Deborah McAndrew

Last updated

Deborah McAndrew (born 1967) is a British playwright and actor, known for playing Angie Freeman in Coronation Street in the 1990s. She is also co-founder and Creative Director of the Stoke-on-Trent-based Claybody Theatre Company, [1] and a visiting lecturer in the Department of Drama and Theatre Arts at Staffordshire University. [2]

Contents

Early life and education

McAndrew was born in Huddersfield, West Riding of Yorkshire, and later moved to Ossett and then Leeds. She had two younger sisters. She had always wanted to write plays; the family regularly holidayed with another family with four children, giving her a cast of seven. [3]

She studied drama at the University of Manchester and a PGCE in Drama and Special Education at Bretton Hall College of Education. [2]

Acting career

McAndrew joined the cast of the long-lived Granada television soap Coronation Street for four years across two periods in the 1990s, playing young designer Angie Freeman. [4] She has appeared in theatre, radio and television including the BBC Radio 4 detective series Stone, [5] as Lily Gaskell in the 2013 BBC Radio 4 Extra radio adaptation of Elizabeth Gaskell's Wives and Daughters , [6] and as Mrs. Dashwood in Helen Edmundson's 2013 Radio 4 adaptation of Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility . [7] She first joined Northern Broadsides as an actor in 1995. [3]

Playwriting career

In 2004 McAndrew adapted Leopold Lewis's 1871 play The Bells for Northern Broadsides. [8] Since then her adaptations have included Dario Fo’s Accidental Death of an Anarchist , [9] Nikolai Gogol’s The Government Inspector [10] and Nikolai Erdman’s The Suicide , under the new title The Grand Gesture. [3] [11]

Her first original script was Vacuum (2006, set in a vacuum cleaner repair shop and performed by Northern Broadsides). [12] She wrote Flamingoland, about a woman with breast cancer, in 2008, for the New Vic Theatre, [13] and in 2013 she wrote Ugly Duck, set among the Staffordshire pottery trade, for the Claybody Theatre Company which she co-founded in that area. [3]

Her 2014 play An August Bank Holiday Lark, [14] a Northern Broadsides co-production with the New Vic Theatre, Newcastle-under-Lyme, won that year's UK Best New Play award from the UK Theatre awards for regional theatre. [15] Set in Saddleworth at the start of World War I, it features the village's traditional rushbearing procession and morris dancing. [16]

McAndrew has written several plays for the Mikron Theatre Company, a touring company which in summer travels by canal boat. These include Losing the Plot (2012, set amongst allotment gardeners), Beyond the Veil (2013, allotments again, beekeeping and murder), [17] Till the Cows Come Home (2014, on icecream making), [18] and One of Each (2015, concerning fish and chips). [2] [19]

Her play Dirty Laundry, a mystery set in a small house in the heart of Stoke-on-Trent, was performed in the old Spode factory in October 2017. Featuring a cast of professional actors accompanied by the community cast of Claybody Theatre Company, Dirty Laundry received excellent reviews. [20]

Her 2017/2018 adaptation of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol gained good reviews at the Hull Truck Theatre in Hull, East Yorkshire.[ citation needed ]

Chancellor of Leeds Trinity University

In April 2018, McAndrew was announced as Leeds Trinity University's new Chancellor, replacing Gabby Logan. [21] She was installed as Chancellor in a ceremony in the University Chapel on 15 June 2018. [22]

Personal life

McAndrew is married to Conrad Nelson, actor, musician, former Musical Director of Northern Broadsides, and currently a director ar the Stoke-on-Trent-based Claybody Theatre Company. They have a daughter. [3]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sheridan Smith</span> English actress and singer

Sheridan Smith OBE is an English actress, singer, and television personality. Smith came to prominence after playing a variety of characters on sitcoms such as The Royle Family (1999–2000), Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps (2001–2009), Gavin & Stacey (2008–2010), and Benidorm (2009). She co-starred as Joey Ross in the drama series Jonathan Creek between 2009 and 2013, and went on to receive acclaim for starring in a succession of television dramas, such as Mrs Biggs (2012), Cilla (2014), The C Word (2015), Black Work (2015), The Moorside (2017), Cleaning Up (2019), and Four Lives (2022). Her film credits include Tower Block (2012), Quartet (2012), The Huntsman: Winter's War (2016), and The Railway Children Return (2022).

Amanda Root is an English actress. She is perhaps best known for her starring role as Anne Elliot in the 1995 BBC adaptation of Persuasion. A familiar face on both stage and screen, she worked regularly with the Royal Shakespeare Company during her early career, performing as Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, and Lady Macbeth in Macbeth, among other roles. In 2009, she was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for her performance as Sarah in Alan Ayckbourn's The Norman Conquests.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jenna Russell</span> British actress

Jenna Russell is an English actress and singer. She has appeared on the stage in London in both musicals and dramas, as well as appearing with the Royal Shakespeare Company. She performed the role of Dot in Sunday in the Park with George in the West End and on Broadway, receiving the Tony Award nomination and the 2006 Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her role. She has also appeared in several television series, including Born and Bred and EastEnders.

Benjamin Charles Miles is an English actor, best known for his starring role as Patrick Maitland in the television comedy Coupling, from 2000 to 2004, as Montague Dartie in The Forsyte Saga, from 2002 to 2003, as propagandist and television executive Roger Dascombe in 2005 film V for Vendetta, as Peter Townsend in the Netflix drama The Crown (2016–2017) and George in episode 8 "The One That Holds Everything" in the TV drama The Romanoffs (2018).

The New Vic Theatre is a purpose-built theatre in the round in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire. The theatre opened in 1986, replacing a converted cinema, the Victoria Theatre in Hartshill, Stoke-on-Trent.

The Lark is a 1952 play about Joan of Arc by the French playwright Jean Anouilh.. It was first presented at the Théâtre Montparnasse, Paris in October 1953. Translated into English by Christopher Fry in 1955, it was then adapted by Lillian Hellman for the Broadway production in the same year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hattie Morahan</span> English actress (born 1978)

Harriet Jane Morahan is an English actress. Her roles include Sister Clara in The Golden Compass (2007), Gale Benson in The Bank Job (2008), Alice in The Bletchley Circle (2012–2014), Ann in Mr. Holmes (2015), Rose Coyne in My Mother and Other Strangers (2016), Agathe/The Enchantress in Beauty and the Beast (2017), and as a voice actress, Doctor Who companion Helen Sinclair in Big Finish Productions.

Barrie Thomas Rutter OBE is an English actor and the founder and former artistic director of the Northern Broadsides theatre company based in Dean Clough complex, Halifax, West Yorkshire, England.

Adaptations of <i>A Christmas Carol</i> Works based on Charles Dickenss 1843 novella

A Christmas Carol, the 1843 novella by Charles Dickens (1812–1870), is one of the English author's best-known works. It is the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, a greedy miser who hates Christmas but who is transformed into a caring, kindly person through the visitations of four ghosts. The classic work has been dramatised and adapted countless times for virtually every medium and performance genre, and new versions appear regularly.

Deborah Findlay is an English actress. She has worked primarily on stage and is an Olivier Award Winner, but has also appeared in several TV series. She is known for playing the Defoe family matriarch Ruth in three series of the BBC TV legal drama The Split (2018-2022).

Amanda Whittington is an English dramatist who has written over 30 plays for theatre and radio. Her work is widely performed by companies across the UK, with recent productions at Hull Truck, Oldham Coliseum, New Vic Theatre and Nottingham Playhouse. Be My Baby is a popular GCSE and 'A' level choice in English Literature and Theatre Studies. She currently has two titles in Nick Hern Books' Top Ten Most Performed Plays. In 2017, she was awarded a Doctor of Philosophy by Publication at the University of Huddersfield.

Linda Bassett is an English actress. Her television credits include Victoria Wood's dinnerladies (1999), Lark Rise to Candleford (2008–11), Grandma's House (2010–12) and Call the Midwife (2015–present).

Rebecca "Becky" Hindley is an English television, stage and radio actress based in Lancaster, England. She is best known for her eight-month stint in Coronation Street as Charlotte Hoyle in 2010; her performance as the deranged bunny boiler was met with praise by the soap's producer Phil Collinson and her co-stars Jennie McAlpine and Graeme Hawley. Charlotte Hoyle was actually the third character Hindley had played in the soap, as she had made two previous guest appearances, in 2006 and 2007.

Laurie Sansom is a British theatre director. He is currently the Artistic Director of Halifax-based theatre company Northern Broadsides.

The Mikron Theatre Company is an English touring theatre company, founded in 1972, which is notable for its tours by canal boat during the summer months, and by road in the spring and autumn. The company believes itself to be the only theatre company in the world which tours by narrowboat.

Vera Chok is a Malaysian actress and writer based in the United Kingdom, who has featured in various stage, screen and radio roles. From 2021 to 2023, she played Honour Chen-Williams in the Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks.

Conrad Nelson is a British actor, composer and musical director, and he was the Artistic Director of the Northern Broadsides company until 2019.

Maeve Larkin is an English actor and playwright.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cynthia Erivo</span> English actress and singer (born 1987)

Cynthia Erivo is an English actress and singer. She gained recognition for starring in the Broadway revival of The Color Purple from 2015 to 2017, for which she won the 2016 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical and the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album. Erivo ventured into films in 2018, playing roles in the heist film Widows and the thriller Bad Times at the El Royale. For her portrayal of American abolitionist Harriet Tubman in the biopic Harriet (2019), Erivo received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress; she also wrote and performed the song "Stand Up" on its soundtrack, which garnered her a nomination in the Best Original Song category.

Kraig Thornber is a British actor, singer and choreographer best known for playing the handyman Riff Raff in The Rocky Horror Show and Grandpa George in the musical Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. He is a former member of the National Theatre.

References

  1. ↑ "About". Claybody Theatre. Archived from the original on 28 November 2015. Retrieved 26 October 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 "Drama Staff – Deborah McAndrew". Staffordshire University. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 26 October 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Hastings, Sheena (10 November 2013). "The Big Interview: Deborah McAndrew". Yorkshire Post . Retrieved 26 October 2015.
  4. ↑ Youngs, Ian (6 May 2015). "Ex-Corrie star Deborah McAndrew cooks up writing success". BBC News. Retrieved 26 October 2015.
  5. ↑ "Friday Drama: Stone 4/4". BBC. 2011. Retrieved 26 October 2015.
  6. ↑ BBC - Wives and Daughters Omnibus -
  7. ↑ "BBC - Sense And Sensibility - Media Centre". www.bbc.co.uk.
  8. ↑ "The Bells". Past productions. Northern Broadsides. Archived from the original on 11 December 2015. Retrieved 26 October 2015.
  9. ↑ "Accidental Death of an Anarchist". Past productions. Northern Broadsides. Archived from the original on 11 December 2015. Retrieved 26 October 2015.
  10. ↑ "A Government Inspector". Past productions. Northern Broadsides. Archived from the original on 11 December 2015. Retrieved 26 October 2015.
  11. ↑ "The Grand Gesture". Past productions. Northern Broadsides. Archived from the original on 11 December 2015. Retrieved 26 October 2015.
  12. ↑ "Vacuum". Past productions. Northern Broadsides. Archived from the original on 11 December 2015. Retrieved 26 October 2015.
  13. ↑ "Ex-Corrie star to open new bittersweet comedy Flamingoland". The Sentinel . 25 July 2008. Retrieved 26 October 2015.[ permanent dead link ]
  14. ↑ "An August Bank Holiday Lark". Past productions. Northern Broadsides. Archived from the original on 11 December 2015. Retrieved 26 October 2015.
  15. ↑ Brown, Mark (19 October 2014). "War plays win three prizes at regional theatre awards". The Guardian . Retrieved 26 October 2015.
  16. ↑ Hickling, Alfred (17 February 2014). "An August Bank Holiday Lark – review". The Guardian . Retrieved 26 October 2015.
  17. ↑ Hutchinson, Charles (31 May 2013). "Review: Beyond The Veil, Mikron Theatre Company, Scarcroft Allotments, York". The Press . Retrieved 26 October 2015.
  18. ↑ Stelfox, Hilarie (27 September 2014). "Mikron Theatre Company has show that's food for thought". Huddersfield Daily Examiner . Retrieved 26 October 2015.
  19. ↑ Brennan, Clare (17 May 2015). "One of Each review – the joys of fish and chips explored". The Guardian . Retrieved 26 October 2015.
  20. ↑ Brennan, Clare (15 October 2017). "Dirty Laundry review – dark truths unearthed in the Potteries". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 October 2017.
  21. ↑ "Prof Margaret House on Twitter".
  22. ↑ "Deborah McAndrew installed as Chancellor of Leeds Trinity University". Leeds Trinity University. 15 June 2018. Retrieved 15 June 2018.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.