entertaining and challenging drama
Edinburgh Showcase 10 April 2024
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On Stage
producer, playwright/director, lighting, sound, script, acknowledgements
John P Arnold (Shylock)
John is very proud to be working for the first time with Arbery Theatre on this beautiful staging of A Pound of Flesh. He is a professional actor originally from America, now living in Scotland and working across many areas of the industry including stage, film, television, voice over, radio, as well as teaching acting. He has just returned from Qingdao, China where he was filming the Netflix sequel, Operation Red Sea and was recently in the ITV series Shetland, appearing in season 7, and in Apple T.V’s The Buccaneers. John can also be seen in the April 12th opening of the feature film, Damaged, playing Samuel L. Jackson’s boss !! On air he writes, produces and presents the Wednesday Mid-Morning Show for East Coast FM. He would like to extend a special thanks to Martin, Hannah, and all the cast and crew of A Pound of Flesh for their amazingly creative work and passionate dedication in making this performance an incredible experience for all.
agent: Hunwick Associates
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Gabriel Bird (Prologue / Tubal / Stephano / Messenger)
Gabriel has trained and worked in his hometown of Geneva, Switzerland, Greeley, Colorado, and Bologna, Italy, performing in French, Italian or English and sometimes all three at once! His most recent credits include the satirical farce Crises de Nerfs à la Météo by Philippe Cohen of Geneva’s Cie Confiture; a Chinese tour (Beijing, Hong Kong) in Fraternal Compagnia’s show Masquerade Mask – which will play at this coming Fringe – and assisted in various Commedia dell’Arte workshops. He is also a skilled guitarist, harmonica-player, songwriter, and playwright, having put on three of his own shows at the PBH Free Fringe festival.
agent: self-represented
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Ben Blow (Salarin)
Since graduating with a First Class BA (Hons) in Drama and Theatre Arts from Queen Margaret University, Ben has been active on the Edinburgh Stage in a variety of productions. These include as Medvedev and Constable in The Lower Depths, Hoffman in Conspiracy, Mr Potter in It’s a Wonderful Life and Blore in And Then There Were None. He has also appeared and will appear again in several adaptations of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld novels. His previous Shakespeare and Shakespeare-inspired work was as the Player King in Hamlet and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead.
agent: self-represented
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Joseph Cathal (Gratiano)
Joseph Cathal is a Glasgow based actor who first studied acting at Kelvin College then obtained his Bachelor’s at West College Scotland. His first professional outing as an actor was A Tale Etched In Blood And Hard Black Pencil which toured all over Scotland. Over lockdown he kept himself busy with smaller Zoom shows, but has since become a part of numerous stage shows. In the Gaiety, Ayr, he was Mooney in Hangmen with the Compass Club. In 2022 he was Lorenzo in EGTG’s The Merchant of Venice at the Fringe and in. In Arbery Theatre’s The Satyricon he played Encolpius. His most recent works include the 2023 Fringe as Kevin in Scotia Theatre’s Paddy Irishman, Paddy Englishman And Paddy…. He has also appeared in a live interaction tour, The SMA Shotts Halloween Experience and in several short films. This will be the third time Joseph has worked with Martin Foreman and he is looking forward to bringing this new version of The Merchant to life.
agent: Take One Agency
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Michael Daviot (Antonio)
Michael has been acting & writing professionally for forty years. Plays include A Vision (about W.B. Yeats & Maud Gonne) and Ultimate Islands (about R.L. Stevenson). Roles include Henry Higgins, Big Bad Wolf, Prospero, Leontes, Oberon, Scarecrow & Robert the Bruce. He was in The Mousetrap for a year in the West End & toured with Derek Jacobi in Richard II & Richard III. He played Karl Kraus in Leith Theatre’s acclaimed production of The Last Days of Mankind. Since 2014 he has performed six self-penned solo shows:
Hyde & Seek (2014) ‘Spellbinding’ ★★★★
Nosferatu’s Shadow (2016) ‘ a superb actor… a tour-de-force.’ ★★★★★
1917, A Phantasmagoria (2017) ‘Masterclass.’ ★★★★★
Don Quixote Unbound (2018) ‘involving, enchanting & thought-provoking.’★★★★★
He will soon be filming a lead role in In The Grip Of Terror, the first Amicus film for 40 years.
agent: self-represented
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Danielle Farrow (Doge)
Danielle’s work over decades ranges from intimate, interactive plays like Immersive Response’s WWI Wardrobe Project to the massive staging of Leith Theatre / TheaterLabor’s international opus The Last Days of Mankind. Shakespeare credits include two multi-award winning series, Shakespeare Republic and The Show Must Go Online, as well as stage roles such as Prospero, Lady Macbeth, Oberon, Viola and Juliet. In Danielle’s own show, inVocation: A Shakespearean Horror, her protagonist has discovered the secret to playing Shakespeare: possession by the characters themselves. (What could possibly go wrong?)
agent: self-represented
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Noa Gelb (Jessica)
Noa Gelb is an Ashkenazi British/American actress hailing from Washington, DC. She began acting as a child, starting her career as a young fairy in Shakespeare’s The Tempest. Recent selected credits include: Theatre: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Regional US Tour), Magnifical Omniscient (Too Much Damn Theatre), Anon(myous) (Theatre Prometheus); Film: Don’t Look Up (Netflix), En Passant (Independent); TV: Anansi Boys (Amazon Prime). She is a proud graduate of the University of Michigan and University of Edinburgh. Hobbies include cooking, playing softball, reading, studying ancient religion and mythology, and petting all the dogs.
agent: Mane and Rose
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Samuela Noumtchuet (Nerissa)
Samuela is very excited to be a part of A Pound of Flesh! Her recent credits include The Cherry Orchard (Lyubov Ranevskaya), Macbeth (Lady Macbeth), The Tempest (Alonso/Alonsa), and Stopkiss (Mrs. Winsley/Nurse). Samuela received her BA in Theatre Arts at Boston College and she is a current student at Edinburgh Napier University for her MFA Acting for Stage and Screen. You can next find Samuela at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe as Sasha in the original play We Used to be Girl Scouts. For fun, Samuela loves to crochet and dabble in axe throwing. Thank you to her family and friends for all their support!
agent: self-represented
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Ollie Hiemann (Lorenzo)
Ollie is a Scottish actor currently based in Edinburgh. He recently graduated from the BA (Hons) Acting course at Arts University Bournemouth, where he starred in two pieces of new writing, portraying Reuben in Until The Sun Goes Down, and Monsieur Bonnin in Masque Macabre, a new musical written by Paul Knight and Crispin Harris.
During his training he also starred in award-winning short film White Feather which was recently screened at the British Film Institute.
He has performed in the Edinburgh Fringe Festival annually since 2017, primarily in musicals with local company Captivate Theatre, and has recently completed his first professional contract, starring as Dandini in Stage Door Entertainments premier pantomime, Cinderella.
agent: Conor Nolan at Red Talent Management info@redtalentmanagement.com
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Alexander Tait (Bassanio)
agent: Victoria Steven at Victoria Steven Management victoria@victoriasteven.co.uk
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Trystan Youngjohn (Portia)
agent: self-represented
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