GERAINT DOWNING

 Brother Jay 

 THEATRE CREDITS INCLUDE: A Christmas Carol (The Old Vic); The Lord of the Rings (The Watermill Theatre). 

THEATRE CREDITS AS COMPOSER/ACTOR MUSICIAN INCLUDE: Fires Our Shoes Have Made (C Venues, Edinburgh/Warwick Arts Centre); Jigsaw/A Typical Sister (Bridge House Theatre). 

TELEVISION CREDITS INCLUDE: World On Fire 

JOSH HABERFIELD 

 W.S “Fluke” Holland 

 TRAINING: Mountview Academy of Performing Arts.  

THEATRE CREDITS INCLUDE: The Buddy Holly Story (UK Tour); The Cavern Club Story (UK Tour); The Blonde Bombshells of 1943 (Upstairs at The Gatehouse); The Curse of Elizabeth Faulkner (The Charing Cross Theatre); Humbug! (Waterloo Vaults); Plus various Pantomimes across the country.  

Most recently Josh has been touring with the comedy smash hit …Earnest? around the UK and Australia. Josh is also company director of Say It Again Sorry? The creators of ..Earnest?  

Josh has played drums all over the world with various different bands, and is a founding member of critically acclaimed rock n roll outfit The Runaround Kids. Artists he’s played for include guitar legend Albert Lee, and 70s pop legend Jay Osmond of The Osmond’s. 

JOE BENCE 

Jerry Lee Lewis 

Joe is an actor and musician originally from East London. 

THEATRE CREDITS INCLUDE: Buddy Holly in ‘Rock & Roll Man’ (Wiltshire Creative); Cover Darcy/Wickham/Alveston in ‘Death Comes to Pemberley’ (No1 UK Tour / The Mill at Sonning); Jerry Lee Lewis in Million Dollar Quartet (Barn Theatre, 2022) 

SCREEN CREDITS INCLUDE: Apsley Cherry-Garrard in the Antarctic biopic ‘The Worst Journey In The World’ (Wild Films); Nev in ‘Deadline’ (Endless Pages); Joey in ‘Never Going To Beat You’ (Crispy Biscuit Films). 

VOICEOVER CREDITS INCLUDE: Kyle in the ‘Invisible Fiends’ book series; Police Operator in ‘The Magnus Protocol’ (Rusty Quill podcasts). 

DARREN DAY

Sam Phillips 

Darren Day’s career on stage and screen began in 1988 when he won BBC1’s Bob Says Opportunity Knocks, hosted by the legendary Bob Monkhouse, who later said he was proud to be the first to introduce Darren on television. 

His major breakthrough came in 1993, starring as Joseph in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat at the London Palladium. The role established him as a leading West End star, and he went on to reprise it in numerous West End, UK, and international productions. 

Following Joseph, Darren recorded the role of Jesus on the official London cast recording of Godspell at Abbey Road Studios, conducted by Stephen Schwartz. That same year, he performed at the Royal Variety Performance before Her Majesty The Queen and Prince Philip, returning the following year as host. 

His extensive theatre credits include leading roles in Great Expectations (Theatre Clwyd), Copacabana (West End), Summer Holiday (West End & UK Tour – breaking box office records and earning him ‘Performance of the Year’), Grease (Danny Zuko, West End), The Rocky Horror Show (Frank n Furter, 25th Anniversary Tour), Carousel (Billy Bigelow, UK Tour), Les Misérables (Jean Valjean, West End), We Will Rock You (Khashoggi, UK Tour), Beauty and the Beast (The Beast, UK Tour), White Christmas (Bob Wallace, West Yorkshire Playhouse), Priscilla Queen of the Desert(Tick, UK Tour), Chicago (Billy Flynn, multiple UK Tours), and Everybody’s Talking About Jamie (Hugo/Loco Chanel, UK Tour). 

Other notable stage work includes The Last Session (Best Actor Award), Footloose (Rev. Shaw Moore, UK Tour), Mame (Beau, Salisbury Playhouse), Close-Up – The Twiggy Musical (Menier Chocolate Factory), and Muriel’s Wedding (Bill Heslop, Leicester Curve). Darren has also appeared in over 20 pantomimes, earning a nomination for Best Male Villain at the Great British Pantomime Awards for his role as Captain Hook. 

In music, Darren signed with Simon Cowell’s Arista and RCA Records in 1994, achieving a Top 20 hit and winning Best Male Singer at the Smash Hits Poll Winners Party. His singles and albums charted in the UK Top Ten, and he was a frequent performer on Top of the Pops. 

On television, Darren hosted ITV’s prime-time hits You Bet and Don’t Try This at Home (with Davina McCall), both achieving record viewing figures. Acting roles include appearances in Doctors (BBC1), Hollyoaks (E4), Stella (BBC), Holby City (BBC), Crime Stories (ITV), The Bill (ITV), and Mile High (Sky One). 

He was a finalist on Celebrity Big Brother (Channel 5) and an early participant in ITV’s first I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!. He has also appeared in French and Saunders’ Cold Turkey and Harry Hill’s Extreem Soap. 

Film credits include Rudy (directed by Shona Auerbach), White Island, The Krays, Dangerous Game, Demon Eye, Rough Cut, Hellbreeder, and Pinch of Portugal. 

During the 2020 lockdown, Darren reprised his roles as Joseph and Jesus in online charity concerts for Acting for Others and narrated the comedy pilot The Fosse Forest Ballet, directed by Racky Plews. 

JOEY BRADICK 

Carl Perkins 

Joey Bradick is delighted to be joining the cast of Million Dollar Quartet as Carl Perkins, one of rock ’n’ roll’s true pioneers. 

Growing up in North London, the music of the 50s and 60s played an integral part in Joey’s musical upbringing, leading to recent theatre credits including Humbug (Waterloo Vaults, Nov–Dec 2025) and The Cavern Club Story (UK Tour, 2026), in which he played the frontman in both shows. 

Since graduating with a degree in Music, Joey has spent the past decade developing a broad portfolio as both a solo musician, actor and collaborator. Recent highlights include performances in Austin and Nashville, as well as a European support tour in September 2025, alongside hundreds of performances in concert halls, theatres and live music venues across the UK and Europe. 

Joey would like to thank his family, friends and agent for their continued support. 

Instagram – @joeyoscarmusic 

CHRISTOPHER ERASMUS 

Johnny Cash 

Chris Erasmus is a London-based musical theatre performer and actor, originally from Johannesburg, South Africa, and raised between Zimbabwe and South Africa. He trained in New York with Susan Batson and holds a Master’s degree in Musical Theatre from Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts. 
 
A natural storyteller with a rich baritenor voice, Chris developed a love for musical theatre early on, inspired by performing in Nicholas Nickleby and the timeless screen work of Gene Kelly. His work combines strong acting with a grounded musicality, drawing on influences from contemporary musical theatre, country, and rock. 
 
His theatre credits include Winghaven Park (musical) and Beauty and the Beast (pantomime), alongside screen work for ITV and portraying Johnny Cash in a biographical production. He has also worked as a stunt performer and horse specialist on productions including The Witcher and Bridgerton, with real-world experience working as a cowboy in Montana informing his physical approach to performance. 
 
Alongside his stage work, Chris is a Billboard-charting recording artist, currently writing, recording, and performing across the UK and USA with his band, Chris Erasmus & The Wayward Few. His music can be found on all major streaming platforms. 
 

JENAY NAIMA 

Dyanne 

TRAINING: University of Maryland College Park: Smith Excellence in Theatre Award Scholarship. 

THEATRE CREDITS INCLUDE: Katherine and Rachel u/s in MJ The Musical (Prince Edward Theatre); Ardelia in Silence! The Musical (Turbine Theatre); Rachel Marron in The Bodyguard Musical (Theatre by The Sea); Celie and Shug Avery u/s in The Color Purple (US Nat’l Tour); Nansi in Three Little Birds (US Nat’l Tour); Radio One in Caroline or Change (Creative Cauldron); Dynamite in Hairspray (Mill Mountain Theatre); Jesus Christ Superstar (Signature Theatre); Avenue Q (Constellation Theatre Company: Helen Hayes Award). 

CONCERTS AND WORKSHOPS INCLUDE: Whitney in The Best: Whitney V Tina (Adrian Grant Productions); Disney Victrophonics (Disney Cruise Line); Whitney Houston Tribute (Green Room 42); Sleepy Hollow: The Musical (New York, New Works); Sylvanna in The Talented Mr. Ripley (Kennedy Center). 

CONNOR PAYNE 

Elvis Presley 

TRAINING: The Royal Academy of Music, MA in Musical Theatre  

THEATRE INCLUDES: Ruth: The Musical (Wilton’s Music Hall) 

WORKSHOPS INCLUDE: Something in the Water (Teal Moon Productions) 

CREDITS WHILST TRAINING INCLUDE: Assassins; A Man Of No Importance; The Last 25 Years; The Seagull and All The Children in a Row 

COLIN ESCOTT 

Author 

Born in England, Colin Escott lives near Nashville, Tennessee. He is the author of Good Rockin’ Tonight: Sun Records and the Birth of Rock ‘n’ Roll, the first in-depth account of the Sun Records story. His book Hank Williams – The Biography has been adapted into the movie I Saw the Light, starring Tom Hiddleston and Elizabeth Olsen. His multi-CD box set, The Complete Hank Williams, won a Grammy, and another of his productions, B.B. King – King of the Blues, was nominated for a Grammy. 

Million Dollar Quartet received three Tony nominations, including Best Book and Best Musical. 

Escott was part of the writing/producing team adapting the show for CMT/Viacom. The first season aired in 2016. 

FLOYD MUTRUX 

Author 

Floyd Mutrux apprenticed at the Alley Theatre in Houston and worked at Second City in Chicago; he attended Columbia University. He has conceived, written, directed, or produced 50 films, including Dusty and Sweets McGee; Freebie and the Bean; Aloha, Bobby and Rose; The Hollywood Knights; American Hot Wax; Dick Tracy; American Me; Blood In, Blood Out; There Goes My Baby; and Mulholland Falls. With his wife Birgitte, he is preparing a new film Moon Over Memphis (a rock-and-roll Field of Dreams.) He also cowrote the musical Baby It’s You! With Colin Escott and helped adapt Sun Records, the new television series based on Million Dollar Quartet. Million Dollar Quartet received three Tony Award nominations in 2010, including best book and best musicals. 

JONATHAN O’BOYLE 

Director 

Jonathan trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama and Birkbeck, University of London.  He was previously Trainee Associate Director at Chichester Festival Theatre and Associate Director at Theatre503. 

DIRECTING CREDITS INCLUDE: Barnum (UK Tour/Watermill Theatre); Fourteen Again (Victoria Wood Theatre); The Hunchback of Notre Dame: In Concert (Prince Edward Theatre); Cruel Intentions: The 90s Musical (The Other Palace/UK Tour); Pippin: 50th Anniversary Concert (Theatre Royal Drury Lane); Hair (International Tour/Hope Mill Theatre/The Vaults); Calendar Girls, Rain Man (Bill Kenwright Ltd); Picture You Dead, Wish You Were Dead, Looking Good Dead (UK Tour/Peter James Productions); The Last Five Years (Garrick Theatre/Southwark Playhouse/China Tour); White Christmas, Top Hat (Mill at Sonning); A Guide for the Homesick, Rasheeda Speaking, Bash: Latter-Day  Plays (Trafalgar Studios); The View Upstairs (Soho Theatre); Aspects of Love, Pippin (Hope Mill Theatre/Southwark Playhouse); This House (Headlong/UK Tour, co-directed with Jeremy Herrin); Dear Brutus (Southwark Playhouse); Rogers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella (Cadogan Hall); Peter Pan (Park Theatre); Four Play, Sense of an Ending (Theatre503); The Surplus, All The Ways To Say Goodbye (Young Vic); Robin Hood, Cinderella, Dick Whittington (Crossroads); The Wedding Singer, Nice Work If You Can Get It, Season’s Greetings (Arts Ed).   

ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR CREDITS INCLUDE: An American In Paris (Dominion Theatre); The Judas Kiss (Brooklyn Academy of Music/Ed Mirvish Theatre, Toronto); The Scottsboro Boys (Young Vic). 

AWARDS INCLUDE: Off West End Awards for Best Director of a Musical and Best Musical Production (The Last Five Years); WhatsOnStage Award for Best Off-West End Production (Hair). 

LIBBY WATSON 

Set and Costume designer 

Libby Watson is a set and costume designer based in London working across theatre and dance. Libby trained at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and holds a First Class Honours BA from Wimbledon School of Art.  

DESIGN CREDITS INCLUDE: Manic Street Creature (Kiln Theatre, Southwark Playhouse); The Rat Trap, Daisy Pulls it Off (Park Theatre); The Gang of Three (Kings Head Theatre); Being Mr Wickham (Live stream & UK tour); Es & Flo (Wales Millennium Centre); Tony! [The Tony Blair Rock Opera] (UK Tour); Strike! (Southwark Playhouse), Bring It On: The Musical (UK tour); Toast by Nigel Slater (West End & UK tour); Glitterball (Watford Palace Theatre); The Fellowship (Hampstead Theatre); The Witchfinder’s Sister (Queens Theatre);Dr Faustus (Sam Wannamaker Theatre); The Philanthropist (Trafalgar Studios West End), Single, A Midsummer Night’s Dream directed by Sir Trevor Nunn, One Man Two Guvnors, Guys and Dolls (New Wolsey Theatre); Once (UK tour); Fences (West End, Theatre Royal Bath). 

ALEX MUSGRAVE 

Lighting Designer 

Alex has been nominated for two Off West End Awards for Best Lighting Design for The White Factory at the Marylebone Theatre and You are Here at the Southwark Playhouse. Alex was also the Association of Lighting Production and Design Lumière 2019. 

The Forsyte Saga – Parts 1& 2 (Swan Theatre, RSC) Home (Chichester Festival Theatre) Scenes From a Friendship (Nottingham Playhouse) Ottilie (Barn Theatre, Cirencester) Dracula (National Youth Theatre) Next to Normal (Mountview) The Wanderers (Marylebone Theatre) The Soon Life (Southwark Playhouse) The Seagull: True Story (Marylebone Theatre), Extraordinary Women (Jermyn Street Theatre) Opera Shorts (Buxton International Festival) The White Rose (Marylebone Theatre) Figaro: An Original Musical (London Palladium), A Christmas Carol (The Lowry, Manchester) The Forsyte Saga – Parts 1& 2 (Park Theatre, Finsbury Park) Stones in His Pockets (Barn theatre, Cirencester. Salisbury Playhouse, Bolton Octagon and Everyman Theatre, Cork), The White Factory, The Last Word (Marylebone Theatre, London) Unbound – a New Musical, A Concert (Hoxton Hall, London), Kin – The Musical (Teatro Technis, London), Before After and Romeo and Juliet (Southwark Playhouse, London), It’s a MotherF**king Pleasure ( North American Tour, SoHo Playhouse – New York City, Southbank Centre & Soho Theatre – London, National and European Tours), Sherlock and the Whitechapel Fiend, Treasure Island and Private Lives (Barn Theatre, Cirencester), The Cunning Little Vixen (Royal Birmingham Conservatoire), Rapunzel (The Watermill Theatre). 

LEE FREEMAN 

Musical Supervisor 

Lee is a Musical Director, Composer, Arranger/Orchestrator and Vocal Coach. After studying at The BRIT School, he continued his training at the University of Surrey.

MUSICAL DIRECTOR CREDITS INCLUDE: The Choir of Man (Arts Theatre, West End), Pippin (Laine Theatre Arts), Cinderella (Norwich Theatre), Lightning Boy (Birmingham Hippodrome/NYMT), Our House (Southwark Playhouse), Cool Rider 10th Anniversary Concert (London Palladium), Jack and the Beanstalk and Sleeping Beauty (Theatre Royal Stratford East), Cool Rider (West End), Ushers: The Front of House Musical, Copacabana (UK Tour), Spelling Bee (UK Tour), Lucky Stiff (Sadler’s Wells), The Last Five Years, Moby Dick The Musical, Prom Queen and more. He was also Musical Supervisor for Imagine This (Union Theatre).

COMPOSER CREDITS INCLUDE: Three Musketeers: Trois and Treasure Island (Barn Theatre), Proud (Turbine Theatre), Hot Wheels (BYMT), Signposts and Diversions (Off-Broadway), Chat! (Edinburgh Fringe) and Bent. Lee was a finalist for both the Stiles & Drewe Best Song Award 2024 and Mentorship Award 2023.

ORCHESTRATION CREDITS INCLUDE: Lightning Boy, Three Musketeers: Trois, Treasure Island, Cool Rider, Moby Dick The Musical, Chat! and West End Bares. He has also arranged for Proud Cabaret productions featuring Duncan James, Denise Van Outen and Claire Sweeney.

TELEVISION CREDITS INCLUDE: RuPaul’s Drag Race (Season 6 pianist) and Even Better Than The Real Thing (BBC vocal coach). Lee is also a trained Vocal Health First Aider and teaches at leading drama schools including ArtsEd, Bird College, Laine Theatre Arts and Royal Central School of Speech and Drama.

HARRY BLUMENAU CDG 

Casting Director

CURRENT CREDITS INCLUDE: Beetlejuice (Prince Edward Theatre); Kinky Boots (London Coliseum); Bank of Dave, Public: The Musical (Leicester Curve); Dirty Dancing (Capital Theatre); Legally Blonde (Leicester Curve/UK Tour). 

THEATRE CREDITS INCLUDE: Kinky Boots (Curve Theatre/UK Tour); Why Am I So Single? (Garrick Theatre); Your Lie in April (Harold Pinter Theatre); Burlesque (Savoy Theatre/Manchester Opera House/Glasgow Theatre Royal); The Hunchback of Notre Dame: In Concert (Prince Edward Theatre); Babies (The Other Palace/Lyric Theatre); ); Rock & Roll Man (Salisbury Playhouse); Glorious! (Hope Mill Theatre); Fanny (Watermill Theatre/King’s Head Theatre); Ride The Cyclone, Beautiful Little Fool (Southwark Playhouse); Maiden Voyage, Scissorhandz (Southwark Playhouse); Unbelievable (Criterion Theatre); The SpongeBob Musical (Southbank Centre/UK Tour); Derren Brown’s Showman (Apollo Theatre); Evita (London Palladium. Children’s Casting); My Beautiful Laundrette (Curve Theatre/UK Tour); Death Note (London Palladium/Lyric Theatre); Dirty Dancing (Dominion Theatre/UK Tour); Treason (London Palladium/Alexandra Palace/UK Tour); Choir Of Man (USA Tour); Jack and the Beanstalk (Charing Cross Theatre); Starcrossed (Wilton’s Music Hall); Blippi: The Wonderful World Tour (Harold Pinter Theatre); Disruption, On The Ropes (Park Theatre); Cinderella (Theatre Royal Stratford East); The Last Five Years, The Girl On The Train, Once, Private Lives, Million Dollar Quartet (Barn Theatre); Aladdin (Lyric Hammersmith); American Idiot (Arts Theatre/UK Tour); Footloose (Peacock Theatre/UK Tour); Dark Sublime, Silk Road (Trafalgar Studios); Our House (UK Tour); One Man, Two Guvnors (Derby Theatre/Queens Theatre Hornchurch); Glory Ride, Soho Cinders, Mythic, The Knowledge (Charing Cross Theatre); Footballers’ Wives: The Musical (Assembly Rooms); concert productions of Wild About You, Chess, Treason (Theatre Royal Drury Lane).   

TV CREDITS INCLUDE: Prince Andrew: The Musical (ensemble casting); Derren Brown’s Showman.   

FILM CREDITS INCLUDE: Tomorrow Morning, A Family Affair, Beast/Type/Song, The Hermit. 

NICK LODGE

Sound Designer

Coming Up: Here Comes J. Edgar (Kings Head Theatre).  

Sound Design Credits: Thespians (UK Tour); The Sound of Music (Leicester Curve); Dick Whittington (Plymouth Theatre Royal); Liberation (Royal Exchange Manchester); Nine in Concert (Lowry/Hope Mill Theatre); Spend Spend Spend (Royal Exchange Manchester); Goldilocks and the Three Bears (Hull New Theatre – Crossroads Pantomimes).  

 Associate: The Bodyguard (UK tour); Military Wives (York Theatre Royal); Create (Star of the Seas); Barnum (The Watermill); 2:22 (Gielgud Theatre & UK tour); Grease (UK tour); The Addams Family (London Palladium & UK tour); Oliver! (Leeds Playhouse); The Time Traveller’s Wife (Apollo Theatre); The Wizard of Oz (Icon of the Seas).  

Training: Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts. \ 

JAY VILLIERS 

Sir Jim Hacker 

THEATRE  CREDITS INCLUDES: Spanish Oranges(Playground Theatre), Local Hero (Chichester), Quiz (Noel Coward Theatre), Doctor Faustus(Shakespeare’s Globe), Skylight (Theatr Clywd), Accolade (St James’ Theatre) The Winslow Boy (Old Vic), Hedda Gabler (Northampton Theatre Royal), Titanic (MAC Theatre Belfast), In Praise  of  Love (Northampton), A Midsummers Night’s Dream,  Hamlet ,Much Ado About Nothing (all Bristol Tobacco Factory), Gone to Earth, (Shared Experience/Lyric Hammersmith); The Taming Of  The Shrew (Salisbury); Betrayal (Bristol Old Vic); Arcadia and Mansfiled Park, (Chichester); Six Degrees of Separation (Sheffield); Dead Funny (Salisbury & Clywd); Gaslight (Hornchurch); Hamlet, Much Ado About Nothing, As You Like It (Kenneth Branagh’s company in West End); Ting Tang Mine, Fathers and  Sons, Six Characters in Search of an Author (all National Theatre). 

TELEVISION WORK  INCLUDES: The Couple Next Door, Grace, Grantchester, Franklin, Outlander, New Blood, War & Peace, Cuffs, Father Brown, Mr Selfridge, Lewis, Heartbeat, Bonekickers, Midsomer Murders, Spooks, Silent Witness, Extras, The Government Inspector, Absolute Power, The Brontes,  Monsignor Renard,  McCallum, The Sculptress, Black Hearts In Battersea, Frontiers, Rumpole, Lipstick on your Collar, The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, Miss Marple  

FILM CREDITS INCLUDES: Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool, The Last Photograph, The Sea, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, The International , Decameron, Before The Rain and Henry V. 

CLIVE HAYWARD 

Sir Humphrey 

TRAINING: Clive trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School 

THEATRE CREDITS INCLUDES:  A Christmas Carol (RSC), Anything Goes! (Barbican), Top Hat (Aldwych), Ducktastic! (Albery), Much Ado About Nothing (Wyndham’s), Yes Prime Minister (Trafalgar Studios), Twelfth Night (Regent’s Park), The Merry Widow (Holland Park Opera), Frogs, Oh What A Lovely War, and Earthquakes in London (National Theatre), Dr Heart, Cyrano De Bergerac andPrivate Lives (Royal Exchange Manchester), The Shakespeare Revue (International tour), Nell Gwynn (National tour and Shakespeare’s Globe), Julius Caesar, Antony and Cleopatra (Shakespeareat the Tobacco Factory), A Small Family Business (Watford Palace), A Chorus of Disapproval (Mill at Sonning), The New Statesman (tour), The Play What I Wrote (tour), Blithe Spirit (Brewhouse Theatre, Taunton), Masterpieces – A Noel Coward Revue (Birmingham Rep), A Very Private Passion (Box Clever Theatre Company), Don’t Dress For Dinner (English Theatre, Frankfurt), and Liberty Oregon (Traverse, Edinburgh).  

SCREEN  CREDITS INCLUDES:  This Time With Alan Partridge, The Letter, Outlander, Game Face, King Gary, Victoria, Prime Suspect, The Windsors, Utopia, Law and Order, A Touch of Frost, Eastenders, Emmerdale, Melody, Private Peaceful, Afterlife, Silent Witness, Casualty 

BBC RADIO and AUDIO DRAMA INCLUDES: A Venetian Reckoning, Walden, Good People, Inheritors, The National, Happiness!, Holbein’s Skull, Charles Paris, Elsinore, Dance ’til You Bleed, Body Horror, Othello, The Wild Duck, Wuthering Heights, The Divine Comedy, Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?, Time And The Conways, Spike and the Elfin Oak, Home Front, Tommies, The Great British Bridge Scandal, The Stuarts, The Interrogation, Space 1999, River Song, Dr Who. 

MARK STRATTON 

Jeremy Burnham/Simon Chester 

TRAINING: Mark trained at Mountview.

THEATRE CREDITS INCLUDE: When We Are Married , The Merry Wives, The Tempest, Vacuum, The Wars of the Roses, (Northern Broadsides); Deals & Deceptions, Bouncers, Vacuum, The Business of Murder, September in the Rain, (Esk Valley Theatre); The Art of Persuasion, Mr. A’s Amazing Maze Plays, Callisto # 7,Hobson’s Choice, (Stephen Joseph Theatre); Touched, (Salisbury Playhouse); The Canterbury Tales, (Duke’s Playhouse, Lancaster); September in the Rain (Theatre Royal Bury St. Edmund’s); Piaf, Behind The Scenes At The Museum, Having A Ball, Up ‘N’ Under, A View From The Bridge, (York Theatre Royal);
Confusions, Big Trouble In The Little Bedroom, (Hull Truck); Underneath The Arches, Twelfth
Night, Harvest In The North, (Oldham Coliseum); Romeo & Juliet, (Harrogate Theatre); Privates on Parade, Up ‘N’ Under, A View From The Bridge, (Palace Theatre, Westcliff);
Bouncers, King Lear, Room At The Top, Spider’s Web, (Nottingham Playhouse); The Tempest, (Ludlow Festival); Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, It’s A Madhouse, Fur Coat And No Knickers, (National Tours for Bill Kenwright.)

TELEVISION CREDITS  INCLUDES:  Blue Murder, Rosemary & Thyme, Steel River Blues, Islands, At War, Family Affairs, Heartbeat, The Royal, At Home With The Braithwaites,
Coronation Street, The Ward, Casualty, Undercover Customs, The Bill, World In
Action, The Things You Do For Love, Watchdog and Emmerdale.

FILM  CREDITS INCLUDE:  Shakuntala Devi, Speed Love, Urban and the Shed Crew, The Great Train Robbery, Clay, Across the Lake.

Mark is a co-founder and director of the Esk Valley Theatre, based in the North York Moors. 

MAUREY RICHARDS  

Gordan The American Ambassador / Cameraman 

Born in Chicago, Maurey has performed worldwide from Los Angeles to Abu Dhabi. He began singing in small nightclubs in Los Angeles where he was spotted by The William Blake Agency that also had on their books American singing group The Platters  with whom he subsequently sang extensively in the US and Europe. 

During a break in touring, Maurey was offered a role in the musical Ain’t Misbehavin’ (Library Theatre Manchester) leading to the original production of Carmen Jones (Old Vic) and further West End shows including Buddy, Starlight Express and Porgy and Bess, the latter two directed by Sir Trevor Nunn.   Maurey then moved to Paris and founded his own Jazz Sextet and toured France, Italy and Spain with two albums recorded. 

Since returning to the UK in 2019 theatre has included: Driving Miss Daisy (Theatre Royal York), Death Of a Salesman (Piccadilly Theatre), Little Women (Dugdale Theatre) and most recently The Marilyn Conspiracy (Park Theatre)     

Screen includes Wonka feature film and commercial campaigns for Oreo ,Morrisons and McVities amongst others. 

WILLIAM OWEN 

Bernard Wooley 

FILM & TV CFREDITS INCLUDE: Eastenders (BBC), Winter (Eagle Eye Productions), The Hunt for Raoul Moat (World Productions), Deceit (Story Films), Dal Y Mellt (Vox Pictures), Lily (Fenrir Films), Bohemian Rapsody (GK Films), Victoria (Mammoth Screen), Furries (Capital Films), The Decoy Bride (Ecosse Films) 

THEATRE CREDITS INCLUDE: Sense and Sensibility (Newbury Watermill Theatre), Brightest and Best (Half Moon Theatre), Visions of Kerouac (Half Moon Theatre), The Beaux Stratagem (Half Moon Theatre), Pot Noodle the Musical (Mothervision/Edinburgh Fringe Festival), Star Spangled Girl (Frinton Summer Theatre), Run for Your Wife (Frinton Summer Theatre), Make Me a Widow (Frinton Summer Theatre), Trap for a Lonely Man (Frinton Summer Theatre) 

RUTH GIBSON 

Claire Sutton 

THEATRE CREDITS INCLUDE; Mountains, (Royal Exchange Theatre), The Patriotic Traitor and The Dead Monkey, (Park Theatre), Theatre Uncut, (Soho Theatre), Intimate Exchanges, (Mercury Theatre,) The Kitchen, (National Theatre), My Wonderful Day, (written and directed by Alan Ayckbourn, 59East59, New York and Stephen Joseph Theatre), Snake in The Grass, Life and Beth, Touch Wood, Forget Me Not Lane. (Stephen Joseph Theatre), Man of the Moment and Private Fears in Public Places (Theatre Royal, Northampton); Independent Means (MEN Best Actress Award) and Vieux Carre ( Library Theatre, Manchester); Sonnets Shakespeare’s Globe; Markings,( Southwark Playhouse, Traverse and National Tour; )Anne of Green Gables, Sadler’s Wells; After Mrs Rochester, (Duke of York’s Theatre, West End); Blood Brothers,( Phoenix Theatre, West End.)  

FILM & TV CREDITS INCLUDE: Bridget Jones; Mad About the Boy, Stitch Head, Moomins on the Riviera, Good Girl, Bad Girl Call The Midwife, The Pact, Babylon, The Littlest Boho and Judge John Deed. Video Games include The Witcher 2, James Bond Blood Stone and Peaky Blinders: The King’s Ransom.  

Ruth is the voice of BT and EE mobile phones.  

ANTONY JAY 

Author 

Jonathan Lynn and Antony Jay’s BAFTA award-winning political comedy YES MINISTER first aired on BBC2 in 1980 and ran until 1984 (3 series). The sequel, YES PRIME MINISTER ran from 1986 until 1988 (2 series). Both series are now released in their entirety on BBC DVD. 

Lynn and Jay also wrote three novels, THE COMPLETE YES MINISTER and YES, PRIME MINISTER, Volumes 1 and 2, which cumulatively sold more than a million copies in hardback, were on the British top-ten bestseller list for three years and have been translated into numerous languages. 

Not only a huge critical and popular success at the time, the series continues to be recognised as one of the nation’s favourite and most influential British comedy series. Issues that were raised by the programme are still timely now – identity papers and computer databases of the population, university funding, arms sales and oil politics being just a few. In a 2004 documentary, Armando Iannucci compared Yes Minister to George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four in how it has influenced the public’s view of the state. 

YES, PRIME MINISTER, the new stage play by Jay and Lynn recently played at the Gielgud Theatre in the West End before going out on a first class National Tour in 2011. The production was directed by Jonathan Lynn and starred Henry Goodman and David Haig. 

Antony Jay died in 2016. 

JONATHAN LYNN 

Writer, Director and Actor 

Jonathan Lynn created and wrote with Antony Jay the multi-award-winning series Yes, Minister and Yes, Prime Minister. Lynn authored the best-selling books The Complete Yes Minister and The Complete Yes Prime Minister, which have sold millions of copies, have been translated into numerous languages and have never been out of print. In London he has directed three of his plays: Yes Prime Minister (The Gielgud and then The Apollo), The Patriotic Traitor (The Park) and I’m Sorry Prime Minister (The Apollo). 

Lynn’s West End theatre debut, aged 23, was as Motel the Tailor in the original London cast of Fiddler on the Roof. 

Many London directing credits include: The Glass Menagerie; Songbook (Best Musical, Olivier and Evening Standard Awards); Anna Christie (RSC); Joe Orton’s Loot, with Leonard Rossiter; Pass The Butler by Eric Idle; Shaw’s Arms And The Man. At the NT: Feydeau’s A Little Hotel on the Side, translated by John Mortimer, and Three Men on A Horse (Olivier Award, Best Comedy). 

Lynn has directed 10 films including Clue, for which he wrote the screenplay, Nuns on the Run (also written by Mr. Lynn), My Cousin Vinny, and The Whole Nine Yards. His books include the novels Mayday and Samaritans and a sort of memoir Comedy Rules. 

Awards include the BAFTA Writers Award, Writers Guild (twice), Broadcasting Press Guild (twice), NAACP Image Award, Environmental Media Award, Ace Award – Best Comedy Series on US cable, and a Special award from the Campaign For Freedom of Information. 

CHARLOTTE WESTENRA  

Director 

Charlotte Westenra is an award-winning director, dramaturg, and developer of new writing whose work sits at the intersection of political theatre, adaptation and musical development. Her productions range from internationally acclaimed political drama and British musicals to literary adaptations, immersive theatre and cross-disciplinary collaborations spanning theatre, music and dance.  

Charlotte won the BroadwayWorld Ireland Award for Best Director for Owen McCafferty’s Agreement, which also won Best Play and Best New Play. The production was nominated for the International Award at The Stage Awards and Best Play at the UK Theatre Awards.  

As an established director and dramaturg, she has gone on to collaborate with artists including Owen McCafferty, Christopher Wheeldon, Nicolas Kent, Beau Willimon, and Jessie Buckley.  Charlotte has developed numerous new works, including The Wicker Husband, winner of the inaugural MTI Stiles & Drewe Mentorship Award and selected for the NAMT Festival of New Musicals in New York; On Hostile Ground, developed for Royal & Derngate; and A Room of One’s Own, starring Nina Sosanya. 

Charlotte is currently developing two new musicals with Olivier Award-winning composer and lyricist Darren Clark: an adaptation of Angela Carter’s The Bloody Chamber and a contemporary political musical exploring the Spy Cops scandal with writer Ruth Chan. Alongside her directing career, she has played an active role in artist development and talent identification, working with The Old Vic New Voices programme and serving as Panel Manager for the Kevin Spacey Foundation’s Artists of Choice initiative in both the United Kingdom and the United States. 

ANNA KELSEY 

Set and Costume designer 

TRAINING: Anna trained at The Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. She was the recipient of the Leverhulme Arts Scholarship at the Royal Shakespeare Company where she spent a year as assistant designer (2018-19). In 2023 she was a finalist for the JMK award. She is an Associate Artist at the Watermill Theatre. 

THEATRE CREDITS INCLUDES: The Comedy of Errors (Orange Tree); The Last Man (Southwark Playhouse); Lark Rise to Candleford (Watermill/Theatre by the Lake); Ottilie, A Christmas Carol, (Barn); The Seagull (Royal Lyceum/Chichester Festival Theatre); Big Big Sky (New Vic); The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Ambassadors); Mrs President, Stiletto (Charing Cross); Basic Bald B*tch (Brixton House); Shakespeare’s R&J (Reading Rep); The Wicker Husband, Under Milk Wood, Our Town (Watermill); The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, Indecent Proposal (Southwark Borough); The Snow Queen, Lark Rise to Candleford(Cheltenham Everyman); Guesthouse (Eastern Angles); 1001 Nights (Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch); The Great American Trailer Park Musical (Waterloo East); Ring Ring, Dance Nation (Omnibus); Our Girls Our Game (BYMT); If.Destroyed.Still.True (Hope); Exodus (Finborough); Le Loup-Garou, Le Dernier Sorcier (Gothic Opera).   

ASSOCIATE CREDITS INCLUDE: Rhinoceros (Almeida); The Flying Dutchman (Opera Up Close); Pride and Prejudice (*Sort of) (UK Tour/Minack); Purple Snowflakes and Titty Wanks (Royal Court) 

JODIE UNDERWOOD 

Lighting Designer 

THEATRE CREDITS INCLUDE: Invisible Me, Nostos (Southwark Playhouse); A Mirrored Monet (Charing Cross Theatre); A Christmas Carol (Barn Theatre); I Dreamed of Theresa May, DNA (Tara Theatre); The Law of Mayhem (Haymarket); The Crawl (Pleasance 10 Dome); Romeo and Juliet: Out of Pocket (The Space @ Surgeons Hall); Worn Out (The Quays, Lowry Theatre); Our Cosmic Dust (Park 200); After The Act (Royal Court & National Tour); Jab (Park 90 & Finborough Theatre); Community (The Door, Birmigham Rep); My Life as a Cowboy, Wormholes, Blue Stockings (Omnibus Theatre); Love and Rebellion Festival (The House, Birmingham Rep); English Kings Killing Foreigners (Camden Peoples Theatre); A Christmas Carol (Brewhouse Theatre, Taunton); Little Fiend (Amazing Grace); The Life Sporadic of Jess Wildgoose (Pleasance London); Follow The Lines (Bread and Roses Theatre); After The Act (New Diorama Theatre); Blow Down (National Tour); The Boys Are Kissing (Theatre503); Dick Whittington, Aladdin (The Big Tiny Theatre); Elixir (The Other Palace Studio); Man of 100 Faces, The Haunting of Susan A, La Bohème (King’s Head Theatre); Horse-Play (Riverside Studios); Us (The White Bear); The Man Who Thought He Knew Too Much (Pleasance Jack Dome, Edinburgh Fringe & National Tour); Sidmouth Summer Rep Season (Manor House Pavilion). 

As Associate: Ruckus, Pigs Might Fly, When Darkness Falls (National Tour); The Book of Will (Shakespeare North); Ride (Charing Cross Theatre, Leicester Curve & Southwark Playhouse Elephant); New Dick in Town (Above The Stag Theatre); Catching Comets (Pleasance London & National Tour). 

ELIZABETH PURNELL 

Composer and Sound Designer 

Elizabeth Purnell works in sound and music in many genres, from audiobooks to radio, theatre, installations and events including the fanfare for the Commonwealth Games. She is also an Emmy nominated orchestral arranger and conductor for films and TV, including Black Mirror, Annihilation, Steve, HANNA, Any Human Heart, numerous BAFTA awarded natural history documentaries including Life of Mammals, Life in Cold Blood, Life in the Undergrowth, Africa, Meercats, 60 Years of Attenborough, recording with BBC orchestras and European ensembles. 

THEATRE : Twenty Thousand Streets Under the Sky (Southwark Playhouse Borough); The Spy Who Came in From the Cold (Sohoplace & UK Tour); Macbeth Alone (Cheltenham Everyman); Death Comes to Pemberley (UK Tour), Grace Pervades (also Haymarket Theatre), Doubt, Knives in Hens (Bath), Girl on the Train (UK Tour), Room 13 (The Barn), A Chorus of Disapproval, How the Other Half Loves (Salisbury Playhouse); And Then There Were None (International tour); Of Mice and Men (Birmingham Rep); In Praise of Love, Arms and the Man, Shaw Shorts, Candida, While the Sun Shines, The False Servant (Orange Tree); A View from the Bridge (Liverpool Playhouse); 21 shows for Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory; Our New Girl (Bush); Kindertransport (Aberystwyth); The Wills’ Girls (Show of Strength); Khadija is 18, Commercial Road (Hackney Empire) 

TELEVISION/RADIO: The Great Fire (Co Composer) (ITV); Churchill (C4); A Bitter Inheritance, Wildlife on One; These Four Walls (BBC), ‘Out of Nowhere’, ‘Moths’ (VR installations) Treasure, Animation, ’The Bomb’ series 3, ’Fairy Meadow’; Mighty Beast; Anthony and Cleopatra; A Season in Hell; The Once and Future King; The Martin Beck series; The Element of Water; ‘1984’; ‘Vergil!’(Audible). 

MARK FRANKUM 

Casting Director 

Previously for the Barn Theatre, Marc has cast ‘Double Double’, ‘Men Behaving Badly’& ‘Friends the Musical Parody’.  

Marc has also cast the West End transfer of ‘I’m Sorry Prime Minister’ & the subsequent tour, other productions include ‘P&P* *Sort Of (UK Tour), A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ (Birmingham Rep), ‘The Constant Wife’ (UK Tour), ‘The Talented Mr Ripley’ (UK Tour), ‘Military Wives’ (York Theatre Royal),‘The Pocket Dream’(Lichfield Garrick Theatre), ‘The Full Monty’ (UK Tour),‘Firebird’, ‘Cinderella’ (Kings Head Theatre), ‘The New Adventures of Peter Pan’, ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’, ‘The Comedy of Errors’, ‘Baskerville’, ‘Aladdin’, ‘Moll Flanders’, ‘Pieces of String’, ‘Much Ado About Nothing’, ‘Clybourne Park’, ‘Noises Off’, ‘Macbeth’ (Mercury Theatre, Colchester), ‘And Then Come the Nightjars’, ‘The Children’ (Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds), ‘The Walworth Farce’ (Southwark Playhouse), ‘The Way Old Friends Do’ (UK Tour/West End), ‘Sky Comedy Rep’ (Birmingham Rep), ‘The Play what I Wrote’ (Birmingham Rep/UK Tour), ‘Sleeping Beauty’, ‘Cinderella’, ‘Mother Goose’ (Cambridge Arts Theatre), Aladdin’, ‘Sleeping Beauty’, ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’, ‘Dick Whittington’, ‘Cinderella’, ‘Aladdin’ (Theatre Royal Norwich), ‘Now Is Good’ (Storyhouse, Chester), ‘Bang Bang’ (UK Tour), ‘The History Boys’ (Grand Theatre Wolverhampton), ‘Eurydice’, ‘Owners’, ‘Tonight at 8.30’, ‘Mother Adam’ (Jermyn Street Theatre),‘The Band’ (West End/UK Tour),‘Calendar Girls’ (UK Tour), ‘God of Chaos’, ‘The Kneebone Cadillac’(Theatre Royal Plymouth), ‘Dracula’ (Touring Consortium Theatre Company), ‘Out Of Order’ (UK Tour),‘Hand to God’ (West End), ‘Dial M for Murder’ (UK Tour), ‘The Duck House’ (West End), ‘Goodnight Mister Tom’ (West End/Chichester Festival Theatre/The Children’s Touring Partnership),‘The Mousetrap’(60th Anniversary Tour),’The Woman In Black‘(West End).