Cast & Crew
Craig Shepherd
Actor & Co-Writer
Craig Shepherd joined the Sheffield Youth Theatre at the age of 14 and progressed into Films and Television, straight after Drama School.
His first major role was in “When Saturday Comes’ with Sean Bean. Craig has since had numerous roles in all the major soaps and several popular dramas. Craig is currently working on his own Comedy Drama: ‘Codd Palace’, which stars Jeffrey Holland & Judy Buxton.
He has a life-long passion for the work of Laurel & Hardy, loving their pathos and story-telling. This play is a loving tribute to ‘The Fiddle & The Bow’.
Rob Smith
Director & Co-Writer
Rob worked extensively as a professional actor in film, television & theatre for over twenty years. His earliest writing credit saw him presented with the National Writers ‘Winning Words’ Award for his story A Private War (1995). He then went on to co-write and direct A Million Things Run through My Mind, which premiered at the Crucible Studio in Sheffield (1997) before embarking on a tour starting at the Live Theatre in Newcastle (1998).
His work as a director was later followed with Dennis Potter’s Blue Remembered Hills as part of the Burngreave Performing Arts Festival (2003). This was followed with an adaptation of the best-selling novel Weerz Me Dad? which he directed, and co-headlined the Grin up North Comedy Festival (2006). His short story The Sermon at St. Mount was selected for publishing in the Perito Prize Anthology (2019), and his monologue My Misophonia was chosen to be included in the Loud Voices, Silent Streets Theatre Project (2021).
In the same year, his radio script All Work & Role Play was broadcast on BBC Radio Sheffield as part of the New Writing Festival, Upload Performance. More recently, his new monologue Lungs was chosen to be a part of the SLAMinutes does Mental Health Showcasing New Writing Award at the Arcola Theatre in London (2022). Rob is also a founding member of Twisted Kites.
Simon Christie
Producer (Twisted Kites)
Simon grew up in Sheffield and spent six years as part of the Crucible Youth Theatre, before professional training at East 15 Acting School.
Simon now serves as the Executive Producer at Parade West, and in 2021 produced the award-winning short film ‘The Deluge’ (Winner: British Horror Award - British Horror Film Festival).
In addition to various producing, acting and directing credits, he is also a founding member of Twisted Kites - a South Yorkshire theatre company currently developing free educational training courses for local children.
Tom McDonnell
Assistant Director
Tom has been working within the acting industry from the age of 4. He went on to study acting at Secondary School and further studied the field in College.
Appearing in many amateur shows and eventually working his way into professional productions as of 2019 in a Third Angel Production ‘Inherited Cities’, Tom has been pushing his way through projects ever since.
Through lockdown he mainly began focusing on his own craft, writing many plays and also producing and staring in his own Drag Shows in 2022.
As of 2024 Tom is opening his very own production company ‘Tomalodeon Productions’.
Rob Sadler
Producer (Gratso Productions)
Rob Sadler caught the acting 'bug' at an early age and played 'Maurice McNally' in the Crucible Theatre version of Willy Russell's Our Day Out at the age of 15. Later he took a different path, working abroad on the World Wide Web, returning to the UK in 2022.
Rob first met Andrew 'Craig Shepherd" at Junior School. It was clear that Andrew was going to be an Entertainer and he followed his career closely. In 2021 Rob got involved with Craig's TV Comedy Drama 'Simply Ken' and using his management and design skills, became the Producer.
Together they formed Gratso Productions and are working to get Simply Ken commissioned, are working with local Acting and writing legend Rita May on a new project and are pleased to be presenting 'The Fiddle & The Bow'.
Helen Smith
Associate Costume Designer
Theatre includes Aladdin pantomime
(1985/86 Crucible Theatre as wardrobe assistant)
Several opera’s at Scottish Opera late 1980's
(Wardrobe assistant)
RSC Several productions for the Swan Theatre and main stage (1st men’s assistant) 2023 freelance wedding dress designer, pantomime costumes and currently working on dresses for Connie Dom Drag Queen extraordinaire.
Adele Drummond
Photographer
Hi My name is Adele Drummond, I am a Sheffield-based photographer, specialising in creative and documentary photography.
Creating art with the everyday world is my passion and photography is my artist tool of choice.
I have always had a love of photography. As a young child I would save up my pocket money to purchase disposable cameras, which I insisted on taking everywhere and this became a passion that has grown throughout my life.
May moons ago, I studied fine art and photography at College. For a very long time photography was just a hobby for me, but the desire to learn more and improve never really went away. When my son was 2 years old, I decided it was now or never for me to follow my dreams, so I went back to studying at Sheffield Hallam University, this time for a degree in photography, which i did remarkably well at.
The course re-ignited my original love for documenting the world as I see it and I have not looked back since.
I enjoy taking on new projects and challenges, as there is always more to learn and create.
Eve Dunning
Make-up
Eve has had a love for behind the scenes production of entertainment from a very young age. With both her Mum and Nan both being actresses in a theatre company, she has been encouraged to be creative all of her life. Whether it was watching rehearsals or helping painting sets, Eve has always had an involvement in production.
She discovered her love for makeup at around age 14 where she would create extravagant makeup looks, to post on social media. She went on to study media makeup at college to further her skills and now works in cosmetics, whilst also doing freelance makeup.
Eve’s dream is to one day work for theatre, film, tv or fashion as a makeup artist.