I sit here writing this letter having taken down my Christmas decorations and feeling that the festive season is well and truly over. I hope you all had a relaxing Christmas and wish you all a Happy New Year.

I spent much of 2007 working at Derby Playhouse playing Frank in Merrily We Roll Along, followed by Neil Armstrong in the new musical Moon Landing. The original cast recording is now available on double CD from the Derby Playhouse website. In the Autumn I took on the challenge of spending Christmas on one leg as Long John Silver in Treasure Island.

For those of you who are not aware of the recent dramas surrounding the Derby Playhouse I will fill you in briefly. Derby Playhouse has been operating from its present building for over 30 years and has established itself a fantastic reputation both locally and nationally. The last couple of years have been somewhat problematic due to the construction of a multimillion pound shopping centre next door and the accompanying redevelopment of the road system. The work is now complete and Stepping Out (the previous show) saw a dramatic change in both audience numbers and revenue. However, on the 29^th November, after 5 weeks of rehearsal and on what was due to be our opening night, the board took the drastic decision of announcing the theatre was being declared insolvent and the entire workforce would be made redundant as of that moment. As you can imagine we were all very shocked and angry, especially as the advance bookings for the show were in excess of £200,000. The request by Karen Louise Hebden, the director, for us to be allowed to perform that night for one show was refused but, in defiance, we went ahead and performed to a packed house. The response was incredible and speeches were made at the end of the performance thus fuelling a massive public campaign to save the theatre.

Following the tireless efforts of the directors and other supporters of the theatre, the administrators were persuaded to reopen the theatre to allow Treasure Island to go ahead and since then we have been playing to full houses have received some fantastic reviews in both the local and national press. We have just received the good news that our run has been extended until the 2^nd February 2008 so I hope to see many of you in the audience. The long term future of the Playhouse is still unknown but the fight continues.

Derby Playhouse is not alone in the troubles it is experiencing and there are many regional theatres facing similar funding crises. I would urge you to do all you can to join in the fight to save regional theatre, either by writing directly to the Arts Council or to your local MP. You could also follow the links from this site to the online petition.

I would like to say on a more personal note I have loved working at Derby Playhouse and feel very passionate about the survival of theatres of this ilk.

I am looking forward to having a rest after this run and will let you know of my next projects in due course.

I would like to thank my dear friends Bernadette Smith (my P.A.) for her continuous help and support and her husband Dave.  Any performers, musicians out there who need help with admin, accounts, etc, I thoroughly recommend On Your Side PA Services.  You can contact them by clicking here

I wish you all a very happy and healthy 2008.

Much love,