Photo: Pattie Boyd
I trained at the Questors Theatre, Ealing under the wonderful Alfred Emmet. After graduating, I played a number of leading and character roles, which diminished as my business career took off. You can’t have everything. But I will never forget, the fun, the professional work ethic and the deep and enduring friendships.
During this period I also appeared at Richmond Theatre, the Salisbury Playhouse, The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (3 times) and the Shaftesbury Theatre, London.
In 2009 I moved to Somerset and joined the excellent, small, highly talented and friendly Milborne Port Opera company. I have performed in 13 shows. MPO has (almost) taught me to sing.
In 2014 I played King Paramount in Gilbert & Sullivan’s “Utopia Limited”, a comic parody about British management consultants trying to modernise a paradise kingdom in the South Pacific. Linewise, It’s the biggest part in the G&S repertoire. We won Somerset’s “Showstopper” award for the best musical number.
2015’s show was a world premiere -“Spring Fate”, a comedy musical written and composed by maestro Neil Edwards – his third show at Milborne Port. It played to full houses and attracted considerable critical acclaim.
In 2016 I played the crumbling lawyer in Gilbert & Sullivan’s “The Sorcerer”. Again full houses and critical acclaim -“The remarkable Milborne Port Opera” -Fine Times Recorder. ” Your memorable performance was a joy to witness. I am smiling now remembering how much I enjoyed it.” -Somerset Fellowship of Drama adjudicator. We won three awards, including the “Showstopper” again.
In 2017 I directed MPO’s entry in the World Coarse Acting Championships at the Questors Theatre, Ealing. We won the trophy for the best production, a credit to everyone involved. For me a personal triumph. 45 years earlier I was in the team which won the first -ever championship with “Streuth”. I am the only actor to have won this fun competition 3 times. See “A brief History of Coarse Acting ”
In 2019 MPO went adventurous and staged Cole Porter’s “Anything Goes” in an experimental “in the round” production. Again, a sell-out and much critical acclaim. Nominated for 5 awards. I played the gregarious and frequently inebriated billionaire, Elisha J Whitney.
The critic wrote” Very appropriately cast in this role and your ability to turn on a sixpence gave your character a very interesting aspect”.
2020 was the year of Covid. I was cast as the Horse racing owner and bully Sir George Paddock in ‘The Arcadians’, a long forgotten but successful Edwardian musical. Sadly the lockdown killed this show and we were unable to perform it.
In 2022 I played the ambasssador’s assistant Njegus in Lehar’s ‘The Merry Widow.’, reckoned to be one of MPO’s finest shows.
2023 saw me playing Stan The Man in a new show, “Everything Goes” (No relation), devised and written by Karen Pankhurst. Stan is a cultural philistine who gets conveerted to the cause through the performance of numerous musical hits by the MPO cast. The show was a sell out.
In 2024 I will be playing Felzig (think Zeigfeld) in the Tony Award-winning show “The Drowsy Chaperone, by Lisa lambert and Greg Morrison. Felzig is a theatrical entrpreneur who faces ruin because his leading lady is leaving the show to gert married.
For most of my MPO years I have been running publicity, making videos and,latterly, running the box office. I have now semi-retired from these roles.
For pictures, see Gallery