameron.
Actor: Attendant/Masker - Much Ado About Nothing

Despite having been a singing, dancing and acting child, culminating in a school prize winning performance for best actor as Lady Macbeth at the tender age of sixteen and getting a provisional place at the Hampstead school of drama, Ruth forwent a possible career in acting and took a totally different career path. Apart from, that is, a wee dabble at co-producing, with John Larr the theatre/book critic, a pantomime for their kid's school in 1983! She returned to dramatics a lifetime later on retirement, when she joined the Canterbury Players in 2006.

Since then nothing has stopped her (save trips across the world and major surgery) from getting involved in every C P production, including solo singing two Marie Lloyd songs in a Victorian variety show!