The Team

Writer:                                    Angela Walsh

Director:                                 Sarah Van Parys

Cast:                                      Jessica Corcoran
                                              Claire Crossland
                                              Geraldine Moloney-Judge
                                              Mike Newstead
                                              Kath Perry
                                              James Price
                                              Kevin Thomas
                                              Angela Walsh
                                        

Stage Manager/Operator        Michelle Grant assisted by Christos Cailleux,  Abbey Catherall and Chris
                                              Sutherland

Photography/Video                 Robert Moore

Graphic Design                      Greg Oldfield

Company Biographies

Kath Perry, Straylight Australia (Producer)

Kath has been directly involved in theatre as an actor, agent, playwright, publicist and producer for the past sixteen years, working in Australia, Poland, Holand and the UK.

Her business background includes an MBA from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, ten years in international public relations consultancy and management and ten years as head of her own actors' management agency.

 

Kath's producing credits for Straylight Australia include: Light Bites and Tasty Treat - two programs, each of 6 short plays, that ran in rep at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2009; Shakespeare's Mothers: Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know – performed at both the Edinburgh and Adelaide Festival Fringes; Shakespeare's Queens: She-wolves and Serpents – again performed at both Adelaide and Edinburgh Fringes, in Stratford-upon-Avon at the invitation of the Shakespeare's Birthplace Trust and at the Arts Theatre in London's West End as one half of Double Bill with CW Production's The Madness of King Lear.

Angela Walsh, Bee Loud (Playwright and Producer)

The Road to Skibbereen marks Angela's debut both as writer and as producer.

Sarah Van Parys (Director)

Sarah graduated from John Moores University in Liverpool and is currently training with Liverpool’s Everyman & Playhouse Theatres as a member of their 2-year Young Director’s course.  She is also a playwright and her self-directed full length play, Forever and Anon, recently enjoyed a sell-out run at the Everyman Studio Theatre.  Her short play Pipedreams was performed at the Luxembourg 10 Minute Theatre Festival in 2012 and, in a full-length version produced by Sarah’s own company, Falling Doors, at the Lantern Theatre in Liverpool.   

Sarah is particularly interested in directing new writing and has directed new work for Theatre in the Rough, The Annexe Writers (Trolley Shaped Bruise and The Morning After) and Organised Chaos (Inference). 

Michelle Grant (Stage Manager/Lighting and Sound Operator)

Michelle is a theatre arts graduate of John Moores University, Liverpool and works as a freelance producer and stage manager.   Recent work includes Production Manager for The Liontamers Theatre Company’s touring production of Removed and Destroyed, Stage Manager for Organised Chaos’ production of Perspectives at The Kings Arms Salford and for Falling Doors Theatre’s Inference at the Everyman Theatre Liverpool.  Other credits include choreographer for The Bells performed in the Unity Theatre Liverpool and Director with Rampant Productions Manchester. Michelle was Deputy Box Office Manager at C venues last year and is excited to be returning as a stage manager and operator this year.

Jessica Corcoran (Actor - Lianna)

Jessica is a Liverpool-based actress and singer currently pursuing her professional training with ActUpNorth. Theatre has been a major part of Jessica’s life since her first performance in the musical Cats at the age of twelve. Since then, she has taken on a variety of roles from Rosa Dartle in David Copperfield at Liverpool’s Unity Theatre to the White Witch in The Narnia Experience at St George’s Hall and Esmeralda in Notre Dame de Paris at the Lantern Theatre.

Jessica taught drama to school students for 2 years. She has set up her own short film project called Twisted Shorts, sings regularly in several Liverpool venues, including the Radio City Tower, and has a very strong interest in writing which she intends to pursue further alongside her acting career. 

 Jessica cares deeply about her current role as Lianna, which she originated as part of the play’s development for the Write Now Festival. She is delighted to be performing it at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.   

Claire Crossland (Actor – Justine and Claire)

Claire has a triple distinction in Performing Arts from Roby College and a BA in Acting from John Moores University. She started her acting training at The McKee School of Speech & Drama, aged  nine, and then went onto The Liverpool Theatre School before joining The Liverpool Musical Society, where she performed in numerous shows over the following four years including pantomimes, plays and cabarets. 

Favourite roles include Lucy Brown in Threepenny Opera, Harry the Horse in Guys and Dolls, Hester in The Deep Blue Sea, Linda in Stags and Hens and Princess Jasmine in Aladdin. She recently appeared as Annie Boyle in Inference as part of The Manchester Fringe Festival 2014.

This is the second time Claire has performed at The Edinburgh Fringe and she is very excited to be back!

Geraldine Moloney Judge (Actor – Jackie/Marianne, shared role with Kath Perry)

Geraldine trained with Dublin Youth Theatre, National Youth Theatre Ireland, Gaiety School of Acting Dublin and Acting Out, Everyman Theatre Liverpool.  Roles include Lady Whiteadder /Mrs Ploppy in Blackadder 2, Jeannette Fisher in Last of the Red Hot Lovers, Mrs Deasy in Fall From Grace (Liverpool Playhouse, Unity Theatre, National and International Tours), Mrs Terence in Night Must Fall (Chester Gateway), Mandy in Serious Money (Dublin Theatre Festival), Olympia in Three Sisters (Gate Theatre Dublin),  Juno Boyle in Juno and The Paycock, Ann Putnam in The Crucible (Lantern Theatre Liverpool), Edith Frank in The Diary of Anne Frank, Maria in Twelfth Night, the Corpse in Nightshade Project (Arts Center Dublin and National Tour), Maggie in Hobson's Choice , Flute in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Nora in The Road to Skibereen, Write Now Festival, Liverpool.

Television work includes Bernadette Conway in Echoes (Working Title Productions for Channel 4) and Obscured View, Geraldine’s own one woman show about football (Liverpool Irish Arts Festival, R.T.E.television and BBC Radio Merseyside). This is Geraldine's first time performing in Edinburgh and she is very proud to be part of this wonderful production.

Mike Newstead (Actor – Fat Joe/Antony/Pat/Man and Doctor)

Initially a tutor, Mike has appeared in lead and supporting roles in his native Liverpool and elsewhere for the past seven years including in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, The Zoo Story, Of Mice and Men, Macbeth, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Art, Accidental Death of an Anarchist, Pygmalion, Glengarry Glenn Ross, Othello, The Diary Of Anne Frank, Last Of The Red Hot Lovers and The Crucible. He occasionally directs too, with his 2012 production of Hobson’s Choice being a particular favourite.

Mike has recently achieved his almost life-long ambition to play Edmund Blackadder in Black Adder 2 (the role that inspired him to act in the first place). He last performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2011 with a re-working of A Midsummer Night’s Dream entitled In Your Dreams and is a little annoyed at himself for taking so long to come back.

James Price (Actor – Stefan)

Originally from the Midlands, James made the trip up North and graduated from Liverpool John Moores University in Drama in 2012. He has appeared in various festivals in Liverpool showcasing new theatre works including Apply Camouflage as part of Hope Street Limited’s On the Verge programme.  James has also appeared in Pipe Dreams at the Lantern Theatre and as Malcolm in Forever and Anon at the Everyman Theatre. James originated the role of Stefan in the development of The Road to Skibbereen as part of the Write Now Festival last year.

James first appeared at the Fringe in 2005 in Triangle’s production of The Singing Nun and returned in 2012 as Henderson in Mad World Theatre’s comic musical farce The Pool of Blood.

Kath Perry (Actor – Jackie/Marianne, shared role with Geraldine Moloney-Judge)

Kath is an Australian actor who has been based in the UK for the past five years. Her UK theatre credits include: Queen Elizabeth I in Shakespeare's Queens: She-wolves and Serpents (Straylight Australia at Arts Theatre), Mrs Noah in Noah's Ark (Blue Elephant); Avrail and Chorus in The Days of the Commune (GunpowderTheatre at the White Bear); Tamara, Gertrude, Duchess of York and Volumnia in Shakespeare's Mothers: Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know (Straylight Australia); Lady Hunstanton in A Woman of No Importance, Lady Markby in An Ideal Husband and Lady Bracknell in The Importance of Being Ernest (Galleon Theatre Company); Millicent in Estranged (JC Productions).

Kath’s favourite roles from her Australian days include Vic in Away (Impulse Theatre), the title role in Mrs Klein, Lady Angkatell in The Hollow, Mrs Tilford in The Children's Hour, Miss Belzer in When She Danced, Margaret in A Perfect Ganesh, Fay Black in Iron, Hazel in Wildest Dreams (Factory Space Theatre Company); Duchess of York in Richard III, Sister Older in The Girl on the Sofa and Kate in Dancing at Lughnasa (New Theatre); Rose Corrie in The Ballad of Rachel Corrie (The Fig Tree) and Lady Capulet in Romeo and Juliet (Phantom Limbs). Film and television credits include: Sea Patrol (Channel 9); FARSCAPE (Farscape Productions); The Road from Coorain (Chapman Productions) and Submerged (Virtual Worlds/Dreams Unleashed).

This will be Kath’s fourth year as an actor at the Edinburgh Fringe.

Kevin Thomas (Actor – Paul/Michael/Carl/Patient)

Kevin is a graduate of Trinity Guildhall.  His favourite roles include Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Falstaff, Polonius (Strolling Shakespeare) and Caliban/Gonzalo in The Tempest (Anvil Productions, National Tour).  He has also played Stanley in A Streetcar Named Desire, Faulkland in The Rivals (Dean Taylor Productions) and Sarah, a typical panto dame.    

Kevin’s work also includes the tragedies Of Mice and Men and Richard III, the musical The Wizard of Oz (Pendle Productions), the pantomime Beauty and the Beast (Bitesize Theatre) and such Victorian-era theatre as A Christmas Carol and Cranford at Christmas (Chapterhouse Theatre).

Kevin is keen to meet the challenges posed by performing his current roles and to experience fringe theatre again, having previously appeared at the Buxton Fringe Festival.

Angela Walsh (Actor – Nora)

As a teenager in Liverpool, Angela attended the Liverpool Playhouse student workshop and was a founder member of the Everyman Youth Theatre. At the National Youth Theatre she appeared in By Common Consent, directed by Ron Daniels first for the stage and then later for the BBC. On leaving school she trained at the Drama Centre London. 

Angela’s stage work includes: Linda in Stags and Hens by Willy Russell (Liverpool Playhouse), Julia in Fallen Angels by Noel Coward (Northumberland Theatre Company), Lynn in Operation Elvis (Kilburn Tricycle Theatre), Gertrude in Roaring Girls Hamlet (Sphynx Theatre Company), Josie in Caravan by Helen Blakeman (Liverpool Everyman) and Rachel in My Beautiful Laundrette (Sherman Theatre Cardiff). 

Her television credits include: Lena in Catherine Cookson's The Man who Cried , Brenda in The Detective, Tracy in Small Zones, Carol Salter in Brookside, Sheila in Philippa Lowthorpe's Eight Hours from Paris. She has also appeared in Needle by Jimmy McGovern, All Creatures Great and Small, Boon and Taggart.  Angela played Eileen in Terence Davies' multi award-winning film Distant Voices Still Lives and also appeared in Hard Days Hard Nights (Horst Konigstein), I Hired a Contract Killer (Aki Kaurismaki ), Blonde Fist (Frank Clarke), Wide Eyed and Legless (Richard Longcraine) and Nowhere Boy (Sam Taylor-Wood). 

This will be Angela’s first experience as an actor at the Edinburgh Fringe.