Ami Sawran (Hamlet)
This is Ami’s first Shakespearean role, and her third role with KDC Theatre this year, after playing Steve in Stag Nation and the title role in Electra over the spring and summer seasons. When she’s not acting, Ami works as a vet and teaches at the Royal Veterinary College, and co-edits Reprobait magazine. You can follow her on Twitter @ayemiy.
Ava Pickett (Ophelia)
This is Ava’s first production with KDC. She has previously been in productions of Judgment Day and Macbeth and will be appearing in a production of Titus Andronicus at Middlesex University, where she is currently in her second year studying theatre arts. Ava hopes to complete a masters following her degree and to continue working in both professional and amateur theatre.
Elliott Bornemann (Horatio)
This is Elliott’s first production with KDC theatre and he can find no better way to start. Elliott trained in the European Theatre Arts course at Rose Bruford College gaining a unique training looking into many modes of theatre practice from countries such as Poland, Spain, Italy, Germany and the UK. As part of his training he spent three months at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre in which he received an intensive training in the practices of Konstatin Stanislavski and Michael Chekhov. After his training Elliott took straight to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival with fellow graduates to perform an original show The Portrait Firm. Now back in London Elliott is keen to gain as much acting experience as possible.
Terry Scotchmer (Laertes)
This is Terry’s first production with KDC. He started acting two years ago and in May of this year finished a 1 year acting programme at The Brian Timoney Actors Studio. Previous stage work includes John from After Miss Julie, Lyle Britton from A Blues For Mister Charlie and Brick Pollitt from Cat On A Hot Tin Roof. At the Transcend Festival in St Giles this summer he played Half Hanged Smith in a play called A Kind Bowl.
Martin Shaw (Claudius)
Martin studied Drama at Liverpool University and has since worked with several Theatre Companies around the country. Recent productions include KDC’s Summers Gone, Our Country’s Good with South London Theatre and David Copperfield at the Minack Theatre, Cornwall. This is his second Shakespearean performance of the year. He played Tranio in the Tower Theatre’s production of Taming of the Shrew which was performed both in London and on tour in Paris. He is looking forward to playing one of Shakespeare’s true villains as he is usually cast as the lovable rogue with a dodgy Northern accent.
Emily Barnes (Gertrude)
This is Emily’s second appearance with KDC and she is really enjoying tackling the complex role of Gertrude. Previously she spent 6 years with East Finchley Youth theatre before heading off to study Theatre at university. Since then she has completed an intensive course on acting for film and television and been a longstanding member of The Actors Company in North London. Within that Company she has been cast in a variety of challenging roles such as Bride in Blood Wedding (Lorca), Helena in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Shakespeare), Mephistopheles in Dr Faustus (Marlow) and Romaine Patterson in The Laramie Project, as well as performing in various group devised productions. She has also performed as Mrs Peignoir in a production of Faulty Towers in Essex and appeared in various short films including a lead role for a film at The London Film School.
Duncan Moore (Polonius)
Duncan has worked on a number of productions with KDC since 2000. His last onstage performance was in The Merchant of Venice in 2007. After The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, Duncan is planning on taking another break from acting and will return to his other KDC roles that he loves.
Stephen Russell (Ghost/Player King)
Stephen has been a regular on the London stage for almost 20 years. He has played the leads in Don Juan in Soho, Breaking the Code (as Alan Turing) and Journey’s End, and has recently returned from an acclaimed run as John Major and Tony Blair in KDC and Asterion Theatre’s War of the Waleses at the Edinburgh Festival. He has appeared in several Shakespeare plays, including as multiple Oberons, Edmund the Bastard and a last-minute engagement as Laertes at the Edinburgh fringe in 2010, for which he squeezed in just one rehearsal and managed to break Hamlet’s sword in the duel. He is probably much safer as a ghost.
Kate Moore (Marcellus/Player Queen)
Kate has been performing with KDC for nine years and comes to Hamlet fresh from performing in the summer season in Electra. Her previous roles include Beatrice-Joanna in The Changeling, Bartley in The Cripple of Inishmaan and Florrie in KDC’s inaugural Halloween production of Dracula. Shakespearean roles include Paulina in The Winter’s Tale, Trinculo in The Tempest, Margaret in Much Ado About Nothing and Macduff’s Child in the Scottish play. She hopes you manage to enjoy the show, despite the tragedy.
Peri Linklater-Jones (Bernardo/Rosencrantz/First Gravedigger)
Peri studied Theatre and Fine Art at York St. John university before moving to London to train as an actress at London Drama School. During her time at London Drama School she performed in Don’t Stop Occupy a video short highlighting issues surrounding London’s Occupy movement, filmed on the steps of St. Paul’s Cathedral. In May 2013 she appeared in her first full length production, The Winter’s Tale and since has developed an appetite for Shakespeare. Hamlet is Peri’s first production with KDC.
Emma Chapman (Francisco/Guildenstern/Second Gravedigger)
Emma is making her KDC Theatre debut in Hamlet, and is enjoying bringing several different characters to life. Having recently completed her English Literature degree she wanted to take part in theatre outside of university and is pleased to have found such a friendly group of people to work with. She hopes to move to London in the near future in order to make the most of all the theatrical opportunities that are on offer.
Christopher O’Dea (Priest/Osric/Lucianus/Messenger/Gentleman)
This is Christopher’s first performance for KDC. His previous work includes some independent devised film, stage and audio drama productions. He also performed a variety of roles alongside the cast for the dramatist Howard Barker’s latest play The Forty, a series of short dramatic vignettes which premiered in 2012 in Aberystwyth, Wales. He studied at Aberystwyth University, where he gained a degree in English Literature with Drama and Theatre Studies before moving on to the London-based amateur dramatic circuit.
Kat Wootton (Director)
Kat Wootton is thrilled to be directing her favourite play, Hamlet. Her other work with KDC includes directing Stag Nation, a KDC production taken to the Camden Fringe, and she also directed the Christopher Durang comedy Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You. Her film work includes directing and performing in independent short films, most recently Rehearsal Space, and over the summer she filmed and performed in the youtube series Alternative Dating.
Rachel Nwokoro (Assistant Director)
This is Rachel’s first time working with KDC and couldn’t happier that she started off on the team of such an exciting and challenging production. Rachel has directed a number of successful productions in the past (The Duchess of Malfi, The Crucible and a self-written play Keep it Casual), though her first and true love lies in acting. She has performed in several theatres in the West End and has appeared on a show on Nickelodeon. Rachel studied Natural Sciences at Durham University but left to pursue her passion in a career in the arts, and is currently applying to drama school.
Sara Palmieri (Set Designer)
Sara Palmieri is proud to be the Set Designer of the play Hamlet, a KDC production Directed by Katherine Wootton. She studied Scenography at the Academy of Fine Arts in her hometown (Foggia, Italy) and now she based in London. She worked as Scenographer, Costume Designer, Makeup Designer, Puppet Maker, Actress and Singer for the short film Scie Written and Directed by Renato Lori. She designed and built the scenes for the 8th, 9th and 10th editions of the Independent Film Festival in Foggia. She was selected for the Premio Nazionale delle Arti at the Brera Academy in Milan, and for the respective exhibition with a work about A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Her portfolio can be seen here: http://sarapalmieri.tumblr.com/
Rocio (Costume Design)
Rocio studied fine arts in Sevilla and Italy, where she discovered her passion for the theatre, doing her first costume design for A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Her work also includes design for Plauto’s The Twins, a roman comedy, and of Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm’s The Magic Table. Rocio is now based in London and enjoying its many possibilities.
Lindsay Royan (Fight Coordinator)
Lindsay has directed fights for a number of Shakespeare’s plays, including ‘Romeo and Juliet’, ‘Taming of the Shrew’, ‘As You Like It’, ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’, ‘Julius Caesar’, ‘Macbeth’ and, of course, ‘Hamlet’. She has worked on other productions from a musical version of ‘Beowulf’ to modern plays such as ‘Her Naked Skin’ and ‘Brighton Beach Scumbags’. Depending on the production, she has worked with all sorts of weapons from swords and shields to fans, the latter being for an atmospheric open-air show on the ramparts of a Spanish castle.