 |
The second in a season of three plays on the theme of PROTEST! |
| 5/11 by Edward KempDirected by Robin Hodges |
|
|
Tuesday 1st - Saturday 5th November, 2011 |
The Tower Theatre performing at the Bridewell Theatre |
|
"The atmospheric production tells the tale of the team behind the Gunpowder Plot ... We are
taken into a world of religious and political wrangling, Protestants versus Catholics, old money versus new money - and a gay King James,
excellently portrayed by Alex Cooper. The main protagonists play their parts well, with Laurence Ward providing a convincing
Robert Catesby who was the chief Catholic zealot, an Osama bin Laden if you will. Ian Hoare's Robert Cecil is suitably detestable as
a backstabbing noble and Henry Garnet [Martin South] is convincing as a hidden and troubled Jesuit priest ... a good telling of a
fascinating concept."
- Nathan Pierce for the Islington Gazette, Hornsey Journal, Tottenham Journal and the web site London24.
Photography by Alexander Knapp
|
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Costume designs by Kym Gribble | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 | Some of the parts Annemarie Fearnley has played over the past 25 years have been Dick Whittington, Polly Peachum (Threepenny Opera), Irina (Three Sisters), Eugenie (Vincent in Brixton), Susan (Company), Violinist (Lark Rise) and most recently a Weird Sister in Macbeth. She is a former member of the 1940s group "Simply Vocal" and "The Checkmates" and has also performed with All Star Productions in Assassins at Theatro Technis and with Completely Productions in Company at The Bull. As her paternal grandmother was a Fawkes it is very likely that she is a descendant of Guido himself!
|
 | Ian Hoare's acting career began at the age of 13, playing the storm in King Lear. Forty years on, he joined the Tower, where he has, for the most part, performed on a somewhat smaller scale. 5/11 is his 16th show for the company; his favourite roles were Otto in The Diary of Anne Frank and Rev. Parris in The Crucible. A journalist and lecturer by trade, Ian lives in Holloway, within easy walking distance of the greatest football team the world has ever seen.
|
|
 | Martin South is the Tower Theatre Company's Artistic Director, and has been a member of the Company for nearly 30 years. In that time he has acted (including the title roles in Hamlet, Nicholas Nickleby and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde), directed, designed sets and pretty well everything else besides.
|
 | This is Laurence Ward's third production with the Tower. He previously appeared as Cassius in Julius Caesar and Banquo in Macbeth. Laurence trained at City Lit and has appeared in a number of devised productions created by Fold Up Theatre, a company in which he is a founding member. Other credits include The Fold Up Sketch Show, Blood Wedding (Leonardo), The Canterbury Tales (Miller), sketches filmed for an online comedy channel and a sequence of short films. He lives near some very fine pubs in Stroud Green.
|
|
 | This is Alex Cooper's second production with the Tower having played Tony Brockhurst in The Boy Friend which ran this summer. Over the past year he has also appeared in plays for the Putney Arts Theatre (Hay Fever) and the KDC (Midland Mainline). King James is a new role for him as he's played childish before but never royally childish.
|
 | Ed O'Shaughnessy has now reached his 2-year anniversary with the Tower Theatre Company, and is delighted to be celebrating this with a strong script and surrounded by a strong cast in 5/11. He has most recently been a myriad of characters in Sex, Drugs, Rock & Roll and a hell-bound Seyton in Macbeth. His ambition in 5/11 is to portray Monteagle as 'misunderstood' rather than a hypocrite.
|
|
 | 5/11 is Imogen Banks's first production with the Tower Theatre Company. She graduated in 2010 with a BA Hons degree in Acting from East 15 Acting School. Since graduating she has performed in various plays, commercials, television and short films. She recently worked with RSC director Sam Walker on the short film A Fluid State. Favorite past roles include the title role in Yerma , Viola in Twelfth Night, Arkadina in The Seagull and Lady Macbeth in Macbeth. She currently lives in Bermondsey and is an actor at the London Dungeons.
|
 | Ryan Brannon trained at East 15 Acting school. This is his first production with The Tower Theatre Company. He has spent the last few years working London's comedy circuit with the award winning comedy sketch group "Late Night Gimp Fight" and his comedy music duo "Cold Callers". He has performed at the Edinburgh Fringe and has recently written a sitcom for the "Cold Callers". His favourite past role was King Lear in King Lear. He currently lives in Bermondsey and works at the London Dungeons as an actor.
|
|
 | Julian Farrance has had a fantastic (some would say lucky) run of casting over the last three years, with roles in A Midsummer Night's Dream (Bottom), Dinner (Lars), The Real Inspector Hound (Moon), That Joke isn't Funny Any More (Jimmy), Blithe Spirit (Charles), Road (Skullery) and Romeo and Juliet (Friar Lawrence). 5/11 will be his first production for the Tower.
|
 | Over his 18 Tower Company years, Jonathan Norris has somehow got tangled up in about 50 productions, whether acting (Hubbard in Dial M For Murder, Doolittle in Pygmalion); music-directing shows such as A Little Night Music and Guys and Dolls, or otherwise adding music to things, producing from nowhere a trombone to be played in Curiouser & Curiouser and Lark Rise. Ignoring traditional advice he performed a Morris dance in Lark Rise and taught others to do so for Ayckbourn's Garden.
By day, he and his wife Ruth commute in from fashionable Clapton to earn a crust as Administrators of the Company. |
|
 | This is Sacha Walker's debut production with the Tower Theatre Company. Recent credits elsewhere include Puck in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Madame Arcati in Blithe Spirit, Sian in Dinner, Marion and Brenda in Road, Chorus/Apothecary in Romeo and Juliet, Mary in That Joke Isn't Funny Any More, Sarah Siddons in The Actor's Nightmare, Gila in One for the Road, Lady Muldoon in The Real Inspector Hound and the Ghost of Christmas Past. She has also directed Wuthering Heights for Woodhouse Players in East London, with original music provided by Justin Sullivan of New Model Army.
|
 | A relative latecomer to all things Thespian, John Irvine has played Jim in Breathing Corpses, DS Ross in Breaking The Code (both with South London Theatre), Sir Charles Gill in Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde (SEDOS), and has taken part in rehearsed readings of new works by Mark Normandy, Greg Lofton and Paul McNeilly with the Bubble & Squeak Collective. He played two roles (The Preacher and The Spin Doctor) in You Me Bum Bum Train (the Barbican's fastest selling show in 2010). 5/11 is John's fourth production in twelve months for the Tower, after Macbeth, Princess Ivona and The Trial. John has also appeared in short films involving brain hungry zombies (Houseparty of the Dead 6), bored office monkeys (Short Story), and kosher werewolves (The Ritual). He also wrote a series of audio webisodes (Breaking News) as part of the promotional material for Macbeth.
|
|
 | Richard Pedersen has been a Tower member since 1989 and has acted in numerous productions notably including Ned in The Normal Heart, Turing in Breaking the Code, Antonio in The Changeling, Robert in Betrayal, Roy in Neville's Island and Gerard in Strangers on a Train. He has also stage managed several shows including Look Back in Anger, The Homecoming and The Trial. A regular of the Paris tours, Richard has acted in 12 Shakespeares and stage managed 2 of them, most recently working backstage on Macbeth. When not acting Richard writes occasional reviews for "Noises Off", is the company Health and Safety Officer and is now enjoying his retirement.
|
 | Christopher Yates has appeared in Tower Theatre productions at intervals since 1974. So far, he would like to be remembered, if at all, for his Mazzini Dunn (Heartbreak House) and Rev. Eli Jenkins et al. (Under Milk Wood). Auditioning for parts has become a major hobby of his retirement from paid work. He played most recently Elderly Man in Terrorism and gendarme/waiter in The Boy Friend. He attempts to trim his beard to suit the role. Christopher sometimes wonders if following his favourite hobby - acting in amateur theatre - could be considered a contribution to the "Big Society" : answers on a postcard?
|
|
 | This is Jonathan Wober's seventh Tower production since joining in 2009. He appeared as an eastern European in The Archbishop's Ceiling, an Englishman (in a dinner jacket) in Dangerous Corner, various Ankh-Morporkians in Maskerade, a Roman in Julius Caesar, another Englishman (in a hoodie) in Smells of Wee and a Spaniard in The Odd Couple. He is also a member of the publicity team and the Company Committee. He lives in Islington, from where he walks to his day job as an airline analyst in the City.
|
 | Michael Mayne joined the Tower in 2010 and has played the title role in Julius Caesar, Sidney in Smells of Wee and most recently Jake in Jake's Women. He has also played a variety of parts in other companies, from a boy in Blue Remembered Hills and a drunken Lawyer in Family Affairs to Shylock in The Merchant of Venice and Fred in Fred & Madge. Michael is a classically trained Actor, first when he was a child at CORONA stage school, then at the London Academy of Music and Drama Art (LAMDA) where he gain an MA Hons diploma. He worked in the professional theatre for 20 years before family commitments moved him into the commercial world. Now those commitments are fulfilled he is working his way back into the Business. He has a dark secret, "think confectionary".
|
|
 | Kate Fearnley was born and brought up in York and trained in Drama and Music at Goldsmiths' Colllege and the Guildhall School. She spent about 20 years as a member of the Philharmonia Chorus and was also a member of the Tallis Society Choir and the Tallis Chamber Choir. As a soloist her favourite works were Haydn's Nelson Mass and The Creation, and her repertoire of formidable women ranged from the Sorceress in Dido and Aeneas to Mrs. Noah in Noyes Fludde. She has been a member of the Tower Company since 1989.
|
 | This is Iain Handyside's second production with the Tower Theatre; he joined the company a year ago. Iain trained at the Actors Centre in Central London having previously studied Modern History at the University of St Andrews. Past roles include Ko-Ko in The Mikado, Nazi Youth in Cabaret and Young Siward in the Tower's recent production of Macbeth. Iain works as an Assistant Artist Manager for a music agency and is enjoying seeing how it works from the artists' point-of-view.
|
|
 | Emma Jane Sullivan has performed in various theatre productions and both short and feature length films. Productions have included, Capsule (Feature Film) by Eddie St Jean, The Disappearance of Dylan Jenkins (Short Film) for the Film and Media Dept of Royal Holloway University, The Demon (Theatre) for the Theatre Collection at the Lord Stanley Arms and The Beauty Queen of Leenane (Theatre) for the Sylvia Young Theatre School. Previously, she trained with the Anna Scher Theatre, the Sylvia Young Theatre School and has taken short courses at RADA. Next year her formal acting training will begin at the Central School of Speech and Drama.
|
 | Tom Blackwood is making his Tower Theatre debut. Throughout his degree in Drama and Creative Arts he has worked within television and theatre as both an actor and presenter. After travelling he made a move to London to pursue his career in acting. He most recently appeared as Sammy in The Runner at the Theatre Royal, Stratford East and then took on his current role as Thomas Winter in 5/11.
|
|
 | This is Paul Isaac's second production with the Tower, following several years studying acting at the City Lit, and having previously completed an English degree at Leeds University. He recently appeared at the Bridewell in Terrorism. Roles in training include Macbeth, Sam in Flatspin, Bruce in Beyond Therapy, and Haemon in Antigone. Recent parts include Medvedenko in The Seagull, Anthony Witwoud in The Way of the World, and Bardolph and the Duke of Orléans in Henry V. This is Paul's first role in period costume and he is pleasantly surprised to be wearing all-in-one lycra in a 1605-set production!
|
 | This is Helena Franklin's first Tower Theatre production. She started out performing with Derby Shakespeare Theatre Company over fifteen years ago, and has since been involved in many Shakespeare productions including The Tempest (Miranda) and Henry V (Princess Catherine). Whilst studying for a BA in English Literature and an MA in Shakespeare at University College London she was an active member of the Drama Society, with parts including Dotty in Jumpers and Elizabeth Barry in The Libertine. She also directed a production of Othello and led the band in a musical production of Jekyll and Hyde.
|
|
 | Ed Malcomson has been a member of the Tower Theatre for the past three years. He trained at Oxford School of Drama, but has spent most of his working life as a teacher of drama and English literature. His first appearance with Tower was as Jasperino in The Changeling. Since then his roles have included Cain in The Mysteries, Henry in The Real Thing, Charles Stanton in Dangerous Corner and Brutus in Julius Caesar. Most recently he appeared as brooding scientist Hal in Dinner.
|
 | Martin Brady has been involved with the Tower since 2001, both acting and backstage, having trained in Drama & Theatre Studies at Roehampton University. His most recent role in a Tower production was the Statue in Don Juan In Soho; stage roles with other companies include the Master of the Flocks in the official world premiere of Double Falsehood (Union Theatre), Duncan in Macbeth and Harry Clammercraft in Alfie (both Baron's Court Theatre). Martin made his radio debut this spring, playing several characters in the series The Chronicles Of Banania, on Radio North.
|
|
 | This is Murdo McClelland's second production with the Tower Theatre Company, having been murdered in Macbeth earlier this year.
He lives in Bromley with his brother Hamish and reluctant stage mother, having recently moved to London from Glasgow. His favourite actor is Michael Cera and his favourite play is Hamlet, 'because it's a dark story about murder and betrayal and it has a good twisty ending'. His interests outside theatre include video games, manga art and free running.
|
 | This is Hamish McClelland's second production with the Tower - like his brother, he was murdered in Macbeth earlier in the year.
His favourite actors are Elisabeth Sladen & Tom Baker. His favourite play is Twelfth Night, because 'it's a very nice story and it was the first play by Shakespeare that I read.' When he leaves school, he wants to be a zoologist or drama teacher. Or both (!). He enjoys cooking, would happily eat only chicken curry for the rest of his life and is a big fan of Doctor Who and David Attenborough.
|