Management of the Company

COMPANY CHAIRMAN : JEFF KELLY

A Tower audience member for over thirty years, Jeff only became actively involved in the Company comparatively recently. He has had an input to set designs for several productions (Something's Afoot, Arcadia, Blithe Spirit, Humble Boy & Once a Catholic) and was set designer for The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole - the Musical and Boston Marriage. However, it was down to the talents of others (invariably Keith Syrett and Alan Root) that they were realised. He has been an ASM (A Streetcar named Desire and Popcorn) and was joint Stage Manager on The Fantasticks. He once took to the boards as a suit of armour (in Peter Westbury's second production of Something's Afoot) but the director wisely declined to give him any lines. Jeff has been a member of the Company Committee since 2004, is the Company Committee's representative at Friends' Committee meetings and since 2007 has been joint Chairman of the Relocation Board. He hopes that his long experience as a local authority Town Planner will be of use to the Tower in realising its future permanent home at Curtain Road.

ARTISTIC DIRECTOR : MARTIN SOUTH

Martin South has been a member of the company for 25 years, in which time he has acted (including the title roles in Hamlet, Nicholas Nickleby and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde), directed, designed sets and pretty well everything else besides. He believes that he still holds the record as the Tower’s youngest ever director for his 1986 production of Serjeant Musgrave’s Dance, although he looks forward to disputing this with other contenders.
Martin has been a member of the Friends Committee, and has chaired the Company Committee and the Relocation and Guarantors Boards with significant achievements in all three roles. He plans to build on the solid foundations we have achieved to lead the shaping and implementation of an artistic policy that is fit-for-purpose now, and a new business model for when we move in to Curtain Road.

ASSISTANT ARTISTIC DIRECTOR : LESLEY STRACHAN

Having directed shows since 2005 for her own production company and others, Lesley has been involved with the Tower for since 2007. She directed Les Liaisons Dangereuses in 2008 and Breath of Life earlier this year. She is very excited to take on the role of Assistant Artistic Director.

ASSISTANT ARTISTIC DIRECTOR : ZIZI SULKIN

Zizi has been an active member of the Tower for over fifteen years. She has worked backstage - serving time as senior stage manager, working in the box, and helping build innumerable sets. She’s directed numerous plays both at the Canonbury Tower and since we’ve been on the road, including Steaming (1999), Three Tall Women (2001), Dolly West’s Kitchen (2003), and Playhouse Creatures (2007). For the last six years she has headed the publicity team. Now she’s looking forward to a new challenge as part of the artistic team.

FINANCE DIRECTOR : NICK INSLEY

Nick has been a member of the Tower Theatre for 20 years. He generally works back stage, particularly designing the lighting for many shows, although he was once known to utter a few lines on tour at the Minack Theatre.
Outside the Tower he has lit many shows over the years including productions directed by Kenneth Branagh and Katie Mitchell and featuring Pete Postlethwaite. He has lit venues including the Almeida Theatre, Oxford Playhouse and the Minack Theatre.
He has been Company Manager of the Oxford Theatre Group, Technical Director of the OUDS and was a member of the National Youth Theatre.
During the daytime he is a management consultant and has an MBA from Cranfield School of Management.

COMPANY COMMITTEE

Elected until 2012 : Sue Brodie, Anna Fiorentini, Ruth Sullivan
Elected until 2011 : Sheila Burbidge, Janet South
Elected until 2010 : Colin Guthrie, Jeff Kelly (Chairman), Meryl Griffiths, Karen Walker
Ex Officio : Martin South (Artistic Director), Nick Insley (Financial Director)

The role of the nine elected members of the Company Committee is to represent the membership. The only Company officers who are entitled to sit on the Committee are the Artistic Director and the Financial Director. The Committee meets once a month and it can discuss anything from artistic policy to the state of the loos! Anyone is free to put an item on the agenda, but the "bread and butter" of its business is maintaining an overview of all the various aspects of the Company's activities.

FRIENDS COMMITTEE

Noreen Spall (Chairman)
Chris Holmes
Pat Grosse
Denyse Macpherson
Colin Smith
Sara Randall
Claire Rice
Eve Smith
Jim Spall
Tom Tillery

Friends of the Tower  :   This essential organisation is for anyone with an interest in vibrant amateur theatre at its best in North London. For a £15 subscription, members receive :

• our bi-monthly magazine, Noises Off, full of news, reviews, pictures and interesting articles
• £2 off the ticket price for most performances
• tickets for children of Friends' at £5 each for all our productions in London
• occasional Members' evenings, not always on a theatrical theme
• invitations to special events and parties

Application to join the Tavistock Repertory Company as an actor/actress is subject to membership of the Friends and passing a Company audition. For further details ring the Tower Theatre Office on 020 7353 5700.

GUARANTORS BOARD

Tavistock Repertory Guarantors is a Limited Company and a Registered Charity.  Its aim is to support of the work of the Tavistock Repertory Company by managing the theatre's premises, staff and overall finances of the organisation.

There are at present about 50 Guarantors - mostly also long established members of the Repertory Company.  A Board of Directors (all unpaid), elected at the Annual General Meeting, manages the company.

The Board comprises :

RELOCATION BOARD

Penny Tuerk (Joint Chairman)
Jeff Kelly (Joint Chairman)
Martin South
Laurence Tuerk
Sheila Burbidge
Nick Insley
John Cornwell

The Relocation Board is managing the project to move to our new home. Key tasks are :
1. To define the requirements of the Tower Theatre Company
2. To produce a project timetable
3. To identify potential alternative premises
4. To identify and pursue sources of finance
5. To identify and obtain relevant advice and assistance
6. To identify and allocate tasks
7. To define and implement a communications strategy.

PUBLICITY GROUP

Zizi Sulkin (Chairman)
Roanne Insley
John Morton
Chris Paddon
Emily Frith
Joyce Terry
Kate Banham

The Publicity team promotes and markets the Tower's activities. It produces and distributes the Company's publicity material and handles its Press Relations.

Joyce Terry is the Tower Press Officer. She handles Press Releases and requests for information for each show.

TECHNICAL GROUP

Moira McSperrin (Chairman)
Keith Syrett (Construction)
Stephen Ley (Lighting)
Phillip Ley (Sound)
Alison Liney
Richard Pedersen
Ann Watchorn (Properties)
Laurence Tuerk (Technical Equipment Manager)
Lizzie Goode
Julia Collier
Neal Roberts
Aysha Tupman

The objective of the Group is to oversee and allocate resources for all aspects of the Company’s Technical and Backstage Management. In order to do this the Group will :

• provide technical support and co-ordination for the running of seasons;
• co-ordinate the crewing (the recruitment of production teams) for productions;
• ensure that we conform to safety standards;
• provide additional support for technical and backstage crews;
• encourage new members to become involved in backstage work, developing their skills and experience.

The Group meets about once every 6 weeks to co-ordinate our plans, discuss forthcoming productions and cry on each other’s shoulders.

WINE COMMITTEE

Peta Barker (Chairman)
Laurence Tuerk
Pam Barrett
Teresa Keating
Lesley Scarth
Colette Dockery
Bernice Molloy
Linky Trott
Dominic Ward

Since our lease in Canonbury expired, we have not been able to run our own bar. However, it is expected that we will reopen in the new theatre in Shoreditch.