Dracula – Cast Biographies

Alan Maddrell (Dracula)

Alan’s last acting stint with KDC was in The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, playing another bad egg. Since then he’s been exercising his despotic tendencies by directing Ubu Rex and co-writing The War of the Waleses. Only with other companies do they let him play nice people, like St Peter in The Last Days of Judas Iscariot with Sedos and loads of other stuff. Who cares what I’ve done, really? Here’s a recipe for salad dressing instead: ground nut oil, salt, pepper, crushed garlic, lemon juice. Not suitable for vampires.

Jimi Odell (Jonathan Harker)

Jimi spent his innocent years performing with The St Albans Youth Music Theatre where he learnt to crack his knuckles, knit a scarf, and hide behind synchronised dancers. Now in his wild years, he can be found singing and playing guitar in rock ‘n’ roll band The Red Zoids and acoustic covers collective The Ja Danketies. A scriptwriter and occasional online columnist, he has written articles as diverse as “The Top Twelve Non-Existent Sequels” and “How To Get Rid of a Badger”. Dracula is his first outing with KDC.

William Baltyn (Dr Arthur Seward)

This is William’s sixth show in London since moving here what seems like only a month ago.  When not defying time and space, he has recently played Prince Charles in The War of the Waleses and Konstantin Levin in Anna Karenina.  He is also working on a short film about Doctor Who.

Chris Stooke (Professor Van Helsing)

Chris was a stage regular in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Acting roles included Dad in Ernie’s Incredible Illucinations , Pozzo in Waiting for Godot, Rev Parris in The Crucible and Palamede in Marriage à la Mode (all Durham Unversity Theatre), various productions with Crates improvised theatre group, Harold in Spring and Port Wine (South London Theatre), The Tree in The Singing Ringing Tree (Various London Parks) and Buttons in Cinderella (Zurich Comedy Club). He also directed two productions, Dear Brutus and British Backs Against The Wall, at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and ran the musical programme at the inaugural London International Festival of Theatre. After taking a break for around 25 years to pursue other interests, he returned as Frederick in Enchanted April and Governor Philip/John Wisehammer in Our Country’s Good, both at South London Theatre. This is his KDC debut.

Marcus Mollan (Renfield)

Although Dracula is his first show for a couple of years, Marcus first trod the KDC boards way back in 2000.  His debut was as the title character in Synge’s Playboy of the Western World, and as a man who grew up a few miles (and a few years) away from Bram Stoker in Dublin it is nice to be doing something  Irish(ish) again.  Sadly, Marcus’s years in England have taken their toll on his Rs and he regularly has to remind himself that Dracula was written by Bram Stoker, not Bram Stokah.   As well as acting, Marcus was also KDC Treasurah for a number of years, retiring from this role (coincidentally) shortly before the global financial system blew up.

Mark Ewins (Drinkwater)

Mark has been in several KDC shows and is excited to be playing this diverse range of roles. Well known within the industry for his characterisation of accents, Mark has been working tirelessly to extend his repertoire. No rock has been left unturned but some questions still remain; what does Qwerty prefer… breast or leg, and what is Drinkwater really thinking? Enjoy.

Anna Marx (Mina Westerman)

Anna is batty about amdram and has been dying to sink her teeth into this dark play for centuries. She’s really stuck her neck out to get some vampire puns into this but she may have bitten off more than she can chew. Which sucks. But that’s no reflection on her acting skills. She hopes you enjoy the show as her reputation is at stake. No coffin’, please.

Catherine Kolubayev (Lucy Westerman)

This is Catherine’s first production with KDC. A graduate of LAMDA, she has performed in numerous stage and screen productions, including a short film that was nominated and screened at The Raindance Film Festival. She makes her television debut later this year in Downton Abbey’s Christmas special on ITV and will soon start rehearsals for the Fourth Monkey Theatre Company’s Edinburgh Fringe and London seasons. As a writer, Catherine’s play Snapshot was performed at the Soho Theatre after winning a young writers’ competition.

Kate Moore (Florrie)

Kate has actually now lost count of how many productions she’s been involved with with KDC, but suffice to say she’s into double figures. Previous roles include Beatrice Joanna in The Changeling, Natalie in Disappeared, Dr Brodsky in A Clockwork Orange, Paulina in The Winter’s Tale and Bartley McCormick in The Cripple of Inishmaan.

Su Vigus (Nurse Grice/Nurse Nisbett)

Su came to acting a few years ago through singing in amateur opera productions, and later studied acting at the London Centre for Theatre Studies and City Lit. Previous roles include Lucetta in The Two Gentlemen of Verona with the Cheltenham Rococo Players, Puck in Sedos’s office-based setting of A Midsummer Night’s Dream and a priest in Murder in the Cathedral with CP Theatre Productions. Playing five different roles in Dracula has been an entertaining challenge.

Fiona Thomas (Nurse Doyle)

Fiona joined KDC Theatre as an ASM for Duncan’s production of Much Ado About Nothing in 2008 and happily joins his team again. She has directed, designed and operated lighting and sound, stage managed and occasionally acted for several theatre companies in London. She has worked on shows for the Edinburgh Fringe and Camden Fringe. She is currently Technical Director for KDC Theatre.

What the Dickens! Part Two

This Thursday, 25 October, at Ocean House, between Little Trinity Lane and Huggin Hill, City of London, sees the second of this season’s special Ghost Stories, written and read by KDC, and adapted from the great Charles Dickens. Dickens was fascinated with the ghostly and the spiritual, and to celebrate that, and our FIRST EVER Halloween season, we would like to invite you to enjoy some ghoulish tales.

As the evenings draw in and Hallow’een approaches, what better way to celebrate the season and the coming of KDC’s Dracula than by pulling up a chair in a disused building and listening to spooky takes of spectral visitations newly-penned by the ink-stained fingers of our shivering scribes and read by some of KDC’s most sinister voices.

This week’s brand new plays are:

The Goblins Who Stole a Sexton, by Mary Groom
The Lawyer and the Ghost, by Amy Bird
The Signalman, by Julia Collier
Sir Simon of Beverly Hills, by Kathy Petrakis
The Chimes, by Sarah Heenan

The readings will be from 7pm at Ocean House. We will be haunting the 1st floor. Please feel free to bring food and drink to add to your enjoyment of the occasion, plastic cups and some Victorian vittles will be provided!

Come and enjoy an evening with friends and come to enjoy the first ever readings of some new work.

KDC Halloween Spooktacular Haunt

Friday 2 November, from 8pm at Hoop & Grapes, Farringdon Street.

Our name is KDC,
We bid you welcome
To the night of the dead
And the heart of the Autumn.

We’re having a party
You’re in for a scare
It’s a Halloween bash
So dress up if you dare!

A beverage awaits
For those that are willing
To dress to impress
The cocktails are killing!

But beware the red wine
It is old, however,
Take a sip from the cup
And you’ll live forever!!!!

We’re dying to hear from you…

What the Dickens! Part One

“It has an awful voice, that wind at Midnight…Heaven preserve us, sitting snugly round the fire!”

What the Dickens New-Writing Project

This Thursday, 18 October, at the Hoop and Grapes sees the FIRST of this season’s special Ghost Stories, written and read by KDC, and adapted from the great Charles Dickens.

Dickens was fascinated with the ghostly and the spiritual, and to celebrate that, and our FIRST EVER Halloween season, we would like to invite you to enjoy some ghoulish tales.

As the evenings draw in and Hallow’een approaches, what better way to celebrate the season and the coming of KDC’s Dracula than by pulling up a chair in a City of London hostelry and listening to spooky takes of spectral visitations newly-penned by the ink-stained fingers of our shivering scribes and read by some of KDC’s most sinister voices.

The readings will be from 7pm at The Hoop & Grapes. Come and enjoy an evening with a drink and friends and come to enjoy the first ever readings of some new work!

Pitches for Spring 2013

This is the month for you to put your directing minds, if you are so inclined, towards launching KDC Theatre into next year with some suggestions for our 2013 Spring Season.

We will be returning to our friends in Kentish Town at the Lion and Unicorn on weeks beginning 25th March, 1st April and 9th April, so as with last Spring, will be presenting THREE WEEKS of exciting and engaging shows. What are these shows you may ask? Well… right now that is up to you! We need YOU, our membership, to pitch to us!

If you have directed or produced or acted or stage managed for us before, we want to hear from you! If you have directed for one of our sister theatre companies like SLT, Tower, or SEDOS, we want to hear from you! If you’re interested in directing but want to build up some experience and attach yourself to the shows we choose, we want to hear from you!

Last Spring we embraced the Shakespearean. In Summer we went into the one act fringe world. This winter we are being seasonal. This is what we are looking for for our Spring Season:

1)      A classic play with a broad range of roles. Something established that can really bring in that sense of cast community that KDC loves to embrace. Something Greek with a chorus perhaps? Or a contemporary of Shakespeare? A hint of the fancy with something along the lines of Moliere, Goldsmith or Sheridan? Perhaps something from Oscar Wilde’s era takes your fancy?

2)      Directors for our new writing. We will be having readings this season of some of our work, as well as having plays already in our new writing bank on offer. Please email us to express an interest in this and we will send you further details of what’s in the bank.

3)      A KDC Spotlight. A cast of UP TO  four to really showcase our actors and directors with a smaller cast and a tighter focus. Last winter, Vic Craven brought us his extremely funny production of Talking Heads and this Summer we had Caryl Churchill’s two-hander A Number. So it could be a four person play, or it could be a series of monologues like Bash, or even something as intense as Waiting for Godot (rights permitting!)

The pitches are open NOW and will CLOSE ON SUNDAY 4th NOVEMBER.

We encourage our pitchers to come up with 2/3 options that we can consider, but the process is open to all. If you are interested, please drop me a line at chair@kdctheatre.com.

We hope to hear from you soon.