GREAT EXPECTATIONS
BIOGRAPHIES

Jo Clifford – adaptation

Jo is the author of over 65 works in every dramatic medium. Her work has been performed at the Edinburgh Festival five times. Plays include: Losing Venice, Playing With Fire, Ines de Castro, Light in the Village, Tchaikovsky And The Queen of Spades and Charles Dickens: The Haunted Man, opera libretti include; Ines de Castro(with James Macmillan) and Anna (with Craig Armstrong). For radio: Writing Home To Mother, Baltasar & Blimunda, Madeleine and Ain’t It Grand To Be Bloomin’ Well Dead. Adaptations: Great Expectations, La Vie De Boheme and Wuthering Heights. Translations include: The House With Two Doors, The Doctor Of Honour, Schism In England and Life Is a Dream (all Calderon); The House of Barnarda Alba (Lorca) and Bintou(Kwahulé). In 2003 she wrote and performed God’s New Frock to music by Robert Burlin (which has recently been filmed). Anna Karenina was produced by the Royal Lyceum in 2005 as was her version of Goethe’s Faust One & Two in winter 2005/06. She is planning to translate Lorca’s Yerma and Blood Wedding. Her latest work Leave to Remain (with Suzanne Dance) will be revived this autumn at the Netherbow. Life is a Dream is currently being rehearsed by Rough Magic and will tour Ireland soon. Jo lives in Edinburgh, where she is Professor of Theatre at Queen Margaret University. For further info, go to www.teatrodomundo.com.

Richard Conlon – Pip

Richard trained at Queen Margaret University College, Edinburgh. His theatre work includes; Brightwater (Mull Theatre); Chris in All My Sons, Young Scrooge in A Christmas Carol, As You Like It and Rodrigo in Othello (Royal Lyceum); The Matinee Idle (Oran Mor); Pinocchio, Tom in The Glass Menagerie and Brick in Cat On a Hot Tin Roof (Byre Theatre); numerous productions at Dundee Rep including Dr. Rieux in The Plague, Cliff in Cabaret and Lazar Elizarich in a A Family Affair and he played Prince Charming in Cinderella at the Kings Theatre Glasgow. On television Richard has been seen in James Boswell Age of Genius, Holmes & Arthur Conan Doyle and High Road as Dr. Andy Sharpe. Radio includes The Knox Factor, Lady Detectives: Law & The Lady and An Island Between Heaven & Earth.

Susan Coyle - Estella

Susan trained at Queen Margaret University College, Edinburgh. Her theatre work includes: It's a Wonderful Life, Ae Fond Kiss, The Apprentice (Nonsense Room Productions); The Magistrate, The Flouers O' Edinburgh, Taking Sides, Snake in the Grass (Pitlochry Festival Theatre); Home (NTS); Tartuffe, Blood and Ice, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (Royal Lyceum); Trumpet, Zander's Boat (Skeklers); Seeing Voices (Solar Bear); Romeo and Juliet (Cutting Edge Theatre); The Cherry Orchard (Benchtours); She Stoops to Conquer (Perth Rep); Dr Korzcak's Example (TAG). On film and TV she has appeared in Run Tony, Run (Simon Grohe); A Woman in Winter (S2SPost); Crimewatch Uk Solved (BBC); Faultlines (Stepping Stones); The Marriage Counsellor (Emergency Productions) and Man at the Window (Short Film Factory). Radio includes: The Long Road to Iona (BBC Radio 4).

David Fennessy – Soundscape

David began his musical life as guitarist in a school rock band but had no formal musical training until the age of 15 when he decided to study classical guitar. He became interested in composition whilst studying for his undergraduate degree at the Dublin College of Music. In 1998 David moved to Glasgow, Scotland to study for his Masters Degree at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama with James MacMillan and he has been living and working there since.
David’s music has been performed all around Ireland and Great Britain, Europe, Australia, South America and the United States by groups including the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, members of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Hebrides Ensemble (Scotland), Paragon Ensemble (Scotland), Endymion Ensemble (London), Irish National Chamber Choir, Concorde, Castagneri Quartet (France), Zephyr Quartet (Netherlands), Synchronia (U.S.A) and Trio Gragnani (Australia) and has been broadcast by R.T.E. and B.B.C.
Works include the string quartet graft which was shortlisted for the 2000 Gaudeamus music prize in Amsterdam, The Answer Machine, a short opera written in collaboration with Scottish playwright Tom McGrath, airbrush written for Paragon ensemble and room, an evening length music-theatre work created in collaboration with the Hebrides Ensemble and director Ben Twist which was toured around Scotland in 2003.
David is a founder member of KEN, a two day exhibition of new music and visual art which had its first outing in December 2004 at the Cottiers Theatre in Glasgow.
Recent works include Security Blanket performed by Scottish guitarist Simon Thacker at the Purcell Room in London’s Royal Festival Hall and Confetti Medley for music boxes and bass clarinets which was shortlisted for the 2006 Gaudeamus Prize in Amsterdam. continuity error has been recorded by Scottish guitarist Matthew McAllister and will be released in October 2006 on the Natural Studio label while airbrush and recent large scale work PPP have been recorded by internet label Seventhings (www.seventhings.co.uk) and will be released on the site in early 2007.
David was awarded a scholarship to study at the International Ensemble Modern Academy in Frankfurt, Germany commencing in October of 2006. He is also a current recipient of a Dewar Arts Award.

Alex Gillon – Voice and Dialect Coach

Alex is a freelance Voice and Dialect Coach working extensively in theatre and also in TV and film. She is a consultant in Presentation and Vocal Communication and a visiting lecturer in Voice and Accents / Dialects at Queen Margaret University College, Edinburgh. Alex is delighted to be working with Prime Productions on Great Expectations.

Pauline Knowles – Biddy/Mrs Joe/Molly

Pauline has worked with the majority of theatre companies in Scotland and England. Recently she appeared at the 2007 Edinburgh Festival Fringe and on tour in two plays for Oran Mor, Tir Nan Og and A Walk in The Park. Other theatre includes Aldonza in Man of La Mancha (Royal Lyceum); Noreen in Tutti Frutti (NTS); Lady Macbeth in Macbeth, Mrs Linde in A Doll’s House and Medea (Theatre Babel); she played Queen Elizabeth in Mary Queen of Scots Got her Head Chopped Off (Prime Productions), Bernadette in Cutting A Rug (Royal Lyceum) and Yvette in Mother Courage (Contact Theatre) both directed by Ben Twist. Margaret Mary Shining Souls (Old Vic); Widows (Traverse); Isa in Men Should Weep and Chris Guthrie in A Scots Quair (TAG) and Swing, Hammer, Swing, directed by Giles Havergal (Citizens’ Theatre); Martha and the Wild Goose (Polka Theatre); Hey, Hey Good Looking (Soho Theatre); Misery (Rapture Theatre) and Martha in Martha (Catherine Wheels). Film and television includes Manhunters, Taggart, Acting BBC 2 Richard Wilson and Jack Shepherd, Strathblair II and John Brown’s Body directed by John McGrath. Radio includes Taglines, Subutu Passage and Floating.

Dougal Lee – Joe/Wemmick

Dougal last worked with Prime Productions on their successful tour of Sunset Song, playing Long Rob and doing the musical direction. During more than twenty years in the business there are surprisingly few theatres in which he has not appeared. In the recent past he has completed four seasons at Pitlochry Festival Theatre; played a sheep and a worm in successive Citizen’s Christmas shows; appeared in Mrs.Warren's Profession at the Royal Lyceum; been an expression of time at French open air festivals; played Ross and eight different musical instruments in an open-air Macbeth in Exeter; has Abanazar-ed at Perth, and has played a chef and a police informer on television. He has just done the Radio 3 play The Switch with Richard Conlon; but has still never been in Taggart.

Jenny Lee – Miss Havisham

Jenny trained at RSAMD in Glasgow. London appearances include Your Own Thing (Comedy), Birds of Paradise (Garrick), Squire Jonathan (Royal Court Upstairs), Emma Brookner in The Normal Heart (Royal Court at the Albery), The Slab Boys Trilogy (Young Vic) and Hurricane Roses (RNT Studio). Regional work includes Winnie in Happy Days (Guildford and Edinburgh Festival) Hester in The Deep Blue Sea (Bolton), Martha in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Chester), Elizabeth Proctor in The Crucible (Birmingham Rep), Lady Macbeth (Colchester), Mistress Page in The Merry Wives of Windsor (Ipswich), Mari Hoff in The Rise and Fall of Little Voice (Theatre in the Round, Stoke), Lady Windermere’s Fan and The Fifth of July (Bristol Old Vic.). 2002-3 she devised and performed in the one-woman show Jessie Kesson – A Good Crack At Life (RSC Summer house, Edinburgh Festival and Scottish tour), which was subsequently broadcast on BBC Radio 4. She performed in the 2006 Pitlochry FestIval Theatre season playing: Lady Hunstanton in A Woman of No Importance, Lady Keeble Summer Lightning, and Grandma Joad in The Grapes of Wrath. She toured in Markings, which opened at the Traverse, transferred to Southwark Playhouse and toured nationally.
TV includes Doctors, The Bill, Casualty, Taggart, Holby City, Eastenders, Extras, the series The Marlows, 3 series of Hope It Rains and Aunty Liz in three series of Monarch of the Glen. She stars in the Nokia 2004 short-listed film Have I Passed? She has twice been a member of the BBC Radio Drama Company, is a familiar voice on radio and was Eileen Fraser in the series Westway.

Paul Morrow – Magwitch/ Herbert Pocket

Paul trained at the RSAMD in Glasgow and graduated in 1983 with the Citizens’ Prize. Early theatre roles include Frank Gilchrist in Kim Dambaek's production of Just Frank and the Wildcat production of John McGrath’s The Cheviot, The Stag & The Black, Black Oil, directed by John Bett. Recently he has appeared in The Demon Barber (Perth Theatre); Targets and a one man show The Price Of A Fish Supper (Oran Mor), Writer’s Cramp, (Royal Lyceum); John Guthrie in Sunset Song (Prime Productions), Cinderella (macrobert) and played Bob Darnley in The Bevellers (Citizens’ Theatre). Film and television includes; Taggart: In Cold Blood, Winners And Losers, The Secret Life of Arthur Ransome and Monarch of the Glen. He is a popular radio actor and also writes under the name of Paul Matthews.

Monika Nisbet - Designer

Monika was born in Germany, educated in Scotland and studied Fine Art in Edinburgh. As well as designing sets and costumes she has lectured in theatre design at Queen Margaret University Edinburgh and Duncan of Jordanston College, University of Dundee. She has designed productions too numerous to list, for most of the theatre companies in Scotland as well as Scottish Dance Theatre, community productions in graveyards, on beaches, on canals streets and parks with hundreds of performers.
As resident designer at Dundee Rep her extensive work included The Caretaker, The Cherry Orchard with Joanna Lumley and On The Line (which won the TMA Award for Best Overall Production). She was also resident designer at the old Byre Theatre St. Andrews for two years. For the New Byre she designed Neville's Island, Vincent in Brixton and Loot. She has worked extensively for Pitlochry Festival Theatre including Queen of Spades, Man and Superman, Dolly West's Kitchen and The Philadelphia Story. For Perth Theatre Little Foxes and for Royal Lyceum, Tartuffe and Look Back in Anger with David Tennant, his last stage play prior to playing Dr Who. She designed the costumes for The Hypochondriac for the Belgrade Theatre Coventry and most recently Mr Puntila and His Man Matti and Pains of Youth for Israeli director Gadi Roll.

Elizabeth Powell – Lighting Design

Design credits include: Jack & the Beanstalk, Cumbernauld Theatre; Rupture, NTS Workshop; Making History, Ouroborous Theatre Company; Venus As A Boy, NTS Workshop; Travels With My Aunt, New Wolsey Theatre Ipswich; The Recovery Position, NTS Young Company; Father Matthew, Yew Tree Theatre & Cork Opera House; Drenched, Boiler House, ( nominated Best Design, Manchester Evening News); Oedipus, NTS Young Company; The Foolish Man, Grass Market Project, The Roundhouse, London; Bones, Mama Quillo; The Night Shift, Mark Murphy Productions; Second City Trilogy, Cork Opera House; Smallone, This Ebony Bird, Romeo & Juliet, Blood in The Alley Productions; lighting assistant on Billy Elliot, London. She was also awarded the NESTA bursary award for lighting design, 2004.

Hannah Reade – Assistant Trainee Director

Hannah is a theatre student at Dartington College of Arts. She has been working with Prime as an apprentice to director Ben Twist, with a bursary from the Federation of Scottish Theatre. She spent the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2007 with Tim Crouch, helping with his highly acclaimed production of England. Previously she was assistant director on Solar Bear United's production of Broken earlier in the year. She is interested in writing, story telling, and using sign language in theatre.

Ronnie Simon – Jaggers/Wopsle

Ronnie’s theatre work includes work includes: Cinderella (Perth Theatre); Hamlet, Chimneys, A Woman of No Importance, Man of The Moment (Pitlochry Festival Theatre); Blood Wedding, Romeo and Juliet (Citizens’ Theatre); The Seagull at The Kings Theatre for the Edinburgh International Festival; Broken (Solar Bear); Cyrano (Catherine Wheels); The Birthday Party, (TAG); A View From The Bridge Guys and Dolls, Victory, Taming of the Shrew, The Breathing House, A Street Car Named Desire, Comedy of Errors, Glengarry, Glen Ross, Merlin the Magnificent, Miseryguts all for Royal Lyceum, Edinburgh; Diary of Somebody, Mermaid Theatre, London; Laurel and Hardy, Edinburgh/ New Zealand Festivals. Television and film includes:Tinsel Town (Series 1 & 2) (BBC); Shepherd on the Rocks (Dandelion Films); Taggart (Scottish Television); Tales of Para Handy, Rab C Nesbitt, ‘Tis the Season to be Jolly’ (BBC Comedy Unit). Radio includes: Blind Mans’ Buff (Heartland FM); Mercury, Sulphur and Salt, Huntingtower (BBC).

Ben Twist - Director

Ben co-founded The Merry Mac Fun Co to tour political theatre throughout Scotland, was Associate Director at the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh and Artistic Director of Manchester’s Contact Theatre. As a freelance he has directed throughout Scotland and in England, Ireland, Germany, America and New Zealand. For Prime Productions he has directed four shows including the sell out production of Sunset Song, which was revived by popular demand for a large scale tour and subsequently nominated for the TMA Award for Best UK Touring Show. He has directed extensively for Pitlochry Festival Theatre and this year will direct Alan Bennett’s Habeas Corpus.
In music-theatre Ben has directed for the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Psappha, The South Bank Centre, Mr McFall’s Chamber, The Seer Ensemble and Haddo House Opera. He wrote the libretto for and directed Ronald Caltabiano’s Marrying The Hangman, which transferred from Manchester to New York and San Francisco. He has directed extensively for the Hebrides Ensemble including world premieres of Room by David Fennessy and Good Angel Bad Angel by Lyell Cresswell and Ron Butlin. He is directing two new short operas for Scottish Opera’s FIVE:15 in February this year, and Sir Peter Maxwell Davies’ The Martyrdom of St Magnus for Hebrides Ensemble in June.
He has taught playwriting and dramaturgy in Scotland, New Zealand, Mexico and Colombia.