Performers
Anna Brisbane
Anna joined Blue Apple Theatre when it started in 2005. She has been in almost 30 productions beginning with small parts and progressing onto leading roles in The Government Inspector, A Christmas Carol, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Hamlet, Much Ado About Nothing and The Tempest.
Anna is an integral part of the Blue Apple Core company that, amongst other things, devised the play Living Without Fear that explored difficult aspects of independent living, such as bullying and hate crime. The play toured schools and colleges and was used in police training, and she says that her highlight was when it was performed at the House of Commons. She also toured with Hamlet and Much Ado to various venues throughout England and the Channel Isles.
Anna says she especially enjoys the touring side of Blue Apple: “You get to experience different venues and find out how to adapt your show for different theatre spaces, and it is always fun to travel to new places.” She says that Blue Apple has helped boost her confidence, to get voluntary work, and not to be afraid to try new things.
Outside Blue Apple, Anna is an active member of WAAFA (Winchester Area Access For All) and does volunteer work at the Royal Hampshire County Hospital. She is also a keen swimmer and tap dancer.
Anna is also the current chair of the Blue Apple Apple Talk representative forum for participants.
James Benfield
“Blue Apple is a team builder. It builds both you as a person and as a character as well.”
James will be a familiar face to many Blue Apple fans, as he is a long standing Blue Apple performer in drama and dance.
He is particularly memorable for his finely nuanced role as Ariel in The Tempest during 2019 which was a year when Blue Apple focused on a theme of reconciliation.
James’ character insight is quoted in an article by Dr Rowan MacKenzie in Spring 2020 Drama Magazine: “There is a sense of Ariel fearing the freedom he is finally to be granted which Benfield aims to show the audience through his characterisation of Ariel as ‘saddened, betrayed and confused with a question of whether he would have wanted to start a new life away from the island when they leave for Milan’ (Benfield 2019)”.
See James talk about what Blue Apple means to him here
Sam Dace
24-year-old Sam has always loved acting. From a very young age, he would act out scenes from his favourite films with his sisters and he could recite huge chunks of dialogue at the dinner table.
Sam has Autism Spectrum Disorder, which means he struggles with communication and social interaction especially in group settings and unfamiliar places. He decided to join Blue Apple when he heard about the theatre company at Osborne School in Winchester, where he loved to appear in school plays. Sam says he wanted to continue his acting after leaving school.
Sam, who lives in Colden Common with his family, joined Blue Apple’s first steps drama group in Eastleigh and very quickly progressed to Blue Apple’s Main Company in Winchester – performing in major productions at the Theatre Royal Winchester, including a leading role as Peter in The Railway Children.
Sam says: “It’s been quite the adventure, it’s led me a long way. I liked acting at school. It’s my destiny! Blue Apple classes challenge me, and I try to cope, yet it’s not easy sometimes. Acting is all I have to offer. It’s my skill, Blue Apple helps me by giving me opportunities to act on stage. I really like the comedy in Blue Apple’s plays. I like making people laugh and how we make our own version of plays.”
His mum Sally says acting with Blue Apple has been a huge confidence boost for Sam: “Sam finds it hard to relate to others, he does not make friends easily and has difficulties understanding some types of communication. It’s been wonderful to see his confidence grow through acting.
“He is loving Blue Apple and it’s really good that he’s starting to stretch his wings. Sam has always loved acting. Growing up he would act out scenes from his favourite films and he has an amazing memory for lines. When on stage his insecurities disappear, and his confidence shows through. Sam particularly loves comedy!
“Sam views his acting with professionalism. Acting makes Sam happy. He is conscientious and always does his best. He is very dedicated to learning his part and I think he is proud of what he has achieved. He loves the feedback he gets after a performance (although he doesn’t show it!)”
See Sam talk about what Blue Apple means to him here
Ros Davies
Ros joined Blue Apple Theatre at the beginning in 2005 and has acted in every major public performance. This includes being part of the touring group, performing a variety of plays in different venues. Ros is also part of Blue Apple Core Dance in which she works with undergraduate dance students at Winchester University and goes on tour with them.
In April 2018 Ros joined Blue Apple’s residential trip to the USA where she co-led a variety of different dance workshops with American students and community groups, including delivering warm-up sessions.
Ros says: “Working with Blue Apple has built my confidence and developed my clarity of speech. I have had to learn how to project my voice and also use different forms of language for different plays. When I am on stage I feel happy and excited, confident and in control! When I am dancing I feel energised and upbeat.”
Katy Francis
Katy has been a principal member of Blue Apple since 2011 and her many acclaimed appearances include Hero in Much Ado About Nothing and Ophelia in the company’s national tour of Hamlet. Katy has subsequently performed her acclaimed Ophelia’s Dance at many venues, including at Shakespeare’s Globe in London. In January 2019 she completed her biggest challenge, and greatest success to date, when she performed the lead role in A Christmas Carol, in which she was possibly the world’s first female Scrooge.
Katy is an accomplished dancer and in 2015 she was cast in Candoco Dance Company’s production of Jerome Bel’s ‘The Show Must Go On’, which opened to much acclaim at Sadler’s Wells then toured to Nottingham Playhouse and Tramway in Glasgow. The production won the UK Theatre Award’s Achievement in Dance award, was listed by The Guardian as one of the ‘Top 10 Dance Highlights of 2015’, and was included in The Independent’s ‘Best Theatre and Dance of 2015’. The cast came back together in November 2017 for 9 further performances at the Autumn Festival in Paris. Katy was the only cast member with a learning disability.
Tommy Jessop
As a founder member of Blue Apple, Tommy has appeared in all the company's major stage and touring productions, including A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Government Inspector, and The Hotel. He made history when he became the first professional actor with Down’s syndrome to play the lead role Hamlet in a tour to mainstream theatres across the south of England. In 2013 and 2014 Tommy also played the role of Bobby, a victim of hate crime in Living Without Fear, Blue Apple’s touring production about disability hate crime.
Working in television, Tommy was the first actor with Down’s Syndrome to play a lead in a primetime TV drama, starring opposite Nicholas Hoult in Mark Haddon’s feature-length BAFTA nominated BBC drama Coming Down The Mountain. He has since appeared in many programmes including Casualty, Holby City, and Off Their Rockers and has starred in several BBC documentaries. Tommy has also performed in various radio productions for BBC Radio4, including playing the lead in The Climb opposite Warwick Davies, and appeared in an episode of The Archers, playing Callum Longfield. His film work includes The Damned United, Day Of The Flowers, Freddie’s Story for Blue Apple, and the lead in various dramatic short films. He won Best Actor at several film festivals for his role in Down & Out, and the film Fighter, in which he played the title role, was premiered at the 2017 London Film Festival and won Best Film at FilmLondon.
Tommy is also a dancer and outside of Blue Apple productions he has also been working with Daniel Vais and the Culture Device Dance Project, based in London.
Lawrie Morris
Lawrie joined Blue Apple Theatre in 2009, making his debut as Tiny Tim in Blue Apple’s A Christmas Carol and quickly finding that there was nothing he liked more than being on stage. He had been captivated by Shakespeare from an early age and was delighted to play Lysander in Blue Apple’s magical promenade performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and, a few years later, Claudius in Hamlet, the making of which brought some of Blue Apple’s performers to a wider audience through the BBC documentary Growing up Downs.
In 2012 Lawrie had the good fortune to be included in Mark Rylance’s Pop-up Shakespeare project at the Globe, followed by street performances of Shakespeare’s sonnets with fellow actor Tommy Jessop in 2013. Performing as Benedick in the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse for Blue Apple’s 10th birthday celebrations in 2016 was a further joy.
Beyond Shakespeare, Lawrie has enjoyed a range of parts, from M. Pinglet in Feydeau’s The Hotel to George Bailey in It’s A Wonderful Life; he is also a keen contemporary dancer, performing a memorable solo as Narcissus in Blue Apple’s recent Changes (2017). Outside Blue Apple, Lawrie has also worked as a voiceover artist for Saatchi and Saatchi and in small promotional films. See Lawrie talk about his ambitions here.