Cast Biographies
Listed alphabetically
Paul Anderson
Tom
Theatre: Market Boy (National Theatre), On Tour (Royal Court Upstairs and Liverpool Everyman).
Television: Silent Witness, Dr Who.
Training: Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art.
Paul Barnhill
[Parts TBC]
Theatre: Antony and Cleopatra, Twelfth Night, Julius Caesar, The Tempest (RSC) ; Much Ado About Nothing (Sheffield Crucible); Faustus (Northampton Royal); The Merchant Of Venice, Henry V, A Woman Killed With Kindness (Northern Broadsides); Romeo and Juliet, Kes, East Lynne, The Bat (New Vic, Stoke) ; Death Of A Salesman, The Nativity, All That Trouble That We Had, Whispers Of Angels Wings (Birmingham Rep); Search and Destroy (New End, Hampstead); Anna Karenina (Octagon Theatre, Bolton); Alls Well That Ends Well (Nuffield, Southampton); Tom Jones (Theatr Clwyd); Taking Liberties (Chester Gateway); Hamlet (RNT Studio); Orpheus in the Underworld (UK Tour). West End: Yeoman of The Guard (Savoy Theatre for Doyly Carte); The Pirates Of Penzance (Queens Theatre); Die Fledermaus (Sadlers Wells); RSC Season (Novello Theatre).
Television: Holby City; Brookside; Doctors; The Real Arnie Griffen; The Fabulous Bagel Boys; Peak Practice.
Film: Topsy Turvy; Anorak Of Fire.
Writing: Edge Falls; The Spaceship; Beyond The Pole; Beyond The Back Of Beyond; Flyfishing; Bloody Rough Holiday Guide; Casualties. Paul is currently writing second series of The Spaceship for BBC 7.
Wendy Mae Brown
[part TBC]
Theatre: Porgy and Bess (Savoy, London); Ain’t Misbehavin’ (Harrogate Theatre); Notes from Across a Small Pond (Bridewell Theatre); Barnum (Eastbourne Theatre); Rent (Prince of Wales Theatre); To Kill a Mocking Bird (Theatr Clwyd); The Wizard of Oz (Leicester Haymarket); Mamma Mia! (Prince Edward Theatre); Hey, Mr Producer (Lyceum Theatre); Imoinda Slave Ship (Oval Playhouse); Ain’t Misbehavin’ (English Theatre, Frankfurt); Just One World (Alsdorf Theatre); Little Shop of Horrors (Oldham Coliseum); Carmen Jones (Old Vic Theatre).
Television: Drums Along Balmoral Drive; Four Play.
Film: Blackbeard; The Altogether.
Radio: Alice Walker – selected readings.
Ian Brownbill
[title TBC]
Ian is a musician who formerly played with the multi-award-winning Black Dyke Mills Band and toured all over Europe and North America playing with artists such as Tori Amos and Barclay James Harvest. He has written numerous articles on brass bands for music journals and has been involved with several music education projects, including teaching at St. Vincent’s School for the Blind in Liverpool. He has also devised and produced several highly successful charitable projects, bringing young musicians the opportunity to perform with the likes of Sir Willard White and jazz trumpeter Guy Barker.
For the past three years and as a direct result of meeting Jude Kelly and Colette Bailey through the King Cotton story, Ian has worked with Metal. As well as developing the King Cotton story, Ian has been instrumental in helping to establish the Metal house in Kensington and in securing the buildings at Edge Hill Station, the World’s oldest passenger railway station, which Metal aims to establish as a major new arts venue for Liverpool.
He is passionate about proclaiming and demonstrating the power of the arts to challenge, inspire and ultimately transform lives. Ian aims to build on his King Cotton experience and develop other projects, including a musical collaboration with Kuljit Bahmra in 2008 called “Breathless” which will draw on the rich musical and cultural heritage of Oldham’s diverse communities.
Ian remembers the support, guidance and friendship of Dr. Fred Freeman and Dennis Harding OBE at the opening of King Cotton.
John Elkington
[Part TBC]
Theatre: Return to the Forbidden Planet (national tour); Twelfth Night, Non Contact Time (West Yorkshire Playhouse); Romeo and Juliet, Antony and Cleopatra, The Passion (Northern Broadsides); Bebop Alula, The Astonished Heart, Still Life (Liverpool Playhouse); When We Are Married, The Stirrings (Sheffield Crucible); Me Mam Sez, Wait Until Dark, Underneath the Arches, The Fly, An Evening with Gary Lineker (Oldham Coliseum); April in Paris (Theatre by the Lake); Beauty and the Beast, Jack and the Beanstalk (Nottingham Playhouse).
Television: Cold Blood; Playing the Field; Coronation Street; The Quest; Hollyoaks; Cold Feet; Fat Friends; Emmerdale; The Cops; Sparkhouse; The Illustrated Mum; Real Men; Heartbeat; City Central; The Royal; Big Night Out; 73 Million to One; Packing Them In.
Radio: Coming Down the Mountain; Antony and Cleopatra.
Nolan Frederick
Vernon
Theatre: The Merry Widow, La Cage Aux Folles, Anything Goes, Pal Joey, Hair, West Side Story and Jazz’ll Dazzle (National Theatre, Oslo); Cats, Miss Saigon, Starlight Express, Rent, The Lion King, Kiss Me Kate (West End); The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (RSC / West End); My One and Only (Chichester Festival Theatre); Five Guys Named Mo (The Pavillion, Bournemouth / tour); Robinson Crusoe (Richmond Theatre and King’s Theatre, Edinburgh); Just One World (The Jeanetta Cochrane Theatre); Puss in Boots (Oxford Playhouse); How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, The Government Inspector (Chichester Festival Theatre); Showboat (Royal Albert Hall); Desperately Seeking Suzan, We Will Rock You (workshop); Porgy and Bess (Savoy Theatre); The Mass Carribe (Greenwich); Hey, Mr Producer (Lyceum Theatre); Peter Pan (Royal Festival Hall).
Nolan was born in London, and then educated in Trinidad and Tobago, before moving to America to undergo his professional training at The Actors Studio, New York and with Martha Graham and Alvin Ailey.
John Henshaw
God
Theatre: The Marigold Trilogy (Real Life Theatre Co.); The Plummer of Bath (Green Light Theatre); Chairs (Factory Theatre); The Sweets that Daddy Gave Us (North West Writers); The Odd Couple (Manchester Warehouse); The Frog, The Witch and The Golden Casket.
Television: Confessions of a Diary Secretary; Life on Mars; Cutting It; Early Doors; The Royle Family; Cops; Coronation Street; Cracker; Small Time; The Real Deal; Firestation; New Street Law; The Visit; See No Evil; Johnny and the Bomb; Open Wide; Little Pudding; Linda Green; Second Coming; Anna Bheag; Born and Bred; Nice Guy Eddie; Casualty; The Bill; City Central; The Grand; Emmerdale; Last of the Summer Wine; The Ward; Heartbeat; Sloggers.
Film: Gullible's Travels; Grown Your Own; Starter for Ten; Someone Else; Cheeky; Put Your Coat on; Fishmonger; Junction at the Function; American Cousins; Me, You and the Dead; This is not a Love Song; Happy Now; The Parole Officer; There’s Only One Jimmy Grimble; Walk with a Purpose; When Saturday Comes; Cacophony; Dancing Through the Dark; An Alternative Romance.
Radio: A Day in the Life; Crossing the Line; Gunpowder, Treason and Plot; Its Your Movie; Inventors Imperfect; Frank Sutton; In a Grove; Stockport: So Good They Named it Once.
Kirsty Hoiles
Emma
Theatre: Les Miserables (Queens Theatre); Love Story (Adam Spiegel Productions); The Wizard of Oz (Birmingham Rep); Nunsense (Devonshire Park Theatre Eastbourne; Theatre Royal Windsor); Sweeny Todd (Derby Playhouse); Barnum (Devonshire Park Theatre Eastbourne); The Burglar’s Opera, HMS Pinafore, The Ghosts of Ruddigore (Opera Della Luna); Blackrock (Young Vic); Jerry Springer the Opera (BAC); Side by Side - 25th Anniversary (The Stables, Wavendon); Phantom of the Opera (Theatre Royal Lincoln); Cinderella (Polka Theatre); The Beggar’s Opera (Cochrane Theatre); Robinson Crusoe, Aladdin (Newbury Corn Exchange); Bless the Bride (King’s Head); Snow White (Buxton Opera House); The Tempest (Landor).
Television: Most Mysterious Murders; Something for the Week End.
Film: Confetti; Scorn; Sweeny Todd.
Cornelius Macarthy
Theatre: One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (Garrick Theatre, West End); Notes Across a Small Pond (Bridewell Theatre); A Taste of Honey (York Theatre Royal); Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (Liverpool Playhouse); Cinderella (Greenwich Theatre). Television: Doctors, M I T, Touch of Frost, Empathy, My Hero.
Film: Millions, In the Mood.
Trained: BA (Hons) Acting, Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts. Cornelius has had 10 years’ professional singing experience with wide variety of recording artists on TV, radio and on tour including: Blur, Madonna, Mariah Carey, Celine Dion, P. Diddy, Will Young, Lucie Silvas, Billie, Mica Paris, Spiritualised, Carleen Anderson, Jessye Norman, Death in Vegas, Atomic Kitten, Paul Carrack, Robson and Jerome, Tom Jones, R. Kelly, Westlife, Andrea Borcelli, Eternal, Bebe Winans, Gabrielle. He has also toured as lead vocalist with London Community Gospel Choir. Forthcoming projects include: Depicting Paul Laurence Dunbar, prolific 19th century African American poet in Lifting the Mask, a musical play based on his life and poetry.
Israel Oyelumade
Sokoto
Theatre: Royal Hunt of the Sun (National Theatre); The White Devil (Pavilion Theatre Brighton); Much Ado About Nothing, Antony & Cleopatra (For The RSC at the London Haymarket Theatre); Volpone, Oroonoko (RSC); School for Scandal (Cheek By Jowl / RSC); Who Killed Mr Drum (Treatment Theatre - Riverside Studios); African Snow (Riding Lights / York Theatre Royal / Trafalgar Studio’s London / UK tour).
Television: The Window; The Ghost Squad; The Long Firm; Sensitive Skin; New Tricks; Doctors; Eastenders; Judge John Deed; Casualty; Prime Suspect; The Bill; Man and Boy; Destination Space 2000; Faces in the Dark.
Film: Pirates Of The Caribbean II; About a Boy; Dirty Pretty Things; The Tiger in the Snow; The Exorcist: The Beginning; Roof Jumping; Back In The Day – Tag.
Radio: Black Gold Under the Sun; Olushambles; The Estate; Grace Unshackled: The Story of Olaudah Equiano; Grace Abounding; Gangster Rap – Audio Book.
Israel is a Rada Graduate and a founder director of Inservice Productions Ltd. He Is at present co-writing a new drama comedy for television. Israel is also an ambassador of The Princes Trust.
Vanessa White Smith
[parts TBC]
Theatre: Go Noah Go! (Little Angel Theatre); Dancing in the Streets (West End & UK Tour); Homeward Bound (Tureg Theatre Co.); Dragula (Rosemary Branch Theatre); Love Moves Him To Die (UK Tour); Blues Brothers Meets Soul Sisters (UK Tour); Soul Train (UK Tour); White Folks (Cochrane Theatre); First Steps (Royal Festival Hall).
Television: One More Bridge; Bigamist.
Film: Kidneying; Beloved
Vanessa was born in Paddington, London. She studied drama at the Weekend Arts College, London; City & Islington College; and in 1998 graduated from Brunel University after gaining a BA Degree in Drama, Film, and Television. From 1996 to 1998, Vanessa was Assistant Drama Tutor to children between the ages of 5 to 15 at the Weekend Arts College (WAC). She worked as an assistant to the Director of the Brent Soul Choir who opened the 1996 European Cup Final at Wembley alongside Paul Young. She is also a vocalist with rock, soul and tribute bands making regular appearances at the Mean Fiddler and Jazz Café.
Gilbert Symes
Stage: Fireworks (Edinburgh Fringe); A Yorkshire Evening, Symes and Them Again (Players’ Theatre, Delph).
Gilbert started playing cornet with Delph Band but quickly transferred to Double B Bass which he has played ever since. He has played with Yorkshire Imperial and Wingates, as well as the world-famous Brighouse and Rastrick Band.
Emma Jay Thomas
Maria
Theatre: The Tempest, Antony and Cleopatra (Royal Shakespeare Company); Aladdin (Greenwich Theatre); Robin Hood, Good Companions (Wolsey Theatre); Burlesque (Bridewell Theatre); Ain’t Misbehavin’ (Harrogate Theatre); Miss Julie (Kings Head); Ragtime (Piccadilly Theatre); Miss Saigon (Drury Lane / UK tour); Blues in the Night (Birmingham Rep); Merrily We Roll Along (Donmar Warehouse); Rent (Olympia Theatre Company); Mamma Mia! (Prince Edward Theatre); Miss Saigon (Drury Lane); Sinbad (Warwick Arts Centre); Arabian Nights (Cheltenham Everyman); Privates on Parade (Leicester Haymarket); Pirates of Penzance, HMS Pinafore, Beauty and the Beast (New Vic, Stoke); Little Shop of Horrors (English Theatre, Frankfurt); Mother Goose (Oxford Playhouse); The Indian Queen (Citizens, Glasgow); Porgy and Bess (workshop).
Television: Fighting Windmills; Täthort; Shock Sky Magic Show.
Training: University College London and Mountview Theatre School.