Primavera

Julia Margaret Cameron Karen Ascoe

Karen trained at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Earlier this year she completed a UK tour of The Letter with Jenny Seagrove and Anthony Andrews, and last year she appeared in the UK tour of The Shell Seekers with Susannah York. Theatre in London includes: Sasha in Ivanov, Hero in Much Ado About Nothing (Strand); A Shayna Maidel (Ambassadors); Dolly in Shared Experience’s award-winning Anna Karenina (Lyric Hammersmith, Tricycle Theatre and two UK and international tours); After Mrs Rochester (Richmond and UK and international tour); the jazz-theatre piece, Out There, with Django Bates (Riverside Studios) and Three Viewings (New End). For the Orange Tree, Richmond: Adam Bede, Pere Goriot, The Case of Rebellious Susan, Dr Knock, Silas Marner, and The Cassilis Engagement. Other theatre credits include: Tartuffe, Hay Fever (Haymarket, Basingstoke); Perfect Days, Time of My Life, Extremities (Playhouse, Derby); Taking Steps, Season’s Greetings, Time of My Life (Sonning); Rookery Nook, Twelfth Night, The Rivals (Mercury, Colchester); Loot, The Glass Menagerie (Swan, Worcester). Recent TV includes: Beethoven, The Bill, Doctors, Dream Team, Casualty, Armadillo, The Armando Ianucci Shows, London’s Burning, Peak Practice, and Kid in the Corner. Film: Paper Mask and Loaf. Favourite radio parts (with the Radio Drama Company) include Dorine in Tartuffe and Miranda in The Tempest with the late Sir John Gielgud.

Charles Hay Cameron Simon Poland

Simon’s most recent stage work includes the lead role in Life x 3 at the Cockpit Theatre and the lead in Vinaigrette for Rocket Productions. Film includes United 93, Children of Men, Cry of Angels, Omega Doom, Spitfire, Masque of the Red Death, Crossing the Line, Brutal Glory, Journey 11, and Alien from LA. Past stage work includes Beaumont in The Banished Cavaliers and Don Antonio/Sanco in The Rover, both for Jonathan Church at the Salisbury Playhouse, and Antipholus of Syracuse for the Nottingham Playhouse. He narrated the BBC series Planet Earth: the Future.

G.F. Watts Edmund Kingsley

Edmund trained at RADA. Over the last year he has appeared as Cinna the Poet, Popilius, and Young Cato in Julius Caesar, directed by Sean Holmes, Francisco in The Tempest directed by Rupert Goold, and Maecenas in Julius Caesar, directed by Gregory Doran, all for the RSC in Stratford and at the Novello. Other theatre includes ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore and Human Rites at the Southwark Playhouse; and Horatio in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead for English Touring Theatre.

Ellen Terry Antonina Lewis

Antonina trained at Webber Douglas. Theatre includes: Helena/Snug in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (directed by Tim Carroll) at the Royal Festival Hall, Lincoln Center New York, Ann Arbor Theatre Michigan; Eleanor in How are You? I’m Fine (Simple 8 Production) at the Barons Court Theatre, also written by her; Helena in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (UK open air tour). Television includes Wilkie in Julian Fellowes’ Most Mysterious Murders for BBC2. Film includes Esther (lead) in Tan Lines (New York and Cannes Film Festivals 2005); Clare in Eight Ball (short). Antonina is currently understudying Billie Piper as Ann (played twice) in Christopher Hampton’s Treats at the Garrick.

Alfred, Lord Tennyson David Barnaby

David’s recent theatre roles include Antonio in Much Ado About Nothing (Theatre Royal, Bath) and Corin/Adam in As You Like It (Rose at Kingston, USA Tour), both for Sir Peter Hall. Last year he played Firs in The Cherry Orchard at the Southwark Playhouse and other recent theatre includes work at the Orange Tree, Union Theatre, Cambridge Shakespeare Company, Shaw Theatre, and Ludlow Festival. Film includes Sanhedrin, Making Waves, and Day of the Sirens. TV includes The Thieving Headmistress (with Pauline Quirke) and Doctors. Before he turned professional in 1997, David was a senior civil servant in the Ministry of Defence and was a member of the Questors Theatre in Ealing, appearing in over 35 of their productions and directing several others.

Mary Magdalen Kate Copeland

Kate trained at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Recent theatre includes the title role in Miss Julie and Sophia in David Hare’s The Bay at Nice (both for Mercury Theatre, Colchester where Kate is a Member of the Acting Company). Other theatre credits include Mrs Gilbert in The Browning Version and Kate in The Twelve-Pound Look (both for Jill Freud & Co.), Charlotte Shaw in Shaw Cornered (Yvonne Arnaud/Michael Friend Productions), Celia in As You Like It (Oxford Stage Company/Creation Theatre), Penthesilea (Gate), Nora in A Doll’s House and Thea Elvsted in Hedda Gabler (both for Acting with Insight), Margaret/Mermaid in The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe (Royal Shakespeare Company), Marie L’Heritier in Les Contes des Fees (Wonderful Beast), The Nutcracker Prince (RSC Fringe). Film work includes Sanitarium (Cat’n’Cage Pictures), String (Father Films) and Pride and Prejudice (Working Title). Radio work includes The Rose and The Ring and The Dreaming Woman (both BBC Radio 4).

John Craig Peter Sandys-Clarke

Theatre: The Letter, directed by Alan Strachan (UK tour, November 2006 – March 2007); Journey’s End, directed by David Grindley (Playhouse and Duke of York’s, August 2004 – February 2005); Lewis in Wonderland, directed by Ed Clarke. Theatre at Birmingham University included: The Golden Age; Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf; and Scenes from an Execution. Television: Torchwood for the BBC, directed by Ashley Way; Foyle’s War, directed by Jeremy Silberston; and The Play’s the Thing, directed by the late Steven Pimlott. Film: Soup Kitchen (short), directed by Tom Vaughan. Peter studied Drama and Theatre Arts at Birmingham University 2000 – 2003.

Queen Victoria Anita Wright

Theatre includes Miss Furnival in Black Comedy (Passion Pit Theatre); Audrey in Ballroom (Tour); Duchess in Don Quixote (Gate); Lady Montague in Romeo and Juliet, Mrs Callicoe in The Relapse, Baucis/Witch in Faust, Mrs Dilber in Christmas Carol, Camereria in Venetian Twins and Lady Elgar in Elgar’s Rondo (all RSC); Emily Dickinson in The Belle of Amherst (RSC fringe and tour); Hilda Murrell in Unlawful Killing (Stratford East); Mrs Higgins in Pygmalion, Martha in Dear Charles (both Yvonne Arnaud Guildford); Mrs Danvers in Rebecca, Lady Bracknell in Importance of Being Earnest, Paulina in A Winter’s Tale.

TV includes Casualty, My Family, Commander II Virus, Inspector Morse, A Perfect State, No Sweat, Equinox

Film includes The Thief Lord, Tom and Thomas, Resurrection.