ABOUT ME
I’ve been a professional theatre producer, director, actor and puppeteer since 2005, working on over 125 productions in that time. I trained in musical theatre and specialise in family entertainment.
As an actor and puppeteer, I’ve worked in many theatres up and down the country with either my own productions, pantomimes or as Zippy from TV classic ‘Rainbow’. I’ve done TV work too but it’s been very random – a few ads as Zippy, eating Jimmy Carr as the man-eating plant Audrey II on ‘8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown’ and if you can track them down, I’m on 3 episodes of ‘Dragons Den’. I am also a theatre technician, set builder, puppet maker, videographer and most recently, Venue Manager at Stamford Arts Centre. My wife and I also own Stamford’s Welland School of Dancing which I attended from the age of 3 until 2005.
I’ve produced and directed shows both for my own company and for others – one of my favourite productions ever has to be my pro tour of ‘The Railway Children’ back in 2016. I had no idea how much that show would impact both myself and audiences, it is easily the production I’ve had the most feedback about ever (positive of course!). I no longer tour but have been waiting patiently for the opportunity to work on the show again, so imagine my delight when I heard it was chosen for the Tolethorpe 2027 Season!
This isn’t my first involvement with Tolethorpe, I was a member of TYD in the early days with Carol King and therefore was part of some of her productions over 20 years ago. I’m excited to return to direct this production and am grateful to the board for their support with my vision.
That’s enough about me, onto the show!