Simon Slater

Last updated

Simon Slater
Born28 November 1959
Scarborough, North Riding of Yorkshire
Occupation(s)Music director, composer, narrator, and actor
Instrument(s) Piano, double bass, saxophone, clarinet, ukulele
Website Official website

Simon Slater (born 28 November 1959) is a British music director, composer, narrator, and actor. He has composed more than 300 original music scores for film, theatre, TV and radio, and is a member of the British Academy of Composers and Songwriters. [1]

Contents

In 2010, Slater's narration of Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel won two awards; an Audie Award for Literary Fiction and an AudioFile magazine Earphone Award. [2] For best sound designer in the 2013 play Constellations , he was nominated an Olivier Award. [3]

Early life and education

Simon Slater was born in Filey Road, Scarborough, North Riding of Yorkshire, the son of a sailor known as the Prospect Of Whitby yachtsman Arthur Slater. [4] [5] [6] [7] As a young child he became inspired by his music teacher at Bramcote School. [5] In 1972, he joined Sedbergh School, where he was a student until 1977. [8] Growing up in Scarborough, he lived not far from the Stephen Joseph Theatre, where his parents took him to see plays by Alan Ayckbourn. [5] Later, he gained admission to Goldsmiths College at the University of London. [9]

Career

Slater has composed more than 300 original music scores for film, theatre, TV and radio, [10] [11] [12] which have included BBC Radio 3, [13] Channel 5, [14] [15] and West End theatre productions. [8] He is a member of the British Academy of Composers and Songwriters. [8]

For three years he worked as a composer on the plays Henry V and Julius Caesar for the Royal Shakespeare Company. [16] [17] He wrote the music for Macbeth, starring Sean Bean [18] and wrote the music for The Blood Libel for Radio 4.[ citation needed ]

He also composed for many productions at Hampstead Theatre Club, [19] [20] [21] The Liverpool Everyman, [22] [23] Bristol Old Vic, [24] the Bush Theatre, [25] and Young Vic.[ citation needed ]

Television

Slater has appeared in several TV series, including Heartbeat , [26] Inspector Morse , [27] Hotel Babylon ,[ citation needed ] Monarch of the Glen , [28] and as Inspector Kite in The Bill . [29] [30] He also appeared in Birds of a Feather , [31] the Doctor Who story "Terror of the Vervoids", Lovejoy , [32] and Where the Heart Is .[ citation needed ]

Theatre

The Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough The Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough.jpg
The Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough

At the Stephen Joseph Theatre he was invited to compose the music for four actor-musicians in the Christmas adaptation of Pinocchio in which they play an array of instruments covering 30 roles. [5] The production ended in 2016. [5] Other Christmas shows he directed music for at the SJT include A Christmas Carol and Alice in Wonderland . [33]

Slater also wrote or co-wrote the songs for Christmas shows Cinderella at Theatre Royal, Winchester, The Santa Trap for The Cliffs Pavilion, Southend, and Little Red Riding Hood at the Chelsea Theatre. [5]

His work as a theatrical actor includes a five-year run in the musical Mamma Mia! as Sam Charmichael, [12] as well as Forbidden Broadway (Fortune), Sugar Hill Blues (Hampstead and Warehouse Croydon), The Great White Hope (Tricycle), Aspects of Love (Sydmonton Festival), Waiting for Godot , and The Wind in the Willows (Nuffield Southampton). He appeared in the Theatre Royal (Winchester) production of Peter Pan the Pantomime playing Captain Hook during the Christmas season of 2010/2011. He also wrote all the music for the show.[ citation needed ]

In 2016 he was musical director for Amadeus at the Royal National Theatre. [5] [33] [34]

Music

He plays piano, double bass, saxophones, clarinet, guitar, piano accordion, [8] ukulele, and mandolin. [1]

He has written the musical score to the aerial show, 'Zoetrope' which is being produced by the theatre company Kinematic Theatre. The show debuts at Rose Bruford College's Rose theatre in late September. Simon has also written music for the Royal Shakespeare company and other London Theatres, including work at Sloane Square Theatre, The Royal Court.

Film

In the film The Iron Lady , Slater played the role of Chris Patten. [30]

Audio

In 2010, Slater's narration of Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel won an Audie Award for Literary Fiction. [35] and an AudioFile magazine Earphone Award. [36]

In 2018, he read Hans Rosling's Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World – and Why Things Are Better Than You Think . [37]

Filmography

Film

YearTitleRoleNotes
1989 Dealers Eamonn Doyle
1999 Entrapment Paul
2011 The Iron Lady Chris Patten [30]

Television

YearTitleRoleNotes
1987 The Bill Inspector Kite12 episodes
1988-2013 Casualty Various4 Episodes
1996-98 Out of Sight Mr. Thomas9 episodes
2000-01 Monarch of the Glen Fleming3 episodes
2021-22 Holby City Russell Faber19 episodes

Stage

YearProductionCharacter/contributionDirectorCompanyNotes and references
2012 Constellations Music composer Royal Court, Duke of York's Theatre Premiered at the Royal Court in 2012 before transferring to the Duke of York's Theatre. [5] [9] Slater received an Olivier Award nomination for his music. [1]
Great Expectations Vaudeville Theatre [38] [9]
Cannibals Royal Exchange in Manchester [9] [38]
The lady and the van Hull Truck Theatre [9]
Death of a salesman West Yorkshire Playhouse [9]
The Life of Stuff [38]
No naughty Bits, Enlightenment Hampstead Theatre [9]
2014BloodshotDerekDouglas Post St James's Theatre A one-man thriller. [1] [6]
2015Carmen Disruption Michael Longhurst Almeida Theatre [1]
2016 Amadeus National Theatre
King Lear and Romeo and Juliet directed by Neil Bartlett, which had a sell-out national tour and season at Stratford. [1]

Radio

YearTitleCommentsReferences
The ReportA documentary series on BBC Radio 4 [1]
8 Days in JulyDirected by Hugh Levinson for the BBC and based on the 2005 bombings in London [1] [39]
The Blood LibelDirected by Hugh Levinson for the BBC [1]

Awards and nominations

YearOrganisationAwardNominated workResult
2010 Wolf Hall Won
2013 Olivier Award for best sound design [5] [9] Constellations Nominated
Off West End Award Nomination for best sound design. [9] The Life of Stuff [38] Nominated
Manchester Evening News Awards James and the Giant PeachWon

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joseph Fiennes</span> English actor

Joseph Alberic Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes, known as Joseph Fiennes, is an English actor of film, stage, and television. Journalist Zoe Williams observed that "he seemed to be the go-to actor for English cultural history". Fiennes is particularly known for his versatility and period pieces. His numerous accolades include one Screen Actors Guild Award and nomination for a British Academy Film Award.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jim Dale</span> British actor, singer, songwriter (born 1935)

Jim Dale is an English actor, composer, director, narrator, singer and songwriter. In the United Kingdom he is known as a pop singer of the 1950s who became a leading actor at the National Theatre. In British film, he is now the last surviving actor to appear in multiple Carry On films.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tom Conti</span> Scottish actor (born 1941)

Tommaso Antonio Conti is a Scottish actor. Conti has received numerous accolades including a Tony Award and a Laurence Olivier Award as well as nominations for an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award and two Golden Globe Awards.

Samantha Jane Bond is an English actress. She played Miss Moneypenny in four James Bond films during the Pierce Brosnan era, and appeared in Downton Abbey as the wealthy widow Lady Rosamund Painswick, sister of Robert Crawley, the Earl of Grantham. On television, she played "Auntie Angela" in the sitcom Outnumbered and the villain Mrs Wormwood in the CBBC Doctor Who spin-off, The Sarah Jane Adventures. She also originated the role of "Miz Liz" Probert in the Rumpole of the Bailey series. She is a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Sir Antony Sher was a British actor, writer and theatre director of South African origin. A two-time Laurence Olivier Award winner and a four-time nominee, he joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1982 and toured in many roles, as well as appearing on film and television. In 2001, he starred in his cousin Ronald Harwood's play Mahler's Conversion, and said that the story of a composer sacrificing his faith for his career echoed his own identity struggles.

Claire Skinner is an English actress, known in the United Kingdom for her television career, particularly playing Sue Brockman from the BBC television series Outnumbered.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edward Petherbridge</span> English actor, writer, author, and artist

Edward Petherbridge is an English actor, writer and artist. Among his many roles, he portrayed Lord Peter Wimsey in the 1987 BBC television adaptations of Dorothy L. Sayers' novels, and Guildenstern in Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. At the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1980, he was a memorable Newman Noggs in the company's adaptation of Dickens's The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Simon Stephens</span> British playwright (born 1971)

Simon Stephens is a British-Irish playwright and Professor of Scriptwriting at Manchester Metropolitan University. Having taught on the Young Writers' Programme at the Royal Court Theatre for many years, he is now an Artistic Associate at the Lyric Hammersmith. He is the inaugural Associate Playwright of Steep Theatre Company, Chicago, where four of his plays, Harper Regan,Motortown, Wastwater, and Birdland had their U.S. premieres. His writing is widely performed throughout Europe and, along with Dennis Kelly and Martin Crimp, he is one of the most performed English-language writers in Germany.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Simon Russell Beale</span> British actor (born 1961)

Sir Simon Russell Beale is an English actor. He has been described by The Independent as "the greatest stage actor of his generation". He has received two BAFTA Awards, three Olivier Awards, and a Tony Award. For his services to drama, he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2019.

Janie Dee is a British actress. She won the Olivier Award for Best Actress, Evening Standard Award and Critics' Circle Theatre Award for Best Actress in a Play, and in New York the Obie and Theatre World Award for Best Newcomer, for her performance as Jacie Triplethree in Alan Ayckbourn's Comic Potential.

Nina Raine is an English theatre director and playwright, the only daughter of Craig Raine and Ann Pasternak Slater, and a grand niece of the Russian novelist Boris Pasternak.

Nancy Carroll is a British actress. She has worked extensively in theatre productions, particularly with the Royal Shakespeare Company. She also has numerous film and television credits, including a long-running feature role as Lady Felicia in the BBC series Father Brown.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rupert Goold</span> English theatre director

Rupert Goold is an English director who works primarily in theatre. He is the artistic director of the Almeida Theatre, and was the artistic director of Headlong Theatre Company (2005–2013).

Sarah Woodward is a British actress. Olivier Award winner 1998 for ‘Tom & Clem’ & Tony Nominated in 2000 for ‘The Real Thing’. Sarah is the daughter of actor Edward Woodward and his first wife, actress Venetia Barrett, sister of actor Tim Woodward, and actor, voice artist, and screenwriter Peter Woodward, and sister to actress Emily Woodward, whose mother is actress Michele Dotrice.

Paul Englishby is a film and theatre composer, orchestrator, conductor and pianist. He is best known for his Emmy Award-winning jazz score for David Hare's Page Eight, his orchestral score for the Oscar nominated An Education, his BAFTA nominated score for the BBC's Luther and his many theatre scores for the Royal Shakespeare Company, with whom Paul is an associated artist.

Philip James Voss was a British stage, radio, film and television actor.

Úna Palliser is an Irish born, London-based violinist, violist, singer and multi-instrumentalist who as well as being classically trained, is recognised for her proficiency in many musical genres, including rock, jazz, Balkan and Irish folk. She has collaborated as guest soloist with London Chamber Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra and many high profile artists including Shakira, A. R. Rahman, Leona Lewis, Terrafolk and Otis Taylor and as the Irish folk singer on several film and television soundtracks, including Mo Ghile Mear on the Specsavers 'Collie Wobble' advertisement. Herself (film), Obi-Wan Kenobi, My Mother and Other Strangers and Kat and Alfie: Redwater. Palliser became a member of the Balanescu Quartet in 2023

Nick Powell is a British musician, composer and sound designer. He has worked extensively in theatre on productions in the West End and on Broadway, and for companies including the Royal National Theatre, the Royal Shakespeare Company, the National Theatre of Scotland, the Royal Court Theatre, and the Donmar Warehouse.

Robin Belfield is a British-Bahamian theatre writer, director, educator and producer. He has worked with amongst others the National Theatre, the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Globe Theatre, the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, The Oxford School of Drama and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

Isobel Noeline Waller-Bridge is a British composer who is known for her scores for film, television, and theatre, along with her works for electronic music and contemporary classical music.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "Simon Slater - Air Edel - Composer - Musical Director". Air-Edel. Retrieved 22 November 2020.
  2. "The Audie Awards 2010". bookreporter.com. Bookreporter. Retrieved 26 November 2021.
  3. "Olivier Winners 2013". officiallondontheatre.com. Society of London Theatre. Retrieved 26 November 2021.
  4. "Prospect of Whitby III". sparkmanstephens.org. Sparkman Stephens. 14 December 2019. Retrieved 26 November 2021.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Hutchinson, Charles (26 December 2016). "Composer Simon Slater returns to Scarborough roots for SJT's Pinocchio". York Press . Retrieved 21 November 2020.
  6. 1 2 Darley, Karen (21 October 2020). "Actor to return home for one-man thriller". Gazette and Herald . Retrieved 21 November 2020.
  7. Ahad, Nick (5 December 2019). "Mamma Mia! theatre star Simon Slater heads home to Scarborough to create music for Treasure Island Christmas production". The Yorkshire Post . Retrieved 21 November 2020.
  8. 1 2 3 4 "The Sedbergh Media and Performing Arts Timeline". Sedbergh School Website.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Pinero, Arthur Wing (2016). The Notorious Mrs Ebbsmith. Oberon Books. p. 12. ISBN   978-1-78319-789-7.
  10. "Simon Slater". imdb.com. IMDB. Retrieved 26 November 2021.
  11. "Simon Slater" (PDF). air-edel.co.uk. Air-Edel. Retrieved 26 November 2021.
  12. 1 2 Wilkinson, Sue (14 October 2020). "Jemma Redgrave and Simon Slater in rehearsed reading of Hansard at Scarborough's Stephen Joseph Theatre". www.thescarboroughnews.co.uk. Retrieved 24 November 2020.
  13. "Lockdown Theatre Festival". bbc.co.uk. BBC. Retrieved 27 November 2021.
  14. "Impact Earth (TV)". filmaffinity.com. Film Affinity UK. Retrieved 27 November 2021.
  15. "Inquisition (2002 TV Movie)". imdb.com. IMDB. Retrieved 27 November 2021.
  16. "2008/2009 Annual Report" (PDF). rsc.org.uk. Royal Shakespeare Company. Retrieved 26 November 2021.
  17. "Sapho & Phao". rsc.org.uk. Royal Shakespeare Company. Retrieved 26 November 2021.
  18. Loveridge, Lizzie. "Macbeth". curtainup.com. CurtainUp. Retrieved 27 November 2021.
  19. "ENLIGHTENMENT". hampsteadtheatre.com. Hampstead Theatre. Retrieved 26 November 2021.
  20. "Wonderland". hampsteadtheatre.com. Hampstead Theatre. Retrieved 26 November 2021.
  21. "JUDE". hampsteadtheatre.com. Hampstead Theatre. Retrieved 26 November 2021.
  22. "Land of Our Fathers". everymanplayhouse.com. Everyman Playhouse. Retrieved 26 November 2021.
  23. "Mary Shelley's Frankenstein". everymanplayhouse.com. Everyman Playhouse. Retrieved 26 November 2021.
  24. "Archangels Don't Play Pinball". theatricalia.com. Theatricalia. Retrieved 26 November 2021.
  25. Wolf, Matt (24 January 2000). "The Maiden's Prayer". variety.com. Variety. Retrieved 27 November 2021.
  26. "Heartbeat: Simon Slater". imdb.com. IMDB. Retrieved 27 November 2021.
  27. "Inspector Morse: Simon Slater". imdb.com. IMDB. Retrieved 27 November 2021.
  28. "Monarch of the Glen: Simon Slater". imdb.com. IMDB. Retrieved 27 November 2021.
  29. "The Bill: Simon Slater". imdb.com. IMDB. Retrieved 27 November 2021.
  30. 1 2 3 "Performer | Viennas English Theatre". www.englishtheatre.at. 2011. Retrieved 26 November 2020.
  31. "Birds of a Feather: Simon Slater". imdb.com. IMDB. Retrieved 27 November 2021.
  32. "Lovejoy: Simon Slater". imdb.com. IMDB. Retrieved 27 November 2021.
  33. 1 2 Build a Rocket. Stephen Joseph Theatre and Tara Finney Productions
  34. Sutton-Williams, Natasha. "An Interview with Simon Slater". culturecalling.com. Culture Calling. Retrieved 26 November 2021.
  35. 1 2 "2010 Audie Awards® - APA". www.audiopub.org. Retrieved 22 May 2020.
  36. 1 2 "Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel Read by Simon Slater | Audiobook Review". AudioFile Magazine. Retrieved 22 May 2020.
  37. Hardyment, Christina (2018). "Review: Factfulness by Hans Rosling, read by Simon Slater". The Times.
  38. 1 2 3 4 Urch, Chris (2013). Land of Our Fathers. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 6. ISBN   978-1-4725-3139-1.
  39. Gary Owen (2017). Killology. Oberon Books. p. 5. ISBN   978-1-78682-169-0.