We are delighted to announce the cast of our sparkling new production for Christmas 2018 of The Borrowers! Join us as we turn the Factory Theatre into a giant adventure playground to tell this charmingly irreverent story based on the much loved novel by Mary Norton.
Including many Bristol based performers who are very familiar to audiences at Tobacco Factory Theatres, this stellar cast will ignite imaginations young and old this Christmas.
For the full cast list and cast biographies, see below.
Mary Norton’s classic childhood favourite has been adapted for the stage by Bea Roberts (Little Mermaid, the egg) and will be directed by Nik Partridge (The New Adventures of Snow Mouse, Travelling Light). A creative team including Designer Rosanna Vize (Infinite Lives, Tobacco Factory Theatres) and Composer and Musical Director David Ridley (Jane Eyre, National Theatre/Bristol Old Vic) will conjure the quirky, wonky world of Arrietty and her family of Borrowers as you’ve never seen it before.
Tobacco Factory Theatres is grateful to The John Fernald Award (through Equity) which is supporting us and Nik Partridge as we stage this production.
The Borrowers
BY Mary Norton
Thu 29 November 2018 – Sun 20 January 2019
Eddie Simon Armstrong
Pod Craig Edwards
Arrietty Jessica Hayles
Homily Peta Maurice
Young Eddie David Ridley
Musician/Performer Ellie Showering
Mrs Driver Lucy Tuck
Simon Armstrong’s [Eddie] theatre credits include: The Cherry Orchard (Sherman Theatre), Twelfth Night, Cannibals, Accrington Pals (The Royal Exchange), Educating Rita (Hull Truck Theatre), Pericles, The Winter’s Tale, Hamlet (Shakespeare’s Globe), Macbeth, A View From the Bridge (Tobacco Factory Theatres), Living Quarters (Tobacco Factory Theatres/Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory), King Lear, The Cherry Orchard, Julius Caesar, Anthony and Cleopatra (Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory), Copenhagen, To Kill a Mockingbird, Macbeth, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Cherry Orchard, Of Mice and Men (Clwyd Theatr Cymru), Bus Stop (New Vic/Stephen Joseph Theatre), The Misanthrope, Uncle Vanya (Bristol Old Vic).
Television credits include: Game of Thrones, Virgin and Martyr, The Coroner, The Hollow Crown: Richard III.
Radio credits include: Poetry Please, One Night in Lillehammer, Peter & Catherine – The Tsars of all the Russias Season, August 1914.
Film credits include: Sans Famille, Excalibur Rising, Berserkers, Golden Years, Crowhurst.
Craig Edwards’s [Pod] is an actor/director living and working in Bristol. He has been part of creating many new theatre productions Tobacco Factory Theatres and also with Travelling Light, Bristol Old Vic, the egg, Shoofly Theatre and Living Spit.
Directing credits include: The Giants Of Science, The Nativity (Living Spit), One Item Only (the egg), The Ugly Duckling (Travelling Light/Tobacco Factory Theatres) and Three Kings (Travelling Light).
Acting credits include: Cinderella: A Fairytale (Tobacco Factory Theatres/Travelling Light, Olivier Theatre Award-nominated), Jane Eyre (Bristol Old Vic/National Theatre), Two Four Six Eight! (Shoofly Theatre).
Jessica Hayles’s [Arrietty] theatre credits include: As You Like It, After the Dance (Theatre by the Lake), The Snow Queen (Bristol Old Vic), Yen (Gothenburg English Studio Theatre), The Box of Photographs (Polka Theatre), Dirty, Gifted & Welsh (National Theatre Wales), Richard III, Things Beginning with M (Omidaze), The Chronicles of Kalki (Gate Theatre – Development), Tammy (National Theatre Wales/Sherman Cymru – Development), Dead (Gallivant – Development), Luna (Theatre Hullabaloo), Hot and Eva (Invertigo/Hightide Takeover), After the Rainfall and We Will Play Again (Curious Directive). Jessica is a founding member of Not Too Tame Theatre Company whose productions Early Doors and Electric Eden (which starred Jessica) both received sell out 5-star runs at Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
Television and Film credits include: Doctor Who, Listen to Me, Oddbods.
Radio credits include: A Northern Soul (Pier Productions for BBC Radio 4).
Peta Maurice’s [Homily] theatre credits include: The Mysterious Vanishment of Pobby and Dingan (Travelling Light), Tiddler and Other Stories, Stick Man Live on Stage, Pirate Gran (Scamp Theatre), The Adventures of Pinocchio (Tobacco Factory Theatres), The Sneeze (Roughhouse Theatre).
Film credits include: I Am The Prize, Work It Baby (Very.co.uk), The Claw (Small Story Tellers).
Peta is a member of the comedy improvisation group ‘Instant Wit’, a voiceover artist and a singer for The Good Night Sweethearts. She is super excited to finally be back at Tobacco Factory Theatres this Christmas!
David Ridley [Young Eddie] is a composer, performer, musical director and sound designer and a founding member of the theatre company Bucket Club. He holds an MA in composition from the University of Bristol.
Theatre credits include: [As Musical Director] The Duchess of Malfi, Miss Littlewood (RSC), Jane Eyre (National Theatre/Bristol Old Vic), Last Five Years (Tobacco Factory Theatres). [As Composer/Sound Designer] Fossils, Launch Party, Lorraine & Alan, The Beasts (Bucket Club), Ruins, Our Town (Theatre Royal Bath Young Company), The Light Princess (Tobacco Factory Theatres), Yørgjin Oxo (Farnham Maltings).
Ellie Showering [Musician/Performer] is a Bristol based singer, performer and composer. Since graduating from Dartington College of Arts with a degree in Contemporary Music Performance, her collaborative work has ranged from intimate shows designed for an audience of one to sold out theatre tours across the UK and Europe. Ellie is the Musical Director for Insane Root Theatre Company.
Singing credits include: Undersong, Hug, Mmm Hmmm, Symphony, Airborne (Verity Standen), The Tempest (Insane Root), A Very British Bird Show (Conker Group), Bread and Butter (Theatre & Radio 4 – Jen Bell), Interlude (Jenny Minton), 16 Singers (Kitty Morley), Out of Water (Catherine Wright/Helen Paris/Jocelyn Pook), How Lucky (Soundtrack – Freya Billington), Bristol Green Capital Opening Ceremony (Cirque Bijou/Dom Coyote), Leviathan, Cart Macabre, Biosphere (Living Structures).
Composer credits include: Romeo & Juliet, The Tempest, Orpheus & Eurydice, Macbeth (Insane Root), A Very British Bird Show (Conker Group), Lovely Ugly City (Jo Tyabji).
Lucy Tuck’s [Mrs Driver] previous work at Tobacco Factory Theatres includes: Cinderella: A Fairy-tale, 101 Dalmatians and The Last Voyage Of Sinbad The Sailor.
Other acting credits include: Small Politics (Sky Arts Films), Awumbuk (Bath Film Unit), The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe (West Yorkshire Playhouse), Beryl (New Vic Theatre), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Handspring Puppet Company), Sleeping Beauty, The Boy Who Cried Wolf! (Bristol Old Vic).
As Associate Artist for Foursight Theatre: Can Any Mother Help Me?, Thatcher! The Musical, Six Dead Queens And An Inflatable Henry!
Lucy is delighted to back at Tobacco Factory Theatres for a fifth Christmas with The Borrowers!
Posted on 31 July 2018
