Synopsis
Matthew studied acting at LIPA, graduating in 2007. Since then he has appeared in several productions touring across the UK, including 'The Delicious revenge of Princess Ruby slippers' (Oxfordshire Theatre Company), 'Pop Goes the 80s' (Grand Opera house York), and 'Space hoppers' (Tell Tale Hearts Theatre Company). In 2010, Matthew and his friends formed the Workers Theatre Company, performing regularly at the Lowry Theatre in Salford.
Most recently Matthew has appeared in 'Visiting Grandad' and 'The Worm Collector' (West Yorkshire Playhouse), and in the National UK Tour of 'Spot's Birthday Party'.
TV/Commercial credits include Coronation Street (ITV), Nightmare in Suburbia (Crime & Investigation Network), Envirofone(ITV2), CSL sofa's (ITV/Channel4/5), Ladbrooks (online).
Matthew particularly enjoys bringing theatre to young children, and is over the moon to be working with Pied Piper Theatre Company!
Selina trained at East 15 acting school. After graduating in 2006, she played Samina in an international tour of 'When the Lights Went Out', touring the UK and the South of France for Tara Arts Theatre Company. She was invited back by the company to perform the rep season 'Hotbed' in four shows playing Baron in 'The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, Prisoner in 'The Penal Colony', Nurse in 'Medea' and Kasturba in 'The Shadow of Gandhi'. Other theatre credits include a national tour with Theatre Centre, playing Kiran in 'Romeo in the City' touring to schools and theatres, including the Unicorn Theatre, Contact Theatre in Manchester, Birmingham Rep and the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield. She also performed in the Polka Theatre, playing a variety of characters such as Cinderella Baby Bear and the Gingerbread Boy in 'The Jolly Postman'. In 2010, Selina played Kool Kat in 'Dick Whittington' in the Wilde Theatre in South Hill Park. In 2011 she worked with Oxfordshire Theatre Company as Bagheera the Panther, Raksha the wolf and Messua the mother in 'The Jungle Book', which toured in various theatres and venues across the UK as well as the Madinat Theatre in Dubai. During 2012 Selina worked withTutti Frutti productions as Nan in 'Rapunzel' and then returned to Tutti Frutti to play Lolita in "Hue Boy" in 2013. She is happy to be working with Pied Piper as Mum, Gran and Mrs Mariposa in 'Care of Henry'.
Andrew Utley has worked as a theatre professional for the past ten years, acting, writing and directing. He began his career with Off The Ground Theatre, a company based on The Wirral in North West England, where he tutored at the company's youth theatre as well as acting in their professional summer tours. Andrew then took the big leap of moving to London in 2011 to concentrate on an acting career and hasn't had to go home yet!
Andrew's theatre credits include: He in 'Angeldust' (2011, Chequered Blue Theatre Company - Etcetera Theatre), Elbow in 'Measure for Measure' (2012, Dark Corner Theatre Company - The Cockpit) and Peter Quince in 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' (2012, The Movement- The Courtyard). Andrew will have spent the summer of 2013 fulfilling an ambition to perform at the Edinburgh International Fringe by appearing in a production with Box Step Films.
Anne Fine is the second Children's Laureate and a distinguished prize-winning writer for children of all ages, with over forty books to her credit. She has also written for adults to considerable critical acclaim. Anne wrote the book of Care of Henry in 1996.
Roman completed a postgraduate course at the Drama Studio London and entered into the world of professional acting in 1977. His forté has always been visual and physical theatre with a strong understanding of the technical aspects as well.
He joined Polka Theatre as an actor in 1980 and has mostly worked with Polka now for more than 31 years, first as staff and now as a freelance director, producing over 55 shows, helping it to become one of Britain's leading theatre companies for children along with international recognition. Over these years he developed his puppetry skills and with the experience of many years of directing and performing has been able to help and teach actors how to lose their doubts and inhibitions of puppetry, developing their own skills in object manipulation.
Roman is a qualified PTLLS teacher and has been coaching students in acting, and teaching/directing students at drama colleges in England (The Academy of Live and Recorded Art, East 15, Drama Studio London) as well as giving various master classes in puppetry /design for puppetry (Central School of Speech and Drama, Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, Little Angle Theatre). He is a puppetry consultant for various theatre companies as well as Pied Piper, (Watershed productions, Birmingham Stage Co, Mid Wales Opera, Pied Piper Productions, Thousand Cranes Co, All Aboard Productions, Polka Theatre - guest directors)
Having directed a very successful production of Lauren Child's characters Charlie and Lola in "Charlie and Lola's Best Bestest Play" for Polka Theatre, Roman is now BBC Worldwide exclusive director for this play which is now touring Britain as well as having played in Singapore, Hong Kong and Australia including the Sydney Opera House. In Sao Paulo, it was performed in Portuguese and also played in Rio de Janeiro before touring major cities in Brazil.
Roman has received "members award" for his years of work in children's theatre by Action for Children's Art.
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.
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
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.
This is Julian's first show for Pied Piper Theatre Company. He has composed music for lots of theatre shows for children and young people, including Charlie and Lola's Best Bestest Play, Charlie and Lola's Extremely New Play and Gorilla (Polka Theatre, directed by Roman Stefanski), Up and Down (GaGa Theatre Company), The Paper Washi Wish and Little Sunshine, Little Rainfall (A Thousand Cranes Theatre), and A Christmas Carol (Lakeside Arts, Nottingham). He has written several musicals for young people including Beauty and the Beast, Red Riding Hood and Flat Stanley (with Mike Kenny, Engine House Theatre) and Run! A Sports Day Musical (with Lisa Evans, Polka Theatre).