Production Team
Roberta
Morrell
Director 1992/93, 1994/95 – 2000/01; 2003/04 - ????
Roberta joined the
D'Oyly Carte Opera Company in 1972 and spent ten years with the company touring
Her directing career began in 1985, specialising
in Gilbert & Sullivan but relishing the opportunity to work in operetta,
musicals and pantomime. In 1996 she directed a professional production of The
Grand Duke in
In 1999 she wrote Merely Corroborative Detail, a biography of her friend and colleague Kenneth Sandford, for many years principal Baritone with the D'Oyly Carte. Two years later she penned her first novel, Vengeance Dire. She organises an annual G&S weekend near her home in North Wales and there is usually a sizeable representation from the LOPs.
Andrew Wilson-Jenner
Director 2001/02
Andrew directs and choreographs societies in and
around the Midlands as well as occasionally treading the boards himself. Our 2002 production of Bless the Bride
was his first directorial venture in Leicester, although he is a regular face
at local rehearsals in his other guise as proprietor of a
large stage costumiers. His
directorial credits include such diverse shows as Call Me Madam, Pickwick, Die Fledermaus, Hello Dolly,
My Fair Lady, Carousel, White Horse Inn, Annie, Kiss
Me Kate, Chess and The Beggars Opera. He also directed an open‑air Millennium
production of Merrie England at
The Sorcerer marked Carl’s first venture into G&S, but his previous directing credits included Wigston Operatic in popular productions of Hello Dolly and Calamity Jane at the Little Theatre. He worked for several years in the Performing Arts Department at Guthlaxton College, Wigston, helping to establish a tradition of quality public performances including musicals such as Cabaret, City of Angels and Return to the Forbidden Planet.
A Tutor in Performance Studies at Regent College, Leicester, he is also the director of BC Dance Company, which has toured regionally to great acclaim and will soon be preparing a new repertoire for performance in the autumn. His own plays have been performed at Warwick Arts Centre and on tours of schools in Leicestershire. More works will follow when the duties of babysitting a young family have subsided. Six months as a “house-dad” have given him ample material, but he just cannot decide whether the resulting piece will be a comedy or tragedy!
Readers of the Harborough Mail and the Rutland Mercury will have enjoyed
(or perhaps dare one say “endured”?) Carl's weekly sporting column, written
under the pseudonym of THE SILVER FOX!
Musical Director 2003/04 -
????
Michael
Bonshor is a full-time vocal coach, choral workshop
leader and performer with international professional experience. He is currently Musical Director of Pocket
Opera, providing ‘pocket’ versions of almost anything from grand opera and
oratorio to musical theatre and cabaret.
Michael is also Director of The Foul Play Theatre Company, specialising
in murder mysteries, theme nights, team-building/training days and corporate
events.
Having worked in London for
several years, Michael is a relative newcomer to the area. Since settling in the
Alongside his teaching and performing, Michael has also completed a Masters Degree in Music Psychology, and now specialises in the effective management of musical performance anxiety. This phenomenon, more commonly known as “stage fright”, is he believes unlikely to be in evidence amongst the LOPs, as he knows they will all be having far too much fun!
Mick Curtis
Musical Director 1998/99 – 2002/03
Mick came to see our
1998 production of Die Fledermaus and (so he says) enjoyed it so much
that he offered to take over as Musical Director when we needed a replacement
for the following season.
Mick was brought up in London, where he started his musical career as a euphonium player in his school brass band. In 1974 he went to the Royal Military School of Music and switched to the clarinet, winning the top student’s prize from the Worshipful Company of Musicians. He became the principal clarinet for the Rhine Staff Band of the Royal Tank Regiment, a position that he held for the next 15 years, performing with the Band in most of the major concert halls throughout Europe. During this time he was also appointed as the Band’s deputy conductor and was able to develop his skills as a musical arranger.
He came to Leicestershire in 1993 to work as a teacher of both clarinet and saxophone. Quickly invited to join in local music-making, he found himself working in several theatres, either as clarinettist or Musical Director. As well as his work with the Players, in 2000 he directed Nuneaton Youth Theatre in successful productions of Jack and the Beanstalk and Big. In 2001 he was the musical co-ordinator and arranger for Leicester Drama Society’s Christmas production of Toad of Toad Hall.
His lifelong ambition is to own and run a recording studio. In recent years he has produced CDs for various performers and hopes to expand this hobby into a business. In the meantime he remembers the halcyon days when he had time to play in the Army’s snooker and tenpin bowling teams.
Simon
Clarke
Musical Director 1995/96, 1997/98
Accompanist to the Society 1991/92 - 1994/95, 1996/97, 1998/99 - 1999/2000
Stepping in at short
notice as the Society's accompanist in 1991, Simon so enjoyed himself that he
stayed for nine years! He made his debut as Musical Director in 1996 with La
Vie Parisienne and took the baton for a second
time for Die Fledermaus in 1998. As accompanist his unfailing patience
and good humour was always a great help to occasionally wayward soloists and
chorus.
Simon first started playing the piano at the age of 7 and ever since has been playing both piano and organ, accompanying various choirs and soloists in and around Leicester. As well as the Players these have included the Leicester Male Voice Choir, the Tudor Choir and Quintessence. He was also a regular church organist.
Formerly a bank manager, Simon moved away from Leicester in the summer of
2000 to pursue a complete change of career. He remains a non-playing member of
the Society and we wish him every continued success in