Tyne Theatre Piaf Program The Company Marilyn Cutts as Edith Piaf Marilyn graduated from Manchester University, where she took a postgraduate diploma in Drama, and then joined Derby Playhouse T.I.E./Studio company. She has since worked with companies all over Great Britain and Ireland. West End credits include Godspell, Oliver!, Design For Living, and most recently, The Mystery of Edwin Drood. A founder member of the group, Fascinating Aida, she appeared with them on numerous TV and radio shows before leaving-early in 1986. Last year she played Beline opposite Tom Courtenay in The Hypochondriac at the Lyric, Hammersmith, where at Christmas she also played half a zoo and an offstage currant bun in Alice In Wonderland. Earlier this year she played the lead in a new musical, Love Off The Shelf, at the Nuffield, Southampton, and following this she was highly acclaimed for her portrayal of Mrs Lovett in Sweeney Todd at Bristol Old Vic. Her most recent work was in Leicester Haymarket's production of O What A Lovely War. Geoffrey Abbott Geoffrey Abbott originates from Sunderland and was trained at the Guildford School of Acting which he left in 1985, taking with him the Musical Theatre Award. He went on to play the title role in Joseph and His Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat at the Aberystwyth Arts Centre, during which run was the lead singer in a cabaret group Glittz. Then he played Loesser in the British premiere of the revue Perfectly Frank at the Salisbury Playhouse followed by Babes In The Wood in which he played Little John. He then joined the cast of Starlight Express at the Apollo Victoria playing the parts of Milton Keynes and Dustin. He went on to play Henry Moulton-Barratt in Chichester Festival Theatre's revival of Robert and Elizabeth. Following that he played Freddy opposite Paul Nicholas and Bonnie Langford in Charlie Girl at the Manchester Opera House and the Birmingham Hippodrome. Geoffrey then played Juan Paco in the workshop of the new musical Matador at the Donmar Warehouse. He then joined Scottish Opera to be the alternate Candide in Bernstein's opera Candide at the Theatre Royal Glasgow. Geoffrey then returned to Guildford to play Will in the British premiere of the musical celebration of Rogers and Hammerstein's work Some Enchanted Evening, a role he is soon to repeat at Chichester Festival Theatre. Geoffrey sings regularly as a soloist for BBC Radio 2 and can be heard later this month in Songs From The Shows. Paul Downing Paul trained at Webber Douglas and went on to play a variety of roles at the Palace Theatre, Westcliff, including Simon Zealotes in Jesus Christ Superstar, Brad in Rocky Horror Show, Eddie Lyons in Blood Brothers, Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz and Ben in their studio production of Salonika. He was in Merrily We Roll Along at the Library Theatre, Manchester, and in the West End in Judy at the Strand. He played Perchik in the highly successful revival of Fiddler on The Roof with Topol at the Opera House, Manchester and immediately followed this with a tour of the States as a member of the English Players in the Ballad Opera Love In A Village. This production also played the Mayfair Theatre, London. He was Antonio in Puss In Boots at Chipping Norton and Glow Worm in The Plotters of Cabbage Patch Corner at the Leeds Playhouse. Immediately prior to this production of Piaf he played Jesus in Jesus Christ Superstar at Perth and will be seen this Christmas as Will Scarlett in Babes In The Wood at the Theatre Royal, Newcastle. Paul has also taken part in BBC Radio Schools Broadcasts. Robson Green Born in Dudley, a mining village in Northumberland, Robson left school and took up a four year apprenticeship at Swan Hunter Shipbuilders. In 1986 he toured Berlin with Theatre North of the Tyne in a play called Imagine. Shortly after that he could be seen at The Shaw Theatre, London in C.P. Taylor's Bandits. In the summer of '86 he joined Live Theatre Company, based on Newcastle's Quayside, taking leading roles in Tom Hadaway's play The Long Line; Alan Plater and Michael Chaplin's In Blackberry Time which toured nationally. He then teamed up with Tim Healy to work for the BBC on Sid Chaplin's Hands. He then appeared in Phil Woods' Kiddars Luck. Played Zak in the film In Search of Perfection and Mermaids by Andrew Gunn. He can be seen playing the part of Billy on Channe l4's production of Voices of War. He has just taken the lead in a Lenny Barras play Come Snow Come Blow for Live Theatre Company. He has performed at The Royal Albert Hall and City Halls around the country being part of an A-Cappella Singing Group. He has also worked for Radio Newcastle and been involved in dramas on Radio Four taking the lead in Tom Hadaway's For The Love of Two Boys. Richard Henry Richard is from North Shields and has been around some time he says! Last time he appeared for the Playhouse, Newcastle was in the musical Three Musketeers to be followed by Arturo Vi and Julius Caesar although he remembers with affection Prisoners of the War by Peter Terson at an earlier time. One of the most interesting and possibly the happiest time was four years ago with the Actors Touring Company in which he played Sir Andrew Aguecheek in Twelfth Night and five cameos in Don Juan and was lucky enough to travel to Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand. His recent stage work has included tours with the Cambridge Theatre Company in The Alchemist, The Miser for the Birmingham Rep Company and Treasure Island playing Ben Gunn and Black Dog. He has appeared recently in The Bill; a drama documentary of the Co-op stores shot at Beamish Museum; as a frog with a dry sense of humour in Dr. Who; an engineer with only one arm in the film Little Dorrit and a fussy little clerk in the new Michael Caine film Without A Clue. Paulette Ivory London born Paulette has managed to achieve a great variety of experience in a very short time. Trained at Arts Educational Trust in all aspects of musical theatre, Paulette won the prized cup for the best all rounder in her third year. Since leaving she has appeared in Gary Wilmot and Company on tour throughout the U.K. which was followed by playing Princess in Aladdin. at Worthing in 1987. Spring 1988 saw her singing in Rome, and on BBC Radio in Friday Night is Music Night. Recently Paulette has been playing Ronnette in the national tour of Little Shop of Horrors. As well as her theatre experience Paulette has appeared in many fashion and trade shows all over Europe. She is also working on a specially written song for her blossoming recording career. Sammy Johnson Sammy Johnson bas been acting professionally since 1973. He began his career with the Live Theatre Company who had been going for about six months at this time, and his first professional engagement was to take small scale touring plays into working men's clubs in the North East of England. Since then he has been involved in a wide variety of projects including T.I.E., church shows; medium scale tours, pantomimes, tours with rep theatre, pub shows, National Theatre of Great Britain, radio, television, film, and one-man shows. While doing street theatre Sammy acquired a number of circus type skills and has toured through Europe with an old tyme music hall show. Sammy is at the moment working in the Ray Stubbs Rhythm and Blues All Stars when not appearing in the theatre and has just finished a film set on a trawler to be screened next summer. Anne Orwin Anne has worked extensively in theatre and television throughout Britain. Her theatre work includes Marie Hacker in The Blind Goddess for the Red Ladder Theatre Company; Rita in Educating Rita for Northumberland Theatre Company; Grusha in Caucasian Chalk Circle for the Newcastle Playhouse; Shirley in Tea Tent Talk at the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh and Hannah Kelly in The Fifteen Streets at the Belgrade Theatre Coventry. She has even played Widow Twankey in a version of Aladdin that toured Holland. She is a founder member of the Live Theatre Company in Newcastle and has played the lead in numerous productions there including: Bandits by C.P. Taylor; Anne in God Bless Thee Jacky Maddison and Edna and Molly in The Long Line by Tom Hadaway, and Helen in And A Nightingale Sang which was written for her by C.P. Taylor. Anne returned to the company last year to play Brigette in the highly acclaimed Yesterday's Children by Tom Hadaway. Anne's television work includes Nastaya in Crime and Punishment by Dostocvsky for the BBC; Alice in Lost Yer Tongue for Granada TV; numerous roles for Tyne Tees and a number of appearances in the BBC Play For Today series. Anne will be seen early next year alongside Martin Shaw in Ladder of Swords, a Film On Four production, and can be heard playing Francie in Francie Nichol for Radio 4 in November. Anne has also enjoyed considerable success as a singer, touring extensively with rock and R & B bands, culminating in a performance at the Royal Albert Hall. Anne is also the blonde half of Strongwomen, a theatre company formed in 1984, performing in Britain with two shows Strongwomen In Cabaret and Strongwomen Strike Back with her partner Val McLane. Yvonne Sadler Born in Middlesbrough, Yvonne trained at the Guildford School of Acting and has appeared in numerous musicals including; Little Me and The Boyfriend at Dundee, The Fantasticks and Oh Coward at Edinburgh, Something's Afoot and Godspell at Perth, Little Shop Of Horrors at Farnham, Mr Cinders at York Theatre Royal, and as 'Cinderella' in Rogers and Hammerstein's musical Cinderella at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre. Yvonne has toured with productions of Oh Coward, The Swinging 60's, and Hooray For Hollywood for Park International Productions. Appearances in straight plays include: And A Nightingale Sang, 'Honey' in Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf at the Belgrade Theatre Coventry, Don Juan and Harvey at Perth Repertory Theatre. Michael Strassen Michael graduated, with credit, from the Guildford School of Acting. His first job was the musical Annie involving a long national tour. Joseph Papp's Pirates of Penzance followed at the Theatre Royal Plymouth playing alongside Oliver Tobias and Frank Thornton. The Christmas season took him to the Crucible Theatre Sheffield for productions of Cinderella and You're A Good Man Charlie Brown - playing Linus. A personal ambition was fulfilled in performing Steven Sondheim's Sweeney Todd at the Bristol Old Vic playing Fogg and singing lead tenor. Michael has just completed a run of Poppy by Peter Nichols at London's Half Moon Theatre, playing Cratchet in this satirical view of the Victorian Opium wars. He is a founder member of the Rob Mitcbell Singers on Radio 2's Friday Night is Music Night. As a soloist, Michael has sung on Songs From The Shows with the BBC Radio Orchestra, an experience he is due to repeat after Piaf and before his role of Simon in Andrew Lloyd Webber's Jesus Christ Superstar. Through necessity Michael lives in London but is thrilled to be working and for a while living in his native Newcastle. Leonard Webster Leonard studied law at Edinburgh University, then went to Paris to study mime and movement with Jacques Lecoq. Since then he has worked at Liverpool Everyman in several shows including Romeo and Juliet and The Taming of The Shrew. He has also worked at Bolton Octagon, Chester Gateway, Sheffield Crucible and at Manchester Royal Exchange in Oedipus. On television he has appeared in Brookside and the Screen 2 film Honest Decent and True. Ceri Sherlock Ceri was born in South Wales. He directs for both the lyric and spoken theatre. In his native Wales he has worked with all the major theatre companies (Theatr Cymru, Theatre Wales, Moving Being, Made in Wales, the National Youth Theatre of Wales and Sherman Theatre) and is currently Artistic Director of THEA TRIG. Ceri has directed plays by Brecht, Chekhov, Ibsen, Moliere, Shakespeare, Strindberg, Sophocles and Wycherley as well as many new plays and premieres. In the lyric theatre Ceri was staff director at the Welsh National Opera from 1983-86 where he worked as Assistant Director to Ruth Berghaus on Don Giovanni and Lucian Pintillie on Carmen and Rigoletto. Recently he was Assistant Director to Peter Stein on Otello (also for BBC TV). For the Welsh National Opera Ceri has directed the Threepenny Opera, the Soldier's Tale and a new version of Dido and Aeneas; restaged Ballo in Maschera and revived productions of operas by Mozart, Verdi and Wagner. Abroad, Ceri was invited by Peter Stein to attend rehearsals of Three Sisters at the Schaubuhne am Lehniner Platz, Berlin and restaged several major operas, Otello (with Stein) at the Theatre Royale de la Monnaie, Brussels and Carmen for Expo '86/ Vancouver Opera, Canada. His most recent productions include The Country Wife at York Theatre Royal, The Winter's Tale at the Watermill Newbury, Eugene Onegin for Scottish Opera, The Unexpected Guest for the Theatre Royal Plymouth and Hamlet for THEATRlG. Ceri has just been appointed Artistic Director for the Actors Touring Company, a post he takes up in the New Year. Director - Ceri Sherlock Designer - Simon Banham Musical Director - Millie Taylor Choreographer - Iain Stuart-Ferguson Lighting Designer - John Waterhouse Stage Manager - Jane Pole Deputy Stage Manager - Sally Woodland Assistant Stage Manager - Cathie Healy et Eleanor Roseblade Costume Supervisor - Judy Gray Sound - Mic Pool Acoustic Bass - Derek Dixon Reed Instruments - Lesley Cross Keyboards, Millie Taylor