CAST AND CREATIVE TEAM
House Mother Normal

Cast

Amelda Brown

Over the last few months I've had a flurry of activity which involved travel in these covid times. I've been to Cardiff, up to Newcastle and then Birmingham for various television programmes. While in Newcastle Tim Crouch phoned to ask if I was interested in House Mother Normal. Obviously I said yes to have the chance of working with Tim again and New Perspectives. Before Lockdown, my career was into its 5th decade (ouch), so it's long. I've worked at The Royal Court (including Tim Crouch's Adler & Gibb), Joint Stock, The Bush, Shared Experience, Kandinsky, and many Regional Theatres from Manchester, Edinburgh, Nottingham, Birmingham, Bolton, Colchester, York and Leeds. Films include Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, V for Vendetta, Little Dorrit and Hope and Glory. TV includes Fleabag, Sherlock Holmes, Grange Hill, Call the Midwife, Ashes to Ashes, Waking the Dead, New Tricks, Casualty, Dumping Ground and Tenth Kingdom. And I was part of the wonderful Home Front radio series following the First World War over the four years.

Tim Barlow

Tim was a founder member of the legendary Theatre Complicité, appearing in their 1985 Perrier Award winning show and going on to play the title role in King Lear for the Sheffield Crucible. He has also appeared in many television shows and feature films, including The Tall Guy, Rome, 10,000BC, Doctor Who, Hot Fuzz, Derek, The New Pope and Kingdom of Heaven. Tims last theatre piece was the autobiographical one-man show HIM. The show plotted his extraordinary life, from being rendered profoundly deaf by a high muzzle velocity rifle during a military exercise in the Army to (after receiving a sign from the cosmos and a letter of encouragement from Laurence Olivier) his subsequent life as an actor. The show was performed at the Royal Festival Hall on the Southbank in London and also toured the UK.

Vivien Bridson

Theatre appearances include: The Force of Destiny (English National Opera), Joy Division, Brazil (Secret Cinema), Hauptsache Is - Die Ruckkhehr, The Marat Sade, Hauptsache Is - Heilige Abend, Haupstache Is - Teil 1 Die Golden Girls, Bomben Frauen (Stahlhausen Enterprises) Film credits include: Christopher Robin, The Last House on Cemetery Lane, Fury, The Man From U.N.C.L.E, World War Z, Human Centipede (The Full Sequence) Part 2, Article12 Television credits include: His Dark Materials, His House, EastEnders, True Horror - Episode 1, Going Forward, Alan Carr New Year's Eve Spectacular, Channel 4 Mash Up 2021, The Spa, The Gadget Shop.

Pip Donaghy

Extensive theatre appearances include:The Entertainer (Leicester Curve/Tour); The Remains of the Day, King Lear (Northampton/National Tour);Misalliance, The Lottery of Love (Orange Tree Theatre); Trouble in Mind (Ustinov, Bath and The Print Room at the Coronet); Taken At Midnight (Chichester Festival Theatre/West End); Gabriel, The Tempest and The Taming of the Shrew (Shakespeare's Globe); Ghosts (Rose Theatre, Kingston/Tour); Hamlet (Young Vic); Rattigan's Nijinsky, The Deep Blue Sea , The Master Builder, Taking Sides/Collaboration, The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (Chichester Festival Theatre); Deep Cut (Sherman Theatre/Tour); A Christmas Carol (Rose Theatre, Kingston); An Inspector Calls (West End/Australian Tour); The Crucible (Centreline Tour); The Woman in Black (West End); The Clearing, The Mill on the Floss, A Doll's House (Shared Experience); Luther, Widowers' Houses, An Enemy of the People (National Theatre); Amadeus (Old Vic); Blasted (Royal Court); Private Lives (Royal Exchange, Manchester). Television credits include: Armistice, Foyle's War; Casualty; Holby City; Midsomer Murders; This is Personal: The Yorkshire Ripper Story; Out of the Blue; Dalziel & Pascoe; Prime Suspect. Radio credits include:The Two Gentlemen of Verona/The Two Noble Kinsmen, Something Understood, War & Peace, Bethlehem Tales, Ulysses: Bloomsday, An English Tragedy, Deep Cut.

Tyrone Huggins

Tyrone co-founded the experimental Impact Theatre Cooperative in Leeds with whom he devised 10 productions including Certain Scenes, A Journey Through Mungo Park, Dammerüngstrasse 55, and has over forty years of experience as an actor in more than 80 productions including The Blood Knot, Abide With Me. Time & The Room at Nottingham Playhouse, A Raisin In The Sun, Blood Wedding, To Kill A Mockingbird, Woza Albert!, Kiss Of The Spiderwoman, Fences, Murmuring Judges & The Absence Of War for the National Theatre, I Was A Rat!, The Beatification of Area Boy, People Show #94, #117 & #118, for Improbable as Prospero in The Tempest & Opening Skinner's Box, Noughts & Crosses & YPS Lear for the RSC, Black Men Walking for Eclipse, To Move In Time for Forced Entertainment. He has written for theatre and dance including Emigrating Home for BBC Radio 4, Sound's In Session for Paines Plough, Phoenix Anthology:19 for Phoenix Dance Company, Shared Testament for RJC, and The Honey Man for New Perspectives. Many TV and film appearances include Small Axe: Mangrove, Black Earth Rising, Run Fat Boy Run. He has directed productions including Contact Young Actors Company in Transformations and Sparkleshark for West Sussex County Youth Theatre - for whom he also wrote Platform Tales. Tyrone will shortly be appearing in Mademoiselle F at the Shop Front Theatre in Coventry and Antigone at Exeter Northcott - who will also be staging a revival of The Honey Man.

Margaret Jackman

Margaret Jackman began her professional training in weekly rep. on Tyneside in the 1950s, and then worked mainly in theatre. She loves open-air Shakespeare and touring. She was a member of New Perspectives in the 1990s, taking the one-woman play Against the Wind by Therese Collins to village halls and community centres. Her radio drama includes The Archers as the last Heather Pritchard. TV began with roles in the original All Creatures Great & Small and the BBC film Precious Bane. Since then she has appeared in Heartbeat, Emmerdale, George Gently, Shameless, Doctors, Happy Valley, Game of Thrones, Call the Midwife, Casualty. Films have included Grimsby, Risen and Get Gone (currently streaming on Amazon Prime). During the Covid-19 lockdowns she has been organising regular play-readings and drama workshops online for Tamworth community company Shoebox Theatre. She is passionate about Shakespeare, Formula 1 and Advanced Driving.

Marsha Millar

Marsha's many tv credits include Top Boy, The Jury, Scott & Bailey, Trial & Retribution, Bound, Kavanagh QC, Scallywagga, Comeback, Desmonds, Casualty, EastEnders, London's Burning, The Bill, The Lenny Henry Show & Second Sight Film credits include Kidulthood, 23 Walks & The Love Child. Theatre: The Ones We Left Behind, More Than One Antoinette, two seasons at the National Theatre & three productions at Stratford East Theatre Royal.

Sharon Morgan

Theatre credits include: Uncle Vanya (Clwyd Theatr Cymru / Sheffield Theatres), Let Love Make a Miracle of this Town (Sean Tuan John), This Incredible Life (Canoe Theatre), Cosy (The Llanarth Group at Wales Millennium Centre) Mother Courage and her Children and A Good Night Out in the Valleys (National Theatre Wales), Dirty, Gifted and Welsh (Dirty Protest & National Theatre Wales), Utah Bride (1.618 Theatrefilm), Dandelion (Welsh Fargo Stage Company), Sherman Swingers, A Christmas Carol, Cityscape: No Vacancies and Cityscape: Patrolaphobia (Sherman Theatre), Pornography(Waking Exploits), Ty Bernarda Alba (Theatr Genedlaethol), Trafaelu Ar Y Tren Glas, Ede Hud, Holl Liwie'r Enfys and Shinani'n Siarad (Rhosys Cochion), Flowers from Tunisia and Gobeithion Gorffwyll (Theatr Y Byd) and Mother Tongue (Chapter Arts). Television credits include: Amgueddfa (Boom Cymru for S4C), Gangs of London (HBO), 15 Days (Boom Cymru for Channel 5), Pobl Y Cwm (S4C), Holby City, Torchwood, Casualty and The Magnificent Evans (BBC), Green Hollow, Grand Slam. Lloyd George, High Hopes and Belonging (BBC Wales) 35 Diwrnod (Apollo for S4C), Hinterland(Fiction Factory), The Evermoor Chronicles (Disney), Dewi Emrys Drama (Cwmni Da), Under Milk Wood(BBC/National Theatre Wales), A Poet in New York (Modern TV), Reit Tu Ol I Ti (TARIAN for S4C), Alys (Apollo for S4C), Tair Chwaer (Gaucho for S4C), Da Vinci's Demons (Tonto Films), Mine All Mine (Red Productions) Midsomer Murders (ITV) and Hollyoaks Later (Channel 4). Film credits include: Apostle, Laura Marlin Mysteries, The Library Suicides, Love is Thicker Than Water, Under Milk Wood, The Devil's Vice, Svengali, Resistance Rain, Abrahama's Poin, Martha Jac A Sianco, y Syrcas and Leaving Lenin. Radio credits include: Nights at the Circus, Bride & Groom, A Speck of Dust, Three Strong Women, My Life with Flu, Nin Lives, Writing the Century: Passages from the Empire, Supper, Gwynfor V Margaret, Strike for a Kingdom, Torchwood: The Devil and Miss Carew, St Therese's Bone and The Song House (BBC Radio 4), Dylan Yn Fern Hillm Dewis, Blink and Alltud Calon (BBC Radio Cymru) and Driving home for Christmas (BBC Radio Wales). Sharon is also an experienced voiceover artist, with extensive credits for narrating documentaries, audiobooks and commercials, in both English and Welsh.

Cleo Sylvestre

Cleo's first job in 1967 was in Wise Child starring alongside Sir Alec Guinness at the Wyndham's and she has built the most incredible CV. She was the first ever black actress at The National Theatre in a leading role in National Health. She has worked with many of the world's best directors, several times. She could be seen in Paddington Bear, prior to that was on Uncle and The Guilty. Her acclaimed one-woman show, The Marvellous Adventures of Mary Seacole is still going strong. Cleo filmed a short film with Idris Elba last year and appeared in Generations at Chichester. She then appeared in Allelujah! at the Bridge Theatre directed by Nicholas Hytner. She finished the year by filming feature Sweetness in the Belly with Dakota Fanning. Cleo worked on Our Town at Regent's Park Open Air Theatre this year. She has recently been inducted into the Hall of Fame with the Trailblazer Award at the Screen Nation Annual Awards 2019. Cleo has recently appeared in All Creatures Great and Small for Channel 5 and is soon to appear in Under Milk Wood at the National Theatre.

Creative Team

Writer - B S Johnson (A Digital Installation realised and directed by Tim Crouch)

B. S. Johnson was an innovative British writer of the 1960's and 1970's. An admirer of Joyce and Beckett, his works combine verbal inventiveness with typographical innovations. He was also a poet, playwright, film and television director and journalist.

Director - Tim Crouch

Designer - Giles Thacker (Video Designer)

Giles has been working in and around the world of video content creation and design for live events, music and theatre for 25 years. Initially one of the pioneer VJs, he then toured the world with electronic band Orbital, exploring the boundaries of live video projection. Later, a key player in the development of video mapping with Drive Productions and Shared Space and Light.

Always with one eye on the creative and the other eye on the technical, Giles’ rich experience has given him a unique perspective on the complexities and artistry of fusing moving image with other art forms.

Giles has worked on a host of arts-based projects with diverse artists including the World Famous, the Verve, Wildworks, Emile Sande, Zap Art and Sue Maclaine.

And equally many client-based projects for household names - Lotus, Interpol, TUC, Jaguar, Bentley, X Factor, the British Museum, TED Global, FerrariWorld

Giles is co-director of Shared Space and Light, a Brighton-based video projection company, with whom he has created work for the 2012 Paralympics, Durham Lumiere Festival, the 2018 Suffragette centenary, and the Mayflower 400 anniversary.

Giles’ most recent installation ‘Murmurations’ ran for 2 months on 2020 on the outside windows of Fabrica Gallery in Brighton.

Sound Designer - Thor McIntyre-Bernie