Romeo and Juliet
Actor Biographies
LIZ CROWTHER grew up in a theatrical family and studied drama and ballet at Arts Educational School. At the age of twelve she played Lucy in the first televised production of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe for ABC TV. As an adult she has appeared in over sixty plays including Animal Farm at the National Theatre (which also toured North America), Twelfth Night and The Merry Wives of Windsor at the Open Air Theatre, Regents Park and Romeo and Juliet for the Globe. Last year she played Queen Margaret in Richard III at Ludlow Festival. In 2004, she took a year's sabbatical to study physical theatre at the L'École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq in Paris and was lucky enough, on finishing, to work with Kenneth Branagh on a mad extravaganza, Ducktastic – a play with magic and forty-two live ducks. She has coached drama students, taught movement to actors, and is fascinated by the physical in relation to any dramatic text, having worked on many physical theatre projects, including (in the role of Amanda) The Glass Menagerie for the Young Vic Theatre in London and Gambling – a Roughcut production for the Royal Court. She is an ardent supporter of Garrick's Temple to Shakespeare by the river Thames in Hampton.
MARSHALL GRIFFIN has recently played Otto in Through the Leaves at the Mercury Theatre. Other recent work for the Mercury has included playing Thomas in Depot, Brutus in Coriolanus directed by Tina Packer of Shakespeare and Company (Lenox, Massachussetts) and Biff Loman in Death of a Salesman. Marshall has recently played Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet at Shakespeare’s Globe and Brabantio in a UK tour of Othello with the Frantic Assembly physical theatre company including the Lyric, Hammersmith. Marshall as also appeared in Twelfth Night and Four Nights in Knaresborough at the Octagon Theatre for which he was nominated Best Actor in a Leading Role at the Manchester Evening News Awards. He has also appeared in Baby Doll at the Royal National Theatre and in Antigone for the Donmar Warehouse/Old Vic. He has also played the title role in Henry V for Fully Fledged Theatre Co. Films have included Zone 3 (Two Suns Productions), Camp X-Ray (GV Motion Pictures), Gas (Polaris Productions), Standing Corner (Angelic Films) and The Dance of Shiva (Epiphany Productions). TV includes Island at War (Granada TV), Submerged (NBC TV), Bad Blood (Urban/Autumn Productions), and on radio for The History Man (BBC Radio 4). Marshall is also a freelance theatre practitioner and has recently lead workshops at Shakespeare’s Globe, The University of Suffolk, and the Mercury Theatre.
JENNIFER HIGHAM is thrilled to be working Actors From The London Stage for the first time. Her theatre credits include The Internationalist for the Gate Theatre; Alison's House, The Woman Hater, and The Linden Tree for the Orange Tree; Rope for the Watermill Theatre and Lovely & Misfit for Trafalgar Studios. Jennifer was in Clever Dick for Hampstead Theatre and the original production of The Pillowman at the National Theatre. Film includes Cassandra's Dream for Woody Allen; Metamorphosis and a featured role in Ella Enchanted with Anne Hathaway and Cary Elwes. Her most recent television was the highly acclaimed Crooked House and she has also appeared in several BBC productions including Born and Bred, Gideon's Daughter (for Stephen Poliakoff), and Persuasion (for Adrian Shergold).
GEOFFREY LUMB joins Actors From The London Stage for the first time. Since graduating from Bristol Old Vic Theatre School he has worked with English Touring Theatre in Twelfth Night, for Northampton Theatre Royal in Hansel and Gretel, played two seasons with The Royal Shakespeare Company – performing the first year in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Stratford, Japan and the West End), The Comedy of Errors, The American Pilot, and The Taming of the Shrew (Stratford, Newcastle and the West End), and the second in King John, Much Ado About Nothing, and Romeo and Juliet – in which he played Benvolio (Stratford, Newcastle, and the West End). He joined ETT once more for their tour of The Changeling, in which he played Antonio, and for Actors for Human Rights he has worked on various performances and readings at numerous venues, including York Theatre Royal, Arcola Theatre, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Amnesty International London Headquarters. Most recently for the same company he performed at the Edinburgh Festival in Rendition Monologues. For Birmingham Rep Theatre and the West Yorkshire Playhouse he played Iorek in His Dark Materials, Parts 1 and 2 and shortly before joining AFTLS acted in the BBC’s new crime drama, Luther.
MARTIN PARR has spent the last year working with Sir Alan Ayckbourn on his play Woman in Mind that started at the Stephen Joseph Theatre and then transferred to London’s West End. A film of the play is currently in production. Martin Parr has recently played Marlow in She Stoops to Conquer for the Mercury Theatre. Prior to this, he played Lysander in A Midsummer Night's Dream and Algernon in The Importance of Being Earnest for the same company. Other recent work includes Francis Davey in the UK Tour of Jamaica Inn; Gerald in the UK Tour of Time and the Conways; Stephen Guest in The Mill on the Floss for Nottingham Playhouse; Rawden Crawley in Vanity Fair at the Northcott Theatre; Jack Absolute in The Rivals at The Swan; Camillo in The White Devil for The Haymarket Theatre; Mica in The Belgrade Trilogy for the Actors Centre; Frederick in The Tenant of Wildfell Hall at the New Vic Theatre; Young Al in Maddie at the Lyric, Shaftesbury Avenue; Chief Weasel in The Wind in The Willows and Freddy in Pygmalion at Birmingham Rep; Banquo in Macbeth at Stratford; and Valere in Tartuffe and Petruchio in The Taming of the Shrew in Edinburgh. Martin has also played Cinderella's Prince in Into The Woods, Argan in The Hypochondriac and Konstantin in The Seagull. Television appearances include guest roles in Doctors, Casualty, and Tchaikovsky, all for the BBC. Martin has also lent his voice to several BBC 4 Radio programs including The Red Story, The Strange Affair of Adelaide Harris, The Telltale Heart, and The Diary of a Nobody, all for BBC Radio 4. Martin teaches on the Access Course at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts (RADA) as well as for Learning Performance. This is Martin’s second AFTLS tour.