Jez Butterworth’s The River
Cast Biographies
Paul McGann – The Man
Paul is best known for Withnail & I and appearing as the eighth doctor in the Doctor Who universe. His other television credits include Anne (World Productions), McDonald and Dodds (Mammoth Screen), Annika (Annika SPV Ltd), Musketeers, Moving On, Ripper Street, Luther I and II, Waking The Dead and Nature Boy (BBC), The Bletchley Circle (World Productions/ITV), A Mother’s Son (ITV) and TITANIC INQUIRY (BBC Northern Ireland). Films include B&B, Art Is…, Notes From The Underground, Moving Target, Queen of the Damned, The Three Musketeers, Alien III and D H Lawrence’s The Rainbow. Stage appearances include The Forest (Hampstead Theatre), Bad Days and Odd Nights (Greenwich Theatre), Gabriel (UK tour), Three Sisters (Southwark Playhouse), Major Barbara (Abbey Theatre Dublin), Butley (Duchess Theatre, West End), Helen (Shakespeare’s Globe), The Gigli Concert (Finborough Theatre), A Lie Of The Mind (Royal Court Theatre), Mourning Becomes Electra (National Theatre), The Seagull (Liverpool Playhouse), Loot (Ambassadors Theatre) and Much Ado About Nothing (Horseshoe, Basingstoke).
Kerri McLean – The Other Woman
Kerri is best known for Netflix series Bodkin and for playing Catherine Despard in Poldark. Other television credits include The Rig (Amazon), The Veil (Hulu), Line Of Duty (World Productions), Bodyguard (BBC), Discovery of Witches (Bad Wolf/Sky), Crazy Diamond – Electric Dream: The World of Philip K Dick (Left Bank, Channel 4 & Sony Television), Bliss (Sky), Bounty Hunters (Sky) and Unforgotten (ITV). Film credits include Tom & Jerry, The Ritual and Bruno. Stage appearances include Poison (Urban Flo), Josephine Baker (The Egg, Bristol), Memories of Mermaids (Rolemop), Mandela Tales (Southbank Centre), Memories of Mermaids (Aldeburgh Festival), The Parkers of St James (ICA), Positive and Silence (Birmingham REP), This Way For The… (Komedia), In Session (Theatre of Darkness), Prospero’s Island (MAT), Office Rocker (Freeflow Productions), Titus Andronicus (Birmingham to Bosnia Theatre Company).
Amanda Ryan – The Woman
Amanda is best known for her role as PC Carrie Rogers in three series of Shameless. Other television credits include 2024’s Mr Loverman (BBC), Casualty, Doctors, This Is Going To Hurt (BBC), Free Rein (Netflix), Coronation Street,Lewis (ITV), Suspects (Channel 5), two seasons of The Forsyte Saga (Granada Television), two seasons of Attachments (World Productions), David Copperfield (BBC), The New Adventures of Robin Hood (Warner Bros) and Poldark (pilot, HTV). Film credits include Anti-Social (JRSM Films), Love Eternal (Fastnet Films), Sparkle (Magic Light Pictures), Red Mercury (Inspired Movies), Britannic (Regent Productions), The Escort / Mauvaise Passe (Pathe Productions), Elizabeth I (Working Title), The Man Who Held His Breath (Miracle Films), Metroland (Blue Horizon), Woodlanders (River Films) and Jude (Obsure Films). Stage performances include The Sex Party (Menier Chocolate Factory), Two Ukranian Plays – Take The Rubbish Out, Sasha (Finborough Theatre), Beginning (Queens Theatre Hornchurch/Theatre Royal Bath), Richard III, Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Macbeth(Shakespeare’s Rose Theatre), Shadowlands (Birdsong Productions), Blue Moon (Fat Git Theatre), The Herbal Bed(Theatre Clwyd), Betrayal (Theatre Royal York), The Memory of Water (New Vic Theatre & Stephen Joseph Theatre), The Astronaut’s Chair (Drum Theatre Plymouth), Notes to Future Self (Birmingham Rep), Shrunk (Cock Tavern Theatre) and Closer (National Theatre & International tour).
Creative Biographies
James Haddrell – Director
As Artistic Director of Greenwich Theatre, James’ directing credits for the company include Bryony Lavery’s Frozen, Snow White (a finalist in three Offies Awards 2024 categories), One Georgie Orwell (Greenwich & New York), Gazing At A Distant Star (Greenwich & Edinburgh, shortlisted for the REACH northern touring award), The Jungle Book (Greenwich & Milton Keynes), Treasure Island, Cinderella, Here and Alarms And Excursions by Michael Frayn, a collection of Caryl Churchill’s short plays starring Paul McGann and Kerrie Taylor, Mike Bartlett’s An Intervention, Philip Ridley’s Vincent River (double Offie-nominated) and Harold Pinter’s A Slight Ache and The Dumb Waiter. Online productions for Greenwich Theatre include the online premieres of The Secret Love Life Of Ophelia by Steven Berkoff featuring Dame Helen Mirren, and The After-Dinner Joke by Caryl Churchill.
Other directing credits include Hannah & Hanna (London & Edinburgh) and Under My Thumb (London, Brighton, Edinburgh) for CultureClash Theatre, the West End premiere reading of Siân Rowland’s Learning To Swim (Criterion Theatre), online readings of Cowboys and Mr 10 Percent for Forward Dialogue, and the community play The Canaries for Global Fusion Music & Arts on the site of the wartime munitions factories in Woolwich. As writer and director, credits include the family radio plays The Story of the Yara and The Snow Child for Maritime Radio, and The Unfortunate Trial of Robin Goodfellow for new writing festival Voices in the Dark.
As a freelance producer, James worked on the international immersive hit The White Plague on its transfer from Athens to London and the national tour of Skin in the Game (awarded Best Performance at Birmingham Fest).
Emily Bestow – Set and Costume Designer
Emily studied at Central St Martins and is now a freelance set and costume designer, who has four times been nominated for, and once won, a Best Off West End Design award. Her recent design work includes Fun at the Beach Romp-Bomp-a-Lomp (Southwark Playhouse), Snow White (Greenwich Theatre), Metamorphoses (New Wolsey Theatre), Robin Hood and the Major Oak (Derby Theatre), Flashdance/ Carrie/ Kipps (Bernie Grant Arts Centre), Little Red Robin Hood (Battersea Arts Centre), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Hull Truck), The Lies You Tell (Tour), Kinky Boots/Urinetown (Bernie Grant Arts Centre), Cratchit (Park Theatre), From Rushmere With Love (Eastern Angles), Sleeping Beauty and the Beast (Battersea Arts Centre), Extra Time (Derby Theatre), No Particular Order (Southwark Playhouse), Circle Game (Southwark Playhouse), Sam Snape and the Chillesford Chough (Eastern Angles), Fame (Bernie Grant Arts Centre), The Studio (One Night Records), 42nd Street (Upstairs at the Gatehouse), Fast (The Park Theatre), Anahera (Finborough Theatre), Flat Out (Upstairs at the Gatehouse), Honk (UK Tour), Cry Havoc (Upstairs at the Gatehouse), Anything Goes, The Marvelous Wonderettes (Upstairs at the Gatehouse/ Windsor Theatre Royal), Top Hat (Upstairs at the Gatehouse), Cry God for Harry, England and St George! (Duke of York/Edinburgh Fringe), Pete ’n’ Keely (Tristan Bates)
Assistant and Associate work includes Vanara (Hackney Empire), Doctor Who: Time Fracture (Immersive Everywhere), The Great Gatsby (Immersive Everywhere), A Very Very Very Dark Matter (The Bridge),The Way of the World (Donmar Warehouse), The Writer (The Almeida), Home, I’m Darling (National Theatre/Theatre Clwyd)
Henry Slater – Lighting Designer
Henry graduated from Rose Bruford College in September 2023 with a BA(Hons) in Lighting Design.
He has worked for many years in Fringe Theatre in both London and Edinburgh. Previous credits for Greenwich Theatre include Snow White (Best Design Offie winner) and Bryony Lavery’s Frozen.
Julian Starr – Sound Designer
Julian studied at the National Institute of Dramatic Arts (NIDA), was detailed in Australia’s Stage Whispers as one of the ‘Top 4 Sound Designer and Composers in Australia’ and is currently the Associate Sound Designer at the Finborough Theatre.
Recent sound design work includes: The End (Bush Theatre), Bombay Superstars (UK Tour), 23.5 Hours (Park Theatre), F**king Men (Waterloo East), The Picture of Dorian Gray (Associate to Clemence Williams – Theatre Royal Haymarket), Sharon Osbourne – Cut The Crap! (Fortune Theatre), The White Factory (Marylebone Theatre – Offie Nomination for Best Sound Design), Miss Peony (Australian Tour), Song From Far Away (HOME Manchester, Hampstead Theatre and BBC Radio 4), ZOG (West End and UK tour), Rose (Hope Mill, Park Theatre, Ambassadors Theatre – Offie Nominated for Best Sound Design), Return To The Dirt (Queensland Theatre Company), Animal (Park Theatre and UK Tour), Sleepwalking (Hampstead Theatre), Scrounger (Offie Nomination for Best Sound Design), The Dwarfs (White Bear Theatre – Offie Nomination for Best Sound Design) and Aisha (Tristan Bates – Offie Nomination Best Sound Design).