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THE TEAM

PETE TALBOT

FOUNDER, DIRECTOR, PRODUCER & WRITER

Pete founded the Company in January 1997 after spending twenty-three years as a teacher & is its Artistic Director & writer. He studied English at Cardiff University and then Language, Education & the Arts at Sussex University. He has written, mainly poetry, from his teenage years & all his adult life and has now written over 20 plays for The Rudes, including ‘The Comedy of Babi Babbett’, ‘Five Get Famous’ and his favourite, ‘Noah Babel’s Ark’.

He studied the Commedia dell’Arte at ‘The International School of Comic Acting’, Reggio Emilia, Italy, under the maestro, Antonio Fava, and the commedia has been the main influence in his work, although his love of silent movie, music hall, circus, pantomime & literature in general have all informed his writing.

He spent over fifty years playing guitar & has composed a lot of the songs for the company but arthritis has taken its toll & made playing now very difficult. He is passionate about the importance of education & giving every child a proper start, about finding solutions to poverty and about the importance of communities where people can mark the milestones of life with others, so we can enjoy cultural things together, avoid loneliness & be fulfilled. He loves the arts in general, especially reading, all music, especially jazz & 20th Century ‘classical music’, rugby & cricket, & supports Liverpool FC. His favourite composers are Vaughan Williams, Kurt Weill & Steve Reich, favourite musicians are Miles Davis, Nina Simone, Joni Mitchell & Tom Waits & his favourite song is ‘Smile’ by Charlie Chaplin. The most influential book for him has been ‘A Passage to India’ by EM Forster. His favourite poet is TS Eliot & his most inspiring painter is Picasso. Pete is a practitioner of Kaizen.  He has been married for over fifty years to Sue.

 

ROWAN TALBOT

ACTOR, COMPOSER, MUSCAL DIRECTOR & TOUR MANAGER

Rowan has been involved, as either an actor or composer in all but three of The Rudes productions since 1999 and has been working professionally as an actor for 30 years. His other selected theatre includes: Green Man Red Woman (National Theatre Wales), The Children’s Court (National Theatre Wales & Unicorn). Robin Hood, Aladdin and Sleeping Beauty (Theatre Clwyd). Noises Off, The Hot Mikado, Twelfth Night, Relatively Speaking and Dick Barton Special Agent (Queens Theatre). My Beautiful Launderette (RSC, Bloomsbury, SNAP). Jack and The Beanstalk (Ipswich), The Gruffalo’s Child (Tall Stories), Scooby Doo (Warner Bros), Stand By Me (Riverside), The Cow Play (Square Moon). Mistress Maud’s Chambers of Fantastical Truth (for the artist Caroline Sabin). Rapunzel, Beauty and The Beast, Ali Baba, Jack & The Giant and Puss In Boots (Chipping Norton). You’ve Got Dragons (Taking Flight) and, most recently, Finding Home (Mercury Theatre Wales) and the solo show In Pursuit Of Maud (Caroline Sabin). 

TV and Film credits include The Hate Commission (Channel 4), Forest People (BBC), Blue Peter (BBC). As a composer, musician and musical director; selected credits include: Green Man Red Woman (National Theatre Wales), A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Branwen’s Tale and Twelfth Night (Taking Flight Theatre). Momenta, Murmur and Us & Them (Ransack Dance). Little Lilly Harley, Icarus Inc, The Commercial Traveller, Macbyrd, The Wife, The Comedy Of Babi Babbet and The Lighthouse Keeper’s Cat (The Rude Mechanical Theatre Company). In Pursuit Of Maud and Mysterious Maud’s Chambers Of Fantastical Truth (Caroline Sabin), Finding Home (Mercury Theatre Wales), The Waiting Game (Sherman Theatre ADI) and The Happy Prince (Fabler Theatre Company). Rowan is a resident musical director and composer for Ransack Dance Company and The Rude Mechanical Theatre Company. Rowan has also composed the scores for numerous short films and animations.

 

Annette Keen

COSTUME MANAGER & BOARD MEMBER

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Ex-teacher, ex-plumber’s mate (“secretary, actually…”), she studied dress design and making at college, and subsequently patchwork and quilting. Her cheerful & calm disposition has added so much to the inner workings of the Company & is never far away during crises, ready to help & find solutions. She has been so important to us since she joined our team in 2015 & has become a member of our Board.

Other loves – She’s been a jazz promoter/manager for over twenty years & runs a jazz club in Eastbourne, and also writes fiction – annettekeen.co.uk will find her! Her favourite UK jazz musician is her partner, the extraordinary Andy Panayi, a leading jazz musician over here who plays all the flutes & all the saxophones, and her favourite US jazz musician is Monty Alexander. She also loves Horace Silver, Thelonius Monk & Cole Porter. Wow! What a choice! She says, “And I always love to hear a good version of ‘Round Midnight’ or ‘Night and Day’.” So do I!

 

MEG LAKE

CHAIR OF THE BOARD

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Meg is a founding member of The Rudes and has been involved in various capacities, actor, stage curtain designer & maker, artwork designer, board member, general adviser & wise support for over twenty years. She makes her living as an actor with a long list of credits. She is based near London & is deeply involved in the London theatre scene.

 

Diane Page

BOARD MEMBER & FOH TEAM

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Diane Page is a trained massage therapist and also a Cordon Vert Chef having owned and run her own vegetarian and vegan event catering company for over 18 years.  Diane recently retired from her full-time job with Royal Mail and is now working part-time for a local organic dairy business.  She is now learning to play bridge and is also keen to join a local amateur dramatic group.  Her inter-personal skills and cheery disposition is put to good use at Rudes events when on Front of House duties.

 

Harry Jacobs

BOARD MEMBER & FOH TEAM

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Harry Jacobs, now retired, started his working life in Advertising and Promotions with several top London advertising agencies.  Having specialised in print production and becoming a qualified proof reader (an expertise not required much today), Harry went on to organising major conferences, exhibitions and other large corporate events both in the UK and abroad.

He ran his own print finishing company before becoming a cinema and theatre manager for many years. His administrative and organising skills are a very welcome asset to The Rudes.

 

GLENN OVERINGTON

FOH CO-ORDINATOR & BOARD

MEMBER

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Glenn has an extensive corporate background, began as a ‘fan’, started doing Front of House, becoming Front of House Co-ordinator and then joined our Board. He is still our Front of House coordinator & a vital cog in the Rudes machine. He is also an active naturalist with a passion for the ocean, seabirds, marine wildlife and visiting remote islands & archipelagos – and his pictures are pretty good too!

 

PAM KEEN

OFFICE ADMINISTRATOR & BOARD

MEMBER

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Pam had a career in banking that took her from customer liaison to staff training and then personnel. After taking early retirement she started her own Soft Furnishing business and also worked for the NHS, originally in a voluntary capacity, and then moved to an Arts Centre where she rose to the lofty heights of chair to the Committee (and stayed there for 8 years...).

Pam loves travel, patchwork and quilting and gin (only joking …. she's happy with wine too!).

Pam is one of Pete's right-hand women in the Rudes office, where her banking experience is of considerable help.

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