Synopsis
Sharla Smith graduated from ALRA Drama School in December 2011 completing an MA in Acting course. In 2005, Sharla also attended Kingston University completing a BA in Drama degree.
Sharla's theatre credits include; Kia in "My Life" (2006) at The Warehouse Theatre, Bertha in "Hello Bertha" at the ALRA theatre and Tasha in "Little Sweet Thing" at the Soho Theatre (2011).
TV/ Film credits include; Loveless in "Little Miss Jocelyn" (2007), Yemi in "The Glowing Hours" (2010) and recently a "real woman" in the Special K advertisement.
Toby grew up on the South Coast of Cornwall then moved to London in 2005 when he began his training at Italia Conti Academy. In 2011 he toured England and Wales with Cornish theatre company BishBashBosh Productions, playing John Henry Pascoe in their highly acclaimed 'Surfing Tommies.' Toby has always loved working with children and looks forward to being reunited with Lawrence Evans for My BIG Little Sister.
Jessica trained at Drama Studio London and graduated in July 2012, having previously obtained a degree in Drama and French from Hull University in 2010.
Jessica has toured her home county of East Yorkshire with Other Lives Productions, playing Natalya in The Proposal, and has taken on various roles in Murder Mysteries. Her theatre experience whilst training includes Isabella Bird and Win in Top Girls, Rosalind in As You Like It, Queen Margaret in Richard III and Emily in Brontë.
Jessica is thrilled to join The Pied Piper Theatre Company for My BIG Little Sister, and can't wait to play the parts of Mum and Nan, not to mention all the musical instruments!
Lawrence works as a director, movement director and actor. Nominated for an Olivier Award for his work with Tony Harrison at the National Theatre he has worked with the poet on all his site-specific theatre pieces. He received a Best Actor Award from the Liverpool Echo and Daily Post Northwest Arts Awards and his work as an actor includes many of the regional Repertory Theatres throughout the UK as well as the National Theatre, NT studio, Cheek by Jowl, the Young Vic and Northern Broadsides. Directing work includes Associate Director at Theatre Centre 2001/2, A Midsummer Night’s Dream with the Irish Chamber Orchestra & Storytellers Theatre Co., The Soldier’s Tale with the internationally renowned violinist, Anthony Marwood and the Orchestra of the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, and The Big Enormous Present for Pied Piper. Other directing work; Polka Theatre, Oxfordshire Touring Theatre Company, London Bubble, the CDS New York Agents showcase, and several fringe companies. As a Movement Director his work includes the National Theatre, NT Studio, Northern Broadsides, Hampstead Theatre, Tamasha Theatre Co., and Bristol Old Vic and his co-written play Lives Worth Living is published by Heinemann Educational.
Tina Williams is the Artistic Director of Pied Piper Theatre Company, which she set up in 1984 having trained as both an actor and a teacher. Tina has written, adapted, directed and produced over twenty five plays for the company including a large scale national tour of Anne Fine's "The Book of the Banshee", a community tour of "A Little Princess" involving eight actors and eight young people and her recent new plays "The Big ENORMOUS Present" and "Robin's Winter Adventure".
In 1994 Tina set up the Education Department at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre Guildford, which ran until 2008. As well as directing several co-productions with the Yvonne Arnaud she wrote and directed ‘Flash! Bang! Rabbit! for the youth theatre as a creative and cultural exchange with the Sherman Theatre in Cardiff.
Tina has been engaged as Artistic Director for several co-productions throughout the UK and internationally in Singapore. She also directed several seasons at The Fortune Theatre in London’s West End. She is currently writing two new plays for age four upwards.
Biography coming soon!
Originally from Manchester, Brendan trained as an actor and worked for ten years in schools, fringe, Rep and commercial theatre. From 1982 to 1985 he was Head of Theatre-in-Education at the Belgrade Theatre, Coventry and later writer-in-residence at the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield. Since 1990 he’s divided his time between writing, directing and teaching - principally at Drama Studio London. In 2002/3 he was the Visiting Gulbenkian Fellow in the Department of Palliative Care at King’s College Hospital and, from 2003 to 2008, Artistic Director of Oxfordshire Theatre Company. His plays are regularly produced throughout the UK and abroad and have won both Brian Way and Writers’ Guild of Great Britain Awards. Like the good northerner he is, he lives in Brighton. For more details visit www.brendanmurray.co.uk
Originally from Nova Scotia, Canada, Angela is a movement director, director, performer and teacher. Recent projects include Sizwe Banzi is Dead at the Young Vic & UK Tour (as movement director) and Life on Wheels with circus company Bella Kinetica (as director). Other movement direction credits include: Love is Easy (music video; McFly); A Midsummer Night's Dream(Custom/Practice); The Kitchen (Fourth Monkey); Faith, Hope & Charity (Southwark Playhouse); Emma Thompson Presents: Fair Trade(Shatterbox). For Pied Piper Theatre Company: Great Gran's Great Games and My Big Little Sister. Angela is Course Director of Fourth Monkey's Two Year Rep Actor Training Programme.
Jane enjoys designing a wide range of theatre and film. She has worked for companies throughout the UK and spent several years based in Wales as the Resident Designer at the Sherman Theatre.
She is an experienced interpreter of theatre for young people having designed many plays for leading companies in the field of young people’s theatre including the Unicorn Theatre, Theatre Centre, Nottingham Playhouse and the National Theatre.
Other recent work for adult audiences has included My Family and Other Animals for York Theatre Royal and Soul Exchange for the National Theatre of Wales.
Jane has designed a number of films and drama documentaries including Deep Water, and September which received the Bafta for Best Short Film in 2009.
Graeme has composed music for numerous theatre productions including: As You Like It, The Nativity (Everyman Theatre, Liverpool); A Place With The Pigs’ (New Perspectives), From Dawn To Dusk, (Forest Forge), Cinderella, (Theatre Foundry) as well as numerous student productions, the most recent being Machinal’ at the Italia Conti Academy & The Wonderful World Of Dissocia at Drama Centre. Musical Directing includes: Stirrings in Sheffield & A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Crucible Theatre, Sheffield); The Entertainer (Salisbury Playhouse). ‘ Oh What a Lovely War, The Resistable Rise Of Arturo Ui and 17 pantomimes for the Mercury Theatre, Colchester. He wrote music for the B.B.C. television series ‘Grangehill’.
Acting work includes High Society (West Yorkshire Playhouse), As You Like It, The Nativity & Candide (Liverpool Everyman), Showboat (London Palladium.) Truly Madly Deeply, and Inspector Morse, for television.
He currently teaches singing at Drama Centre working with the B.A students, and is head of Music on the Italia Conti B.A acting course. Graeme is also director of the European Theatre Summer School in Luxembourg. His Masters Degree is in Modern Theatre & Drama from what is now London Metropolitan University.