The Players

Tribe Theatre is a new theatre company.  Its players are not.  With years of experience, members come from far and wide. Professional actors, semi-professionals, competant amateurs, professional musicians and composers along with seasoned and accomplished set designers and crew.

The people you will see below are a few of the faces that you can see in our productions across the year and those who you never get to see - the backstage crew.

We are always on the look out for new talent and encourage anyone with talent and enthusiasm to contact us and find out if we have a place for you in our productions or workshops.

The Tribe

Benedict Francis
Artistic Director / Actor
Benedict set up Tribe Theatre after having appeared in Modern Major General for Proteus Theatre in September. Being instrumental in the creation of other local companies and local theatre groups, he decided to concentrate his skills in setting up his own theatre company in order to further develop his skills and take more control of the creative process. His previous credits include 'Shylock' in The Merchant of Venice, ‘Benedick’ and ‘Don Pedro’ in Much Ado About Nothing, ‘Sir Toby Belch’ in Twelfth Night, ‘Oberon’ in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and ‘The Pirate King’ in Pirates of Penzance. He is also a keen composer and has written music for several theatre productions. He is currently writing a musical to be staged in 2009.

Katharine Arnold
Set Design
Kate has been working as a professional designer for 22 years after graduating from Wimbledon School of Art. She has worked on a multitude of designs, both on and off stage. She has worked with Warner Brothers, Alton Towers and has had commercial works used in film and television. She also specialises in trompe l’oeil and children’s murals. From designing a record cover for Soul II Soul to recent totem installations in Boscombe Chine Gardens, Naomi House and Moors Valley Country Park - Kate’s work is as diverse as it is unique.

Phillip Whiteman
Actor
Phillip trained at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. Theatre includes: Tracers, Antony and Cleopatra, Romeo and Juliet (title role), Hayfever. Film and Television : D-hall, Gilmore Girls, NCIS, Richard III and First Landing. Radio : Sonnet Project for Angel Radio. He previously played the role of Bassanio in The Merchant of Venice for Tribe Theatre.

Christopher Barlow
Actor
Most recently Chris played Tubal in The Merchant of Venice and before that, Gerald the Giraffe in the Blunderbus production of ‘Giraffes Can’t Dance’ (Watermans Theatre, London), based on the award winning children’s book. Previous theatre experience: Toad in The Wind in the Willows (Brooke Theatre, Chatham), Lead Soloist in Shall We Dance (South Coast Tour), Jafar in Aladdin (UK Tour), The Narrator in The Rocky Horror Show (Powerhouse Theatre, Wakefield), Hansel/Variouse in The Storytellers Compass (West Yorkshire), a variety of tours for Cragrats Theatre and as a soloist in numerous concerts around the country. TV/Film credits: Christopher was recently able to flex his comedy muscles and created the role of Jack Nibbs for the comedy series Where are the Joneses? (Baby Cow / Imagination), he can also be seen sporting a rather large afro in a 118 advert. He also filmed a comedy pilot playing Alexander Bell in imMOBILEized (productionists). Christopher Trained at Bretton Hall and where he performed as Ferapont in Three Sisters, Malvolio in Twelfth Night, The Young Man in The Ham Funeral, The BFG in The BFG, Old French Man in Hotel, Ensemble in Billy The Musical. Christopher has also worked as a director and has directed productions of The Rocky Horror Show, A stage adaptation of The Hours, Gretals Chapter and assistant directed Sweeney Todd, The Mummers Play, The Company of Wolves, Matilda. Chris also writes and has written for Blunderbus Theatre Company, Where are the Joneses? (Baby Cow) and his own comedy work.

Alistair Cope
Actor
Alistair trained at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts. Recent theatre credits include 'Antonio' in The Merchant of Venice, ‘Iago’ in the critically acclaimed London run of Othello (Epsilon Productions), Spinosa’ in Venice Preserved (Arcola Group), ‘Don Pedro’ in Much Ado About Nothing (Theatre Workout), ‘Alexander Dumas’ in La Grand Horizontal (Timecode LWT), ‘Richard III’ (Traffic of The Stage), ‘Osip Dymov’ in Poprygunya (Honest Hands), ‘David’ in I live in Tribeca (TeDeum Productions). Recent Film and Television credits include Silent Witness (BBC), Ringside (Rapid Pictures-BBC), Nesia (Independent), Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (SFX Films), Bed (Cohen Films), Lovely (Angry Sumo Productions), Room 45 (Screen West Midlands – Cannes, Short Film Finalist 2006). Alistair is also a vocal artist and has contributed to various film, television and radio projects including The Resurrection (BBC Radio 4), Ice Age 2 (Fox), Die Hard 4.0, Thank You For Not Smoking, Rocky Balboa (20th Century Fox). Next Year Alistair is touring with Much Ado About Nothing for The Young Shakespeare Company before filming the ambitious new Leila Carr feature film ‘The Five Murders of John Dawley’.

Rick Norton
Actor
Rick has played in several Shakespearean roles. From Gratiano in The Merchant of Venice to Feste in Twelfth Night, from Don John in Much Ado About Nothing and stopping off at a Rude Mechanical in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Other roles of note include Brian Roberts in Cabaret and Samuel in Modern Major General. He is also a keen musician and has acted as musical director on several shows over the past 20 years, such as West Side Story and Forbidden Planet.

James Curtis
Actor
James has been involved in theatre from a young age, after playing his first ever major role as Bottom in Shakespeare’s ‘A Midsummer Night Dream’ he went on to play other great roles in plays and musicals. For three years he was in a musical theatre group for young people and took on many exciting roles such as Marius in Les Miserables, Joseph in Joseph, Lieutenant Cable in South Pacific, and Annas in Jesus Christ Superstar. He has also been involved in some dance and very much enjoyed being involved in a dance performance, which took place back in the summer at his local theatre. His main interests is acting and has enjoyed taking on the roles such as Henry Packer in Vinegar Tom and is currently rehearsing the part of Oberon for ‘A Midsummer Nights Dream’ which is being performed in March. His last role was as Lorenzo in The Merchant of Venice. James is in his third year studying BA hons Drama Studies at the University of Winchester and is scheduled to graduate next year.

Damian Stafford
Actor
Damian is a newcomer to the stage. His last role was Solanio in The Merchant of Venice. He has always had a keen interest in literature and history, and holds a masters degree from the University of Leeds in the latter. Having been born in 1967, Damian was brought up in Hull, East Yorkshire. He now lives in Winchester, is the father of two children and is currently taking a break from his career in information technology.

Louisa Revolta
Actor / Musician
'Jessica' in The Merchant of Venice was Louisa’s fourth Shakespeare performance after playing Viola in Twelfth Night, Hero in Much Ado About Nothing and Helena in A Midsummer Nights Dream. Louisa is a music teacher of singing, saxophone and piano. In her spare time she can be seen performing around the South with her musicians. She was involved in youth theatre for many years performing in seven shows.

Anthony Ivo
Actor
Anthony spent more years than he would care to divulge in the Royal Navy before deciding to take up acting as a profession. Trained with The Actors Company at the London Centre for Theatre Studies. Theatre credits include Balthazar and The Duke in The Merchant of Venice at the Theatre Royal Winchester, Bequest to the Nation at the Jermyn Street Theatre, Pack of Lies at the Theatre Royal Margate and an open-air production of Much Ado About Nothing in the gardens of the Hospital of St Cross.

David Early
Actor
David has been doing some sort of performing all his life. He has appeared in various pantomimes, including the recent King Arthur and the Nuts of the Round Table. Other credits include OKLAHOMA, Pirates of Penzance, Calamity Jane, Count of Luxembourg, Pink Champagne, Confusions, Show Boat, Kindly Keep It Covered, Surprise Package, It Could Be Any One of Us, Harvey, and Caught on the Hop. His last role was Old Gobbo in The Merchant of Venice at the Theatre Royal Winchester. David is also an aspiring guitarist, more for pleasure than treasure.