Unseen Academicals – Cast and Crew

Director

Assistant Director

& The Crew

Stage Manager

 Caroline Law

Caroline has been with us since “The Darling Buds of May”; somebody had to be backstage while the rest of the crew were gallivanting on stage. She began with The Marlow Players as the DSM and has been the person who makes the whole show work since The Vicar of Dibley.

Deputy Stage Manager

Sue Lovell

Sue’s first outing with The Players was “Laughter in the Dark” in 2013 and she has been assisting backstage ever since. Sue is now part of Caroline’s well-practiced team: painting, gathering props, costumes and building and clearing sets.

Lighting & Director

Graham Evans

Not content with doing the lighting, set construction, occasionally acting, being a director of Marlow FM and holding down a full time job, Graham decided he would also like to direct a play. He chose Unseen Academicals as he wanted a challenge and to produce a Terry Pratchett play; a shrewd choice for a man who likes an easy life.

Sound

Charlie Foord

Charlie, “Gadget” as he is affectionately known, joined The Players for the production of “Tons of Money”. He is part of the Wednesday night cabal that turns up at the studio and creates props and sets, uses gadgets and technology to effect solutions for our dramatic productions.

Assistant Stage Manager

Rosina Dolan

Rosie, as she is affectionately known, first joined The Players for the visit of the French Baladins, in 2014, volunteering to house our visitors. Since then, she has completed her first production in “The Vicar of Dibley”, and made the return trip to Les Baladins’ theatre to stage “Pygmalion”.

Lord Vetinari

Tony Bew

Tony has been with The Players since 1997 and has appeared as many a lead, and bit part, as well as directing a number of productions. He last appeared as Jim “No, no, no” Trott in The Vicar of Dibley, which he also directed. For the first time he has had to darken his hair for a part; greying up is not an option for Lord Vetinari.

Sacharissa Cripslock

Georgina Felisi

 Georgina first appeared for The Marlow Players in The Vicar of Dibley as one of Alice’s school children. She is now back for more in the much larger role of Sacharissa Cripslock, the Discworld’s very own Lois Lane and the granddaughter of the engraver formerly employed by the Ankh-Morpork Times to make copies of its first newsletters.

Mustrum Ridcully

Andrew Stafford

Andrew has been with The Players for over two decades and has acted and directed for most of that time. He last appeared in Pygmalion as Colonel Pickering, a play that he also directed. Mustrum Ridcully, the Arch Chancellor of the Unseen University, is a wholly different character from the Colonel’s archetypal English army officer.

Ponder Stibbons

Alex Spittles

 Alex also first appeared for The Marlow Players in The Vicar of Dibley as one of Alice’s school children. He last played a number of parts in Pygmalion, and now is back for more. Ponder Stibbons is the Unseen University’s “Wizard that gets lumbered”, mostly by Ridcully, but consequently controls all the workings of the multiverse’s premier institution of magic.

The Senior Wrangler

& Roz

Cristiane Crauford

 Cristiane first joined The Marlow Players for The Vicar of Dibley, where she stole the show by appearing at the wedding of Hugo and Alice, erroneously claiming to be Hugo’s wife. What the Senior Wrangler does is unknown. What he actually does, of course, is eat several large meals a day and avoid students like the rest of the faculty.

Dr Hix

&

Andy ‘Shank’ Loach

 Max Sasim

 This is Max’s first outing for The Marlow Players and he gets two roles. Dr Hix is a necromancer. Since necromancy is officially banned in Ankh-Morpork, he is instead the Head of the Department of Post Mortem Communications. Andy Loach is the local thug and Trevor’s nemesis.

Glenda Sugarbean

Rebecca Jenkin

This is Becca’s first outing with The Marlow Players and she plays the lead role of Glenda whose family are sought-after chefs and cooks. Her grandmother was a very successful pie-maker to the Assassins’ Guild when Vetinari was a member. She currently runs the night kitchen that makes the pies for the wizards.

Juliet Stollop

Jennifer Major

Jen first appeared for The Players in 2004 as Maggie in “Hobson’s Choice”. She has played both leading and minor roles since and last played Mrs Pearce in Pygmalion. Juliet Stollop is a “cook” who is a childhood friend and neighbour of Glenda Sugarbean. She is also a Dolly Sisters football team supporter.

Nutt

 Sara Di Donna

Sara has been with The Players for nearly a couple of decades in roles large and small. It has been a few productions since her last appearance as Sylvia Garnsey in Hi-de-Hi. Here she plays Nutt, a “goblin” found and freed by Mightily Oats, a missionary priest, from the village in which he was chained to an anvil in a forge for seven years. Nutt was later tutored by Lady Margolotta and sent to Ankh-Morpork to “earn worth”.

Trevor Likely

Andy Scott

 Andy started acting five years ago in Maidenhead and has had many roles; he also appears regularly in panto. ’Allo, ‘Allo was his first outing with The Marlow Players and he last played Henry Higgins in Pygmalion. Trevor Likely is the son of Dave “Four Goals” Likely and he is the manager of Unseen University‘s candle vats.

Madam Sharn

Jocelyn Pearce

Jossy first appeared for The Marlow Players as Mrs Higgins in Pygmalion. Here she plays Madam Sharn, a dwarf to be reckoned with and the co-owner and proprietor of Shatta, a dwarfish fashion emporium and sweatshop. In Dwarfish, ‘Shatta’ apparently translates as “A Wonderful Surprise”, but it sends two signals to speakers of Morporkian: one resonating with “Shatter” and one less salubrious and a bit more scatological.

Pepe

James Taylor

James first appeared for The Marlow Players in 2005 as Peregrine Ward in Will you still Love me in the morning?

Pepe is the co-owner (and fashionista) of Shatta. Seemingly a Dwarf from Überwald, he has found his home in Ankh-Morpork where he can create “gorgeous works of art that just happen to require a body to show them off as they should be seen”.Or at least, that’s what he wants people to believe.

Lady Margolotta

Liz Allen

This is Liz’s first outing with The Marlow Players. She jumped at the chance of playing Lady Margolotta, a wealthy noblewoman living in an appropriate castle near Bonk, in Überwald. She is also a Vampire, a Black Ribboner, a leading force of the Überwald League of Temperance and, allegedly Vetinari’s “Squeeze”.

Ottomy

& Referee

Brian Couling

 Brian is a long standing member of The Players, having reached his twentieth anniversary this year. He last appeared as Alfred Doolittle in Pygmalion. Here he plays two parts. The egregious Ottomy, a bledlow (Bledlows or “lobsters” are the policemen of the Unseen University) and the unfortunate wizard who attempts to uphold the rules in the Unseen Academicals V Ankh-Morpork United game of foot-the-ball.

Joseph Hoggett

Stuart Sneddon

Stuart last appeared for The Marlow Players in 2004 as Albert Prosser in Hobson’s Choice. A decade and a family later, he has returned. He plays Joseph Hoggett, erstwhile of the Pork Packers, and the captain of Ankh-Morpork United, the all-star pickup team assembled to play a demonstration match against the  Unseen University’s Academicals.

Girl / Secretary

Laura Goodband

Laura has been with The Marlow Players for longer than I am allowed to say and last played Eliza Doolittle in Pygmalion. Laura has played major and minor roles over the years and after the huge role of Eliza, she opted for two somewhat smaller roles as a waitress and Lord Vetinari’s secretary.

Wilma De Worde

Charlotte Futcher

 This is Charlotte’s first outing with The Marlow Players. Willma (William) de Worde began her career as a reporter by gathering up news of interesting occurrences and items in Ankh-Morpork, writing them down and sending copies of this writ to several nobles in other countries. Thus, the Ankh-Morpork Times newspaper was born and she is currently Senior Editor and also head reporter of the Times.