Mike Ayris.

Michael first took to the stage in 1971 where he acted in the Canterbury Dramatic Societies production of ‘Sailor Beware’ in the old Marlowe theatre. He later went on to study drama at the Rose Bruford College of Speech and Drama. During this time he worked professionally in Newcastle in the ‘Planet of the Apes’. Completing his drama studies he worked in the Midlands doing a schools tour in T.I.E. of the ‘Snow Queen’. This was followed by a short film and then a year on tour with ‘Paddington Bear’.

In 1978 Michael decided to return to his native country of South Africa where he worked and traveled for four years. Unfortunately this period also effectively ended his professional career and it wasn’t until much later when he studied music at Christchurch University that he rediscovered his love of performance, appearing in Brechts ‘The Beggars Opera’. Returning to the Canterbury Dramatic Society he did many plays including the much acclaimed title role of Marlowes ‘Doctor Faustus’.

In 2001 he met Brian Ross when both Michael and Brian were appearing in two separate productions at the Gulbenkian theatre as part of an Arts Playwrights Awards scheme. There was an immediate mutual respect for each others work and they agreed to try to move towards a smaller tighter group looking for a more sophisticated approach to amateur theatre. Subsequently, over a period of time, ASHCAN Theatre Company evolved with others of a similar outlook and passion for excellence in theatre. The first production was ’Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me’. in which Michael played Edward. Michael has also appeared in other productions including ‘Death and the Maiden’, ‘Zoo Story’, ‘The Last Yankee’, and ‘Art’.

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Aged 16, I was alone, centre stage, dressed in full Native American chief's costume with warpaint, lit by a shaft of lime-light from the top of London's Royal Albert Hall. The Hall was packed with friends and families of the several hundred Boy Scouts who were performing a pageant play, and as the sound of the tom-toms started in the darkness and the light widened to reveal dozens of boys dressed as Indians, I knew I was hooked on Showbiz!

In 1954 I was asked to complete the cast of R.C. Sherriff's famous anti-war play "Journey's End", directed by a very young Peter Watkins, who later upset the government of the day and the BBC by making the anti-nuclear war film "The War Game". The company was called Playcraft and operated in the through-lounge of a private house in suburban Canterbury. Chairs were borrowed from neighbours and we played for five nights to an audience of thirty-five, seated in the back half of the room. The other half became the stage, with sound and lights being controlled from the cupboard under the stairs. At such short range we learned that sincere realism was the only style for successful acting.

When three members of the company turned professional, we disbanded. My future wife and I revived it four years later. We used the Dominican Priory in St Peter's Lane, Canterbury for several years and then transferred to the Gulbenkian Theatre on the campus of The University of Kent.

I argued that the better the script, the better the chance of good acting and production. So we performed "Hamlet", "Macbeth", "Much Ado About Nothing", "Twelfth Night", and "Measure for Measure", Jonson's "Volpone" and "The Alchemist", plays by Pinter, Chekhov, Shaw, Sheridan, Ibsen, Becket, Albee, Arthur Miller and many more European and American dramatists.

I tried the professional theatre for a short time but decided that being my own boss as an amateur was more rewarding.

With Ashcan I have directed "Someone To Watch Over Me", "Death and The Maiden", "The Last Yankee", and "Art", as well as acting in "Waiting for Godot", and "Duck Variations".

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Brian Ross.

Brian was born and grew up in the U.S. in the greater Boston area, attending a Boston university for two years before joining the Navy as a medical corpsman. After discharge, he continued in the health care field as an Orthopaedic Physician’s Assistant, eventually moving to the mid-coastal region of Maine . This area is unique not only for its physical beauty, but for an exceptional mix of visual and performance artists and Brian found himself, relatively late in life, being drawn into this new and exciting world. Initially intending to contribute on the technical side with set construction, etc., he soon found himself acting and singing in musicals such as Fiddler on the Roof, Music Man, and Oliver.

While his urge to sing was eventually satisfied performing with a male a cappella sextet called The Testostertones, it was an association with the Maskers Theatre in Belfast, Maine which allowed him to continue to grow as an actor. Over several years he played such roles as Henry Ford in Camping with Henry and Tom, Cleante in Tartuffe, Don John in Much Ado About Nothing, Lt. Clarke in Our Country’s Good, and Clem in Middle aged White Guys.

A continued interest backstage manifested itself in a variety of positions as stage manager, set builder, set designer, producer, member of the board of directors, and eventually house manager. Over time he also began to work with other regional theatres as both actor and set builder and about this time obtained his first professional role in Moliere’s School for Wives with the Penobscot Theatre Company in Bangor.

In the spring of 2000, Brian moved to the UK to be married and became involved in the Kent theatre scene. After appearing twice in Canterbury at the Gulbenkian Theatre, (When Suddenly and Waiting for Godot) , and a trip back to the States for One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest, he joined up with some talented, like minded friends to found the Ashcan Theatre Company. Brian is immensely proud of the powerful, thought provoking theatre being produced by this group.

Besides yearly trips to the States which frequently are combined with stage work there, Brian has designed and built all of the Ashcan sets for its productions, as well as acting in many of them, including Adam in McGuinness', Someone Who’s Watching Over Me , Jerry in Albee's Zoo Story, Leroy in Miller's Last Yankee, Deeley in Pinter's Old Times, Serge in Reza,s Art, and recently Jack in Kolvenbach's On an Average Day.

 

Nigel is an experienced actor, director and teacher. He was born in Bolton, Lancashire in 1951 and comes from a theatrical family. Some of his earliest memories involve hearing his parents' lines for plays they were appearing in at the Little Theatre, or watching dress rehearsals on Sunday afternoon. He was not bitten by the acting bug at that stage and an unsuccessful performance in a class play at school turned him off the theatre for many years.

He became interested in acting during his first teaching job. The school had a tradition of staging joint Staff/6th Form productions so he found himself playing two parts in Brecht's "Caucasian Chalk Circle".

His real stage "apprenticeship" started when he moved to Cumbria in 1977 and got involved with a theatre group at The Brewery Arts Centre in Kendal. At his first audition for Gogol's "Government Inspector" he convinced the director that he had a lot of experience, so had to "put his money where his mouth was" when given the leading role of Khliestakov. Having "got away with it" (the first of many!), the roles followed thick and fast over the next 10 years.

He played everything from Lysander in "A Midsummer Night's Dream" to Mike TV in "Charlie and The Chocolate Factory". He achieved celestial rank when playing God in an outdoor production of the medieval morality play "Everyman". This was counterbalanced by playing the devilish title role in a large scale community show specially commissioned for Kendal in 1981 called "The Bogeyman". He also appeared in two professional productions for the small touring theatre company Pocket Theatre Cumbria, which was based at the Arts Centre.

His directorial career began in 1984 with a one-acter by Stephen Jeffreys (who wrote "The Libertine") called "Clearing House". Having got a taste for overall control, he went on to direct "Bazaar & Rummage" by Sue Townsend, "Shadow of a Gunman" by Sean O'Casey, Arthur Miller's "American Clock" and a double-bill of David Hare plays: "Bay At Nice" and "Wrecked Eggs".

In 1988 he moved abroad to take up a post as Head of English and Drama at an international school in Milan. As well as his teaching duties and directing school productions, he co-founded a small company Teatro Falloppio, which unfortunately only did one show: "Skirmishes" by Catherine Hayes.

On his return to Cumbria in 1991 he resumed theatre work at The Brewery directing "The Loves of Cass McGuire" by Brian Friel, the Jacobean revenge tragedy "The Changeling" by Middleton&Rowley, Thomas Hardy's "The Day After The Fair" and playing Canon Throbbing in "Habeas Corpus", The Miller in Michael Bogdanov's modernised "Canterbury Tales" and Henry in Stoppard's "The Real Thing".

The pinnacle of his time in Kendal came in 1994 when he adapted, directed and played two small roles in a production of "Hamlet" which toured to Mumbai and Goa in India.

He rounded off his time in Kendal by directing "Two" by Jim Cartwright and playing Gerry Evans in a touring production of "Dancing At Lughnasa" by Brian Friel for Freehold Theatre Company, Lancaster.

On moving to Kent in 1996 he joined Playcraft in Canterbury and played Mr Smith in Ionesco's "The Bald Primadonna" followed by the title roles in "Macbeth" and "An Inspector Calls" at The Gulbenkian Theatre. It was whilst playing Lucky in Playcraft's 2001 production of "Waiting For Godot" that he met Brian Ross and Caroline Lamoon and along with Alan Pope, whom he already knew, the nucleus of what would become AshCan Theatre Company was formed.

Since AshCan's first show "Someone Who'll Watch Over Me" in which he played Michael, he has taken the roles of George in "Duck Variations" by David Mamet and Gerardo in "Death and The Maiden" by Ariel Dorfman.

In 2004 he moved back up to Kendal for personal and family reasons. The following two years were theatrically fallow, so when he returned to Kent in 2006 the urge to resuscitate AshCan was irresistible. He directed Pinter's "Old Times" in June 2007, played Yvan in "Art" in March 2008 and, most recently, directed "On An Average Day" by John Kolvenbach in February this year.

When not acting or directing, Nigel supports lost causes i.e. Bolton Wanderers F.C. and Lancashire and England Cricket teams!

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Born in Southampton in 1967 and raised in the seaside town of Deal, Mike embarked on a love of the Arts at very early age, with the Cinema just down the road from his home and a family TV that for the most part was always available to him. The eldest of 3 kids to a single hard working mum he was left pretty much to his devices. Like a lot of kids at that time the films of Steven Spielberg and George Lucas were a constant source of entertainment and for Mike, inspiration.

In 1983 at the age of 15 the School he sometimes attended was putting together the first ever stage version of Alan Parker's Movie Musical ‘Bugsy Malone’ and Mike was awarded the role of Fat Sam Staccetto. The performance he gave is still mentioned to him to this day and the enthusiasm he received from people made him want to do a whole lot more, yet as he turned 16 and left the family home commitments to work and constantly changing his address restricted his ability to commit to the roles that came up in the local Dramatic groups.

It wasn’t until 1999, when he returned to his hometown of Deal that he was able to really get into a more regular pattern of drama, switching between the towns two rival groups he found himself performing in a lot of comedy farce and one or two pantomimes. In 2001 the town had a new group emerge and the chance to do some more dramatic work presented itself and Mike soon found himself performing in plays by authors like Harold Pinter, Debbie Isitt and Eugene O’Neil.

Having lived in the village of Ash since 2003 he has been working with Canterbury Players for much of that time and recently performed a play with Ashcan Theatre Company. He still gets the same buzz backstage now as he did way back in the summer of ’83 and is always looking forward to the next exciting challenge to present itself.

Selected work from the past:

On An Average Day 2009
The Accrington Pals 2007
Roleplay 2005
My Boy Jack 2005
Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime 2004
Hobson’s Choice 2003
Whose Life Is It Anyway? 2003
The Woman Who Cooked Her Husband 2002
Betrayal 2001
Abigails Party 2001
Bugsy Malone 1983

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Nigel Touch .

Nigel trained at The Rose Bruford College and went on to teach at secondary school in Tunbridge Wells, before his appointment to Thanet College, where he established a Performing Arts Unit. He gained an M.A. from Goldsmith's College, London and has been a member of The Kent Drama Board and The Kent Youth Theatre. He is currently Chair of Channel Theatre Trust.
 
He has been a member of several local amateur companies, most notably Canterbury's Playcraft and the University Players. He has directed at The Gulbenkian Theatre, Canterbury with an especial interest in the works of Edward Albee, Edward Bond, and Arthur Miller. He has appeared in the films of Peter Watkins for the BBC.
 
He gave valuable technical assistance with Ashcan's production of "Art", before becoming more closely involved in the next show "On An Average Day", for which he desgned the Lighting as well as operating it during the performances. He became a full member of Ashcan this summer. Most recently, he did the lighting for "Elegy For A Lady", managing to light a space which was not designed as a theatre with equipment that was hardly suitable.

 

Caroline trained in Drama at the University of Wales and then at Birmingham (PGCE Drama Specialist). She has taught Drama for over 20 years, having taught Drama & Theatre Studies at Secondary & HE levels. She has been Head of Drama at 3 Kent schools and she implemented & ran a new BTEC Performing Arts programme at the prestigious Holborn Centre for Performing Arts in London. She is currently Head of Drama at Simon Langton Girls’ Grammar School.

Caroline also undertook a work placement at the National Theatre in 1995 and she was a freelance educator / workshop practitioner for their NT Education Department.

In 1997, she was invited to take part in a National Theatre Conference working with actors from the theatre, where she was asked to speak about the connections between professional theatre as an art form & the function of drama & theatre in an educational context. This conference lasted a week, involving workshops, debates & presentations. She has also been involved in an outreach project, devising workshops to be taken into schools.

Caroline has also undertaken many acting courses at the National Theatre, which include working with a member of the Berliner Ensemble studying Brecht’s Epic Theatre & studying the function & acting skills of the Greek Chorus with actors from Sir Peter Hall’s NT company who performed in “Oedipus the King” (1997).

Caroline has a wide range of production / directing / acting / lighting design experience, including:

• Acting: “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” Swansea Fringe Festival
• Acting / Co-devisor: Theatre in Education Project in Birmingham
• Director: Touring production of “West Side Story”
• Director: “The Crucible” by Miller at Bridgwater Arts Centre
• Director: Touring production of “Time & Time Again”
• Writer: Stage version of “The Wall” by Pink Floyd
• Director: “Oedipus the King” at Canterbury Festival
• Lighting Design: “Waiting for Godot” (Gulbenkian Theatre)
• Acting: “The Crucible” (Arden Theatre)
• Lighting Design: “The Graduate” (Arden Theatre)

For AshCan Theatre:

• Lighting Design: “Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me”
• Director & Lighting Design: “Duck Variations” & “Zoo Story”
• Acting: “Death & the Maiden”
• Lighting Design: “The Last Yankee”
• Acting: “Old Times”

Caroline is starting an MA in Theatre Studies at Rose Bruford and is writing a book on the practical exploration of Stanislavsky’s “System”.

In her spare time, she is involved in dog training & does dog agility with her Jack Russell. She has recently had 2 pieces of mixed media art work exhibited at Margate!