In the Spotlight: Jeremy Goldthorp

How long have you been a Loft member?

About nine months.

How many Loft productions have you been involved with?

Two as an actor and now two as SM.

What has been your principal area of involvement so far?

A combination of onstage and backstage – though I’d love to give that bar a try.

Are you involved with other theatre groups/societies?

I have worked with the theatre company Two Hats, doing lighting and sound as well as touring.

Which is your favourite of the Loft shows you’ve worked on so far?

Well all the shows I’ve been involved with have had a lot of the same people working on them. Absent Friends was brilliant because of the cast and because I saw it from the sides. Talk Radio was tricky from a technical point of view but it was certainly my favourite as an actor because it was in the studio, and the atmosphere in there is far more intense than in the main auditorium.

Have you experienced any backstage or onstage disasters?

Oh goodness yes! I was given the title role in Titus Andronicus in my final year at sixth form and when the second half had started I was still scoffing sarnies and quaffing Coke backstage. It wasn’t until someone said, ‘Aren’t you meant to be on stage?’ that I looked out and uttered some choice words before legging it onto the stage. What followed was some of the most atrocious improvising of Shakespearean English known to man, and a right bit of verbal from the director.

Have you had any form of theatre training?

I used to go down to the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School every summer for two weeks of theatre training. As well as text work and improvisation we did stage fighting and dance. Believe me when I say that Anne Robinson ain’t got nothing on the dance instructor. Probably the most ferocious and fit woman I have ever had the privilege to meet and work for.

What do you do for a living?

I am a concert manager for the company Armonico Consort, but the most enjoyable part is going into Lapworth Primary and The Willows Primary and teaching drama to the children, as it doesn’t matter how much of an awful day you’ve had because they just make you laugh your head off.

Besides theatre, what are your main pastimes?

I have more of a wish list of pastimes at the moment as I can’t afford to do many of them. I sing, or try to: mainly songs sung by Frank, Bing and Dean, but there is a particular song called The Masochism Tango by Tom Lehrer which has to be favourite... YouTube it in fact, it’s hilarious. Apart from that I cook, I write and hopefully I’ll find myself back on a rugby field soon.

What would be your dream show to be involved with at the Loft?

I believe it’s not long since it was last done at the Loft, but I would love to do a version of The Beggar’s Opera, creating a really sinister and disturbing feel within the auditorium: working with smells, sounds and sights of 16th Century London, keeping the lights on the audience and keeping them involved with what is going on on stage. It would look fantastic on a thrust stage as the actors could go in amongst the audience to tease and tantalise. My dream would be to do the Marat/Sade but one can’t quite see audiences in Leamington and Warwick queuing up for that one.