HUCK – cast & creative team
CAST
Graeme Dalling Huck Finn
Joe Speare Jim
David Brett Pa, Colonel Grangerford, Uncle Silas, Musician
Rosalind Cressy Dolly, Judith, Rachel, Susan, Aunt Sally
Ian Harris Duke, Rufus, Musician
Lucy Pearman Ben, Mary-Jane, Sophia, Local Lady
Jos Vantyler Tom, Buck, Harvey
CREATIVE TEAM
Written by James Graham,
Directed by John Terry
Set designed by Garance Marneur
Costumes designed by Nell Knudsen
Lighting designed by Ben Pacey
Produced by Fresh Glory Productions
in association with
Shapeshifter and The Theatre Chipping Norton
BIOGRAPHIES
David Brett
PA, COLONEL GRANGERFORD, UNCLE SILAS, MUSICIAN
Theatre includes The Merchant of Venice (Leeds Playhouse), Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead (Newcastle Playhouse), Ken Campbell’s production of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Rainbow Theatre), One Big Blow (7:84 Theatre Company), Coriolanus and The Winter’s Tale (English Shakespeare Company), The Threepenny Opera (Birmingham Rep), Twelfth Night, Comic Mysteries and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Oxford Stage Company), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Library Theatre Manchester), tours of Terry Pratchett’s Guards! Guards! and Truckers, The Card Index and End of the Night (White Bear), Moll Flanders and Pinocchio (New Vic, Stoke), and pantomimes at Coventry Belgrade, Oxford Playhouse and Northampton Theatre Royal. Other recent theatre includes Lark Rise to Candleford and The Beaver Coat at the Finborough Theatre, and King Arthur and The Living Unknown Soldier at the Arcola.
Film includes Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.
TV includes The Krypton Factor, Marlene Marlowe Investigates, Chucklevision, and Dog Town.
He was Stanley Spencer in the video Stanley Spencer: A Painter in Heaven for the Spencer Gallery.
David was a founder member of the acappella group The Flying Pickets.
Rosalind Cressy
DOLLY, JUDITH, RACHEL, SUSAN, AUNT SALLY
Rosalind is an actor and theatre producer. She met Huck director John Terry when he cast her as Dorcas Lane in Lark Rise to Candleford at the Finborough Theatre, and that mini-epic of words and music (created by John’s company Shapeshifter) sowed the seeds for this production. Last year she played Agnetha in Bryony Lavery’s Frozen, which was Fresh Glory’s first production, and which was Time Out Critics’ Choice. Other recent roles include Chelsea (the Jane Fonda role) in On Golden Pond at Keswick, and creating the major role of Peggy in the UK No 1 tour of About Alice, with Gwen Taylor and Francis Matthews. She is also a member of the Lions part, with whom she has appeared as Mistress Page in The Merry Wives of Windsor, Olivia in Twelfth Night and Dame Chat in Gammer Gurton’s Needle, among other roles. She has just appeared as Chaucer’s Wife of Bath for their October Plenty festival on London’s Bankside. She has also produced for the Lions part, including the Mann 2000 Festival and a tour of Christopher Fry’s A Sleep Of Prisoners and a devised oral-history play about Land Girls in WWII called Lilies on the Land. The next challenge is to put Lilies on the Land into the West End, where it will be appearing at the Arts Theatre in June 2010, with Rosalind in the role of Vera; and a national tour of Lisa Evans’ comedy Up the Duff.
Rosalind loves Shakespeare and has worked on “cue-scripted” performances with the Original Shakespeare Company, including Silvia in Two Gentlemen of Verona at the Jerash Festival in Jordan and another Olivia in Twelfth Night. Her favourite classical role was Cleopatra in Antony and Cleopatra (Theatre Set-Up), and she also played Helen of Troy in Doctor Faustus (the Lions part on the archaeological remains of the Rose Theatre, wading through the protective lake on top). Other modern roles include Martha Livingstone (another Jane Fonda role) in Agnes of God (Eye Theatre), Lisa in Dead Funny and Jacqueline in Don’t Dress for Dinner (both Chelmsford, where she performed in several rep seasons, specialising in murderesses). She’s been on telly a few times but forgotten it all except Footballers’ Wives.
At home Rosalind is an enthusiast for organic vegetable gardening, outdoor swimming, cooking and knitting, and she’s sure Cleopatra was too. She is a Trustee of the Brook Trust and a member of The Actors Charitable Trust, and is interested in planetary science and poetry. She’s not on Facebook.
Graeme Dalling
HUCKLEBERRY FINN
Graeme is excited to be a member of this production, and even more excited to be playing Huckleberry Finn!
Theatre credits include: Jim Hawkins in Treasure Island [Northern Broadsides]; Treasure Island [Birmingham Stage Company]; Der Ring des Nibelungen [Royal Opera House, Covent Garden]; Oliver! [New Vic, Newcastle Under-Lyme]; Times Up! [Yvonne Arnaud, Guildford].
Television credits include: Doctors [BBC]; Hollyoaks [C4].
Radio credits include: Damaged Goods [BBC Southern Counties].
Graeme has also workshopped brand new material for Opera and Stage at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, including The Minotaur by Sir Harrison Birtwistle.
Ian Harris
DUKE, RUFUS, MUSICIAN
Ian began his theatre training at Durham University and the Questors Theatre, Ealing. He then went on to the Ecole Phillippe Gaulier and graduated at Arts Educational School of Acting.
Over the past decade Ian has worked as an actor in theatres in the West End, off-Broadway and throughout the UK. Theatre work includes: The Pocket Orchestra in the West End at the Trafalgar Studios for Ambassadors Theatre Group, Tom’s Midnight Garden at the New Victory Theatre, New York and on tour across the UK; The Homecoming and Twelfth Night at York Theatre Royal; Great Expectations at Manchester Library Theatre; A Christmas Carol at the Liverpool Playhouse; The Winter’s Tale at the Salisbury Playhouse; The Rivals, Pinocchio, and A Christmas Carol at the Worcester Swan Theatre; The Wizard of Oz at the Haymarket, Basingstoke; A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Hamlet at Ludlow Castle; The Stories of Hans Christian Andersen at the Sherman Theatre Cardiff; Merlin & Arthur at the Chester Gateway Theatre; and Reminiscence for Da Capo Theatre Company at Jackson’s Lane, London.
Other touring theatre includes: The Wife of Bath, The Fairy Queen & Five Get Famous with the Rude Mechanical Theatre Company; The Tempest & The Saragossa Manuscript with Cherub Theatre Company; and Jemima Puddleduck & Her Friends at the Royal Opera House, the World Trade Centre Singapore & on tour throughout the UK for the Unicorn Theatre.
Ian is an affiliated artist with The Playground Studio, London, and over the past 3 years has been involved in the development of a number of new theatre pieces as a devising actor, director and producer. He is also a core member of the Rude Mechanical Theatre Company.
Radio work includes: Fairy Tale Economics, Berlin Soundz Decadent & The Tell-Tale Heart for the BBC and Safe Haven for Resonance fm.
Lucy Pearman
BEN, MARY-JANE, SOPHIA, LOCAL LADY
Television includes:- Samantha Boyce in The Bill.
Film includes:- Masked Reveller in Skeletons Warming Themselves.
Theatre includes:- Morticia in The Haunted Mansion (Educacio), Lucy Van Helsing in Dracula Educacio and Mother Goose (Chipping Norton).
Parts played at LAMDA:- Mrs Needham in The Art of Success, Hannah in Days of Significance, Harriet in The Man of Mode, Viola in Twelfth Night and Dunyasha in The Cherry Orchard.
Joe Speare
JIM
Joe was born in Liverpool and he started performing in bands whilst still at school. He gained a diploma in Practical Musicianship and went on to sing with the a-capella group Natural High (who later became The Christians) and American Soul band, Chairman of The Board.
Joe’s musical theatre credits include: Jose in The Harder They Come at The Barbican, Birmingham and the West End; Carmen Jones at the Southbank Centre; Daniel in Katrina at The Oxo Tower, London; The King in The King And I, (Irish Tour); Boogie Nights 2 – The 80’s (National Tour); Boogie Nights for Qdos Entertainment (National and South African Tour); The Official Tribute To The Blues Brothers for David Pugh Ltd (National and International Tours); Smokey Joe’s Cafe for The Turnstyle Group (National Tour); Genie in Aladdin at the Palace Theatre, Manchester.
His other theatre credits include: Reverend Sykes in To Kill A Mockingbird for Birmingham Rep & West Yorkshire Playhouse plus a National Tour, Harvey and Nude With Violin at the Royal Exchange; The Mysteries 2003, Twelfth Night, Of Mice and Men, Martin Chuzzlewit, Bouncers, The Tokolosh all the Belgrade Theatre, Coventry; Bouncers and Hansel and Gretel at the Octagon Theatre, Bolton; The Revenger’s Tragedy at The West Yorkshire Playhouse; Bare at Oldham Coliseum; Peter Pan and Toad of Toad Hall at Birmingham Repertory; The North West Playwright’s Workshops at Contact Theatre, Manchester; Waiting For Godot, The Double and Man Friday at Liverpool’s Playhouse Studio and several productions for Unicorn Theatre for Children in London.
Joe’s television and film credits include: Prime Suspect V; Cracker; Coronation Street and Children’s Ward for Granada Television; Raffle Baby for Real Life Productions; Emmerdale for Yorkshire Television; The Bill for Thames; That Peter Kay Thing for Open Mike Productions; Cold Earth for Gatlin Pictures.
He has also recorded September Song; The Last of The Mohicans and Anacaona for BBC Radio 4.
Jos Vantyler
TOM, BUCK, HARVEY
Jos moved to the United States in 1990, returning to live in the UK in 2007. While in the States he trained at the Actors’ Studio in New York.
British Theatre: Tennessee Williams Season, Prophecy (New End Theatre); The Real Thing (Tabard Theatre); Underfoot In Showbusiness (Eastbourne Theatre);Charley’s Aunt (New Wimbledon Studio).
American Theatre: Arden Of Faversham (The Playbill, NY); The Lion In Winter (The Fairbanks Theater); All My Sons, Bouncers (The Crucible Theater); Hayfever (The Playhouse, CA); Romeo & Juliet, Ghosts (The Lincoln Center); The Importance Of Being Earnest (The Comedy Theater); The Second Maiden’s Tragedy (The Empire); A View From The Bridge (York Tower, NYC Star Best Newcomer Award); Bloody Poetry (The Play Theater, Nominated For The NYC Review Best Supporting Actor Award); The Glass Menagerie (New Chicago Theater).
American Musical Theatre: A Chorus Line (New Century Theater, NY); 42nd Street (Hilton Theater, Ny); Crazy For You (Pantages Theater, LA); Kiss Me Kate (The Majestic, LA).
American Television includes: Here And Now (CBS); Knight Spell (Fairmont, Nominated For LA Review’s Best Newcomer In A TV Drama Award); The Name Of God (Fairmont); Back To Broadway, Live From Radio City (ABC).
Voice Work: The Jewish Museum (Centre Screen Prods); Macbeth (US Educational Website); The Great Pretenders (The New End Theater); Long Day’s Journey Into Night (Anthony Minghella).
James Graham: Writer
27-year-old James was winner of the Catherine Johnson Best Play award in 2007 (Eden’s Empire), and was named a 2008 television ‘hotshot’ by Broadcast Magazine. He was selected as one of the BBC and Royal Court’s ‘The 50’ writers.
As Playwright-in-residence at the Finborough Theatre in London, his plays have included Albert’s Boy – recipient of a Pearson Playwriting Bursary; Eden’s Empire; and Little Madam, based on the childhood of Margaret Thatcher. Last summer, James had two Time Out Critics’ Choice shows playing simultaneously in London; Tory Boyz at the Soho Theatre and Sons of York at the Finborough. More recently his new play, A History of Falling Things, premiered this spring at Clywd Theatre Cymru.
For the screen, James’s original comedy-drama Caught in a Trap was ITV1’s Boxing Day drama last Christmas, starring Connie Fisher as an obsessed Elvis Presley fan. For radio, his work includes How You Feeling, Alf? and Albert’s Boy for BBC Radio 4. He is currently under commission at the Bush, the National Youth Theatre, Channel 4, and the UK Film Council.
John Terry: Director
John’s professional debut was the UK premiere of the Hungarian hit play Unsent Letters at the Orange Tree Theatre, where he also directed Don Taylor’s The Road to the Sea and a school’s tour of King Lear.
As Artistic Director of Shapeshifter he has twice won prestigious Peter Brook Empty Space Awards – the Peter Wolff Theatre Trust Award for the promenade epic King Arthur at the Arcola Theatre, and the Mark Marvin Award for their critically acclaimed productions of the promenade plays Lark Rise to Candleford.
For Shapeshifter he has also directed the Time Out Critic’s Choice Production of Rolf Hochhuth’s Soldiers at the Finborough Theatre, the UK premiere of David Auburn’s Fifth Planet in Brighton and the devised project The Item Project at the BAC. John also directed The Ladies Cage for the Royal Exchange Manchester, Immortal at the Courtyard, Covent Garden, Goblin Market at the Southwark Playhouse, and a National tour of The Librarians’ Joke for Little Wonder, as well as many readings and workshop productions.
He is a member of the National Theatre Studio Directors Programme, visiting director with the National Youth Theatre and the Arcola Academy (with whom he was nominated for a Channel 4 Political Award) and Associate Director of the Finborough Theatre.
He is currently Artistic Director of The Theatre, Chipping Norton – a feisty and frenetic Arts Centre and Theatre in the heart of the Cotswolds.
Garance Marneur: Set Designer
Garance is the overall winner of the latest Linbury Prize. Recent work includes Gagarin Way for Theatre Royal Bath, TriAngle 2009 at Hackney Empire, I Am Falling at the Gate Theatre and Sadler’s Wells (nominated for a South Bank Show Award), Dirty Butterfly at the Young Vic, Gianni Schicchi conducted by Valery Gergiev at the Mariinsky theatre (Opera- St Petersburg), Romeo And Juliet at the National Theatre Studio and TURANDOT directed by Anthony Clark at Hampstead Theatre. She is currently working on Romeo Und Julia in Bern, a tour of Huck and Orphans for Birmingham Rep / Traverse and Paines Plough.
Nell Knudsen: Costume Designer
Nell trained at Kunstskolen i Bergen and has a BA(Hons) from the Arts Institute of Bournemouth.
For theatre and opera she designed costumes for The Magic Flute (Gleeson Theatre, Dublin), La Boheme (Southbank Sinfonia), Medea, Jason (The Scoop), two productions of Dick Barton (Croydon Warehouse), Oliver Twist, La Ronde, Sexploration (UK Tour), Immortal (Courtyard Theatre), King Arthur, Gaudeamus or a Liberal Education, Anatol, The Icarus Girl (all at the Arcola), Folk (Round Church, Cambridge), A Devilish Exercise (The Rose, London), Slug (Stratford Circus and Shunt), Tell (Hen and Chicken) and 12 productions for the Finborough Theatre as Associate Costume Designer.
For film she designed costumes for the feature films The Scar Crow (Gaia Media, Winner Best Horror/Sci-Fi London Independent Film Festival 2009), Blooded (Magma Pictures), Not Alone (Gaia Media), Hard Shoulder (Oceanstorm Films), Butterflies and Bullets (Zen Imaging) and Amoc (Metto Productions).
She has designed 11 short films and an advert for Adidas Womens Wear.
As a textile artist she worked on Nottingham (Ridley Scott, Universal Pictures) and Clash of the Titans (Louis Leterrier, Warner Bros).
Ben Pacey: Lighting Designer
Ben’s recent lighting design for dance includes Roam and Rise for Tom Dale; Handmade/Manmade for Wired Aerial Theatre (Linbury Studio, Royal Opera House); Play Ball (Traverse Theatre and tour, 2008) and Quick! -the overall winner of the Place Prize 2006 – for Nina Rajarani.
His design for theatre includes A Small Town Anywhere for Coney; The Moon The Moon for Unlimited Theatre; Iris Brunette for Melanie Wilson; The Internationalist for The Gate; It Is Like It Ought To Be – A Pastoral for Uninvited Guests; Frozen, The Birthday Party and After Miss Julie for Theatre by the Lake.
Fresh Glory Productions
Fresh Glory Productions is a theatrical producing company based in London, which produces solo shows as well as co-productions with other theatre companies.
Recent work includes FROZEN by Bryony Lavery (UK tour), CITY WIVES’ CONFEDERACY (with the Lions part, Greenwich Playhouse) and PLAY with The Theatre Chipping Norton which also played Latitude Festival. Productions of UP THE DUFF with York Theatre Royal and LILIES ON THE LAND with the Lions part are in development for 2010.
“The best acting in London… spare, intense, simply staged and brilliantly well-acted throughout” Daily Mail on FROZEN “Very good acting … disturbing and insightful” Time Out on FROZEN- Critics ChoiceShapeshifter: The Company
As two time winners of Peter Brook Empty Space Awards, Shapeshifter has developed a reputation for ambitious productions, in particular major fringe revivals of neglected classics and UK premiers of successful European and American drama. Their productions are defined by a strong physical presence, inventive use of visuals, powerful live and recorded music and have included King Arthur at the Arcola Theatre, Lark Rise to Candleford and Soldiers at the Finborough Theatre (Critic’s Choice in Time Out and The Times).
“A triumphant affirmation” Whatsonstage on LARK RISE “A gripping stimulating evening” The Stage on SOLDIERS “Ten out of ten for atmosphere and slow-burning subtlety” Time Out on KING ARTHUR
The Theatre, Chipping Norton
A two hundred seater theatre, arts centre, and independent cinema, The Theatre Chipping Norton was founded 36 years ago. It has grown from local to regional and national prominence, winning the 2009/10 Stage Newspaper/TMA Award for Special Contribution to Regional Theatre. The Theatre is proud to support a wide range of creative artists and companies, bringing the best art and artists to a small rural community in the Cotswolds.