Introducing Splinters Productions.....
At the Traverse he played David Livingstone in “Livingstone and Sechele” for Paines Plough, Estragon in “Waiting for Godot” with Richard Wilson as Vladimir and Aston in Pinter’s “The Caretaker”. .
His radio career include “The Silver Darlings”, “Kidnapped”, “Dracula”, “The Thirty- Nine Steps”, “Hatters Castle” “The Master of Ballantrae” and “Uncle Vanya” as well as countless serialised readings of classics such as “Travels with a Donkey”, “red Gauntlet” and Galts “The Member”. .
Television appearances range from “Annals of the Parish”, “What Every Woman Knows” and “Weir of Hermiston” to “Taggart” and “Still Game” .
His own adaptation of Chekov’s “ The Harmfulness of Tobacco” Was Johns first venture into the art of the one man show. He has now created a gallery of charactersin ten solo performances. He won Fringe Firsts for solo plays “Every Inch a King” as actor David Garrick and “Port and Lemon” as Sherlock Holmes’ unique landlady, Mrs Hudson. .
He was nominated best actor by The Stage in 1995 for “The Bloody Heart” about King James II. .
John has played Robert Louis Stevenson across the world from Edinburgh, the Cevennes, San Fransisco and Samoa in 1994 to commemorate the centenary of RLS and subsequently in “The Laird of Samoa” the fifth one man piece created for him by John Cargill Thompson. Other memorable portrayals include John Buchan, Lord Cockburn, McGonagall in the “The Great McGonagall Entertains” and a gravura turn as Lady Bracknell in Paul Doust’s ‘Lady Bracknell’s Confinement”. Merlin Holland, Oscar Wilde’s grandson, described John’s performance as “one of the best Lady Bracknells, with a difference!”. .
John was especially proud to be involved in “Home” the award winning production which successfully launched the National Theatre of Scotland in March 2006, in Lerwick, Shetland – his birthplace. .
He has recently recorded for BBC Radio the serial “Catch My Breath”, a thriller “The Sensitive” and can be heard reading letters and poems by George Mackay Brown in Radio 4’s feature “The Muse of Rose Street” broadcast in March 2008. .
His theatre career includes Waffles in “Uncle Vanya”, Graham in “The Entertainer” and Dennis in “Just Between Ourselves” at the Byre Theatre, St Andrews. For the Arches Theatre he appeared as Judge Danforth in “The Crucible”, “D’Armagnac” in “The Devils” and King Hrothgar in “Beowulf”. His work with Prime Productions includes Shylock in “The Merchant of Venice”, and the popular success “Whisky Galore”. It was with Prime Productions that he first teamed up with John Shedden in their two handed tribute to Chekov, “Splinters” based on the playwrights short stories and farces. He appeared in “Oedipus of the North” for Grey Coast Theatre Company and in Theatre Alba’s “The Shepherd Beguiled”.
Television credits include “Para Handy”, “Bad Boys”, “Monarch of the Glen”, “Rab C Nesbitt”, “Rebus” in which he played William Glass and “Overnite Express” as Bobby the chef.
His Film appearances include “3D Halloween”, “Senseless” for Plum Films/Matador Pictures, and for BBC Films “Regeneration” in which he played Major Huntly”.
Since Splinters Productions was formed, he has been involved in all their presentations: “Postmans Knock” a history of humorous letter writing. Then the popular double bill of “Lady Bracknell’s Confinement” and “Wendlebury Day”. The latter, a challenging one man piece on the nature of deception written by David Henry Wilson, He played Tom Wendlebury who may or may not be a killer. He played Wilkie in the two hander about writer Thomas de Quincey, “Opium Eater” and was Tedy in Brian Friel’s “Faith Healer”. Most recently he has toured with the companys critically acclaimed productions of “For the Islands I Sing” and “Scot of the Anarchic” based on the works of George Mackay Brown and Iain Crichton Smith respectively.
Last year she also performed a revival of 'Consider the Lilies' at the Citizens theatre, her one woman play which won a fringe First several years ago and successfully toured Ireland and Canada. 'Consider the Lilies' is a very popular production, and still available for performances. 'A Spellbinding Performance' .The Herald, 'Few Scottish Actresses Speak Their Own Tongue So Sweetly Or Sincerely' .The Observer
Since joining 'Splinters', Anna has performed with John and Finlay in 'For the Islands I sing' ,'Scot of the Anarchic' and 'Home to Neverland', which she also co-wrote and directed. She has also performed the part of Grace in Brian Friel's 'Faith Healer' with Splinters Productions.
Television appearances include 'Monarch of the Glen', 'Rebus', Taggart, 'Me Too', 'Jess the Border Collie' and 'Still Game'. Films include'Dear Frankie', 'Pork Chop', Guys and Dolls', and 'Island to Isla'. She has recently filmed 'The End of Evil', a drama documentary on Peter Manuel for SMG playing Mrs Manuel.
Contact Anna's Agent at:
As well as her own work, Kara's experience within the film and Television industry includes roles as Casting Assistant on Peter Mullan's critically acclaimed feature The Magdalene Sisters, as well as Assistant Producer of STVs Politics Now.
As well as filmmaking, Kara has been acting from an early age and since 1993, has regularly performed on stage at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Plays include; Jane Austen's Emma, Dancing at Lughnasa and Brighton Beach Memoirs. Kara has also toured various Scottish Theatres with productions including Medea, Antigone and The Roup.
Having been involved in theatre in education drama workshops as a performer, Kara decided to put her filmmaking skills to use, devising and delivering practical filmmaking workshops within education. She has facilitated a number of primary school and youth film projects, empowering children and young people to learn filmmaking skills and produce their own work.
Kara is also a part time tutor within Napier University's school of Creative Industries, teaching Documentary Techniques to 4th year Journalism and communication Arts students, incorporating theory as well as practical filming and editing skills into her classes.
He began directing for his local amateur dramatic club in 1980, and has been their principal director since then. A number of his productions have reached the finals of the Scottish Community Drama Association's One Act Play Festival. He has also been involved with the production of musicals both with his local group and with the school, directing shows such as Oklahoma, Oliverl(twice), Annie, Fiddler on the Roof, The Wiz, My Fair Lady, Bugsy Malone, Me and My Girl, and The Sound of Music. He was also Technical Director for River of Dreams, Perth & Kinross County Council's contribution to the Millennium dome.
He directed and was technical director for his wife's, Anna Hepburn, Scotsman Fringe First winning play Consider the Lilies, which has also toured Scotland, Ireland and Canada, and has had a recent revival at the Citizen's Theatre in Glasgow. Since 2003 he has worked as technical director for Splinter Productions, for their shows Faith Healer, For the Islands I Sing and Scot of the Anarchic.
He has also been known to inform visitors of the delights of touring in Highland Perthshire, as a customer services assistant in Aberfeldy Tourist Office.