Cast & Creatives – Now and Then
Oliver Nazareth Aston is delighted to be here at The English Theatre Frankfurt performing in such a beautiful and powerful play. Previous credits include: The Gunpowder Plot (Tower of London); Romeo and Juliet (Storyhouse); Little Women (Grosvenor Park Open Air Theatre); Stig of the Dump (Storyhouse); The Prince and the Pauper (Trinity Theatre) and Brief Encounter (Watermill Theatre). This is his first time in Germany and he is loving exploring Frankfurt.
Mark Pinkosh is the founder of the Starving Artists Theatre Company, one of the earliest LGBTQ focused theatre companies in the United States. Heading the company since 1984, Pinkosh has produced over sixty shows, directed twenty-two and performed in several of them. Born in Frankfurt Germany, raised in Hawaii from the age of 8, Pinkosh started working and living in the UK in 1988. Since 1993 Mark has worked with writer Godfrey Hamilton, his partner (on stage and off). Their work together has taken them around the world performing at a variety of International Festivals in Toronto, New Zealand, Edinburgh, Vancouver and Miami.
Some of his UK work includes performances at Manchester Royal Exchange, Tron, Traverse, Paisley Arts Centre, Eden Court, Lyric Hammersmith, Finborough, Drill Hall, Komedia (Brighton), Theatre Royal Plymouth (Drum), Hull Truck, Sheffield Crucible, The Tobacco Factory (Bristol) and The Brewery Arts Centre (Kendal). Mark was named a Presidential Scholar in The Arts by President Reagan, performing at Kennedy Center for the awards ceremony. Other awards include two Fringe First Awards, three Hawaii State Theatre Awards, the Manchester Evening News Award (for his work at the Royal Exchange) and the inaugural Stage award For Acting Excellence at Edinburgh, which he shared with Lynn Ferguson.
Television credits include: Lethal Weapon, Growing Up Fisher, Twisted, I’m With Her, House of Lies, Alias, In-Laws, Centre of The Universe, Hot Properties, The Brian Keith Show, Charlie’s Angels, The Jeffersons, Rockford Files, Eight Is Enough, Hawaii 5-0, Waikiki, Magnum P.I., Jake and The Fatman. Film credids include: Man on the Moon, 50 First Dates, Mod Squad, Dirty Deeds, Underclassman, Caliban Remix (short), Take Me With You (short) and The Ghosts of Los Angeles (short).
Mark wrote and directed the recent film FOREIGN which has been screened at 34 film festivals around the world winning awards for Best Director (Red Dirt Film Festival), Best Comedy (Copenhagen International Film Festival) and best LGBTQ+ film in Ontario Canada.
Bryonie is delighted to be here in Frankurt at the English Theatre. Just prior to the pandemic she appeared in the UK national tour of The Full Monty as Linda, Bee and Annie. She reprised the role of Ellen in a national tour of Dry (Human Story Theatre) and played Ade Edmondson’s nurse in EastEnders.
Other theatre includes: Titus Andronicus (Shakespeare’s Globe), The Gift, Unearthed, The Throne , Inscribed (all part of the Hoard festival at the New Vic, Newcastle u Lyme); and Fortune’s Fool, Sweet Bird of Youth (The Old Vic). Bryonie appeared in The Mousetrap as Mollie (West End); Rope, Equus, Strictly Murder (Talking Scarlet); The Importance of Being Earnest (national ATG tour); The Diary Of Anne Frank, Skylight, The Fancy Man (Tabs Productions); Betrayal, Private Lives, Bedroom Farce, Absurd Person Singular, Wife Begins at Forty (Rumpus Theatre Company); The Maple Tree Game, She Stoops To Conquer (West Yorkshire Playhouse); The King and I (Sadlers Wells). She has toured the UK in many productions with New Perspectives, Eastern Angles, Northampton Royal – some favourite plays include The Railway Children, Players Angels, Don Quixote, In The Bleak Midwinter, Father Brown, Moll Flanders. Bryonie has enjoyed playing principal boy, girl, and fairy in many pantomimes, and she has recorded plays and comedies for BBC Radio 4. She has narrated education programmes for primary and secondary school audiences, the Open University, corporate organisations and voiced a variety of radio commercials.
Television credits include: Nighty Night, Doctors, The Bill, Casualty, Emmerdale, Fist of Fun, Prime Suspect, Murder City, The Riddlers. Film includes Blackthorn (to be released), Liza, Twice Upon a Time, The Auton Trilogy, Treading Water, Freedom Fighter. Bryonie last appeared on stage in Germany in 1985 – it’s great to be back !
Annabelle trained at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA). Theatre credits include: Hamlet (National Theatre); Dick Whittington (Nottingham Playhouse); Macbeth and Much Ado About Nothing (Actors from the London Stage & Shakespeare at Notre Dame USA tours); A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Tempest, Tales from Hans Christian Anderson: A Musical and Macbeth (Guildford Shakespeare Company); The Snow Queen, The Tempest, Peter Pan, Swallows and Amazons and A Christmas Carol (Creation Theatre); Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey (Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds and UK tour); Newsrevue (Canal Café); All’s Well That Ends Well and She Stoops to Conquer (Changeling); and the Sam Wanamaker Festival (Shakespeare’s Globe). Digital Theatre credits include: Romeo and Juliet, Grimm Tales, The Duchess of Malfi, Alice: A Virtual Theme Park, The Tempest and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (all as part of the 20/21 award winning digital repertory company formed by Creation Theatre).
Directing credits include: Richard II (Guildford Shakespeare Company); Little Women (Grosvenor Park Open Air Theatre); The Prince (Southwark Playhouse); Antigone (Storyhouse); Much Ado About Nothing (RADA at the Utah Shakespeare Festival); The Duchess of Malfi, Romeo and Juliet, The Merry Wives of Whatsapp, The Tail of the Beauty and the Tail of the Beast (Creation Theatre); The Snow Queen (Iris Theatre); The Time Machine (site specific at The London Library for Creation Theatre); A Christmas Carol (Guildford Shakespeare Company and Jermyn Street Theatre); The Last Fire Breathing Tunnel Digger, online as part of Telling Tales (Muck & Rumble – Oncom finalists 2020); Twelfth Night (Rose Playhouse); Rhino (King’s Head); Hilda and Virginia (Jermyn Street); The Story Chef (Whizzfizz Fest).
As associate/assistant director credits include: Romeo and Juliet (The Globe); The Comedy of Errors (RSC); A Little Night Music (Storyhouse) and Shirley Valentine (Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds). Natasha was an artistic associate at Jermyn Street Theatre between 2018 and 2022 and is a freelance acting tutor for RADA. She also co-founded Women@RADA and is a core ensemble member with The Faction. She is currently a creative associate as part of Creation Theatre’s new rep company.
Ryan studied Design at the University of Brighton and has gone on to work both nationally and internationally. Ryan works with clients from initial design concept, through to final production, and his style is born out of the unique collaborations that occur on each project.
Theatre includes: La Cage Aux Folles (Regents Park Open Air Theatre); A Sudden Violent Burst of Rain (Gate Theatre); My Son’s A Queer But What Can You Do (West End – New Ambassadors, Garrick Theatre, Edinburgh and Turbine Theatre); Frankenstein’s Monster is Drunk and the Sheep Have Jumped All the Fences for Big Telly (Belfast International Arts Festival); 2022 Roundabout Season for Paines Plough (Edinburgh and Tour); My Brilliant Friend (National Theatre, Associate Costume Design for Soutra Gilmore); Wind in The Willows, Pinocchio, The Wizard of Oz, Crossing Lines, Sleeping Beauty, Beauty and the Beast, Peter Pan, A Christmas Carol, Grimm Tales, The Tiger Who Came To Tea (all for Chichester Festival Theatre); Department Story for Big Telly (Belfast International Arts Festival); Torch Song (Turbine Theatre, dir. Drew McOnie); for Le Gateau Chocolat: Duckie (Royal Festival Hall); Icons (Edinburgh Festival); Black (Unity Theatre Liverpool/Soho Theatre) and Le Gateau Chocolat (Menier Chocolate Factory); HMS Pinafore, Chess, Blondel and The Mikado (Union Theatre national tours); for the Brit School: Landmines (Oval House); Sticky and Infinite Joy (Southwark Playhouse); Chip Shop The Musical (Octagon Theatre Bolton); Ice Cream Opera (Freedom Arts Studio).
Dance includes: Mama for Botis Seva (Sadler’s Wells and International Tour); Neighbours for Brigel Gjoka, Rauf “RubberLegz” Yasit & Ruşan Filiztek created in collaboration with William Forsythe (Sadler’s Wells and International Tour); A Tale of Two Cities for Lost Dog/Ben Duke (International Tour); Speak Volumes, Quartier Paradis for Alessandra Seutin (NYDC/Sadler’s Wells), Botis Seva’s Good Youts Walk (Tour), Botis Seva’s BLKDOG (Sadler’s Wells, Olivier Award Best New Dance 2019); Blak Whyte Gray (Boy Blue/Barbican, Olivier Award Nomination 2018); REDD (Boy Blue/Barbican Theatre); Madhead (NYDC/Sadler’s Wells); Wasteland, Coal (Gary Clark Company, UK Theatre Award for Achievement in Dance); Toro, Mariposa, Ham and Passion (DeNada Dance Theatre); Drew McOnie’s Drunk (Leicester Curve/Bridewell Theatre) and Good Morning Midnight (Jermyn Street Theatre).
Jane is a lighting designer based in Cardiff. Upcoming projects include: The Card (New Vic Theatre, Newcastle Under Lyme); Rose (Ambassador’s Theatre, West End); Jeeves and Wooster in Perfect Nonsense (Salisbury Playhouse/Bolton Octagon); Around the World in 80 Days (Bolton Octagon)
Recent projects include: The Cost of Living (National Theatre Wales); Song From Far Away (HOME, Manchester); Aladdin (Harrogate Theatre); Constellations (Stephen Joseph Theatre); Right Where We Left Us (Chapter Arts Theatre); Rose starring Maureen Lipman (Hope Mill, Manchester, Park Theatre, London); One Man, Two Guvnors (Bolton Octagon/Theatre by the Lake/ Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse); Circle of Fifths (National Theatre Wales); I Wanna Be Yours (Leeds Playhouse); Grandmother’s Closet (Wales Millennium Centre); The House With Chicken Legs (Les Enfants Terribles/HOME); Wind in the Willows (Taunton Brewhouse); Peter Pan (Bolton Octagon); Antigone (Storyhouse); Meet Me at Dawn (HER Productions/Hope Mill); Ghost Light (Concept and lead artist at Ffwrnes Theatr); The Storm (M6 Theatre); Dr Korczak’s Example (Leeds Playhouse); Giraffes Can’t Dance (Leicester Curve); Feathers (National Dance Company of Wales); Cotton Fingers (National Theatre Wales); Peeling (Taking Flight); Last Five Years (Leeway Productions).
Lex Kosanke is a Sound Designer and Composer based in London. Recent credits include Suddenly Last Summer (English Theatre Frankfurt); The Grand Expedition (London, Seoul, Shanghai and Shenzhen); The Girl Who Was Very Good At Lying (UK Tour); Supernova (UK Tour); Rice (UK Tour); Final Baby Girl (UK Festival Tour); The Burnt City and Small Wonders (Punchdrunk); The Mikvah Project (Orange Tree Theatre and BBC Radio 4); Small Change (Omnibus Theatre); Spring and Summer (Audio Drama as part of Land Skeins); The Little Mermaid (Fever); Hunger and The Cutting Edge (Arcola Theatre); The Chambers of Flavour, TV Dinners and Dream Dinners (Gingerline); Jeff Wayne’s War of the Worlds: The Immersive Experience (London); Gently Down The Stream (Park Theatre) and Homos, Or Everyone in America (Finborough Theatre). suchnoise.com
Christina Fulcher is a movement director, lecturer and researcher working nationally and internationally. As Movement and Intimacy Director: When We Died (UK Tour/EdFringe/VAULT Festival); The Tinker (Vault Festival); Silla (Northern Opera Group); Beg for Me (EdFringe); The False Servant (Orange Tree Theatre); Cherry Jezebel (Everyman Theatre Liverpool); Cinderella (Barn Theatre); Death and Dancing (Kings Head Theatre). As Movement Director: Ruckus (Southwark Playhouse/EdFringe); Paper Tin (English Touring Opera); Straight White Men (Southwark Playhouse); OUTSIDE (Orange Tree Theatre); Blue Stockings (LAMDA); Stages, Don’t Talk to Strangers (VAULT Festival); The Rape of Lucretia (Trinity Laban Conservatoire). As Assistant Movement Director: EMILIA (Vaudeville Theatre); The Rake’s Progress (British Youth Opera); Wasted (Southwark Playhouse); La Traviata (Opera Holland Park). As Intimacy Director: Arminio (Royal Opera House); Village Idiot (Nottingham Playhouse/Stratford East); Macbeth, Twelfth Night (Leeds Playhouse); The Girl on the Train (Barn Theatre); A Good Time was Had By All (The Hope Theatre).
Ben has coached voice, text and dialect on over one hundred and thirty professional productions. Broadway credits include: INK, The Nap, Michael Moore: The Terms of My Surrender, The Encounter, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, The Last Ship, Billy Elliot, Matilda, King Charles III, Side Show and Spamalot. West End and London credits: Brokeback Mountain, The Third Man.
Off-Broadway credits include multiple productions at Manhattan Theatre Club, Roundabout, and the Atlantic Theater Company as well as the award-winning Sweeney Todd at Barrow Street Theatre, Appropriate at Signature Theatre, Fairview at Soho Rep/Berkeley Rep, and Oliver! for Encores at City Center.
US National tours include A Gentleman’s Guide To Love And Murder, Curious Incident…, Mamma Mia, Billy Elliot, and Spamalot.
US Regional/International includes productions at Hartford Stage, Palm Beach DramaWorks, George St Playhouse, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Goodspeed Opera, Papermill Playhouse, Guthrie Theater, Two River Theater, Canon Theatre (Toronto), the Gate Theatre (Dublin), Dallas Theater Center, and Colorado and North Carolina Shakespeare Festivals.
Film and TV credits include The Hunt, Blindspot, Tales Of The City, Elementary, Vine Talk, Lost City of Z, and Treasure Buddies.Teaching includes: RADA, Juilliard. UNC School of the Arts, Gaiety School of Acting (Dublin). www.benfurey.com
As Musical Director: Sister Act, Young Frankenstein, Sweeney Todd, Cabaret (all for The English Theatre Frankfurt), Summer Holiday (UK Tour – Associate MD), Mother Knows Best (Above the Arts), Let’s go MT for HD (Above the Arts), Bananaman the Musical (Southwark Playhouse), West End Jerseys (Magnetic Entertainment), Legally Blonde (University of Cumbria), Bananaman the Musical (From Page to Stage), Piaf (Charing Cross Theatre). Workshops Include: Bananaman the Musical, Girl From the North Country (Assistant Musical Director – The Old Vic). As Keyboards/Rehearsal Pianist: Matilda (West End and UK tour), Forever Plaid (The Other Palace), Aladdin and Cinderella (both Liverpool Empire), You’ll Never Walk Alone (Queen’s Theatre, London), Tommy (Prince Edward Theatre). Mal is also a Musical Director at Blackburn International for Viking Cruises.
Marc originally trained as an actor at Drama Centre London before moving into casting. For the English Theatre Frankfurt: Sister Act, Secret Life of Humans, The Totalitarians, Young Frankenstein, The Girl on the Train, Switzerland, The Effect, Sweeney Todd, One flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest, The Children, Apologia, Cabaret, The Lion in Winter, Jekyll & Hyde – the Musical, Hand to God, Pygmalion, The Hound of the Baskervilles, Handbagged, Spamalot, The Picture of Dorian Gray, The Glass Menagerie, Disgraced, Death and the Maiden, Other Desert Cities, Ghost – the Musical and Strangers on a Train.
Marc has also recently cast The Children (Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds); The Walworth Farce (Southwark Playhouse Elephant); The Way Old Friends Do (Birmingham Rep/UK Tour); Sky Comedy Rep (Birmingham Rep); The Play what I Wrote (Birmingham Rep/UK Tour); Now Is Good (Storyhouse, Chester); Bang Bang (Northcott Theatre/UK Tour); The History Boys (Grand Theatre Wolverhampton); The Comedy of Errors, Baskerville, Aladdin, Moll Flanders, Pieces of String, Much Ado About Nothing, Clybourne Park, Noises Off, Macbeth (Mercury Theatre Colchester); The Full Monty (UK Tours); The Band (West End/UK Tour) and many more.
