Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Cast

Hannah Baker

Lady Bertilak

Training: Actor Musicianship BA at Mountview.

Acting credits: Pride and Prejudice, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (Grosvenor Park Open Air Theatre); Stick Man (Leeds Playhouse); The Sound of Music (Pitlochry Festival Theatre); Twitchers, A Force To Be Reckoned With (Mikron Theatre); Robin Hood, Beauty and the Beast (Leeds City Varieties); BANTER JAR - one person show (The Bridge House Theatre, OVO Theatre, The Lion and Unicorn Theatre); Lifeline (The Charing Cross Theatre); Aladdin, Goldilocks and the Three Bears (New Wolsey Theatre); Hamlet, Twelfth Night (Shakespeare’s Rose Theatre, York); The 39 Steps, Twelfth Night, Twelfth Night Live! (The Maltings Theatre); BRASS (The Union Theatre) and World in Progress (The Other Palace and Edinburgh Fringe Festival).

Music/Musical Directing credits: Christine McVie in UK Fleetwood Mac (UK Regional Theatre tour); A Birthday for Bear (Upstairs at the Gatehouse) and Peter Pan (Alban Arena).

Thomas Cotran

Gawain

Theatre credits include: Letter to Brezhnev (Royal Court, Liverpool) Around the World in 80 Days (New Vic); The Grand Babylon Hotel (New Vic & Claybody Theatre); Cinderella (Shakespeare North Playhouse); Love’s Labour’s Lost (Shakespeare North Playhouse/ Stephen Joseph Theatre); One Man, Two Guvnors (New Vic); Song of the Sytch (Claybody Theatre); The Great Gatsby (Chester Storyhouse); A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Chester Storyhouse); Raising Agents, Red Sky at Night (Mikron Theatre); Atalanta Forever, A Dogs Tale (Mikron Theatre); The Snow Queen, HUMBUG, Aladdin and the Stolen Stories (Wrongsemble); Harvest (New Perspectives Theatre Company); Footloose (UK Tour); The Glass Menagerie, Talk to Me Like the Rain and Let Me Listen, James and the Giant Peach, Titus Andronicus, Great Expectations (Dundee Rep Theatre); Not About Heroes (Eden Court Theatre); King John (Oran Mor) and Loserville (Union Theatre).

Thomas has also performed in various Pantomimes with The Lawrence Batley Theatre and Theatre Royal Wakefield.

Jessica Dyas

Guinevere

Jessica is delighted to be working with the Claybody team here at Spode after having a ball with The Card at Fenton Ballroom and at The Vic.

For the New Vic: One Man, Two Guvnors, The Card, Treasure Island, Cyrano (with Northern Broadsides), I Don’t Want to Set The World on Fire, Inherit The Wind.

At the New Vic: The Winter’s Tale (Northern Broadsides).

Theatre credits include: Hound of the Baskervilles, Rapunzel (Torch Theatre) Comedy of Errors (RSC First Encounters); Babe (Mercury Theatre); Robinson Crusoe and the Pirate Queen, Jack and the Giant (Chipping Norton); Speedo Mick, Noises Off, Lennon, My Fairfield Lady (Liverpool Royal Court); Beauty and the Beast (Stafford Gatehouse Theatre); The Tempest (The Watermill Theatre); Dreamboats and Petticoats (Playhouse, West End and No.1 Tour); Romeo and Juliet (Open-air tour, The Works Theatre Company) and Classical and Contemporary Poetry (National Tour).

Jessica trained at East 15 Acting School and is a member of the all-female Rock ‘n roll band The Daisy Chains. She also voiced the most recent series of Renovation Nation on Channel 4.

Anthony Hunt

Sir Bedevere

Anthony trained at The Drama Centre, London. He has toured extensively as an actor and musician around Britain and the world performing in many productions from Shakespeare and modern classics through to pantomime villains and dames.

Highlights of his theatre work are: Macbeth (Queens Theatre, Hornchurch); As You Like It (Cheek by Jowl); The Showman (Almeida Theatre); Cabaret (Donmar Warehouse) and a tour of Sondheim’s Company – where he met his long-suffering wife!

His TV work includes Coronation Street, Eastenders, Holby City, a run in The Bill which culminated in a live episode and Doctors in which he was nominated for villain of the year for the British Soap Awards. He has his own gardening company, is a second degree black belt in Ju Jitsu and enjoys pottery and woodcarving.

Jessica Jolleys

Morgan le Fay

Jessica is very excited to be working with Claybody Theatre and spending Christmas time up in Stoke-on-Trent!

Training: Rose Bruford College, BA (Hons) Actor Musicianship.

Theatre credits include: Mrs Mortimer in Barnum - The Circus Musical (UK Tour); Bet/Rose/Agnes in Oliver Twist (Hull Truck Theatre); Lydia in Pride And Prejudice and Dotty Watson / Stocky in The Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes (Grosvenor Park Open Air Theatre, Chester); Chief Recorder in A Matter Of Life And Death (New Vic, Stoke); Musician in Humbug (Truman Brewery, London); Mrs Mortimer in Barnum (Watermill Theatre); Lulu The Naughty Step Sister in Cinderella (Storyhouse, Chester); Tessa Latus in Cuckoo (Middle Child, Hull); Catherine/Vaisey Twin in The Great Gatsby and Hermia in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Grosvenor Park Open Air Theatre, Chester); Sophie in Mumsy (Hull Truck Theatre); Swing and Cover Carole King and Genie in Beautiful (UK Tour); Nancy in Oliver Twist (Storyhouse Chester); Annie Sullivan in The Miracle Worker (Cramphorn Studio Theatre Chelmsford); Lauren in Big Big Sky (Hampstead Theatre); Jill Stinker in Jack And The Beanstalk (Theatre Clwyd) and Helena in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Garden Shakespeare).

TV credits include: Jessie Shaw in Doctors (BBC) and Clara Bryce in Father Brown (BBC).

Simeon Truby

Arthur

Training: Welsh College of Music and Drama.

Simeon last worked for Claybody as the country was coming out of the covid lockdown in the beautiful oratorio Greenwood Dreams - The Silver Arrow.

Other theatre credits include: Young Frankenstein (Hope Mill & Liverpool Playhouse); Wicked (Apollo Victoria & UK Tour); War Horse (UK & South Africa Tour); Sweeney Todd (Chichester Festival & Adelphi); The Merry Wives of Windsor, The Mouse & His Child (RSC) One Love: The Bob Marley Musical, Pinocchio (Birmingham Rep); The Red Balloon (National Theatre & Birmingham Rep); Love Story (Chichester Festival); Big Big Sky, The Glee Club, And A Nightingale Sang, The Pitman Painters (New Vic, Newcastle-under-Lyme); Sweeney Todd (Ductac Dubai); Chess (UK Tour); Blood Brothers (UK Tour); The Crucible, A Little Night Music, The Comedy of Errors (Chester Storyhouse); Little Shop of Horrors, The Duchess of Malfi, Rutherford & Son (Salisbury Playhouse); The Pitman Painters, Kes, The Ladykillers, Dick Barton, Cinderella, Dick Wittington, Mother Goose, Sleeping Beauty (Oldham Coliseum); The Crucible, My Family & Other Animals, Parlour Song (York Theatre Royal); A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Summer Lightning, A Chorus of Disapproval, A Christmas Carol, Our Country’s Good, The Recruiting Officer, The Hired Man, The Wizard of Oz, The Snow Queen, Romeo and Juliet, Charley’s Aunt (Theatre by the Lake); The Merchant of Venice, Oh! What a Lovely War, Accidental Death of an Anarchist, Eight Miles High, Two, Daivd Copperfield, Romeo & Juliet, A Midsummer Nights Dream, Kes: The Musical (Bolton Octagon); Manchester Sound: The Massacre, Much Ado About Nothing, Schweyk in the Second World War (Manchester Library); Jerusalem (West Yorkshire Playhouse); To Kill a Mockingbird, Antony and Cleopatra, As You Like It, Bring Me Sunshine (Manchester Royal Exchange); The Man With Two Gaffers, The Tempest, Much Ado About Nothing (Northern Broadsides); Grow Up Grandad, The Fulstow Boys (Steelworks) Henry VIII, Love’s Labour’s Lost and Taming of the Shrew (Mappa Mundi).

Film & Television: Death of England: Face to Face, The Dumping Ground, Coronation Street, Hollyoaks, Emmerdale; The Street; The Royal; Island at War and A Touch of Frost.

Radio: Antic Hay, Emergency, The Citadel, Dead Pan, Bang Up and The Crack.

Eddy Westbury

Lord Bertilak

Eddy is thrilled to be back working with Claybody and this incredible cast, having performed multiple times at Spode Works, including Bright Lights over Bentilee (Claybody Theatre).

He’s delighted to be performing yet again, for a potential acting finale!

Conrad Nelson

Director

Co-Artistic Director of Claybody Theatre.

Conrad is a critically acclaimed director, actor and composer with a vast body of work in theatre, television, film and radio in the UK and around the world. His directing work includes productions for Claybody Theatre, Royal Court Liverpool, Chester Storyhouse, New Vic Theatre, Bolton Octagon, Hull Truck, and St Lawrence Shakespeare Festival in Ontario, Canada. He enjoyed a 25-year association with Northern Broadsides Theatre Company, where he directed over a dozen productions, including Shakespeare and classic foreign language plays, and acted as interim Artistic Director 2018-19.

In 2024 Conrad was nominated as Best Director at the UK Theatre Awards for his production of One Man, Two Guvnors at the New Vic Theatre.

Conrad’s acting work includes title roles in Richard III, Henry V, and the role of Iago opposite Lenny Henry in Northern Broadsides’ acclaimed production of Othello.

Deborah McAndrew

Writer

Co-Artistic Director of Claybody Theatre.

Deborah is an award-winning playwright with writing credits for theatres and companies all around the UK.

Writing for theatre includes: The Grand Babylon Hotel, Bright Lights Over Bentilee, Song of the Sytch, The Card, The D Road, Hot Lane, Dirty Laundry, Digging In, Ugly Duck (Claybody Theatre); The Great Gatsby, Pride and Prejudice (Grosvenor Park Open Air Theatre, Chester); Robin Hood and the Major Oak (Derby Theatre); The Chester Mystery Plays 2018; They Don’t Pay? We Won’t Pay!, Hard Times, Cyrano, An August Bank Holiday Lark (winner UK Theatre Award and Manchester Theatre Award for Best New Play 2014); The Grand Gesture, A Government Inspector, Accidental Death of an Anarchist, Vacuum, The Bells (Northern Broadsides); Anna of the Five Towns, Flamingoland (New Vic Theatre); Oliver Twist, Peter Pan, A Christmas Carol (Hull Truck Theatre); The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, David Copperfield, Oliver Twist (Octagon Theatre, Bolton); One of Each, Till the Cows Come Home, Beyond the Veil, Losing the Plot (Mikron Theatre) and King Macbeth (Reveal Theatre Company).

Deborah’s new stage adaptation of Sir Gawain & The Green Knight will be produced by Claybody Theatre at The Dipping House in December 2026, directed by Conrad Nelson.

Deborah’s stage adaptation of A Christmas Carol will be produced at the Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh in November 2026, directed by James Brining.

Rebekah Hughes

Musical Director

For Claybody Theatre: The Card, Digging In.

Theatre credits include: Aladdin, Jack & The Beanstalk, Robin Hood, Dick Whittington (Leeds City Varieties); Pride & Prejudice, The Great Gatsby (Chester Storyhouse); Speedo Mick (The Royal Court Liverpool); One Man Two Guvnors, Brassed Off (The New Vic Theatre); Jack & The Beanstalk (New Wolsey Theatre); Sleeping Beauty, Aladdin, Jack And The Beanstalk, The Ruck, Cinderella (Lawrence Batley Theatre); Frankenstein (Living Spit/Salisbury Playhouse); Mother Goose, Dick Whittington & His Cat (Salisbury Playhouse); Much Ado About Nothing, They Don't Pay? We Won't Pay!, Hard Times, Cyrano, The Winters Tale, She Stoops To Conquer, The Grand Gesture, A Government Inspector, Hamlet, Canterbury Tales, Heidi, Lisa’s Sex Strike (Northern Broadsides); Les Miserables- Schools Edition (Bradford Playhouse); Broken Time (Three Stones Media); Oliver Twist (Bolton Octagon). Rebekah was also resident Musical Director with Mikron

Theatre 2001-2024.

Alongside her theatre work, she also gigs regularly with swing trio, The Gelatos and Western Swing band, The Swing Commanders; MD’s and accompanies her own choir, Artful Voices. She is also an Associate Artist with Manchester based Artful Playground.

Dawn Allsopp

Set & Costume Designer

Previous designs for Claybody: Bright Lights Over Bentilee, Song of The Sytch, The Card, The Silver Arrow, The D Road, Hot Lane, Dirty Laundry, and Ugly Duck.

Other recent credits: Dick Whittington (Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds); Rapunzel (City Varieties, Leeds); To Have and To Hold (Hull Truck); Sovereign (York Theatre Royal); Spinning The Moon (Dorchester Community Play); Little Manfred (Soldier’s Arts / Polka); The Bird’s and The Bees (New Wolsey Ipswich / tour); Brassed Off (Gala Durham); The 39 Steps, Votes For Women, Anna Of The Five Towns, Beryl, Kiss Me Quickstep, Inherit The Wind (New Vic Theatre Stoke); Handbagged, Her Naked Skin, Murder, Margaret and Me, Dangerous Corner (Wiltshire Creative) and The Chester Mystery Plays (Chester Cathedral).

Dawn won Best Costume Design at The UK Pantomime Awards in 2024 for Snow White at Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds.

John Slevin

Lighting Designer & Production Manager

John trained in Stage Lighting Design at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. He has over 15 years’ experience, working across both lighting design and production management. John’s previous lighting credits include Stoke, A Love Story (Potboiler Theatre); The D Road, Hot Lane, Dirty Laundry (Claybody Theatre); Associate Designer on The Chester Mystery Plays, The Visitor’s Book (Oldham Theatre Workshop/Hope Mill Theatre); Devotion (Potboiler Theatre) and site lighting design for Opera Holland Park.

John’s previous site-specific work includes lighting design for Oldham Theatre Workshop’s performances of Standing On The Shoulders Of Giants, which formed part of the re-opening for Oldham Town Hall, and Eyam at Eyam Church.

Beverley Norris-Edmunds

Choreographer

For Claybody Theatre: The Grand Babylon Hotel, Christmas Carol, The Card, Bright Lights Over Bentilee and The D Road.

For Liverpool’s Royal Court: Letter to Brezhnev, Take Me Home County Road, The Peaceful Hour 1 and 2, The Scouse Christmas Carol, The Derby Days, Girls Don’t Play Guitars, Speedo Mick, Vernons Girls, The Scouse Red Riding Hood, Thong for Europe, Scouse Trap, YNWA, The Scouse Sleeping Beauty, Selection Box, Maggie May, Scouse Pacific, Lost Soul 1 and 2, The Scouse Nativity, Golden Oldies, The Royal, Father O’Flaherty Saves Our Souls, Sex in Suburbia, Canoeing for Beginners, Bouncers, Council Depo Blues, Special Measures, Our Day Out The Musical, Ladies Night, Good Golly Miss Molly, Dirty Dustin’, Nightmare on Lime Street, Little Scouse on the Prairie, Brick up the Mersey Tunnels 1 and 2, Merry Ding Dong, Slappers and Slap Heads, and Reds ‘n’ Blues.

For New Vic Theatre: The Hounds of The Baskervilles, Good Golly Miss Molly, The Little Mermaid, A Matter of Life and Death, The Three Musketeers, One Man, Two Guvnors, A Leap in the Dark, The Nutcracker: A Christmas Fairytale, Alice in Wonderland, Beauty and the Beast, Coppelia - A Mystery, The 39 Steps, The Prince and The Pauper, Handbagged, Much Ado About Nothing and Cyrano (co-productions with Northern Broadsides), Astley’s Astounding Adventures, Playhouse Creatures, Treasure Island, The Snow Queen (UK Theatre Award winner), Peter Pan in Scarlet, Kiss Me Quickstep, I Don’t Want To Set The World On Fire, The Hundred and One Dalmatians, The Borrowers, A Christmas Carol, Where Have I Been All My Life, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, Anna of the Five Towns, Laurel and Hardy, The Wizard of Oz, The Glee Club, Stones in His Pockets, Dancing at Lughnasa, Sweeney Todd, Oliver, Amadeus, Stepping Out, Privates on Parade, From a Jack to a King, Don Giovanni, Pump Boys and Dinettes, Carmen, Romeo and Juliet, Moll Flanders Pride and Prejudice, The Great Gatsby (Storyhouse Chester), Hard Times, For Love or Money, A Winter’s Tale, Love’s Labour’s Lost, Lisa’s Sex Strike (Northern Broadsides), Romeo and Juliet, Treasure Island, The Tempest, Strange Tale (Imaginarium Theatre Company in association with Shakespeare North Playhouse), The Man Without A Past (New Perspectives Theatre Company) and Wolf Red (Tmesis Theatre Company).

For Oldham Coliseum Theatre: over 50 productions including Blues in the Night, Laurel and Hardy, Stepping Out, Sweet Charity, Oh What a Lovely War, and the first actor/musician version of Chicago - Winner of an MEN Theatre Award for Best Ensemble.

Tours: The Worst Witch (Vaudeville Theatre West End and UK - Olivier Award Winner 2020 Best Show), Around The World in 80 Days (UK Tour, Broadway, Florida, Royal Exchange and New Vic Theatre), Tom, Dick and Harry (Alexandra Palace and New Vic Theatre), Marvellous (@SohoPlace and New Vic Theatre), Return to the Forbidden Planet and Carmen.

Television: Disney’s The Evermoor Chronicles, The Reckoning, Coronation Street, Butterfly, Hollyoaks, CBeebies’ The Magic Door, Sunny D, Fernando Torres, Nike Commercial, September Song, and Across The Universe.

Beverley has also worked on many productions for the Royal Exchange Theatre Manchester, Bolton Octagon, West Yorkshire Playhouse, Birmingham Rep, Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse, Belgrade Theatre Coventry, Liverpool Empire, Stephen Joseph Theatre Scarborough, Hull Truck, Haymarket Basingstoke and Harrogate Theatre.

Debbie Hall

Costume Supervisor

Debbie Hall trained and graduated in fashion design, spending eight years as a ladies' and children's wear designer before transitioning into theatre. For the past 30 years, she has worked at the New Vic Theatre as a costume maker and cutter, contributing to over 120 shows including Around the World in 80 Days, Marvellous, Tom, Dick and Harry, Astley’s Astounding Adventures, and The Grand Babylon Hotel.

Alongside her theatre career, Debbie spent over 15 years teaching costume workshops and serving as Costume Supervisor for the Theatre Studies course at Staffordshire University.

For the last four years, she has also served as wardrobe mistress for Claybody Theatre on five major productions, including The Card, Song of the Sytch, Bright Lights Over Bentilee, The Grand Babylon Hotel, and A Christmas Carol.

Rebekah Tunnell

Deputy Stage Manager

Rebekah is a Freelance Stage Manager from Newcastle-under-Lyme working across opera, theatre and music. She is passionate about access to theatre and bringing the arts to local communities. She is delighted to be joining the Claybody team for Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.

Previous credits include: SM on Book for La Liberazione di Ruggiero (Vache Baroque and Buxton International Festival), ASM for Don Carlo (Grange Park Opera) and Stage Manager for Ride or Die (Restoke).

Beth Hill

Assistant Stage Manager / Wardrobe

Beth is a freelancer in all things creative, performing, audio and stage.

She works with a lot of local venues and companies as a Sound Engineer and audio / stage crew and when she’s not working backstage, she's onstage as an actor or musician, writing and performing her original music.

Beth has worked with Claybody on multiple projects over the years, first starting with The D Road as part of the community cast, to most recently on last year’s production of A Christmas Carol as Acting ASM.

Ben Ford

Lighting and Sound Operator

Ben Ford is a Stoke-on-Trent-based lighting designer and theatre technician, working across lighting, sound, AV, and stage management. With a career spanning more than a decade, Ben has worked in theatres, concert halls, universities, festivals, and unconventional performance spaces, alongside a wide range of professional and community artists and companies.

A graduate of Staffordshire University, with a BA (Hons) in Theatre Studies & Technical Stage Production and an MA in Music Production, Ben spent eleven years as a Theatre Technician at the University of Staffordshire before moving into full-time freelance work. His recent work includes technical and lighting roles at venues across Staffordshire and the Midlands, alongside freelance design and production work for companies including Claybody Theatre, B Arts, Restoke, Rideout and Stone Revellers.

Ben has a particular passion for site-specific and pop-up theatre, and the creative challenges that come with transforming spaces never designed for performance. Working with unusual architecture and the practical limitations of a building is the kind of theatre-making he particularly enjoys. This has made his ongoing relationship with Claybody especially rewarding, from the company's site-specific roots to its home at the historic Spode Works.

As someone with strong roots in Stoke-on-Trent, he is passionate about the city's creative community and about work which celebrates the area's people, stories, history and heritage. He particularly values Claybody's commitment to creating theatre which connects its stories directly with Stoke-on-Trent and its community. Ben is delighted to be helping bring a little bit of festive magic - and, appropriately, quite a lot of green - to Stoke-on-Trent this Christmas.