ED and Lynn O'Driscoll came to a recent meeting of Ross Rotary Club where Ed gave an interesting, amusing and informative talk on his life in the business of theatre since 1990.
He said that after training in Performing Arts at Middlesex Poly he began his professional life on board the SS Romantica as an assistant cruise director, which meant operating sound and lights for the cabaret, running the disco and judging the nightly fancy dress competitions.
After his cruise ship experiences Ed said he began working at the Grand Theatre Wolverhampton as a stage hand. When that theatre went dark in summer 1993 he moved to Bournemouth for a summer season of the Sound of Music and within 12 months he'd married Lynn, who played one of the nuns.
He described how, with Lynn, he founded the cabaret trio Three's Company and began touring shows across the country until Calibre Productions was born in 1999. Between 2001 and 2006 he and Lynn were performing 120 shows a year of Beyond Broadway, Absolute Swing, A Night at the Opera and Masters of the Musical.
Then in 2007, in his own words, he and Lynn struck lucky and had success with a stage production of Dad's Army: the Lost Episodes starring Leslie Grantham.
Subsequent to this they toured, to both critical and popular acclaim, stage productions of 'Allo 'Allo!, Porridge and Dad's Army Marches On, which was followed in 2011 by an adaptation of Aardman's Shaun the Sheep transforming the animation into a children's ballet.
This production went on to tour Saudi Arabia and the Middle East in 2012/13.
Triggered initially by the devastation caused by the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004 Ed spoke about the three successful Classic Response concerts he has produced at the Royal Albert Hall featuring star names from the world of classical/classical crossover music, raising funds to support SOS Children and their orphanage work across the world.
Ross Rotary Club meets every Monday evening 6.30pm for 7pm at the Chase Hotel.
Guests and potential members are very welcome. Please visit the website at rossrotary.com
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