News...

JUNE 2010

PRODUCTION NEWS

Back to Shanty for the summer! A RAT'S TALE is the newest product from the Shanty factory of fantastic actor-musician pieces in the south west of England. We're currently shacked up on a farm in Totnes devising and rehearsing this musical comedy about the Black Death, which then plays in Weymouth Old Town Hall for a fortnight in July, the Marine Theatre Lyme Regis for all of August, then on tour throughout Dorset, Devon, Cornwall and Norfolk until the end of the year. As ever with Shanty, our in-house ironic folk group, the Contra-Band, can be seen propping up the bars in most pubs within a half-mile radius of the theatres we end up at. www.shantytheatrecompany.co.uk for more...

JANUARY 2010

FILM FESTIVAL NEWS

MERAH PUTIH, after being seen by over 1m people at the box office in Indonesia, has been selected for the Bangkok World Film Festival. I played Captain Schaeffer, one of the principal Dutch characters in the first part of the WWII-era trilogy. With a top-class crew of some of South Asia's finest actors and SFX people from Saving Private Ryan, The Matrix, Australia and more, there's likely future distribution in the US and Germany.

A PORTRAIT OF YOU, directed by London Film School's Pierre-Alain Giraud won Best Film by an Amateur Director at Cinemages Toulon in November - congratulations Pierre-Alain! You can watch the short in my Showreels section - it's brilliant...

PRODUCTION NEWS

After another fantastic summer in Lyme Regis with SHANTY THEATRE COMPANY and Rebel Harbour, directed by Sarah Tipple (Young Vic), the company will move into another gear in 2010 with an even larger-scale, site-specific production in Dorset and a regional tour. An actor-musician company with its roots in telling local stories with music and cheekiness, all things being well I'll be going back in 2010 - find out more about the company and our side-project folk group, The Contra-Band, at www.shantytheatrecompany.co.uk.

Director John Le Brocq, who I made The Valley of the Dommes with - a Russ Meyer erotica-&-timetravelling ironic homage selected for two film festivals in 2009 - is attached to a feature in 2010 which I'll hopefully be involved with. DARK VIEW REFORMATORY is a dark psychological horror feature, US funded and intended for cinema release, not unlike The Orphanage meets Hellraiser. It's very early days on this one but I'm looking at the principal male character, a ghost-hunter who gets more than he bargains for when he enters a former asylum where evil lurks. More on this as it comes.

I'm currently living in Valencia, working with FORUM TEATRO and director Eduard Costa, producing English-language plays in theatres and cultural centres all over Spain - it's very sunny and fantastic to take in a new culture and cities like Bilbao, Barcelona and, er, Benidorm.

JULY 2009

PRODUCTION NEWS

New SHOWREEL online now - check out the Showreels section for more.

I completed two productions for London Film School in July: A VIRGIN VISION, directed by the outstanding Tay Blyth-Kubota, in which I play the lead, Brother Michael, a Carmelite monk plagued by sexual visions. I also achieved a lifetime ambition by providing the voice-over for GITMO (directed by David Anderson), impersonating George W. Bush. Both these films premiere at the National Gallery on Thurs 23rd July and will screen at the gallery and online at www.nationalgallery.org.uk from August onwards as part of the Transcriptions: LFS Shorts season.

I also workshopped some scenes at LFS with director Richard Kwietniowski, who recieved a BAFTA for his 1997 debut feature 'Love and Death on Long Island'. Continuing the LFS theme, their current print ad campaign features a still from A PORTRAIT OF YOU, my acclaimed 2008 film with Pierre-Alain Giraud.

REBEL HARBOUR: THE FIGHT FOR LYME starts rehearsals July 20th and opens in Lyme Regis at the start of August: see www.shantytheatrecompany.co.uk for all the latest. Also, our cast band, the Contra-Band - 'The Wu-Tang Clan of folk' - will be in residence in the Ship Inn, Lyme Regis, every Thursday throughout July, so pop in for a pint and a reel if you're in the area...

MAY 2009

PRODUCTION NEWS

I'm returning to the glorious south coast with Shanty Theatre Company this summer in REBEL HARBOUR: THE FIGHT FOR LYME. Directed by Sarah Tipple (Young Vic) and written by Shanty's producers Tim Bell and Harry Long, this will be an all-guns a'blazing action show set during the English Civil War, playing at the Marine Theatre in Lyme Regis through August and then a short tour around the south-west. Like last summer's SMUGGLERS, it's an actor-musician piece with the whole cast playing ukeleles, fiddles, mandolins, harmonicas, trumpets, accordions etc, and will see the return to Lyme's drinking establishments of the Contra-Band, our in-house comedy folk/country/funk/ska/gangsta rap band - and what a great summer it will be. See www.shantytheatrecompany.co.uk for more...

Also, I'll be making my TV debut throughout June and July on THE CASTING COUCH for Setanta Sports, a fishing magazine show playing three times a week - I'll be involved in some sketches wandering around looking a bit like Robson Green.

APRIL 2009

FILM FESTIVAL SELECTIONS

My comic explotation-sci-fi short THE VALLEY OF THE DOMMES in which I play a Doctor Who-style time traveller stuck on Planet Pervert, has been selected for the INDIE SPIRIT FILM FESTIVAL and CINEKINK 2009 - massive congratulations to John le Brocq and the Dommes crew...

MARCH 2009

PRODUCTION NEWS

I've just spend three months in Indonesia filming on MERAH PUTIH (THE RED AND THE WHITE), playing Captain Schaffer, one of the principal Dutch officers. It's a Band of Brothers-style six hour mini-series chronicling the Indonesian War of Independence, and one of the largest productions ever launched in the country - a co-production between US and Indonesian companies Margate House and Syzygy Productions, it's a huge undertaking filming over four months around Java. Award-winning cinematographer Yadi Sugandi directs, with action direction from Rocky McDonald (Mission Impossible 2; Muriel's Wedding), special effects by Adam Howarth (Saving Private Ryan; Black Hawk Down) and armouring by John Bowring (Wolverine; Australia). The project is in Bahasa Indonesian and Dutch - as well as some military I had to learn Dutch for the part! - and will screen on Indonesian TV in August 2009, with an edited feature film for projected release internationally in 2010. Go to my Showreels page for a sneak preview...

DECEMBER 2009

PRODUCTION NEWS

Another series of Film Noir radio plays with the BUNBURY BANTER RADIO COMPANY, in which I play private detectives, shady Colombian gangster types and a wide variety of Brooklyn undesirables, to be broadcast on Hayes FM. See www.bunbanter.com for more...

SEPTEMBER 2008:

PRODUCTION NEWS

I've just spend a wonderful month in Lyme Regis on the Dorset coast in SMUGGLERS, Shanty Theatre's debut summer show at the Marine Theatre. Directed by Martin Constantine (His Dark Materials, National Theatre / English National Opera) with music by Stuart McLaughlin (Kneehigh), this swash-buckling piece saw me playing old seadog One-Eyed Jake and knife-wielding hardman Bad Ben Fortune, as well as guitar, mandolin, harmonica and vocals in the show and spin-off trad folk/country and western band, The Contraband. The show was amazingly well-received with virtually full houses most days throughout August, and Shanty will be back at the Marine next summer for more of the same. In the meantime, you can catch The Contraband bringing our own unique blend of redneck banjo-fiddle-and-ukulele mania from the beaches of Lyme to the folk dives of London - watch this space for more.

I'll be playing Jason, a Mancunian cake decorating enthusiast in LIFE SKILLS, a feature-length comedy adventure about contract killing and nude drawing. Written by Simon Aldous and directed by Robin Morgan, the film is shooting throughout October in London.

JULY 2008:

PRODUCTION NEWS

I'm appearing in CHU CHIN CHOW at the Finborough Theatre throughout July - as part of the Finborough's season of forgotten British musicals, this crazy 1912 period piece set in the exotic far East was the most successful musical of all time until Salad Days in the 60s, running for over five years with a cast of 132 (!), not including camels. Not performed since a National Theatre revival in 1962, the fantastic cast includes Alan Cox (RSC, National), Adele Anderson (Olivier-nominated cabaret singer), Will Barratt (Les Mis, The Producers), Ed Handoll (Buddy: The Musical) and other West End regulars. I'm playing a number of slaves, cobblers and vagabonds, and we perform Sundays and Mondays until July 28th. Book your tickets at www.finboroughtheatre.co.uk.

A PORTRAIT OF YOU (LFS 2008, dir: Pierre-Alain Giraud) screened at the National Gallery in July, and was selected for London Film School's End of Term Gala, an honour which my previous LFS film, THE WAIT, also achieved. Both films will now be entered into international film festivals, and I'm really looking forward to working with these hugely talented film-makers again in the autumn.

I'll be spending August by the seaside in Lyme Regis in Dorset, playing One-Eyed Jack and other piratical types in SMUGGLERS with Shanty Theatre Company. The show tells the story of local smuggling legend The Silver Rat and his scrapes with the authorities - set in the 18th century, the cast will also be gigging around fisherman's pubs and on the beach as a folk band throughout August. See www.marinetheatre.com/Smugglers.htm for tickets and info...

JUNE 2008:

PRODUCTION NEWS

I've just finished shooting A PORTRAIT OF YOU with director Pierre-Alain Giraud at London Film School. Part of the National Gallery Transcriptions project, the short is inspired by a Titian painting and sees me in a black and white landscape interacting with invisible people, cars and dogs, and finally entering the film of my own life - imagine Being John Malkovich shot by Stanley Kubrick and you wouldn't be far off. To be screened in the next month at the National Gallery, this was another brilliant London Film School project.

APRIL 2008:

NEW VIDEOS added: The Wait (LFS, 2008), and the VALLEY OF THE DOMMES (Drive-By Shooting Films, 2008).
See SHOWREELS to watch...

PRODUCTION NEWS

THE WAIT (LFS 2008, dir: David De La Garza) was selected for London Film School's prestigious End of Spring Term screening in March, attended by Mike Leigh and other dignitaries. I'll be working at LFS again later in the year, with a number of projects in the pipeline - watch this space.

The BUNBURY BANTER SERIES FOUR of six 15 minute film noir-influenced radio plays airs on Hayes FM from April 23rd, weekly, at 11.30am Wednesdays and 1.30pm Sundays. I appear variously as a northern private eye, a New Jersey gangster, a Spanish cocktail waiter, an all-American 1950s radio announcer, a Salford bank robber, and plenty more. Head to www.bunbanter.com to find out how to listen.

ASSASSINS at Theatro Technis was really well recieved - we sold out for more than half the run, and there's a possibility the show may be revived later in the year. There's a full-length video of the show which will be streaming on www.allstarpro.co.uk at some point later in the year.

FEBRUARY 2008:

PRODUCTION NEWS

I'm filming a 16ml black & white short with Mexican director David De La Garza and producer Stefana Brancastle called THE FINAL WAIT at London Film School this month, with other LFS projects also in the pipeline - this along with the NFTS is London's top film school, and the quality of the film-makers and equipment used should lead to some really interesting work.

Also, it looks like I'll be working on series 4 of the Bunbury Banter Radio Company's regular seasons of NEW RADIO PLAYS, broadcast twice weekly on Hayes FM, with future work to be broadcast on Channel 4's new radio station in the autumn. More on this one soon.

THE HEART with director/producer Val Rassi was shot in mid-January, and sees me playing Charles, the lead, a guest house owner with a very guilty secret. This psychological horror adaptation of another Edgar Allan Poe story will be submitted to film festivals later this year.

Finally, I'm back on stage in March, playing Lee Harvey Oswald in Stephen Sondheim's ASSASSINS on the London fringe. Running for four nights at Theatro Technis in Camden, this a classic modern musical: the dark, satirical story of would-be Presidential assassins throughout American history, from John Wilkes Booth (Abraham Lincoln) to Sam Byck (Ronald Reagan)... Sondheim's often described as the Shakespeare of musical theatre, and I'm quite excited about this one! More info to follow...

JANUARY 2008:

PRODUCTION NEWS

December saw me filming THERE'S A MAN IN THE HABIT OF HITTING ME ON THE HEAD WITH AN UMBRELLA, a quirkily comic short film with Stewart Renwick at BCUS. I play Adam, whose life is turned upside down by the appearance of a mystery man - who follows Adam around, hitting him on the head with an umbrella. For five years. Also featuring Andrew MacBean (Torchwood) and Stefana Brancastle (Tim Burton's Sweeney Todd), a final cut is due in February 2008.

Other confirmed projects for 2008 include another Edgar Allen Poe short film adaptation, this time THE TELL-TALE HEART - working again with producer/director Val Rassi.

NOVEMBER 2007:

SITE UPDATES

You can now view a rough cut of THE CASK OF AMONTILLADO and a short made with Jim Larkin called D.I.Y. on YouTube, click the title you want or head to the SHOWREELS section of the site. CLERKS is also still available to watch.

PRODUCTION NEWS

I've just finished filming SILLY BILLY, a hilarious new punk musical comedy feature for director Mark Jackson. The semi-improvised film is a 45 minute test cut to be used to find funding for an anticipated full feature film - I'm playing Bruce, a menacing jealous boyfriend never seen without a beer in his hand a white baseball cap on his head.

Also this month, I'm back at HAMPSTEAD THEATRE for more work on the new plays project, Script In Hand.

AUGUST 2007:

PRODUCTION NEWS

THE BARDS OF BANGKOK became a word-of-mouth hit at the Edinburgh Fringe, receiving four star reviews and high praise from the BBC amongst others. The show - including interviews with me and other cast members - will hopefully be appearing in a BBC3 documentary about this year's festival.

Coming up in September, I'll be screen testing for some British features and shooting some leftover scenes for THE CASK OF AMONTILLADO - watch this space for more.

JULY 2007:

PRODUCTION NEWS

I'm appearing in THE BIG BREAK, a festival of new plays by young writers at the prestigious Hampstead Theatre at the start of July. Artistic Director Eric Dupin is co-directing the show with Debra Glazer, and tickets can be booked through Hampstead Theatre at www.hampsteadtheatre.com.

I'll also be shooting a short psychological horror film this month with two Brazilian film-makers, Thiago Amendoeira and Val Rassi. THE CASK OF AMONTILLADO is based on an Edgar Allen Poe short story and I'm playing an arrogant wine dealer who gets his come-uppance in sinister style. Shooting mid-July in a central London wine cellar, the film should hit the festival circuit later this year and I'll add it to the site as soon as it's available.

Booking has also opened for my Edinburgh play: get your advance tickets for THE BARDS OF BANGKOK at www.edfringe.com. There'll also be two London previews, one at the Canal Cafe in Maida Vale on Sun 29th July, and the other at Mountview, see www.bardsofbangkok.co.uk for the latest info...

MAY 2007:

REPRESENTATION
I've just signed exclusive representation for TV, film, radio, stage and commercials with Tracey Bell at RDM (formerly Scream Management), an agency with offices in London, Manchester and Blackpool. Contact Tracey on 01253 750 820 or tracey@screammanagement.com for any casting requests.

PRODUCTION NEWS

Have just finished LOYAL WOMEN at the Pleasance Islington, my final Mountview production and will be graduating from drama school on May 26th.

Am currently in rehearsals for THE BARDS OF BANGKOK, a cracking new comedy by Paul McBain for this summer's Edinburgh Festival. We'll be at C:Venues Soco at 6.15pm throughout August, see www.bardsofbangkok.co.uk for more on this.

I've also just been recording THE HITCHHIKER, a 1940s radio thriller made famous by Orson Welles, for producer Michael Livermore from Mountview's sound department. I'm playing Orson's part, and will be adding this to the site as I get a copy.

I'm also workshopping some new plays at the HAMPSTEAD THEATRE this month.

SITE UPDATES

My SHOWREEL has been added, follow the link from the main acting page. Photos from LOYAL WOMEN, EMMA and THE AMERICAN CLOCK will be appearing soon...