MELVA - Casting Announcements!

We've got a treat for you all... We can finally tell you who are wonderful 'Melva' cast are!

KATIE POWELL: MELVA

​Appearing in the title role of Melva Mapletree is local actress Katie Powell. Having developed her performance skills through Live Theatre’s Youth Theatre and Northern Stage’s Young Company, Katie has most recently appeared in South African collaboration piece Encountering The Other with Odd Man Out and The Market Lab theatre companies. She has previously appeared in Beowulf (ITV) and The Dumping Ground (CBBC), as well as being a founding member of female comedy ensemble Your Aunt Fanny. She has also appeared in A Bit of Respect (Operating Theatre), Breakfast Hearts/Choirplay (The Six Twenty) and Live Witness (Live Theatre). Melva will be her first production with Mortal Fools. 

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JOHN MCMAHON: GRANDPA PEBBLE

Appearing as Melva’s misbehaving Grandpa Pebble is Newcastle actor John McMahon.  Following  training at University of Sunderland and Northumbria University, John could be seen in a variety of TV roles including Hebburn (Baby Cow Productions)/BBC) and Wire in the Blood (Coastal Productions/ITV), as well as short film I Am Nasrine (Bridge and Tunnel Productions). His theatre work includes Blue Remembered Hills (Bubble Eye), Ballroom of Romance and Medea Medea (Northern Stage), Hamlet (Cranked Anvil) and City of Sanctuary (The Performance Ensemble).  

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​STAN HODGSON: GIDEON and EMPEROR WORRIT

​Appearing in various roles including Gideon and Emperor Worrit is musician and performer Stan Hodgson. Stan is a founding member of theatre company The Letter Room, and participated in the first year of Northern Stage’s NORTH actor development training. He has appeared in productions No Miracles Here, Five Feet in Front: The Ballad of Little Johnnie Wylo and Bonenkai with The Letter Room, but also in the title role of James Henry Trotter in James and the Giant Peach in 2016 (Northern Stage). Other theatre work includes Manifesto for a New City (Live Theatre/Northern Stage) and Breakfast Hearts/Choirplay (The Six Twenty).

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EILISH STOUT-CAIRNS: Ernest, Figgis and Emperor Worrit

​Appearing as multiple characters including Ernest, Figgis and Emperor Worrit is up and coming actress Eilish Stout-Cairns. After professional training with Theatre Royal Newcastle’s PROJECT A actor development scheme, Eilish appeared as Red Riding Hood in family production, The Cow Jumped into the Woods (The Customs House). She has also featured in PROJECT A productions including Road, Massage, Measure for Measure and Citizenship. 

It's all go go go over at Front Street Theatre, with rehearsals for 'Melva' starting this Thursday.
Tickets for 'Melva' are available in Prudhoe library (inside the Spetchells Centre) for Prudhoe residents, or online for everybody else.