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King Lear by William Shakespeare
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Tuesday 2nd - | The Tower Theatre performing in the Jardin Shakespeare, Bois de Boulogne, Paris |
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Photography by Ruth Anthony
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Cast |
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Soldiers |
Samuel Macqueen |
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Production Team |
Stage Manager : Dinah Irvine |
Robert Pennant Jones King Lear
Robert Pennant Jones has acted and directed with the Tower for over fifty years and has been involved in eight Shakespeare productions including directing Twelfth Night (1964) and acting as Prospero in The Tempest (2006). His latest production was Waiting for Godot (2008) and his latest appearance was as Cadmus in Marching Song (2014). He wishes to dedicate his performance in this production to the memory of his friend Michael Burrell with whom he had hoped to play Gloucester to Michael's Lear.
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Jill Ruane Goneril
Jill Ruane joined the Tower in 2007 and since then has been involved in many shows, both on stage and behind the scenes. Her acting credits with the Tower include Sarah in Speaking in Tongues, Una in Blackbird, Christine in Miss Julie and Woman in Bash - Medea Redux. In Jill's first role at the Tower, Mairead in The Lieutenant of Inishmore, she blinded 10 cows and 3 men. As Goneril, she is relieved to have been provided with henchmen to do the dirty work.
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Haidee Elise Regan
Haidee Elise has been a member of the Tower Theatre Company since 2000. Being a lover of costume dramas her Tower credits include Mabel in An Ideal Husband, Margery Pinchwife in The Country Wife, Ariel in The Tempest, Ophelia in Hamlet and Tourvel in Les Liaisons Dangereuses.
She is looking forward to playing a character with more evil inclinations.
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Hannah van der Westhuysen Cordelia
This is Hannah van der Westhuysen's second Tower Theatre production, previously playing Jolene in Chalet Lines - she has moved from Geordie Princess to the Queen of France. She is embarking on a career in acting and being only 19 years old she hopes that there will be many more productions with the Tower to come. She has also played Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, Liz in Lipstick and Scones and Katy in The Pool Party as well as other filmed roles. She trained at LAMDA having graduated from a one year Foundation course.
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Greg Robins Duke of Albany
Greg Robins is new to the Tower Theatre, having previously appeared in KDC's Twelfth Night and The Last Days of Judas Iscariot in 2014-15. Prior to his recent Shakespearean and biblical endeavours, he acted in, wrote for and co-directed the Wellington Law Revue in 2008-2010, acted in the Wellington Fringe Festival in 2011 and in Mountain Language in 2013. He is an Associate of the New Zealand Speech Board which, regrettably, has embedded his incomprehensible vowels deep into his psyche. Off stage, Greg is a government and human rights lawyer, aspiring globetrotter and salted caramel brownie-maker extraordinaire.
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Michael Mayne Duke of Cornwall
Michael Mayne is very excited to be playing Cornwall. Lear is one of his favourite plays. Other notable credits include Organ in Tartuffe, Julius Caesar, Sidney in Smells of Wee, Shylock in The Merchant of Venice, Fred in Fred and Madge and Jake in Jake's Women. Michael is a classically trained Actor - a graduate of London Academy of Music and Drama Art (LAMDA). He worked in the professional theatre for 20 years before family commitment moved him into the commercial world; now those commitments are fulfilled he is working his way back into the Business.
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Ian Recordon Earl of Kent
Ian Recordon has played a wide variety of roles ranging from Valmont (Les Liaisons Dangereuses), Eddie Carbone (A
View from the Bridge), Sir (The Dresser), Ralph Nickleby and Newman Noggs (Nicholas Nickleby), C S Lewis
(Shadowlands) and Frank Bryant (Educating Rita) to lighter parts such as Elyiot (Private Lives), Henry
Higgins (Pygmalion), Gary Essendine (Present Laughter), Bottom (A Midsummer Night's Dream) and Geoffrey (Stepping Out). His latest role was as W H Auden in the The Habit of Art.
The Earl of Kent is Ian's fourth Paris venture with the Tower after he Duke (Measure for Measure), Malvolio (Twelfth Night) and Jaques (As You Like It). |
John Morton Earl of Gloucester John
Morton has been a Tower member for 16 years. His first role was Crestwell in Relative Values by Noël Coward and his most recent was Gremio in The Taming of the Shrew, played in a wheel chair (Achilles tendon, if you must know). He has played a variety of Shakespearean roles for the Tower including Polonius, Leontes and Enobarbus. Other parts include Voysey in The Voysey Inheritance and Baron Hardup in Cinderella. He has also directed Romeo and Juliet, Heartbreak House, Twelfth Night, A Midsummer Night's Dream and As You Like It for the Tower. He loves get-ins and Burnley FC .
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Adam Hampton-Matthews Edgar
King Lear is Adam Hampton-Matthews' fourth appearance for the Tower Theatre Company having joined in 2014. His previous roles were Lomax in Major Barbara and George in Sons of Paradise. Adam also played numerous roles in the award-winning production of The Producers both in London and at the Minack Theatre in Cornwall. Other credits include Lawrence in Calendar Girls, Uncle Max in The Sound of Music, Jekyll & Hyde, Daddy Warbucks in Annie and Leaf in 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.
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Ben Belbin Edmund This is Benjamin Belbin's first appearance with the Tower Theatre company and first time on stage in Paris. Previous theatre appearances included Romeo and Juliet with East London Shakespeare Company and Balm of Gilead playing a down-and-out drug addict. Working mainly in film and television Benjamin has recently appeared in the E4 series Drifters as well as minor roles in feature films such as Fury and Vampire Academy.
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Richard Pedersen Oswald
Richard Pedersen has performed in or stage managed 15 previous Paris Shakespeare productions; last year he played Adam in As You Like It. A Tower member for over 25 years, he has acted in many shows, including major roles in The Normal Heart, Breaking the Code, Betrayal and Neville's Island. His most recent stage appearance was as Harry Lancaster in Marching Song, and he was stage manager for Foxfinder, performed in this theatre in March.
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Tom Salyers The Fool
Tom Salyers is making his first appearance with the Tower following roles in Much Ado About Nothing (Don Pedro) and Henry V (the Archbishop of Canterbury, Constable of France) with South London Theatre in 2014. He has played various roles in almost a dozen other Shakespeare productions for several companies over the last fifteen years. Contrary to appearances, though, he does occasionally act in things written by people who lived in the last century, with a particular favorite role being Don in The Universal Language. He has an MFA in Staging Shakespeare from the University of Exeter, but promises to only talk about it if you really want to.
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Samuel Macqueen Curan Sam Macqueen will be making his first appearance for the Tower Company, having previously appeared in various productions since the age of 13
both in London and in Manchester. He has also played a small part in the BBC series Waterloo Road. Sam has both a passion for acting and music and looking to forward his career in both.
He says "I'm excited to perform with such a wide variety of talented people in one of Shakespeare's greatest plays." |
Fred Janaway Captain of the British Army
After an eleven year hiatus from the stage Fred Janaway returns, making his first appearance for the Tower in the process. A keen Shakespeare enthusiast, previous roles include Oberon in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Sid in
House of America, Nathan Detroit in Guys and Dolls and Arab the Jet in West Side Story. He hopes to continue rekindling his love for theatre in the future with the Tower.
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Amy Wackett Captain of the French Army
As a new member, this is the first time Amy Wackett has performed with the Tower Theatre Company. She has previously appeared in productions by KDC Theatre in London and the Studio Theatre Club, Oxford. Previous experience of stage combat has mainly been based around the classic face slap so she is delighted to have been let loose with a sword in Lear's equal opportunities court and army.
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Peter Novis Doctor
Peter Novis has been with the Tower since 1988. Favourite roles include Herman Glogauer in Once in a Lifetime; the Dada in Entertaining Mr Sloane; several parts in the annual Tower Shakespeare productions in Paris; an Ugly Sister in Cinderella; and Mr Dick in David Copperfield. He has also directed for the Tower in London, Paris and Cornwall. |
Lucy Bloxham Soldier |
Martin Mulgrew Director
Martin Mulgrew is an Assistant Artistic Director of the Tower and helps run the Assistant Directors' scheme.
He most recently directed Dancing at Lughnasa and in 2013 his play Entertaining Mr Orton was chosen as a Tower production for the
Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
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Lindsay Royan
Movement Director |
Michael Bettell
Set Designer |
Lea Tunesi
Costume Designer |
Penny Tuerk
Subtitles |
Dinah Irvine
Stage Manager |