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Park Theatre presents the world premiere of

Stroke of Luck

by Larry Belling

Cast in Order of Appearance

Monroe Riley | Andrew Langtree

Cory Riley | Kirsty Malpass

Barry Gillis | Jon Glover

Father Riordan | Morgan Deare

Lester Riley | Tim Pigott-Smith

Nurse Lily | Julia Sandiford

Helen Riley | Pamela Miles

Ike Riley | Fergal McElherron

Dr. Gunther | Morgan Deare

Ettore Santangelo | Jon Glover

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Tim Pigott-Smith | Lester Riley

Tim’s King Lear at the West Yorkshire Playhouse was named by The Observer as one of the top ten events of 2011, and his subsequent Prospero in The Tempest at the Theatre Royal Bath was likewise acclaimed. One of Britain’s busiest actors in all media, Tim’s recent TV appearances include Downton Abbey, Woodhouse in Exile, and The Great Train Robbery. His work in radio drama and audio books is extensive including the current Borgen: Outside the Castle and H.G. Wells’s The First Men in the Moon. Tim made his theatre debut with the Bristol Old Vic and went on to many appearances with the RSC and the National. Other roles include Educating Rita in the West End working with Stroke of Luck director Kate Golledge, Enron, A Delicate Balance, and The Iceman Cometh with Kevin Spacey at the Old Vic and on Broadway. He has also directed major productions of Hamlet (Damian Lewis) and A Royal Hunt of the Sun. Coming up next is the forthcoming sci-fi epic movie Jupiter Ascending from the directors of The Matrix, the role of Asquith in a film about events preceding the First World War called 37 Days, as an MI6 spy who recruited Houdini in a American TV miniseries, and as George in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf for the Theatre Royal Bath.

 

Julia Sandiford | Nurse Lily

Julia trained at Central School of Speech and Drama. She made her stage debut in the UK premiere of Myth, Propaganda and Disaster in Nazi Germany and Contemporary America at the Orange Tree Theatre. She has also appeared in Steven Berkoff’s production of Richard II at the Ludlow and Almagro Festivals, A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Southwark Playhouse, Crazy Love by Che Walker with Paines Plough, Limehouse Nights - a devised play about the first London Chinatown - with Kandinsky Theatre, La Dispute at Theatre du Preau in Normandy, Swallow Song at Oxford Playhouse and The Real Thing at Theatre Royal Bath and on tour. Television includes Silent Witness, Coronation Street, Hollyoaks and Emmerdale. After taking part in the Unheard Voices writers programme at the Royal Court Theatre she became a founding member of Papergang Theatre, whose aim is to support British East Asian writers. They are currently working on their first production, BOY by Tuyen Do. There is more information at www.juliasandiford.co.uk

 

Andrew Langtree | Monroe Riley

Andrew is originally from St. Helens in Lancashire and he graduated among the first alumni of The Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA). His West End and professional debut was as Nick Piazza in Fame at the Prince of Wales Theatre, before moving slightly North to The Prince Edward Theatre to create the role of Sky in the original cast of Mamma Mia! Other West End credits include Eddie in Blood Brothers and Carl in the original cast of Ghost the Musical. Other theatre credits include roles at the Oldham Coliseum, Theatre Clwyd, the Glasgow Citizens, Birmingham Rep, the West Yorkshire Playhouse, the Bolton Octagon, the Manchester Royal Exchange and the National Theatre (in The Rose Tattoo). Screen credits include being a clown with Kevin Kline in the motion picture De Lovely and his television roles include Cutting It, Holby City, Doctors, The Royal, Heartbeat, Coronation Street and Emmerdale.

 

Kirsty Malpass | Cory

Though born in the UK, Kirsty spent part of her early childhood in New Jersey. After attending the University of Manchester and taking a post-graduate musical theatre degree at Mountview Academy, she made her professional acting debut as Penny the Swan in the Royal National Theatre tour of Honk! Other non-human roles followed including a monkey, reindeer, hobbit and, most recently, a Dalmatian with 99 puppies. She welcomes playing a human being again in Stroke of Luck! Kirsty’s theatre work includes Chariots of Fire (Gielgud Theatre), The Lord of the Rings (Theatre Royal Drury Lane) Jerry Springer the Opera (Cambridge Theatre), The Sound of Music (RUG National Tour), and It’s a Wonderful Life (UK Tour), and in the RSC’s The Wizard of Oz at both the Birmingham Rep and West Yorkshire Playhouse. A musician as well as an actor (bass, guitar and piano), Kirsty’s mezzo soprano voice has been heard on numerous recordings including The Lord of the Rings (Original London Cast Recording), and City Divas (Masc Records). Her TV appearances including the Mitchell and Webb sitcom Playing Shop and she was also seen on the live BBC recording of Jerry Springer the Opera.

 

Fergal McElherron | Ike Riley

Fergal is both an actor with twenty years experience and a writer of note. His theatrical play To Have and to Hold was nominated for the prestigious Stewart Parker Prize named after the Belfast playwright, and his two radio plays, In the Blink of an Eye and Prodigal were produced by RTE, Ireland’s public service broadcaster. As an actor he regularly appears at Shakespeare’s Globe in such productions as Comedy of Errors, As You Like It, Romeo and Juliet, Loves Labours Lost, A Winter’s Tale and most recently as Quince and the First Fairy in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. He has also appeared as Nathan Detroit in the Cambridge Arts Theatre production of Guys and Dolls and productions at the Tricycle, Abbey Theatre Dublin, the Donmar Warehouse (in Trelawny of the Wells), and the Lyric Theatre Belfast in the two-hander, Days of Wine and Roses. He has twice won Best Actor Awards for his work at Dublin Fringe Festivals and was Best Supporting Actor in the Irish Times/ESB Theatre Awards for his work in Voltaire’s Candide. Fergal is currently writing a new stage play and a TV pilot.

 

Jon Glover | Barry/Santangelo

Jon originally trained as a teacher at the Central School of Speech and Drama. Following a spell on a kibbutz in Israel he joined schools tours in Yorkshire and Chester gaining his vital Equity Card. London followed with fringe productions, repertory theatre and four years presenting BBC Children’s Playschool. In the West End Jon created Zeppo and understudied Groucho in The Marx Brothers musical A Day In Hollywood A Night In The Ukraine. His first major TV Drama role was opposite Tom Wilkinson in Miss Marple. His frequent BBC Radio Comedy appearances include many series of Weekending, which led to Central Television’s Spitting Image and a partnership with Harry Enfield, culminating in Enfield’s own TV Series in which Jon played Mr Cholmondeley Warner. These days Jon regularly appears in such TV dramas as Doctors, Midsomer Murders, Foyle’s War and Casualty. He is frequently heard on BBC Radio, notably as the villainous Martyn in The Archers, and with Bill Nighy in Charles Paris Mysteries. Jon will soon be seen in the film version of London Wall. He and his wife live near London with four Burmese cats and a Classic 1968 MGC made the same summer he went to drama school.

 

Morgan Deare | Father Riordan/Dr. Gunther

Morgan Deare is one of the most active London-based American actors, working in theatre, TV, film, radio and voiceovers. Born in Louisiana, he moved to London 38 years ago and made his debut in a theatre cabaret of Kurt Weill music. His West End work includes Little Shop of Horrors, A Streetcar Named Desire, Whistle Down the Wind and South Pacific amongst others. He was seen off-West End most recently in Floyd Collins and Sweet Smell of Success. He has appeared in several National tours including Annie, 42nd Street, Fiddler on the Roof, Being Tommy Cooper, Carousel and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and appeared in numerous provincial theatres in productions such as Plaza Suite, Of Mice and Men, Company, The Fantasticks and Gypsy. His television appearances include roles in Nixon’s The OneDr Who, Coronation Street and End Day. He has played characters in six Radio 4 productions including Show Boat, We Need to Talk About Kevin and The Awakening. His big screen appearances include Hyde Park on Hudson, The Callback Queen and Who Framed Roger Rabbit.

 

Pamela Miles | Helen Riley

Pamela made her theatre debut in her native Wales in productions for the Welsh Theatre Company including The Daughter In-Law, The Rivals and Antigone. She has recently been seen in Utopia at the Soho Theatre and on tour, Darker Shores at the Hampstead Theatre, and with her husband Tim Pigott-Smith in Pygmalion for the Peter Hall Company at the Theatre Royal Bath. She has also appeared at the National Theatre in Animal Farm and The Garden of England and numerous productions at the Old Vic, Royal Court, Gate Theatre, Kings Head and Regent’s Park. King Lear at the Bristol Old Vic is on her resumé as well as the comedies Bedroom Farce and Habeas Corpus at the Nottingham Playhouse. She joined the RSC to appear on Broadway in New York in Sherlock Holmes, She has been seen on the small screen in Midsomer Murders, Casualty, Doctors, Rumpole of The Bailey, Inspector Morse and many others, with big screen appearances in A Fish Called Wanda and Under Milk Wood with Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor. Tim and Pamela’s son Tom is a noted concert violinist.