Painted Eggs

Nicole Dolder

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Andrea McKenzie

Andrea spent last year in New York, where she attended the summer school at the prestigious American Academy of Dramatic Arts, and also took classes at the Atlantic Acting School (owned by William H Macy and Felicity Huffman).

Andrea has been in numerous plays, recent roles include: Roberta in Danny and the Deep Blue Sea, in New York; Florina in Mad Forest, in Toronto (where she also directed the acclaimed short film The Chips); Linda in Swingboats, in Glasgow; Bessie Smith in A Most Curious Murder, at the Edinburgh Fringe; Columbia in the Rocky Horror Picture Show; and Mrs Allonby in A Woman of No Importance, both also here in Edinburgh. She has also acted in several short films and can sometimes be seen covered in blood and lurking in dark corners at the Edinburgh Dungeon!

She is delighted to be joining the Luvvies for this thought provoking production.

Matthew Thompson

I got into acting quite by accident. When I was 16 I went to an open day at Thomas Rotherham College. I found I had a bit of spare time to kill, got bored, went for a wander, got lost and ended up in the Drama department. I ended up studying for a Drama & Theatre Studies A-level, and after a year went on to complete a BTEC National Diploma in Performing Arts at Chesterfield College. During my time there I performed in several productions at the Arts Centre and Pomegranate Theatre including works by Eugene Ionesco, Sarah Kane, Harold Pinter, John Osbourne and Tariq Ali; as well as some original productions by local playwrights showcased at writers’ festivals. I have performed various roles such as William Mompesson in The Roses of Eyam and Gerardo Escobar in Death and the Maiden.

Since leaving college in 2004 I have embarked on a couple of University courses in Nottingham and Edinburgh although they haven’t worked out (thanks to government doing away with grants for students in favour of loans and bringing in tuition fees). I have done all sorts of jobs from bar work to retail to admin, been homeless and jobless (as I’m an actor I can’t really hold down any job that doesn’t allow me to express my artistic and creative side, at least that’s what I told them at the job centre)

I am currently active in the Trade Union movement and heavily involved in left wing, progressive politics as a whole, which is why I am so proud to part of a theatre group which doesn’t discriminate on any grounds and is universally inclusive, I am pleased to be working on such a groundbreaking, thought provoking piece of original writing and honoured to be working with such a talented, intelligent and phenomenally successful group of people. I’m afraid I’m not as experienced as the other cast members, and I’m a bit nervous although really excited about this production, my first since leaving college, so please come along and pledge your support for us; show your opposition to transphobia and homophobia and commitment to equality for all!

Eve Buigues

eVe Buigues is a dual citizen of France and the United States. A songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist, eVe has worked on various television series, films, and major artists’ albums in the US, however she is mostly known as the lead singer/songwriter of popular jazz/rock experimental Los Angeles band Jariya with whom she recorded three full-length albums, and for her songwriting work for comedian Margaret CHO (Notorious C.H.O, Revolution, I'm The One That I Want, Bam Bam & Celeste, The Grocery Store), the History Channel, and Joe Black’s School of Rock. eVe can be seen playing character "Sophie" in camp comedy film "Starcrossed" (directed by Lorene Machado) for which eVe wrote the soundtrack; a series of French chansons with a satiric streak.

Come and look at Eve's MySpace, well worth a visit

Brett Heriot

Acting and Performing for me began way back at school and I haven’t stopped since, having started on stage in productions of Oliver and Joseph before moving to TV with episodes of Taggart and casualty among others on my CV However due to personal issues I had to take time out of my performance work but 2004 saw a return to my passion with Scottish youth theatre in a musical production at Edinburgh’s beautiful Kings Theatre! (and please Edinburgh Council get your finger out and get the old lady of Leven street sorted!). This also led to a return to writing saw me work on pantomime for the first time that year. 2005 saw a full time return to theatre work when I joined with Theatre workshop Edinburgh, Scotland’s leading disability arts company on their ground breaking production of "Black sun over Genoa" which was performed as our response to the madness that was G8 Gleneagles. This multi media show was staged at Edinburgh’s grand Festival Theatre and then toured to Glasgow’s Tramway. I performed the character of Giovanni a black block activist! I followed this by work on A Christmas tale also produced and performed at The Theatre Workshop before donning my writing hat again to make it a trilogy of work for theatre workshop with their 2006 production of Babylon Burning and multi media community production looking at the human side of the war in Iraq and as well as writing I performed numerous characters including the president of the USA George Bush! Not bad for a gay man eh! We performed the show for a two week run in June before remounting a production for that years festival fringe! The year was rounded out by panto.

2007 saw me return to film namely the Tw and Makar co production of "Trouble Sleeping" which should make its debut at this year’s Edinburgh Film Festival before transmission on the BBC! I also began work with the Luvvies, Scotland’s only LGBT theatre company on their production of " Torch Song Trilogy" on which I was the set and props designer but my actor inside me couldn’t resist a challenge so I took the role of David for torch song 3 “Widows and Children First”, which leads me back to Painted Eggs! I am proud to be working with the Luvvies on this innovative show and look forward to presenting two characters namely Paul and Motor Mouse! I hope these two inspire you as they have me! So what are you waiting for, come on buy a ticket!!

Brett xx P.S Check out my BeBo for up to date news on my performing activities which include more musical fun for this years festival!

Character tag line:

Paul: "there is nothing wrong with being gay, especially effeminate gay, it means I have style and darling I’m more man than you will be and more woman than you'll ever have"!

Motor Mouse: "every time I look I see how laughter lights up the eyes of others, but inside I ask, what about me? Where do I exist, is it time to stop being everyone else’s clown?"

Gary Reid

Gary's acting career got off to an auspicious start, when he was cast by an astute primary school teacher as a star (of Bethlehem) in the school nativity play. From there he went on to take an active interest in all things theatrical in his native Northern Ireland, appearing in a series of Irish comedies with a local amateur drama group at the Group Theatre, Belfast. He also took on the roles of Marley's ghost in “A Christmas Carol” and the homicidal disfigured psychopath Jonathan, in “Arsenic and Old Lace”. Gary went on to do a summer school season with the National Youth Theatre in London. He appeared in one of BBC 2's “Play for Today” episodes before coming to Edinburgh to study for a “proper job”, where his involvement in university amateur drama culminated in his playing the role of a transvestite Spanish butler (every sequin sewn on by hand!) in an evening of foreign language one-act plays.

After a few years “resting” he is delighted to be involved in acting once again, especially in such an exciting production as “Painted Eggs” and proud to be working with such a talented group of people.

Brian Green

My name is Brian Green. I am 35 and currently working at Edinburgh Castle within the Admissions team.

I graduated from Coatbridge College in 2000 with a Diploma in acting and performing. In the past eight years I have done only a small amount of television such as Stacey Stone for CBBC, River City and Rab C Nesbit with a few commercials thrown in and most recently a small film called The Haggi which was directed by one of my friends. I have recently returned to acting as i have missed the adrenalin of perfoming in front of people.

Painted Eggs is a thought provoking piece of writting and i am grateful for being part of the team.

Martin Walker

Martin Walker's last stage appearance was playing Oberon, The King of the Fairies, in William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. He was 7 years old. Sadly his tights split, and a promising career in theatre was postponed.

Since then he has became the arts editor, then 2 years ago, editor, of ScotsGay Magazine. He has also directed the comedy sketch show, Straight Shooters, which was performed with Andrew Doyle, Charlie Ross and Rob Sutton at the Canal cafe Theatre in London.

He has devised and is currently co-writing This Years Thing, a play that will celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots which will be performed next year.