About this website
In the 1950s Julian Slade was probably as well known to London theatre-goers as Andrew Lloyd Webber is today. He was frequently compared to Noel Coward and Ivor Novello for the tunefulness of his music and the wit and charm of the lyrics he wrote with his writing partner Dorothy Reynolds. He was best known as the composer and co-writer of ‘Salad Days’ and ‘Free As Air’, both of which had significant runs in London’s West End. ‘Salad Days’ broke all records for a musical at the time, running for nearly six years at the Vaudeville Theatre. ‘Free As Air’ ran for over a year at the Savoy in 1957/8.
Julian and Dorothy had previously won a huge fan base in Bristol at the Bristol Old Vic with two years of packed out Christmas shows they had written and after ‘Free As Air’ they went on to write three more London musicals together. At Bristol Julian also wrote incidental music for Shakespeare plays and a complete new score for Sheridan’s ‘The Duenna’. This too proved very popular when it opened in London shortly before ‘Salad Days’.
He went on to write many more musicals, on his own or with other partners. They included adaptations of ‘Vanity Fair’, ‘The Pursuit of Love’ and ‘Trelawny of the Wells’ (‘Trelawny’), which was the most successful of the three.
On the Biography page you can learn more about Julian and how some of his shows came about. On the Shows page, as well as looking at details of each show, and the views of the critics of the day, you will be able to listen to extracts of some songs. Items under the Shows include a summary of Julian’s work, coverage of London productions of ‘Salad Days’ and ‘Free as Air’ between 2010 and 2014, comment, and tributes to some of those Julian worked with. The Julian Slade Award page features the full list the eleven award winners since 2008. (‘Award Watch’ below lists the current activity of most of them). The Latest News pages keep you up to date with current news. And, if you would like to know more, do not hesitate to make use of the Contacts page.
When Julian died in 2006 he left behind a generation or more of theatre-goers with very happy musical memories of him. These and his life are detailed more fully on the pages that follow. Click on the links to find out MORE
LATEST NEWS OF JULIAN SLADE AWARD WINNERS
Each year since 2007 an award has been given to the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School student judged to have the most exceptional musical talent. Julian Slade often used to help similarly promising students at the School and, after he died, his brother Adrian and nephew Rupert, in full oo-peration with the School, helped to establish the new Julian Slade Award in his memory,
THE 2019 AWARD WINNER
TESSA NIXON
Tessa Nixon has just finished her first year of the three year course at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. She is 19 and comes from Birmingham, where she attended King Edward VI Handsworth School for Girls.
She had singing lessons from aged 10-18, classical and some MT. In most recent BOVT School productions she has played Adelaide in ‘Guys & Dolls’ and Rino in ‘Anything Goes’. She is learning the ukelele. She is a talented, musical singer, with excellent attention to detail in lyrics and strong acting-through-song ability.
TESSA WRITES: “I feel incredibly privileged to join the few who can call themselves Julian Slade Award Winners. I have always tried to involve myself with Musical Theatre in any way I can, whether behind the scenes or on tstage. Growing up in Birmingham, I have been fortunate enough to perform in many spaces with local theatre groups such as The MAC Theatre, The Birmingham Hippodrome and The Alexandra Theatre. I possess a great love for singing, and have been participating in concerts and amateur musical theatre productions from a young age. During my time at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire I became sure of my choice to pursue acting and performance as a career. I was met with many extraordinary opportunities, such as having the great privilege to perform for the Sondheim Society in a masterclass.
I hope to spend my next two years at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School learning as much as I can about both acting and singing, furthering my skills in an environment where I always feel encouraged to grow and flourish. Under Pam Rudge’s vocal tutelage, I discover new things about my voice everyday, and constantly push my own barriers. In terms of my training, I’m very much looking forward to the coming years, and again, would like to express my deepest appreciation for being honoured as the 2019 Winner of the Julian Slade Award”.
MORE AWARD WINNER NEWS
WORKING IN ALL MEDIA
Katie Moore (2007/8 Award Winner). Katie won critical acclaim in her first professional role after leaving the Theatre School when she played the leading part of Jane in the highly successful Tete a Tete 2010/11 production of ‘Salad Days’ at London’s Riverside Studios. She returned to the part in a longer run in 2012/13 – once again winning plaudits. Katie has played Laura in ‘The Glass Menagerie’ at the New Vic, Stoke-on-Trent followed by one of the principal roles in the Bristol Old Vic’s 2011/12 production of ‘Swallows & Amazons‘, which ran to packed houses at the Vaudeville Theatre, London followed by a long tour. In 2014 she starred as ‘The Little Mermaid’ in the Bristol Old Vic Christmas show of that year, followed in June and July 2014 by playing Rita in ‘Billy Liar‘ at the Manchester Royal Exchange.
Early in 2016 she won a key part in Robert Holman’s ‘German Skerries’ at the Orange Tree Theatre in Richmond followed by a five venue tour.. In the last three years she has enjoyed a number of successful parts, in Manchester, Coventry, Bristol, Oxford and Stoke-on-Trent and, again the Richmond Orange Tree, that time in ‘Sheppey‘ ( 2016). Last year she played a principal role in Sting’s musical ‘The Last Ship’,
Earlier TV credits include ‘ Doc Martin’, ‘Merlin’ and the long running BBC series ‘The Paradise’. This year she adds playing the lead in ‘Into The Ripple’ a new short film about a dancer (‘A wonderfully complicated character and my first real dancing part since ‘Salad Days’ she says). She has also been projected nightly on screen recently in a production at Hampstead Theatre of ‘The Phlebotomist”‘and she will soon feature again on TV in a new TV series of ‘Four Weddings And A Funeral’...
By way of contrast, as if she was not busy enough, Katie has started to write comedy and has also successfully entered the financially rewarding world of Voice-Overs’ for radio and televiision.commercials. ‘Fairy’ products are some of the bigger names she advertises.
See also LATEST NEWS
THE SHAKESPEARE REVUE
Alex Morgan (2009 Award Winner). Whenever ‘The Shakespeare Revue’ tours (and it is very popular so there have have been a number of productions over the last few years) Alex is has been seen iplaying a number of different roles. In 2017 ,by way of change he was playing the Lion in ‘The Wizard Of Oz’ at The Brewhouse Taunton and in November and December,2018 he was in Geneva playing Bob Cratchit in Simply Theatre Productions” ‘A Christmas Carol’ His next production of ‘The Shakespeare Revue’ takes to the road in July 2019.
When not working in theatre Alex teaches French and Spanish and is currently the French and Spanish male voice over on GCSEPod’s French and Spanish GCSE Podcas
‘KING OF SCOTLAND?’
Ali Watt (2010 Award Winner) During the last three years Ali has played many roles in Scotland, at the Pitlochry Festival and on tour at other theatres. In 2017 he played Don John in the Dundee Repertory production of ‘Much Ado About Nothing’, followed in the Borders by two shows for Firebrand –‘The Great Train Race’ and David Grieg’s ’Letter of Last Resort‘ and, at Oran Mor Glasgow, the musical ‘Brigadoom’, in which he played Alan Jay Lehrner. He returned to Pitlochry in 2018 in an adaptation of Compton Mackenzie’s ‘The Monarch of The Glen’. He was also in a show at Summerhall in the Edinburgh Fringe, playing Petri in ‘All the Lights Are On’ for Finnish company ACE-Production followed by the key part of Jock in Alan Bissett’s ‘It Wisnae Me’ at the Oran Mor in Glasgow.
This year, clearly by popular request, he is back for the full Summer Rep season in Pitlochry, starting with the musical ‘Summer Holiday’ in which he plays Steve, followed by Charles Condamine in ‘Blithe Spirit’, Parris in ‘The Crucible’ and Hugh in Nicola McCartney’s ‘Heritage’. Quite clearly now one of Scotland’s favourite actors, Ali says. ‘It’s lovely to be doing a job with a lot of music involved. It reminds me how much I love it.’
MANAGING THE ‘IMPOSSIBLE’ …. AND A NEW CULTURAL COMPLEX
Chris Hancock (2011 Award Winner) Over the last two years Chris, working for a producer, wasy in charge of a magic show called ‘Impossible’, for which he managed all the coordination and logistics. This follows what he describes as ‘a fun but manic seven weeks’ at the Noel Coward theatre in the West End. ‘Impossible’ played subsequently in Dubai., moving over the Christmas and New Year season firstly to Manila in the Philippines and then to Singapore, attracting a total audience of 40,000 over just 14 performance
Chris is now managing the opening of a new cinema, cultural venue in Catford, SE London. This ambitious project, called ‘Catford Mews’,involves the transformation of a 23,000 square foot former Poundland into a 3 screen cinema, food court, bar and music venue.As Head of Operations for the company concerned Chris is also involved with plans to open another five similar venues she will be seen
‘MY FAIR LADY’ to ‘RED NOT DEAD’
Bethan Nash (2012 Award) )is another Award winner who has won leads in musical productions, her first two while still at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, were playing. Julie in ‘London Road’, staged in the Bristol Old Vic studio, and then, Jane in the School’s tribute concert performance to mark the 60th Anniversary of the opening of ‘Salad Days’ in Bristol. In 2013 she toured as Juliet in a highly creative one hour interpretation of ‘Romeo and Juliet’’ specially devised for primary schools.that was also featured at the Edinburgh Festival.. She followed again in Katie Moore’s footsteps when she played a principal role in the 2014 Christmas revival of the Bristol Old Vic’s production of ‘Swallows & Amazons‘, first staged at the Theatre Royal and in the West End two years previously. Over Christmas 2016 Bethan played the lead Grace Kelly part of Samantha in ‘High Society’ at the Mill in Sonning, returning in 2017 in the lead part of Eliza in a stunning production of ‘My Fair Lady’ both productions much acclaimed by critics and audiences that included George Clooney and his wife.
Last year’s activity included a touring production of ‘Polstead’, a new play written by Beth Flintoff and directed by Hal Chambers.
and a Christmas season playing Princess Jill in ‘Jack in the Beanstalk’ at Derby Arena. In June she was cast in a lead part in a new British Film Institute short. She then returned to the Mill at Sonning to feature in‘ Towards Zero’, a new play directed by Brian Blessed. This autumn the will be part of the Globe company in London in the ‘Red Not Dead ‘ series at the Wanamaker Theatre in London .
TWO MAN SHOW. NOW NEW ONE MAN SHOW
Ed MacArthur (2013 Award Winner) Early in 2017 starred in ‘Murder for Two’, a highly successful comedy musical whodunnit that transferred from the Water Mill at Newbury to London for a further five week run at the St James Theatre..Last Autumn versatile Ed and his ‘Murder for Two’ partner Jeremy Legat were on tour again with this wonderful two man show (see Adrian Slade’s 2017 review under ‘JULIAN SLADE AWARD WINNERS’) In October theyl returned to London at the Other Palace Theatre (near Buckingham Palace in Palace St) from December 10-January 13. Their tour venues included Cardiff, Windsor, Guildford Nottingham, The Watermill Newbury,Leicester Curve,and Inverness .
In August 2019 Ed plans to ‘throw the kitchen sink at the (Edinburgh Festival) fringe’ with his own musical show ‘Ed MacArthur: Humoresque’ at the Voodoo Rooms from August 5-25 (excl 13th). Festival enthusiasts should make sure they see him. He writes wittily, plays piano brilliantly and his one man show of his own songs is a unique experience.
‘MADNESS, MEDEA, MIKADO’ AND MORE
Jessica Temple plays violin, piano, flute, piccolo and guitar, and also sings. Before joining the BOV Theatre School she had already assembled an impressive CV of stage and musical roles, in Nottingham where she grew up and further afield. Since graduating in 2016, Jessica has been in Sally Cookson’s production of ‘Peter Pan’ at the National, ‘Medea‘ at Bristol Old Vic, ‘Who Cares’ for The Lowry/Lung Theatre in Manchester, ‘Pitti-Sing in ‘The Mikado’ for Charles Court Opera, Juliet in ‘Romeo and Juliet’ for Insane Root and Papendiek in ‘The Madness of George III’ opposite Mark Gatiss and fellow BOVTS alumni, Adrian Scarborough. She is about to film ‘Martin’s Close‘ for BBC4 to be aired at Christmas, with Mark Gatiss directing and is also off to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival with ‘Who Cares’ for Lung Theatre.
‘WAIT UNTIL DARK’ and ‘ME AND MY GIRL’
Eleanor Jackson (2015 Award Winner). In 2018 Ellie was in ‘Guesthouse’, a production with Eastern Angles Theatre Company in which she played the role of Chloe. She then played the role of Kelsey.in ‘Great Again’ a new musical at the Vault Festival.
Ellie was recently seen in ‘Aspects of Love’ at London’s Southwark Playhouse, In June she played Helena in ‘All’s Well That Ends Well’ at Cornwall’s Minack Theatre and is now in the parts of Susie in ‘Wait Until Dark’ and then Sally in ‘Me and My Girl’ at Frinton Summer Theatre..
But like many other young actors Ellie longs to be working more. She says ‘I do have other jobs in the pipeline but it is sometimes very slow and very frustrating. I have got into lots of finals and have been in the last two for at least a couple of jobs but wprk doesn’t always come my way. We say to Ellie ‘Keep going and very good luck’ That girl has lots of talent and a very good singing voice. She deserves more’.
‘SYLVIA’ AND A NEW TV SERIES
Verity Blyth (2016 Award Winner) graduated from the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School in the Summer of 2017. Before leaving she was one of two Theatre School students awarded the Peter O’Toole Acting prize which gives each winner an opportunity to play a key role in a mainstream production at the Bristol Old Vic. Early in 2018 she opened in Bristol in in the part of Anya in ‘The Cherry Orchard’ , followed by a further run at the Manchester Royal Exchange..In July her remarkable singing voice was delighting Sondheim Society and Phoenix Artists Club audiences in London. In September she joined the cast of ‘‘Sylvia’ , a contemporary, multi-role, new musical about the suffragettes movement in which her key role was Adela Pankhurst. Verity is currently involved in a re-working of the show prior to a return to London later the year. Meanwhile she has has been filming a small role in a new 4-part drama or Channel 4, written byJack Thorne, called ‘The Light’ and starring Sarah Lancashire.
NETFLIX SERIES
Pedro Leandro (2017 Award Winner) Pedro left the Theatre School last summer saying “I loved every second of it. I wanted to train and with the help of all the fantastic tutors at the school and my fellow students I have grown up a lot and learned about my craft. In particular, Pamela Rudge, our singing teacher, pushed me to improve my singing and I was delighted and humbled to become the 10th award winner.”
In his last year at the school, Pedro played many parts including The Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz’ at Bristol’s Redgrave Theatre and Lord Orlando Pope ln in ‘The Taming of the Shrew’ at Circomedia. He then played Man in Philip Ridley’s ‘challenging play’ ‘Tender Napalm’ at the Wardrobe Theatre, followed by Phaeax in Moira Buffini’s ‘Welcome to Thebes’ at the Bristol Tobacco Factory. Since signing up with an agent last year he has won a number of parts. A small part in the the up-coming sequel to ‘Wonder Woman’, an understudy part in a stage production of Noel Coward’s ‘A Song At Twilight’ , featuring Simon Callow, which he felt compelled to abandon in favour of a significant film opportunity in a new Netflix production called ‘The Liberator’. – shot in Poland and due out in 2020.He has since been working on a number of writing projects with other partners.
RUFF GUIDE…’ and ‘CANTERBURY TALES’
DANIAL HALL in his own words, ” was born and lived in Nottingham where I began my training as an actor. I took an interest in the performing arts from around the age of 11 and considered it a hobby until I became a member of The Television Workshop at the age of 15. In that same year I landed my first professional role as the lead in a short film titled ‘Compulsion’ that was subsequently taken to the London Film Festival and won the Best New Short Film award while it was there. Since then I have been between training and working professionally but most recently I became a student at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and have found a wonderful family in the staff and students here across my first year of training. I have never beetrained, until now, (professionally or otherwise) in any kind of singing or the rudiments of music that often accompany it. But with that said it was to my surprise, and with tremendous honour, that I have been awarded The Julian Slade Award for the 2018/19 year.”
Dan has one more year to go at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. Up to now he has toured with the School’ s Christmas productionI ‘Nativity’.in which he played Horrid (King Herod’s Dog)! In the New Year he was toured again in the School’s ‘Ruff Guide to Shakespeare’. In June and July he toured once more with a School’s production of ‘The Canterbury Tales’ .
____________
In October 2017 Award Winnes Pedro Leandro, Verity Blyth, Katie Moore, Alex Morgan, Bethan Nash, Jessica Temple and Eleanor Jackson took part in the very well received, one night only, “Celebration of the Music of Julian Slade.’ at the Redgrave Theatre in Bristol. The show, in aid of the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, was celebrating 10 years of the Julian Slade Award for Musical Talent..
Click on The Julian Slade Award for other details of all Award Winners and Latest News for BRISTOL’S EVENING OF JULIAN SLADE TRIUMPH.
_______________________________________________________________________________________