KDC, Author at KDC Theatre - Central London based amateur theatre group

Casual Encounters Cast Biographies

Terry Scotchmer – James
Terry 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. Terry is a lazy actor and couldn’t be bothered to write a fresh bio. He’s super excited about doing his Method research into swinging, and already has several profiles up in the dodgier corners of the internet. Nudge nudge wink wink ladies. Or gentlemen. Whatever.

Kat Wootton – Jennifer
Kat Wootton, most recently a director with KDC (Hamlet, Stag Nation, Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You), is returning to her acting roots in Casual Encounters. She works in television production, writes and directs films, occasionally writes freelance, and practices Hapkido. And no, she has never read or answered a ‘casual encounters’ ad.
Not deliberately, anyway.

Kim Morrison – Annette
After a few years hanging around the dark edges of KDC, persuading innocent people to drink, attend social gatherings with puns in the title and take part in devised theatre, Kim thought it was high time she actually auditioned for a KDC show. Much to her delight she found the process simply thrilling and now understands why everybody does it.
Kim really likes the theatre, she has been in quite a few plays and has directed some too. She has even managed the stage and on occasion switched lights on and off.
By day she is a desk monkey and project manager for an education charity, she would love to pursue her dreams but she isn’t too sure what they are just yet, she will happily accept your suggestions on the back of a postcard.

Graeme Thompson – Peter
Graeme first found theatre whilst a juvenile, as a means of channeling latent aggression. Upon release from borstal, it has continued to prove a useful tool to maintain the straight and narrow. Taking on the role of Peter in Casual Encounters therefore has added significance for Graeme and his preference for the method school of acting. He us now wanted in three counties, and if seen, should be considered dangerous and not approached.

Nick Edwards – DC Cook
This is Nick’s 13th play in the last 6 years, with favourite roles including Mickey in Blood Brothers, Benjamin in The Graduate, Ruben in Bones and Tristram in Taking Steps. By day he is a maths teacher and tries to inject as much of his acting life into his lessons as possible every day! Nick couldn’t resist the opportunity to get involved with a play of such… ahem… interesting subject matter and is looking forward to getting back on stage following trying his hand at assistant directing, at KDC’s sell-out run of Blood Wedding this spring.

Manger A Trois Cast Biographies

BUY TICKETS

Cameron K McEwan
Cameron was fortunate to be part of a rehearsed reading performance of this play back in April and is delighted to be back in the same role for KDC. He started acting last year with his debut taking place at the RSC Dell in Stratford-upon-Avon as Feste in Twelfth Night and then going on to perform in a two-hander, Who Are You Supposed To Be?, at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival (which then transferred to London later in 2013).

Gemma-May Bowles
This is Gemma’s first production with KDC theatre. She trained at the Bridge Theatre Training Company and has professional experience in screen acting, voiceover, corporate role play and TIE. Her previous theatre credits include: Maggie Hobson Hobson’s Choice, Claire Zachanassian The Visit, Helena A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Lucy (and other comedy roles) Dracula – Fangs of Destiny and Oliver Simply Dickens.

William Baltyn
William is a regular KDC actor, having most recently appeared in What the Dickens? for Halloween. Prior to this, he played Prince Charles in The War of the Waleses in London , Stratford and at the Edinburgh Fringe. Other roles have included Konstantin Levin in Anna Karenina and a surprising number of nameless parts such as Father, Interviewer, Priest, Narrator and Zookeeper. He is relieved to be doing so again.

Tech & Backstage Opportunities

We are looking for some enthusiastic and reliable people to join the crews of our summer season shows as listed below. Please contact Fiona or Dave at tech@kdctheatre.com if you are interested in any of the roles or for more details about any of the roles. Although it is preferable if you have some experience, if you don’t please do still contact us as we do offer some mentoring so you can learn on the job.

New Writing Double Bill – 17-21 June
Casual Encounters & Manger A Trois (The Dinner Party)

Stage Manager
Lighting Designer
Lighting & Sound Operator

Twelfth Night – 24-28 June

Set designer (we won’t be having anything particularly elaborate in terms of set, but anyone for an eye with this sort of thing would be very welcome!)
Composer (we would like to put some of the songs to 50s tunes)
Sound Designer/Operator (we are looking to have lots of background sound e.g. the sea, as well as 50s songs)
Lighting Designer
Lighting Operator
Costume Manager
Props Manager (would include helping to get hold of props)

Halloween and Winter Season Pitches 2014

When: Pitches need to be received by 26th May
Contact: If have any questions please get in touch with our Artistic Director

The seeds of summer are now planted after a fantastic week of auditions, and as these shows now bloom, we find ourselves looking to see what winter holds for all of us at KDC… and what a send off for 2014 we have!

There are FOUR slots open to close the year with, and two fantastic venues at our disposal.

HALLOWEEN 2014
Lion and Unicorn Theatre w/c 27 October

Following the success of “Dracula”, and last year’s mega event “What The Dickens?”, we are looking to continue our tradition of Ghost stories to be played out in the week of Halloween. If you have a play to pitch that might be a fantastically twisted tale of horror, or an unnerving voyage into the supernatural, then by all means get in touch.

REVOLUTIONARY WEEK
Lion and Unicorn Theatre w/c 3 November

Remember, remember the 5th of November, gunpowder, treason and plot! Our second week in the Lion and Unicorn gives us the opportunity to put on a play about rebellion, revolt, or upsetting the status quo in whatever way. This doesn’t have to be political. It doesn’t have to be bloody. It just has to be rebellious and defiant!

WINTER SEASON 2014
Barons Court w/c 17 and 24 November

We return to an old favourite, the Barons Court, for our last two weeks of the year. There are no specific criteria for these shows outside of those that are detailed below. Just come to us with some brilliant pitches that we can end the year on

What we need from YOU:

You may just want to pitch one show… that is fair enough, if there is only one that you want to focus on, HOWEVER, we are willing to hear as many as three pitches per potential director, so if you have a few ideas you want to float with us, please do. There are some things we ask you to consider though:

1) How do you imagine your show looking? Think about the size of a stage in comparison to what you have in mind?

2) Cast size – We like to make sure we give our members as many opportunities to perform as possible. Ideally plays with 8-14 roles are good – 7 is an absolute minimum unfortunately – anything north of 15 might be hard to fit backstage

3) Cast ratio – We like to present as many roles for male and female actors equally as much as possible, and to that end, we try to find a balance in the roles. If the play has 9 men and 1 woman, it wouldn’t be something we could consider… If some of those male roles are not gender specific, it might be.

Pitches need to be in by Monday 26th May and the Artistic Director and Chair will hear them in the last week in May.

KDC Committee Meeting – 15 May 2014

Where: The Hoop and Grapes, 80 Farringdon Street, London EC4A 4BL (2 minutes from Blackfriars tube)
Time: 7pm

Contact: If you’d like to come along or have any questions please get in touch with chair@kdctheatre.com

We rely on our members to keep KDC running and in particular, the very lovely committee. If you think you might like to join our merry gang then come along to the next committee meeting to find out more about how we work. Open to all and we’re always receptive to good ideas!

Round Table Readings – 6 May 2014

Our next Round Table Reading is again at the Hoop and Grapes, Farringdon.

This week we have three plays to read, details below. It’s free to attend and you can read, listen and give feedback about the plays.

THE CLUB
By MATTHEW PARTRIDGE

Tabloid columnist Alex is at war with the modern world. However, he’s in love with shallow TV presenter Celia, while’s she’s pursued by other men. A confrontation with one of them, the failed actor Grant Hughes, causes events to spiral out of control.

WHAT’s YOUR POINT GRANDAD?
by EDDIE COLEMAN

Talking with his grandson, Jim has a flashback to a time in the past when he made a life changing decision.

FISH BOWL
by SUSAN GRAY

A couple have been selected to by a corporation to bring up a child in dystopian world. But when they start to ask questions, things start to go wrong.

Halloween Writing Project 2014

KDC are gearing up to follow the success of our What the Dickens new writing project from 2012 with a NEW challenge in 2014. For this year’s Halloween season, our new writing challenge is to take a comfortably familiar bedtime story, and turn it into more of a modern, slightly grim, slight gritty campfire horror urban legend. Instead of getting lost in the wood, little girls in hoods get lost on the tube. Instead of abandoned cottages in the forest, there is the only flat in the creepy estate with a light on. “Once upon a time, far far away” becomes “Tonight, just round the corner from you, on that street you don’t risk walking down too late”.

So far, we’ve authors working away on Rumpelstiltskin, Snow White, Jack and the Beanstalk, Hansel and Gretel, Cinderella and Little Red Riding Hood. But we want more!

It won’t cost anything to submit. You don’t need to have written loads of plays before. If you want some help along the way, we can provide that. In 2013, the Dickens plays got the chance to be performed as our Halloween show. Who knows, this time next year, it might be this! And YOU have the chance to be a part of that.

How it works

1) If you’re interested contact our new writing co-ordinator, Matthew, or our Artistic Director, Andy.

2) When you contact us, you can either suggest a story you’d like to play with, or if you are open, we will give you one to play with!

3) Scripts don’t have to be long at all. We would like each one to be around the 10 – 15 minute mark. 20 minutes is ok. 25 is pushing it. 30 is the maximum really (but if you’re taking more than 30 minutes to retell Snow White, you probably have too many songs or animals doing the washing up as it is

So get in touch, and let’s huff and puff and blow this Halloween away!

New Writing Double Bill – Cast

17 – 21 June – Rosemary Branch Theatre, Shoreditch

Casual Encounters by Andy Moseley – directed by Carl Fletcher

‘Casual Encounters’ is a comedy about a middle-aged couple and their ill-fated attempt to spice up their ailing marriage by having an evening of casual sex with new partners.

James and Jennifer have been seeing a marriage counsellor, when she tells them they should try something new, James decides this can only mean one thing – wife-swapping. Not that he’d want the neighbours to know, and to keep his new hobby a secret he’s been trawling the internet to find a suitable couple for their first casual encounter.

What he and Jennifer haven’t realised is that not everyone tells the truth online. When Peter and Annette arrive, they find this out as it becomes clear that wife swapping is simply a front to get into the house. Their actual intentions are something altogether different and darker, and they know that James and Jennifer’s embarrassment at what the neighbours might think means they are powerless to stop them.

With James and Jennifer cornered in a perfect trap, one thing is certain, their marriage will never be the same again…

James – Terry Scotchmer
Jennifer – Kat Wootton
Peter – Graeme Thompson
Annette – Kim Morrison
DC Cook – Nick Edwards

Manger A Trois (The Dinner Party) by Doc Watson – directed by Caitlin Homes

This dark comedy opens as a prominent couple in the food and restaurant world, Him and Her, await the arrival of her ex-partner (He) to dinner. It will be the first time that Her and He have seen each other since their separation ten years ago.

It is also the night before the opening of He’s latest restaurant.

While Her and He are initially curious to see what has become of each other underneath the public success of their careers, Him is unhappy to have to put up with their reunion and acts to sabotage the gathering.

Their tangle of professional and personal rivalries are played out through the evening, with each course being accompanied by cutting conversation and biting revelations.

As they tussle for the continuously changing balance of power, they find out more than they bargained for: regret, jealousy and revenge are only some of the dishes served up on a platter.

HIM – Cameron K McEwan
HER – Gemma-May Bowles
HE – William Baltyn

Twelfth Night – Cast

24 – 28 June – Rosemary Branch Theatre, Shoreditch
Directed by Alex Hedges
with original rock-and-roll songs composed by Yaron Hollander

Twelfth Night is one of Shakespeare’s best-loved comedies. This version will be set at the English seaside, in the 1950s. To a backdrop of rock-and-roll music, the production will explore the atmosphere of a country emerging from the dark shadow of two world wars, with a focus on the change and continuity in the position of women in this period.

At the start of the play, a young man named Orsino sits on the beach listening to Elvis and fantasising about the beautiful Olivia, who has turned from all men ever since losing both her father and brother in the war. Meanwhile, Festa (Olivia’s cousin) returns to the town after many years, bringing with her her friend Viola who, like Olivia, is mourning the loss of her twin brother, Sebastian, who went missing in the war. When Festa tells Viola that an attractive, single young man (Orsino) lives in the town, Viola decides to go and meet him. She decides to go disguised as a man, hoping that this will be an easier way to get to know him.

Viola, dressed as the boy Cesario, becomes a favourite with Orsino and finds herself falling in love with him. Orsino makes Cesario his wing-man, sending her/him to speak to Olivia on his behalf. Olivia instantly falls in love with Cesario. A love-triangle ensues: Viola loves Orsino, Orsino loves Olivia, and Olivia loves Cesario!

Viola – Amy Wackett
Festa – Cindy Ma
Maria – Ayryn Jones
Olivia – Jasmin Hinds
Malvolio – Doug Baker
Toby Belch – Bernard O’Sullivan
Andrew Aguecheek – Olli Marshall
Orsino – Greg Robins
Sebastian – James Saunders
Antonio – Hassan Govia

New Writing Double Bill – 17-21 June Casual Encounters & Manger A Trois (The Dinner Party)

Twelfth Night – 24-28 June

HALLOWEEN 2014 Lion and Unicorn Theatre w/c 27 October

REVOLUTIONARY WEEK Lion and Unicorn Theatre w/c 3 November

WINTER SEASON 2014 Barons Court w/c 17 and 24 November