2015 Archives – KDC Theatre - Central London based amateur theatre group

Romeo/Juliet Director’s Note

Young people have been hit the hardest by the current so-called ‘austerity’ and growing up in a country that doesn’t value you because of your age is bound to have consequences.

Romeo and Juliet, for me, is not a love story. It is a story about passion: love and hate. And, critically, it’s a story of what happens when society creates a moral vacuum that is then exploited by the younger generation.

I believe we are all responsible for our own actions. The young Londoners who are caught up in today’s cycle of gang violence cannot be excused by saying it’s all society’s fault. However, neither can the people who are creating a society that picks on and punishes people just for being young be excused. These people in power – and those who are silently allowing these cuts to happen – cannot be excused either. We are speedily heading towards a society where young people feel like second-class citizens, where they are not valued, where their lives seem worthless. How can this be excused?

This production is set before the next general election in 2020, and tells the tale through the eyes of young people who have lived through today’s austerity cuts. In this world that young people have not created they are left to make painful mistakes that cannot be unwritten.

13 teenagers have been fatally stabbed in London so far in 2015. This is up from 8 in 2014. In London, knife crime is on the increase and over one teenager a month is dying at the end of a knife blade. How can we so silently let this happen? I’ll leave the final word to Akala, a London rapper who speaks brilliantly for this generation:

Get ’em to the point where some are so lost
They actually believe that
If they don’t celebrate killin’ themselves off
That it’s because they’re soft

The Director would like to thank:
Cec, and the staff at the Rosemary Branch Theatre and pub. Kim, Emma, David, Mauro, Caitlin and all on the KDC Committee. Andy Marchant. Nick Edwards and the cast and crew of Breathing Corpses. Katy Treble, Peter Cabrera and the cast and crew of Night Night, Sleep Tight. Carl Fletcher. Mike and the staff at the Hoop and Grapes pub in Farringdon. Chris Gilbert. Kate Moore.

Duncan Moore, November 2015

Romeo / Juliet Cast & Crew Biographies

Romeo / Juliet – 17 – 21 November 2015

Tickets from Rosemary Branch Theatre

Katy Treble – Prologue
Katy has been involved in six KDC productions to date. Since her first performance in 2013 she has ventured into producing and directing (which she would have never thought she would do). She has also starting writing scripts and is now looking to pursue a career in the arts. She very much enjoys a large glass of red wine and talking about herself in the third person.

Joe Burnham – Sampson / Friar John
When not on stage, Joe does everything else he has ever done and will continue to do in his life. You can find him making jam tarts in Tottenham, playing with kittens, nihilistically pondering, and sometimes, when things get wild, having a good wall stare. He works for Sadler’s Wells Theatre in Islington, extolling the virtues of all things dance, and later in November and December you’ll be able to catch Joe dressed up as The Snowman while ice skating around Westfield and waving like a confused Royal to throngs of children. Joe has also never written the word throngs before and was excited to find a context to write it so publicly.

Nimatullah Duman – Gregory / Apothecary
Stage or film, whether minuscule or Hollywood is just another opportunity to express one of the many angles the world has to offer. It’s wonderful to take part in this adaptation of the world’s most famous love story. A student of the Brit school, physical theatre performer in the I-petrolus tour of Switzerland and Round House Circa Columbia curtain raiser I’m happy to return to words. Past Shakespearean roles include Lysander, Lucentio and Romeo.

Shaun Bates – Balthasar
This is Shaun Bates first production with KDC theatre company, his move to London two-years ago has reignited his love for the stage, after a prolonged hiatus from acting. Shaun was heavily involved in drama throughout his entire childhood, his most notable roles have been playing Nathan Detroit in Guys and Dolls, The Wind in Gone With The Wind, Tree #3 in Into the Woods, and his originally scripted performance of a mentally disabled boy dealing with the rejection of his first love. When Shaun isn’t trying his hand at acting, he can be found doing what he truly loves, slinging steaks and red wine to bankers in Hawksmoor, Seven Dials.

Ryan Crotty – Abraham
Ryan is thrilled to be making his London stage debut. A recent graduate of Skidmore College in New York, Ryan’s past roles include Lysander in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and McDuff in Macbeth. Ryan would like to thank the cast and crew of Romeo and Juliet fo being so warm and welcoming.

Neil Bowman – Benvolio
Neil graduated from (or rather, survived) The Poor School in King’s Cross last year. Since then he has appeared on stage in The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, The Habit of Art and the new musical comedy Musical of the Year. He has also played the lead in the short films Daydreamer and None But Myself. As a Geordie, Neil spent his childhood riding the coal truck to school and dreaming of landing a part in the biggest show on TV, Byker Grove.

Keir Mills – Tybalt
This is Keir’s first production with KDC. In 2014 he performed on stage in the ArtsDepot’s production of Mary O’Malley’s Once A Catholic, having previously worked on-screen in the feature films City Rats and Shaun Of The Dead, and in the acclaimed shorts, Honeymoon, The Outcasts and Green Means Stop. Not forgetting TV Shows including Channel 4’s Teachers and Messiah and the usual rounds of The Bill (sadly deceased), Holby City and Casualty amongst others.
Keir Mills maintains he is an actor… when casting agents agree with him.

Wayil Eisa – Capulet
After a recent run of being cast in plays where his characters where either killed, expired from grief, or cast into never ending purgatory after committing suicide, Wayil is overjoyed at finally surviving to the end of the show. Albeit… his only daughter has killed herself, his wife hates him, his nephew’s blood is on the streets and he is about to hauled before the authorities. Phew! So… er… maybe a comedy next time? Please!?!

Sarah Beebe – Lady Capulet
Sarah has spent her most recent experiences on stage honing her skills at evil laughter and general villainy by playing the conniving Don John in SLT’s Much Ado About Nothing, the scheming Mrs Cheveley in KDC’s An Ideal Husband, and a devious Witch in SEDOS’ Macbeth. Although the ever warm and maternal Lady Capulet is a far, far cry from such cunning characters, she has no doubt she will be back to rubbing her hands together in glee forthwith.

Cathy Abbot – Mrs Montague
Cathy joined KDC back in 2000 and has lost count of the number of productions she has been in. Highlights include: Viola in Twelfth Night, Andromache in Troilus and Cressida and The Trojan Women, Simon in Lord of the Flies, Pope Joan in Top Girls, Elizabeth Proctor in The Crucible and most recently, Frances in These Shining Lives.
As Costume Designer she relished the opportunity to work on a production set in the near future. She enjoyed putting her trend prediction skills to use and loved the creative freedom of not being tied down to a particular period of fashion.

Emily Barnes – Mayor Escalus
This is Emily’s fourth outing with KDC having previously appeared as Gertrude in their production of Hamlet in 2013 as well as surviving two rigorous KDC group auditions to make it to the first round of the RSC’s A Play for the Nation national audition. Previously she indulged her love of acting and dressing up in fabulous costumes with East Finchley Youth Theatre and as a longstanding member of The Actors Company in North London. She has been cast in a variety of challenging roles over the years, including; Lady Celia Cane in Her Naked Skin (Lenkiewicz), Bride in Blood Wedding (Lorca), Helena in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Shakespeare), Mephistopheles in Dr Faustus (Marlow), Mary McGinty in Once a Catholic (O’Malley) and Romaine Patterson in The Laramie Project (Kaufman). When she’s not scampering about on stage, she can be found painting and decorating the hair and faces of Essex and North London as a Vintage Hair and Makeup artist.

Ian Green – Paris
Ian is very excited to perform for KDC in his first ever acting role, although he is a keen amateur dancer. At University, he choreographed, performed and competed in many styles including Ballroom, Tango, Salsa, Tap, and Ballet and has had at least one or two lessons in almost every mainstream dance style there is. Outside of dancing, he loves to race Video Games against his mates, and has helped host charity video game “speedrunning” events in the US and Sweden, all under the alias RoboSparkle, which actually comes from his University’s Ballroom club, nicknamed “Team Sparkle” (going full circle!)

Govind Hodgson – Romeo
This is Govind’s 6th year with KDC and subsequently his 6th year writing these profiles in the third person. Govind has been fortunate enough to play a number lead roles with KDC though this role is proving to be a new highlight, with the hopes that he can bring something new to the role whilst retaining some of Romeo’s timeless characteristics/personality traits.

Helen Jackson – Nurse
Hailing from the deep, dark North, Helen knew she was destined for the stage following her first acclaimed theatrical role as ‘Tree in a Forest’ at nursery school. Helen clearly can’t get enough of KDC as this is her 7th (!) KDC production. She has previously appeared in A Clockwork Orange, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Tamer Tamed, Electra, Blood Wedding, and Well Dressed.

Julia Pagett – Juliet
Julia is a recent graduate from Drama Studio London and is currently represented by Inspiration Management. Before attending drama school, she attained a degree in French Studies from the University of Warwick. Julia’s upbringing in Africa, North America, France and the UK has helped define the actress she is today. Her previous credits include performances at The Pleasance Theatre, The Tristan Bates Theatre, The New Diorama, The Criterion, Camden People’s Theatre, The Lion and Unicorn and many more.

Matt Tylianakis – Mercutio
This will be Matt’s second appearance in a KDC production, having played El Fayoumi in Last Days of Judas Iscariot back in 2014. As before he will be left with lingering reminders of his participation – this time in the form of bruises rather than cheap cologne. When not making lewd gestures and cheap innuendos (on and off stage), he is a freelance creative artworker.

Jimi Odell – Friar Laurence
Jimi’s previous roles include: a bumbling solicitor in Dracula; a humble esparto farmer in Blood Wedding; a very clever King in The Apple Cart (all KDC); and a conniving chemist in The Devils (SEDOS). When he’s not pretending to be other people, he can be found hunched over a desk writing scripts, hunched over a guitar playing rocknroll, or hunched over a croissant learning foreign languages. He has a bad back and doesn’t get nearly enough sleep.

Kim Morrison – Producer
Duncan Moore – Director
Karen Gilbert – Assistant Director
Stephanie Urquhart – Stage Manager
Stewart Moore – Set Construction
Cathy Abbot – Costume Designer
Ryan Crotty – Fight Director
Kate Moore – Dance Choreographer
Martin E. Rosso – Lighting and Sound

Night Night, Sleep Tight Biographies

Night Night, Sleep Tight, KDC Theatre’s collection of Twisted Fairytales, is playing at the Barons Court Theatre in Halloween week, 27-31 October. Call 020 8932 4747 to reserve your tickets.

Sharita Oomeer – Siri (The Sorcerer’s App) and Anna (Lock up your Skeletons)
Sharita has performed with a number of London-based theatre companies since 2006, including KDC Theatre and Tower Theatre. Most recently she played Marianne in Moliere’s Tartuffe (2014), Ophelia in Rosencrantz and Guildernstern Are Dead (2014) and she appeared in Alan Bennett’s The Habit of Art (2015). Night Night Sleep Tight is her second show for KDC.

Sophia Speakman – Mary (The Sorcerer’s App) and Ella (Fragile)
Sophia has loved all things drama from an early age and continued to pursue this at University where she studied English and Drama in Cardiff. This is her first play with KDC and she is excited to be playing Cinderella after writing her dissertation on the Disney Princesses and Grimm’s brother’s fairy tales. To prepare for the role of Ella, Sophia has washed her onesies, tidied up her Facebook profile and bought a new dress and heels to ‘get into character’.

Sarah Ratner – Ana (Fragile), Michelle (While you were sleeping) & Rose (Lock up your Skeletons)
A theatre studies and philosophy graduate, Sarah’s most recent shows have included playing Lena and Rosetta in Buchner’s Leonce & Lena; Elmire in an adaption of Moliere’s Tartuffe; Queen Elizabeth in Richard III and Maria in Gogol’s The Government Inspector, which was part of the 2014 Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Whilst studying in Oxford, Sarah was involved in various plays at the Old Fire Station theatre, playing Linda in Blood Brothers and Ilse in A Spring Awakening and was part of the Oxford Playhouse theatre company 16-22. Sarah has also been involved in various short films including an adaption of Closer by Yellow Media Entertainment, playing Alice. Alongside her Bachelor of Arts degree, her training consists of London Actors Workshop, Capital Screen Arts, Actors Studio and Redroofs Theatre School.

Franki Georghiou – Judith (Lock up your skeletons) and Cilla (Fragile)

Henry Williams – Snow White (The Assassination Club) and Jack (Simple Jack)

Stephen Lucas – Lenny (The Assassination Club), Jasper (Fragile) and Blue (Lock up your Skeletons)
Stephen began acting in primary school after one of his teachers noticed that he was “tall enough to fit into a dress”. Following his role as Jack’s mum in Jack and the Bean Stalk, Stephen went on to act in a few of his high school’s productions – playing, for example, the scarecrow in William F. Brown’s The Wiz. It wasn’t until 2015 that Stephen turned his attention back to acting. After attending a fancy dress party dressed as Thor, Stephen became so committed to his character that he refused to return to reality. Stephen’s friends and family became worried about Stephen and brought him to KDC immediately. This is his first production with KDC. He still occasionally reaches out for an imaginary hammer.

Clive Eliot – Mr Ogre (Simple Jack) and The Clown
Clive fell in love acting in 1972 whilst masquerading as an economist in New Zealand. He performed in several plays and even managed a cameo role in Close to Home, a TV One soap. There then followed a fascinating 40 year detour through the “real world” of corporate banking, journalism, TV production and political consultancy, before KDC allowed him to return to his true love as the grizzly Billie in Demolition in Progress in 2011. His more recent roles include: Petronius in The Tamer Tamed (KDC) , Harold in Singles (South London Theatre), Benedict in Rumble (Beyond Theatre) , Sir George Young in Tartuffe (Cockpit Theatre) and Lord Caversham in Ideal Husband (KDC). Production credits include Tartuffe by Moliere (Nomadic Theatrical Productions – Courtyard Theatre – 2014). Clive is relishing bringing to life three quite horrific characters in Night Night, Sleep Tight!

Richard Copperwaite – Christopher (While you were sleeping) and Al (The Sorcerer’s App)
Richard has been performing in amateur dramatics from an early age. In his first performance, he played Ko Ko in Gilbert & Sullivan’s The Mikado with the Essex-based StageAbility Group. He participated in numerous shows with the same group, going on to play Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady and Javert in Les Misérables. At the University of Southampton, he played Ridcully in Terry Pratchett’s Lords and Ladies at the Edinburgh Fringe, and Katurian in Martin McDonagh’s The Pillowman. During a year in California, Richard performed with the Savoyards at Stanford University, as Ruthven Murgatroyd in Ruddigore. Once back in the UK, Richard performed in Dancing at Lughnasa with the Criterion Theatre in Coventry, and Under Milk Wood with the Loft Theatre in Leamington. This is Richard’s first production with KDC Theatre Company, but already he’s thoroughly enjoyed crafting the chilling worlds of Night Night, Sleep Tight, and looks forward to more opportunities with KDC in the future.

Bernard Brennan – Rose Red (The Assassination Club) and Tomas (Fragile)
This is Bernard’s first play since he had parts in some school productions. He has worked as an architect in London since 2012. This is his first production with KDC.

Abby Still – Mrs G (Fragile) and Mums (Simple Jack)

Directors: Peter Cabrera and Katy Treble
Producer: Steph Urquhart
Lighting Designer: Fiona Thomas
Technical Operator: Nicky Chorley
Stage Manager: Katharine Williams

Directors Workshop (actors needed!)

When: Saturday 7 November 1pm – 4pm
Where: Hoop and Grapes, 80 Farringdon Road, EC4A 4BL

Fancy giving directing a bash but not sure where to start? Or maybe you an experienced director looking to brush up you skills and enjoy a jolly theatrical afternoon. Look no further – you’ve found your place.

The workshop will give you a chance to get stuck into directing; looking at how to approach text, make actors do what you want them to and make a play your own. We’ll also cover the terrifying subjects of teching, lighting and promoting your masterpiece.

I am looking for actors and directors – to sign up please complete the online form HERE. Places may be limited due to space!

Any questions drop me (Kim) a line: artistic@kdctheatre.com

Breathing Corpses Cast Biographies

Breathing Corpses opens at Barons Court Theatre on Tuesday 20 October 2015. Call 020 8932 4747 to reserve your tickets. The cast:

Tim Blore – Ben
Tim was a latecomer to this production but since getting involved has loved every minute! This is also not only his first play for KDC but his first since moving to London after taking part in numerous productions at Durham University including (most recently) The Taming of the Shrew, A Clockwork Orange and The Children’s Hour. The cast and production team have been fantastic to work with and are such a talented bunch. Tim hopes this will be the first of many KDC productions for him!

Jill Davy – Elaine
Jill’s new script Science Experiment was recently produced by FOH Theatre Company where she played the snooty, space nerd Earth at the Vaults, Waterloo. She has performed with the Baroque Theatre Company in Sherlock Holmes and The Case of the Christmas Carol, The Haunting of Hill House, Up Pompeii, The Great Santa Kidnap, The 101 Dalmatians and Kindly Leave the Stage. Jill has performed in Italy, Portugal and Spain, toured TIE and Panto as well as appeared at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and Cardiff International Music Theatre Festival.

Matthew Jordan – Ray
This is Matthew’s second play with KDC – having received international acclaim for his role in Dinner. After graduating from Royal Holloway, University of London in 2014, he moved to the big smoke to become a chef and has now followed the natural career progression of a cook by advancing into the world of business consultancy.

James McKendrick – Jim
This is James’s second appearance for KDC following The Arsonists this summer. James also appeared in two productions this year for Woodhouse in The Tempest and Interview, the latter winning the award for best play at the Waltham Forest Festival. Other acting credits include The Acid Test (Jim Bank), Glengarry Glen Ross (Shelley Levene), Largo Desolato (Leopold Nettles) and Separate Tables (John Malcolm). He has directed Two and Bed for Woodhouse and Road and Mary Queen of Scots Got Her Head Chopped Off for Network Theatre. He has also performed at the Edinburgh, Brighton and Prague Fringe Festivals and in productions that transferred to the Orange Tree Theatre and Riverside Studios

Nick Mouton – Charlie
Nick is delighted to be back in the cozy confines of Barons Court Theatre for another KDC Winter season. Other Barons Court encounters include, as an actor, The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, A Clockwork Orange, Picasso at the Lapin Agile, Red Noses (KDC); Bouncers, Popcorn (Basement Bodies). As a writer, Cab Ride (KDC). As a Director, One Night Hire (So It Goes Theatre). Other encounters while at the venue include being threatened with a sword by a mental Geordie and sleeping in the pub’s freezer, but that’s a whole different bunch of stories for another time. @NickMouton

Diana Pauline – Kate
A newcomer to KDC, Diana is very excited to perform in Breathing Corpses as her first stage experience in London since moving here five years ago from Los Angeles. With her acting background found mostly in film, living in England has increased her passion and inspiration for theatre and is looking forward to being involved in many more stage productions to come.

Lisa Stewart – Amy
This is Lisa’s 2nd play for KDC, her last coming more than a decade ago. She is delighted to be getting back on stage after such a long hiatus.

Autumn 2015 posters

The show posters are now available to download for this season. Please print them out and let people know! All in PDF format.

Breathing Corpses
Night Night, Sleep Tight
Romeo & Juliet

Romeo & Juliet Cast List

Congratulations to the cast of Romeo & Juliet, showing at the Rosemary Branch Theatre from 17 to 21 November 2015:

Katy Treble – Prologue
Joe Burnham – Sampson / Friar John
Nimatullah Duman – Gregory / Apothecary
Shaun Bates – Balthasar
Ryan Crotty – Abraham
Neil Bowman – Benvolio
Keir Mills – Tybalt
Wayil Eisa – Lord Capulet
Sarah Beebe – Lady Capulet
Cathy Abbott – Mrs Montague
Emily Barnes – Mayor Escalus
Govind Hodgson – Romeo
Ian Green – Paris
Helen Jackson – Nurse
Julia Pagett – Juliet
Matt Tylianakis – Mercutio
Jimi Odell – Friar Laurence

Night Night, Sleep Tight Background

Night Night Sleep Tight continues KDC Theatre’s tradition of staging original plays in an innovative and creative manner which provide opportunities for aspiring amateur actors, directors, writers and technicians in London to produce exciting and challenging new work.

A series of six short plays, Night Night Sleep Tight draws on traditional fairy tales and folk stories (amongst them, Jack and the Beanstalk, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves and Bluebeard’s Castle) and twists these much-loved tales to create a disturbing fantasy world of dark dreams and nightmares using London as the backdrop for an evening of chills and spooky fun.

Night Night Sleep Tight is a great example of the kind of theatre work for which KDC is well-known and originated in an audition session for a previous series of Halloween shows, where auditionees were set the challenge of improvising creepy versions of traditional fairy tales. Those audition sessions produced some genuinely eerie and unnerving performances and were the inspiration for the Night Night Sleep Tight project. Continuing KDC’s tradition of supporting aspiring (and established) playwrights in London, we commissioned a series of new short plays based on well-known fairy tales and received dozens of submissions before whittling these down to the six plays to be performed.

The six plays are: The Sorcerers App by Frances Bushe (based on The Sorcerers Apprentice), The Assassination Club by Julia Collier (based on Snow White and Rose Red), Blue Blood by Susan Grey (Based on Bluebeard’s Castle), While You Were Sleeping by Beth Crane (based on Sleeping Beauty), Fragile by Kate Moore (based on Cinderella) and Simple Jack by Alan Maddrell (based on Jack and The Beanstalk).

The plays will be directed by Katy Treble and Peter Cabrera who have both worked with KDC extensively before though this will be the first time either has directed for the company. Night Night Sleep Tight will be performed at Baron’s Court Theatre from Tuesday 27 October until Saturday 31 October 2015.

Night Night Sleep Tight is an original KDC production.

Directors Spring 2016

We are seeking directors for the Spring 2016 season (venue tbc). We are staging three weeks, auditioning in early January and performing in the weeks commencing 14, 21 and 28 March:

One full-length play (one director)
Two one-act new writing pieces (two directors)
A collection of shorter pieces (two+ directors)

You can pitch anything. We are handing over our Spring Season to our wonderful members; we want to hear your craziest, most whimsical ideas – tell us what you really want to see. Whether you have a fully fledged plan or a twinkle of an idea get in touch and we’ll help you work it out.

KDC generally prefers to put on plays with 8 characters or more to give more of our talented actors parts but please don’t let that put you off – we are looking at ways to work different types of plays into our season and would like to hear all kinds of pitches.

If you don’t have an idea to pitch… Fine! We have lots… we can make some suggestions – you just need to be keen.

You don’t have the time to direct a full play… No problem – for Spring Season we are looking at putting on a series of short plays directed by different directors so you can enjoy the buzz of creating without the task of creating 2 plus hours of magic.

You’d like to give it a go but I have never directed before… Perfect – we are looking for people exactly like you! We have plenty of small projects for you to cut your teeth on and a whole bunch of talented and friendly people to help you every step of the way.

In the first instance contact our Artistic Director, Kim Morrison, an email by Sunday 4 October introducing yourself. We’ll go from there.