Archives: Cast Members

Samantha has been dancing and singing since the age of 4, studying ballet, tap and modern as well as jazz style dance. When she was 8 years old, she was fortunate enough to be selected to play the role of ‘Cosette’ in the West End production of ‘Les Miserable’, this she did for 3 years. Soon after she was asked to join the touring cast of ‘Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat’. This cemented her love for musical theatre and as a child, she continued to perform in many amateur productions, including playing ‘Oliver’ in ‘Oliver’, a ‘Hot Box’ girl in ‘Guys and Dolls’ and ‘Ghost of Christmas Past’ in ‘Scrooge’.
Samantha has performed three times in ‘Magic Music Days’ at Disneyland, Paris with her dance school as well as having the privilege of leading in the ‘Mardi Gras’ parade there. She studied performing arts at college, leaving with a BTEC National Diploma. After this she made her way in the big wide world and ended up working in Health and Safety for the Olympic committee in the opening and closing ceremonies in 2012. She took a break from theatre after having her 2 beautiful children.  When she was ready to return to the stage she did some research and found out about her local Am Dram group BasOp! where, not only was she warmly welcomed but was also delighted, that in her first production for ten years, she was given the opportunity to take on the role of ‘Sarah Brown’ in ‘Guys and Dolls’.

Mathew started performing at the age of 4 in dance festivals throughout the South East. Between the ages of 4-18 he studied Ballet, Tap, Modern, Jazz and National Dance & in 1999 graduated with a B-TEC National Diploma in Performing Arts. Since then he has performed several leading roles including Arthur Kipps ‘Half A Sixpence’, Perchik in ‘Fiddler On The Roof’, Sky Masterson ‘Guys & Dolls’, Will Parker ‘Oklahoma’ and many others. Before moving to Essex, Mathew was a member of TWODS in Kent, performing in over 20 of their shows & most recently he has performed with TOPS playing roles such as Lun Tha in ‘The King & I’, Lt Danny Gilmartin in ‘Calamity Jane’ & Ching Ho in ‘Thoroughly Modern Millie’.
Mathew owns his own successful gardening company ‘Outside’ with work spanning between Kent and Essex. He lives with his wife Victoria and has 2 beautiful daughters Rosi 16 and Olivia 11 and his handsome son Joseph 2, of whom he is very proud.
  Mathew’s first show with BasOp was playing the role of Sky Masterson in the 2016 production of ‘Guys and Dolls’ some 18 years after playing the role the first time. Mathew was especially under pressure this time round, seeing as his wife was the director and knows that should he go wrong, he will be in serious trouble.  Another year has past and the couple have teamed up again with Mathew once again playing Perchik in the upcoming production of ‘Fiddler on the roof’ with his wife Vikki once again directing; Mathew is sure to put on his best performance.

Rob has been acting for more years than he cares to remember in diverse roles ranging from Polixenes in Shakespeare’s Winters tale to Gruber in Allo Allo.  More recently he has turned to Musical theatre playing villainous roles such as Rico in Copacabana, Jigger in Carousel and his all time favourite Bill Sykes in Oliver as well as loveable rouge’s Luther Billis in South Pacific and Blitz’ Alfie Locke.  Other shows being Annie, Oklahoma and BasOp’s Guys and dolls! Rob is delighted to back with their production of Fiddler on the Roof for 2017.

Sean has loved being a part of Basop after only joining the group for the 2016 production of ‘Guys and Dolls’.   Performing as ‘Nicely Nicely’ Johnson has far become one of his most enjoyable acting experiences. Not being able to get enough of the group, he joined the Christmas concert over the holidays, and was then thrilled to be playing Motel the tailor in ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ 2017. The last time Sean performed in this musical he portrayed Fyedka the Russian with Thurrock Operatic society, so he is enjoying the other side of the village for this show with this new cast. Previous recent shows to date have included Charles Murdock in Thurrock Court Players’ ‘Ghost Train’ and King Rat in Thurrock Courts’ highly successful adult pantomime ‘The Only Way is Dick’.

Josh joined BasOp in 2015 for the Motown show and also the Christmas concerts. He went on to play a primary role in the 2016 production of Guys and Dolls where he was a cast and audience favourite with his hilarious portrayal of Benny Southstreet.

Josh has been involved with other local amateur groups for many years including TOPS and has been part of the Essex Group since the womb basically. Some of his roles include Thenardier in Les Miserables, Rooster Hannigan in Annie, Tobias Ragg in Sweeney Todd and a particular favourite for Josh was playing Fagin in ‘Oliver’. Along with his musical appearances Josh has also had the privilege to play some great roles in a few memorable plays since being a member of Thurrock Courts Players. Most recently Teddie Deakin in ‘Ghost Train’ and Malcom In ‘Bedroom Farce’ and the leading man Dick’ in their highly successful Adult Pantomime ‘The Only Way is Dick’ in Feb 2017. Josh’s next venture with Courts will probably be his biggest challenge yet as he has just been cast as Alfie the 87 year old waiter in their next production ‘One Man Two Guvnors’. Reunited with Sean Hynes as Francis the leading man (Nicely to my Benny).

He has also enjoyed some TV work playing as cast extra in popular period dramas ‘Call the Midwife’ and ‘Mr Selfridge’.

Chris joined BasOp in December 2015 taking the role of Big in ‘Guys & Dolls’.  Over the past year Chris has enjoyed his new hobby of performing whilst forming some great new friendships within the group.
By day Chris is a project manager in advertising, and he enjoys trying his hand at any new physical activity whether it be track, crossfit, or trying not to get electrocuted/set on fire during Tough Mudder obstacle courses!  He is also a pro wrestling fanatic and happy to teach you how to execute an effective body slam at any time – just ask!

Drew joined BasOp in 2016 for the show ‘Guys and Dolls’ where he answered the call for more guys.  Somewhat reluctant, having never been involved with Musical theatre, after much encouragement from his wife to utilise his nervous energy on something other than the kids he came along for the workshop and after a successful audition landed the part of Rusty Charlie.  Although this was his first time treading the boards Drew is no stranger to Entertainment having been part of Discowonderland, a corporate function band, for many years touring the U.K. Drew has 3 children and lives in Corringham.  His other interests include open water long distance swimming; he recently completed a 14k Swim from Henley to Marlow.  Drew is on the whole a pretty awesome human being and huge things are to be expected of him on a global scale.

Angela is an accomplished leading lady and has appeared in three BasOp productions since joining in 2014 to play Maria in the Sound of Music. She then took on the role of Charity Hope Valentine in ‘Sweet Charity’ which was a performance that won her a Tony award along with receiving excellent reviews. Some years ago, Angela drew up a list of the dream parts she would like to play on stage.  High on that list was the part of ‘Miss Adelaide’ so she was thrilled to be able to get the chance to play one of her dream roles in the BasOp production of ‘Guys and Dolls’ 2016. For Angela theatre is very much a family affair and she has starred in many shows alongside her Husband David and also her children Oliver (11) Rose (8) and John (6). Rose and John also joined BasOp for  ‘Fiddler on the roof’ in May 2017. Other previous roles include Dorothy Brown (Thoroughly Modern Millie) Hope Harcourt (Anything Goes) Anna (The King and I) Katie Brown (Calamity Jane) Mrs Lovett in Sweeney Todd