Cast

• Aaron Virdee
  

  Aaron Virdee

  Mishka & Ensemble

  Aaron trained in Acting at the Birmingham Theatre School and Postgraduate Acting for Screen at Redroofs Theatre School. Theatre credits include The Deranged Marriage (Rifco Arts/Watford Palace Theatre); My Big Fat Cowpat Wedding (Kali Theatre Company); The Wiz (Birmingham Repertory Theatre); Changing Faces (The Drum); Time Has Fallen Asleep in the Afternoon Sunshine (Birmingham Repertory Theatre/Fierce Festival); Ganging Up (The Playhouse); Who Are You? (Arena Theatre/The Drum). Television credits include Citizen Khan (BBC). Voiceover credits include: Rani & Sukh (Listening Books). Film credits include: Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows Part 2 (Warner Bros); The Merchant of Little Venice (Friday Night Films); Inside Out (Biscuit Town Productions); Land Gold Women (A Richer Lens); To Forget & Forgive (Truth Lake Productions) and Gotta Go (Forward Motion Movies). Workshop credits include Solidarity (Kali Theatre Company) and European Theatre Festival (Birmingham Repertory Theatre). Other work includes Oxasians & Ram Sahai Story 1800 (Talking Pictures).
• Amanda Wright
  

  Amanda Wright

  Audio Describer, Policewoman & Ensemble

  Training: Central School of Speech and Drama

  Theatre credits include: Dragon (National Theatre Of Scotland); Horrible Science and Horrible Histories (Birmingham Stage Company); Handa’s Surprise – Tour (Little Angel Theatre); Goldilocks (Little Angel Theatre); Spring Shakespeare (Orange Tree Theatre); Handa’s Surprise (Little Angel Theatre); Henry V (Orange Tree Theatre); The Bath House (The Squat Collective); The Rain King (Hampstead Theatre); Counted (Roundhouse); How To Get Them (Arcola Theatre); LGBT – Tour (Chinwag Theatre) and Potency and Secret Agents (Apikoros Theatre Company).

  Television credits include: Topsy & Tim (CBBC); Marley’s Ghost (UKTV); Coronation Street (ITV); Euphoria (HOT – Israel); Midsomer Murders and Doctors (BBC); Prime Suspect (Granada Television) and Making It At Holby (BBC).
• Becky Barry
  

  Becky Barry

  Interpreter & Ensemble

  Becky is an actor-musician and a BSL/English interpreter (MRSLI under her original name of Becky Allen).

  Her credits as an interpreter include: The Jew Of Malta (Royal Shakespeare Company); Othello, Henry V, Love’s Labour’s Won, Love’s Labour’s Lost, The Two Gentlemen Of Verona and Henry IV Parts I & II (Royal Shakespeare Company Schools Broadcasts); Inside Number 9 (BBC);  Jack And The Beanstalk (Stafford Gatehouse); Gods Are Fallen (Greyscale); The Elves And The Shoemaker (Colchester Arts Centre) and The Knitting Circle and The Disappearance Of Dorothy Lawrence (Vital Xposure).

  Her credits as an actor-musician include: The Tempest, The Good Soul Of Szechuan, Lysistrata (Watford Palace Theatre); The Odyssey (London Bubble); The Latke Who Couldn’t Stop Screaming (Tall Stories); The Three Wise Monkeys (Hiccup Theatre); Spring Shakespeare (The Orange Tree); Suitcase (Hope Street Theatre) and The Ugly Duckling (Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch).

  Becky also works as a mentor for Graeae’s Ensemble and regularly works as a rehearsal room interpreter and workshop facilitator around the UK.
• Daryl Jackson
  

  Daryl Jackson

  Ensemble & BSL Script Annotator

  Daryl gained 2.1 BA Hons in Deaf Studies with Interpreting English/BSL and Linguistics.

  He has freelanced as a sign language consultant, translator, advisor, script supervisor, television presenter/reporter and actor. He frequently does invision translating for numerous television channels and websites, and is a sign language monitor for actors in theatre, television and film, as well as presenters on television and online.

  He was a lecturer at Wolverhampton University, teaching Interpreting, and is currently a Sign Theatre lecturer for Reading University. He is also visiting lecturer for seminars, and teaching Interpreting and Sign language. He is a one to one tutor for Interpreters who want to improve their translation skills, and provides various workshops.

  Theatre credits include: Motherland, Dysfunction, Children Of The Greater God (Deafinately Theatre) and The Rule And The Exception (Young Vic).

  He has also worked often coaching actors, deaf and hearing signers at Graeae, Unicorn, Sadlers Wells, Gate Theatre, Green Candle, Almeida, Jackson Lane and Drill Hall. He has provided translation assistance for BBC children’s programme My Almost Famous Family and sign coached a specialist actor as a lifelike gorilla for the Hollywood film Vanilla Gorilla (2009). He has also assisted a deaf actor for the feature film Goya’s Ghost (2009). A

  He has sign supported two actors in the Japanese feature film Choyua 5 (2008) and provided BSL translation support for Royal Court Theatre in Constellations (2013 & 2015).

  He acted in BBC drama Switch and several other films for BSLBT, as well as performing in many outdoor musical festivals.

  He has achieved a Bafta nomination for directing a Film4 children’s
  drama. He has also directed three different plays titled 4Play (2012-2015) and performed for the 2012 Paralympic Opening Ceremony.
• David Carlyle
  

  David Carlyle

  The Mayor

  David trained at Rose Bruford.

  Theatre credits include: To Kill A Mockingbird (Regents Park Open Air Theatre/Barbican); Three Sisters (Southwark Playhouse); Carpe Diem (National Theatre); Victoria (Dundee Rep); Somersaults (Finborough); Yellow Moon and The Monster In The Hall (National Theatre of Scotland/Glasgow Citizens Theatre); Caledonia (National Theatre of Scotland); Hansel & Gretel (Glasgow Citizens Theatre); Dead Heavy Fantastic (Liverpool Everyman) and You Once Said Yes (Look Left Look Right)

  Theatre credits whilst training include: The Wonderful World of Dissocia, Philistines, The White Devil, Celebration, Party Time and Hedda Gabler.

  Television credits include: Lip Service II (BBC Three/Kudos).

  Radio credits include: Where Were You? Chernobyl (BBC Radio 4) and Sudbary Hill (Urban Scrawl/Theatre 503).

   
• Ewan Marshall
  

  Ewan Marshall

  Dr Gibner & Associate Director

  As a director, producer and actor previous work includes;
  One Night, by Paul Smith, a 4 x 1 hour drama series for BBC1(winner of the Geneva Film and Television Festival for best drama series 2012).
  Desperados, by Paul Smith, 10 x 30’ drama series for CBBC (Prix Jeunesse winner 2008). Every Time You Look At Me by Lizzie Mickery 1 x 90 for BBC2, 2004 (first television drama to feature two disabled leads). ‘Pear Shaped’, three ten minute films for the BBC by Patrick Marber, Lizzie Mickery and Simon Mirren.(Jury prizewinner at the Banff Television Festival 2003).

  Artistic Directorships of the Dukes( a producing theatre and cinema in Lancaster) 97-2000 and Graeae( a touring theatre company of disabled people 91- 97).
  Plays directed include Ubu (adapted by Trevor Lloyd from Jarry), What The Butler Saw(Orton), Fanny Hill( adapted by April De Angelis from Cleland), Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me(McGuiness), Cyrano de Bergerac( Rostand, translation by Trevor Lloyd), Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf (Albee).

  Acting work includes Changing Step( by Antony Sher directed by Richard Wilson,1 x90 film for BBC1, Derek Jarman’s War Requiem and Soft Vengeance of a Freedom Fighter (adapted by April De Angelis from the book by Albie Sachs)
• Francesca Mills
  

  Francesca Mills

  Maria

  Francesca trained at The Jill Clewes Academy for Theatre Arts.

  Theatre includes; Oliver!, The Wizard of Oz, Arabian Nights,The Lion the Witch and The Wardrobe (New Vic Theatre, Staffordshire). Euphoria, Zest, Right Here Right Now! (Regent Theatre, Stoke on Trent). Peter Pan (Playing Tinkerbell at Liverpool Empire, Milton Keynes Theatre and New Wimbledon Theatre), See How They Run (Playing Ida the Maid, with Warwick Davis & The Reduced Height Theatre Company, 12 week tour).

  Television includes; Argos Christmas Advert, Release The Hounds (ITV2), End The Awkward Sketch (Scope, Channel 4), Man VS Fly, Off Their Rockers (ITV).

  Film includes; Zoolander 2, Star Wars (The Force Awakens).
• Jean St Clair
  

  Jean St Clair

  Lyapkin-Tyapkin & Ensemble

  An extensive theatre career has involved working in USA, Australia, South Africa, Ireland and the West End playing the lead in Children of a Lesser God. A founder member of fingersmiths she co-devised In Praise of Fallen Women with Jeni and Kaite O’Reilly. Recent films include Still Here directed by Louis Neethling for which she was awarded Best Actress at Festival Clin d’Oeil 2013.
• Kiruna Stamell
  

  Kiruna Stamell

  Anna & Ensemble

  Theatre credits include: Great Britain (Haymarket Theatre/National Theatre); Why Dwarves Hate Christmas (Adelaide Fringe Festival); The Lost Happy Endings (Red Earth Theatre Co.); Peeling (Forest Forge); A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Bolton Octagon); The Ugly Spirit (Contact Theatre); Whiter Than Snow (Birmingham Repertory Theatre); For All The Wrong Reasons (Contact Theatre); King Lear (Round Earth); Whiter Than Snow (No 1 Tour); The Maids (A Typical Theatre Co.); Grace (Quarantine); Preserving The Apple (Drill Hall) and Macbeth (Sydney Theatre Co).

  Television credits include: Holby City (BBC); Enid and Life’s Too Short (BBC); Cast Offs (Channel 4); EastEnders and All The Small Things (BBC) and Life Support (SBS).

  Film credits include: The Best Offer (Warner Brothers) and Moulin Rouge (Bazmark Inc).

  Radio credits include: Ouch Podcast (BBC).
• Michael Keane
  

  Michael Keane

  Osip

  Michael studied at University College Cork and trained at East 15.

  Theatre includes Waiting for Godot (London Classic Theatre), Henry VI (Union Theatre), Once Upon A Christmas (Look Left Look Right), Dry Rot (Fricker/Kenwright Prods), The Winter’s Tale (ETT/Old Vic Tunnels), The Ride of Your Life (On Theatre/Polka), The Inconsiderate Aberrations of Billy the Kid (2Headed Pigeon), The Night Before Christmas (Signal), The Meeting (Fiddy West), Macbeth (Love & Madness), Trying Jokes (Hammergrin), Fireface (Granary) and Chatroom (Boomerang/NT Connections) at the National Theatre.

  Television and film includes: Mr Turner (Thin Man Films), The Hollow Crown (BBC/Neal St Prods), Warhol (Ditto Prods), The Conversations (HKZ Prods) and The Strangest Story of Six Strangers (Many Thoughts).

  Michael is also a writer, recent commissions are Hweol, New Atlantis and The Lost Carnival, all for LAStheatre. He wrote and directed The Perils of Love & Gravity (Bedlam Theatre & New Wimbledon Theatre) and is a member of the award-winning improv troupe Battleacts!
• Rachel Denning
  

  Rachel Denning

  Dobchinsky & Ensemble

  Theatre credits include: The Vote (Donmar Warehouse); See How They Run (The Reduced Height Theatre Company); Curious Curios (Kazzum); Volpone (Fire Under The Horizon); Speakeasy Monologue Evening (Insignificant Theatre); Story Whores (paper/scissors/stone); Dick Whittington (Chaplins); Terrorism (Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts); The Trojan Women (Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts); Haiku (Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts); Flora The Red Menace (Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts) and Outright Terror: Bold And Brilliant (NYT/Soho Theatre).

  Television credits include: The Vote (Donmar Warehouse – More4) and Life’s Too Short: Special (BBC).
• Rebekah Hinds
  

  Rebekah Hinds

  Superintendent, Sergeant's Wife, Waiter & Ensemble

  Bex trained at Royal Central School of Speech and Drama.

  Theatre credits include: Billy Liar (Royal Exchange); Hansel & Gretel (Simply Theatre, Geneva); Around the World (Sadler’s Wells & Mint Theatre, New York); The Little Prince – Workshop (Savoy Theatre); Sondheim Prom (Royal Albert Hall)

  Theatre whilst training includes: Victory (Howard Barker); Sweeney Todd, A View from the Bridge, Romeo & Juliet, Keeping The Faith (original cast)

  TV & Film credits include: Inside no. 9 (BBC); The Syndicate (BBC); Shameless (Channel 4); Aunties (Pilot); Stains of Staines (Pilot); The Public Benefits (Zoom Films).
• Rhona McKenzie
  

  Rhona McKenzie

  The Locksmith's Wife & Ensemble

  Rhona trained at the Central College of Commerce in Glasgow.

  Credits include: Trial by Night (STV); Travis “Re-offender” music video; Universal Comedy Showcase DVD (2008); Cul Nan Dorsan (BBC Alba); Rooftop Comedy (2009); UK Funny Women (BBC Online – 2009); Carol Stark – Scots Squad (The Comedy Unit – 2015); Angry Woman – Hospital 24/7 (The Comedy Unit – 2015) and
  Aqua – The Last Freakshow – Birds of Paradise (2015).

  Rhona was a Finalist for UK Funny Women 2009 and a Semi Finalist for Scottish Comedian of the Year 2009.
• Richard Clews
  

  Richard Clews

  Khlopov & Ensemble

  Richard trained at Rose Bruford College.

  Birmingham Repertory Theatre credits include: Merchant Of Venice.

  Theatre credits include: Rebecca (Kneehigh Theatre Company/National Tour); Wendy And Peter Pan, Julius Caesar and Two Gentlemen of Verona (Royal Shakespeare Company); Nakamitsu (The Gate); Doctor Faustus, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Timon Of Athens (Shakespeare’s Globe); 1984 (Manchester Royal Exchange); The Spanish Tragedy (Arcola Theatre); Beauty And The Beast, Casanova and Happy Birthday Mr Deka D (Told by an Idiot); The Night Before Christmas and The Mystery Plays (Belgrade Theatre, Coventry); Great Expectations (Unicorn); The Threepenny Opera (Northern Sinfonia/Northern Stage); Twelfth Night and They Shoot Horses Don’t They? (Northern Stage); Hedda Gabler, The Cherry Orchard and Sweeney Todd (Dundee Rep); Whose Life Is It Anyway (Westcliffe); Journey’s End and Waiting for Godot (Salisbury Playhouse) and Ghosts (EST – Tour of Canada).

  Television credits include:  Atlantis, The Shadow in The North: Sally Lockhart Mysteries, Birds Of A Feather and Paradise Club (BBC) and A Touch Of Frost and Hornblower (ITV).
• Robin Morrissey
  

  Robin Morrissey

  Khlestakov

  Film
  Robin’s Film credits include:
  “Mindhorn” (Studio Canal/Scott Free Productions), “A Horse Called Oz” (Milky Films), “Cloud Atlas” (Warner Bros), “Love Bite” (Ecosse Films), “Redhead”(Luma Productions)

  Television
  Robin’s Television credits include:
  “Fracture” (Sheringham Studios), “Holby City” (BBC), “Little Crackers” (Sky 1), “Doctors XIV” (BBC)

  Stage
  Robin’s Stage credits include:
  “Young Bloods” (RADA Festival), “ Sex and the Three Day Week” (Liverpool Playhouse), “Juno and the Paycock” (Bristol Old Vic), “Twelfth Night” (Liverpool Everyman), “The Accrington Pals” (Manchester Royal Exchange), “Freefall” (New Wimbledon Theatre)
• Simon Startin
  

  Simon Startin

  Zemlyanika

  Simon Trained at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama.

  Theatre credits include: Islands (Bush Theatre/Edinburgh Festival); Beyond Midnight (Trestle Theatre Company); Sherlock Holmes In Trouble (Manchester Royal Exchange); The Tempest (Theatre Royal, Bury St. Edmunds and Theatre Setup); Revolting (which he also wrote for Jacksons Lane/The Ministry of Clowns); Pericles and Spangleguts (London Bubble); The Fly (Oldham Coliseum); Now You Know (Hampstead Theatre); Hamlet and Bartleby (Red Shift); Tartuffe (Mappa Mundi); Fanny Hill (Duke’s Theatre, Lancaster); Waiting For Godot (Tottering Bipeds); The Fall Of The House Of Usher, Volpone, Into The Mystic and UBU (Graeae); Collateral Damage and Subterranean (Traverse Theatre) and The Changeling (Battersea Arts Centre),

  Television and film credits include: The Musketeers, Doctors, Mapp And Lucia, Holby City, Tag, Criminal Justice, Everytime I Look At You, Dunkirk, Are You Looking At Me? and Rhyming Criplets (BBC); Keen Eddie (Paramount) Presverve (Channel Four).
• Sophie Stone
  

  Sophie Stone

  Postmaster & Ensemble

  Sophie Stone trained at RADA and is Co-Founder of Deaf & Hearing Ensemble Theatre Company. Theatre includes: Herons at Lyric, Hammersmith, Mother Courage and Her Children for the National Theatre; Mine for Shared Experience; Frozen (Birmingham Rep); Two (Southwark Playhouse); The Bloody Great Border Ballad Project (Northern Stage);In Water I’m Weightless (National Theatre of Wales); Pandora( Arcola); Woman Of Flowers (Forest Forge/UK Tour) and Multiplex, Fen and You Make Me Happy (When Skies are Grey) at the Watermill. TV includes Dr Who, Mapp and Lucia; Marchlands, Midsomer Murders, Small World, Holby City, Casualty and FM. Film includes Retreat (Sophie was awarded Best Actress Award, Clin d’Oeil Festival), My Christmas Angel, Confessions and Coming Home.
• Stephen Collins
  

  Stephen Collins

  Bobchinsky & Ensemble

  Stephen, from East London, incorporates signing, speaking, devising and sign songs in most of his acting work.

  Birmingham Repertory Theatre credits include: The Threepenny Opera.

  Theatre credits include: Reasons To Be Cheerful The Musical and The Iron Man (Graeae Theatre Company); Love’s Labour’s Lost (Deafinitely Theatre/Shakespeare’s Globe); Hansel & Gretel (Red Earth Theatre/Derby Theatre) and The Winter’s Tale (Taking Flight).

  Television credits include: Smirnoff Commercial (Bold Company).

  Film credits include: Dawn Of The Deaf (Shadowhouse); 4 and The Fingerspellers (BSLBT); How To Mug A Deaf Person (Greensville) and Nonsense (short).