Robin Soans

Last updated

Robin Soans (born 20 June 1946) is a British actor, and a playwright specialising in verbatim and documentary plays. These plays include Across the Divide (2007); A State Affair (2000) which looked at life on a Bradford estate, produced by Out of Joint Theatre Company; [1] [2] [3] [4] The Arab Israeli Cookbook (Gate Theatre 2004); Talking to Terrorists (Out of Joint theatre company and Royal Court Theatre); [5] Life After Scandal (Hampstead Theatre); and Crouch, Touch, Pause, Engage (Out of Joint theatre company, National Theatre Wales, Arcola Theatre, and Sherman Cymru). [6] Other plays include Bet Noir (Young Vic 1986); Sinners and Saints (The Croydon Warehouse) and Will and Testament (The Oval House).

He wrote Mixed Up North for LAMDA theatre school in 2008, [7] about a youth theatre group created as a means to unite divided racial communities in the Lancashire mill town of Burnley; in 2009 it was performed professionally in a co-production between Out of Joint theatre company and Bolton Octagon Theatre.

As an actor, he has appeared at The National Theatre, the Royal Court Theatre, The Royal Shakespeare Company and Shakespeare's Globe. He also starred in Bill Douglas's epic film of the Tolpuddle Martyrs, Comrades .

In 2014 he appeared as Arthur in Barney Norris' play Visitors at the Arcola Theatre. [8]

In 2015 his verbatim play Crouch, Touch, Pause, Engage, about the rugby player Gareth Thomas and young people in Bridgend, toured Britain and was staged at the Arcola.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art</span> Drama school in Hammersmith, London

The London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA) is a drama school located in Hammersmith, London. It is the oldest specialist drama school in the British Isles and a founding member of the Federation of Drama Schools. The institution is ranked 6th in the world by The Hollywood Reporter's annual list of the 25 top drama schools.

Niamh Cusack is an Irish actress. Born to a family with deep roots in the performing arts, she has performed with the Royal Shakespeare Company and Royal National Theatre, and many others. Her most notable television role was as Dr. Kate Rowan in the UK series Heartbeat (1992–1995). Other TV and film credits include Always and Everyone (1999–2002), The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends (1992–1995), The Closer You Get (2000), Agatha Christie's Marple, Midsomer Murders (2008), A Touch of Frost (2010), In Love with Alma Cogan (2011), Testament of Youth (2014), Departure (2015), Chick Lit, The Ghoul (2016), The Virtues (2019), Death in Paradise (2021), The Tower (2023). She has been nominated at IFTA for her performance in Too Good to be True (2004).

<i>Rita, Sue and Bob Too</i> 1986 British film by Alan Clarke

Rita, Sue and Bob Too is a 1987 British comedy-drama film directed by Alan Clarke, set in Bradford, West Yorkshire about two teenage schoolgirls who have a sexual affair with a married man. It was adapted by Andrea Dunbar, based on two of her stage plays: Rita Sue and Bob Too (1982) and The Arbour (1980), which was first performed at the Royal Court Theatre, London. The strapline of the film was "Thatcher's Britain with her knickers down."

Documentary theatre is theatre that uses pre-existing documentary material as source material for stories about real events and people, frequently without altering the text in performance. The genre typically includes or is referred to as verbatim theatre, investigative theatre, theatre of fact, theatre of witness, autobiographical theatre, and ethnodrama.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nicky Henson</span> British actor (1945–2019)

Nicholas Victor Leslie Henson was a British actor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrea Dunbar</span> English playwright, 1961–1990

Andrea Dunbar was an English playwright. She wrote The Arbor (1980) and Rita, Sue and Bob Too (1982), an autobiographical drama about the sexual adventures of teenage girls living in a run-down part of Bradford, West Yorkshire. She wrote most of the adaptation for the film Rita, Sue and Bob Too (1987).

Maxwell Robert Guthrie Stewart "Max" Stafford-Clark is a British theatre director.

Out of Joint is a British and international touring theatre company based in London. It specialises in the commissioning and production of new writing, interspersed with occasional revivals and classic productions.

George Innes is a British actor.

Sam Crane is an English actor. He attended Oxford University and LAMDA, where he won the Nicholas Hytner Award. He played Farinelli in Claire van Kampen's Farinelli and the King opposite Mark Rylance at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse and reprised his role when the production transferred first to the Duke of York's Theatre and then to the Belasco Theatre on Broadway. He is also known for playing Winston Smith in Headlong's production of 1984 in the West End, Fred Walters in the BBC's six-part drama series Desperate Romantics and Frederick Abberline in Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed Syndicate. In 2017 he played Patrick Plunket in an episode of the Netflix series The Crown. Since 13th October 2022 Sam has been playing the lead, Harry Potter, in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child at the Palace Theatre, London.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Costigan</span> British actor

George J. Costigan is an English actor who is best known for portraying Bob in the 1987 film Rita, Sue and Bob Too and for roles in TV series such as Happy Valley and So Haunt Me.

No Fog West Theater is a non-profit theater company run by students from Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. It was founded in December 2006.

William Alexander Paterson known professionally as Bill Alexander is a British theatre director who is best known for his work with the Royal Shakespeare Company and as artistic director of Birmingham Repertory Theatre. He currently works as a freelance, internationally as a theatre director and most recently as a director of BBC Radio 4 drama.

Talking to Terrorists is a play written by Robin Soans. It was first performed at the Theatre Royal, Bury St. Edmunds, England, on 21 April 2005. The play is written in the style of verbatim theatre where all of the dialogue is taken from real interviews and then recreated on stage. The play discusses the importance of resolving terrorism not with violence or conflict, but with negotiations and peaceful discussions.

David Farr is a British writer, theatrical director and Associate Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Polly Findlay is a British theatre director, who won the Olivier for Best Entertainment in 2011 for Derren Brown's Svengali. She has directed seven productions for the National Theatre, and four for the Royal Shakespeare Company, where she is an associate artist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Atherton</span> British actor

James Atherton is an English actor, known for his roles as Will Savage on Hollyoaks and Jamie Bowman on Coronation Street. In 2017, he appeared in the stage production of Rita, Sue and Bob Too. In 2019, he played Tim Collins in Ackley Bridge and Dr. McKenzie in the Dave sitcom Porters.

Daniel Francis is a British actor. He began his career in theatre. On television, he is known for his roles in Small Axe: Education (2020) and the Netflix miniseries Stay Close (2021).

<i>The Arbor</i> (film) 2010 British film

The Arbor is a 2010 British film about Andrea Dunbar, directed by Clio Barnard. The film uses actors lip-synching to interviews with Dunbar and her family, and concentrates on the strained relationship between Dunbar and her daughter Lorraine.

Roger Croucher was a British actor, theatrical director and educator. His theatrical career included periods with the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Royal Court Theatre and in London's West End. He was later principal of the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, a professor at Boston University and president of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.

References

  1. "Rita, Sue and Bob Too / A State Affair". The Guardian. 9 December 2000. Retrieved 2 October 2022.
  2. "Theatre: Rita, Sue.../A State Affair". The Guardian . 25 October 2000. Retrieved 2 October 2022.
  3. "Rita, Sue and Bob Too & A State Affair". Evening Standard . 10 April 2012. Retrieved 2 October 2022.
  4. Wolf, Matt (8 January 2001). "Rita, Sue and Bob Too/A State Affair". Variety. Retrieved 2 October 2022.
  5. Talking to Terrorists by Robin Soans, Oberon Books, 2005, ISBN   1-84002-562-X
  6. "Crouch, Touch, Pause, Engage". Out of Joint. Retrieved 21 February 2015.
  7. LAMDA archive
  8. Visitors at the Arcola Theatre