Mustard
Theatre Company
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By
Phone
Rob
Backhouse Rob's
first foray into Amateur dramatics was with Otley Players in
1989, with whom he played a wide range of characters
including leading roles in Agatha Christies' 'Murder at the
Vicarage', 'A Murder is Announced', and the Noel Coward
classic 'Hay Fever' - which led to an appearance on the TV
show 'Whatever you want'. He was also a member of the cast
of 'The Room' by Harold Pinter that won best production in
the Ipswich Drama festival. 19 shows and 13 years later he
joined Mustard, debuting as Gus in 'Nobody’s Perfect' -
memorable for his solo performance of 'You make me feel so
young'. Most recently, he appeared as the evil Mr Manningham in our October 2009 production of 'Gaslight'. As a regular to the Mustard stage, Rob makes his next appearance in our February 2010 production of 'Improbable Fiction' as Arnold. Outside of the
theatre Rob is involved in an Amateur Film making group for
teenagers, and enjoys Cycling and Dancing. Wendy
Boother As a past member of Mustard, Wendy appeared in our productions of Invisible Friends, and Humble Boy. She has also successfully taken the plunge into the realms of the technical operations of our productions. After a short break to follow her singing aspirations, we are delighted that Wendy joins us again to appear in our February 2010 production of 'Improbable Fiction' as Grace. Judy
Dow After
a number of years away from the 'am-dram' scene, Judy was
delighted to receive the ESTAA's Best Lead Actress Award
2004 for her portrayal of Stephanie in Tom Elliott's 'Feed',
a dual role involving numerous costume changes, singing,
dancing and dusting! Next came the role of Harriet Copeland
in 'Nobody's Perfect' - a comedy by Simon Williams She then played the whiskey swilling
Katherine in David Hare's 'Secret Rapture‘, the highly
strung vodka and tonic guzzling Dee in ‘The Business of
Murder’, and the more genteel role of
Sheila sipping sweet sherry in Ayckbourn's 'Relatively
Speaking'. After a period 'resting' - Judy returned to the Mustard stage in October 2009, giving a fantastic performance as a downtrodden Victorian wife in Gaslight, and will soon appear as a very different character in the final scenes of 'Improbable Fiction'. It has to be seen to be believed! Dianne
ffitch With
her first stage appearance at the age of 7, Dianne has
appeared in more shows than she cares to count! Initially
training and working as a dance teacher, she return to the
amateur stage in 1999 and has since variously appeared in,
directed and choreographed a variety of shows for local
groups. Since initiating Mustard, she has directed and
appeared in several of our productions, as well as undertaking set, costume, lighting and sound design. Her most challenging
role to date was that of 'Rita' in Educating Rita, holding a convincing
Liverpudlian accent for 2 hours, despite being born and bred
in Suffolk. Such is her passion for all things theatrical that she successfully undertook a B.A. in Performing Arts as a mature student, followed by a PGCE. Since completing her studies, she has been teaching Dance, Drama and Technical Theatre at West Suffolk College. Paul
ffitch Paul,
at one time or another, has been married, been killed,
fallen in love, been put in prison, been dumped, committed
murder, been arrested, got thoroughly over-excited, nearly
committed suicide, fallen in love again, got depressed, been
dressed up, been dressed down, totally lost the plot, and
eaten far too many bananas. All in the name of drama and not
necessarily in that order. After a brief spell away from the stage, he has most recently worked on the technical side of Mustard productions. Chris
Flagg Chris
joined Mustard in 2006 with a view to helping backstage, and quickly caught the bug. Since then he has been a constant help backstage, but also tread the boards in our production of Ayckbourn's Invisible Friends. Chris is now studying a BTeC in Technical Theatre at Norwich City College. Claire
Gallant Claire
first appeared on the amateur stage in Suffolk with Otley
Players in 2000 and 2001. After helping Front of House with Mustard, Claire was enticed back onto
the stage in January 2005, playing Isobel Glass in our
production David Hare’s 'The Secret Rapture', after
which she went on to perform one of a collection of
monologues in her local pub, the Hoxne Swan. She appeared as Ginny, just about managing to sort out her
rather complcated love life, in our production of Alan
Ayckbourn's romantic comedy 'Relatively Speaking', followed by an appearance as Nurse Plimpton in Anthony
Horowitze's black comedy, 'Mindgame'. Following a stint on the tech desk, Claire branched out into Directing with our November 2008 production of 'Proof'. Andrea Govan As new Mustard member, Andrea appears for the first time on the Mustard stage in our February 2010 production of Ayckbourn's 'Improbable Fiction'. She has previously taught Drama in Ipswich. Jon Levantis Another thespian new Mustard, Jon has appeared with previously with Woolpit Drama Group (most recently as a 'punk' Oberon in their production of A Midsummer Night's Dream) and with Roughcast. He appears for the first time on the Mustard stage in our Spring 2010 production of 'Improbable Fiction'. Phil
Ling For
Phil, going from just making people laugh on the Needham
Market stage to the abrasive, disabled Powell in
Grundisburgh’s “Beth” has been a leisurely
trip through all the departments of the amateur stage.
Whether designing, making or performing, he is equally at
home, provided there is still time for wheelbarrow farming
on his (very small) smallholding. Phil’s first
appearance with Muistard was the blustering Phillip in
Ayckbourn's 'Relatively Speaking', Phil has now become a regular to our stage, performing in every Mustard production since. Pat
Parris As a member of Harleston Players, Roughcast and Mustard - Pat is a glutton for punishment! First appearing with Mustard as 'Mercy' in Humble boy during which she mistook her friend's dead ashes for pepper, and proceeded to season the soup - which was then eaten with gusto! Pat returns to the Mustard stage as Jess in 'Improbable Fiction' - whilst rehearsing for 'Tis Pity She's a Whore' with Roughcast. As we say - a glutton for punishment! Emma
Jaggs As the youngest acting member of Mustard, Emma has appeared on stage twice in our productions of Invisible Friends (for which she won a National Operatic and Dramatic Association 'Youth Award') and in our October 2009 production of Gaslight as a young housemaid. Watch this space - we could have a star in the making!






