Rob Castell
Writer & Performer

Rob Castell is a freelance musician, teacher, writer and actor. He studied English Literature at the University of East Anglia where he was also a keen budding journalist, winning the Guardian Student Travel Writer of the Year 2005. Ambitions for a job in foreign correspondence led him to embark on an MA in International Relations, again at UEA, although that decision coincided with the genesis of Barbershopera, which Rob founded with Tom semi-officially in Spring 2007. Around writing and performing Barbershopera shows, he sings and plays guitar for various function bands and does regular teaching projects with ‘Theatre Is…’, working with young people through the performing arts. Rob successfully completed his MA in Autumn 2009 but his energy is now aimed wholeheartedly at the Barbershopera project, the first two shows of which have allowed Rob to sing in harmony as an ancient Swiss-Italian barbershopper, a camp baritone, a matchmaking Sigmund Freud and now a Spanish matador. He awaits the chance to write the third show with a combination of fear and dread.

Tom Sadler
Writer & Performer

Tom is an actor, writer and songwriter. He co-founded Barbershopera with Rob Castell in 2007 and has co-written and performed in both their shows to date, Barbershopera! (Pleasance Edinburgh; Theatre 503, Battersea) and Barbershopera II (Pleasance Edinburgh; Trafalgar Studios). In a desperate attempt to spend even more time with Rob Castell, he is also one half of the edgy and challenging musical comedy duo The Bodega Brothers, whose show Afternoon Delight debuted at the 2009 Edinburgh Fringe. He was a co-writer and performer of The Great Caravaggio’s Travelling Circus for BBC Radio 7, and he has worked as an actor and director for Big Wheel Theatre in Education since 2005. Other theatre writing includes Nativitie (Clerkenwell Theatre and Moser Theatre, Oxford), A Place In The Sun (Tristan Bates; Inn on the Green; Bedford, Balham), Norwich Literary Walk (Streets of Norwich), The Rage of Achilles (The Door, Birmingham) and Muswell Hill (National Student Drama Festival, Scarborough; Winner: 2002 Sunday Times Playwriting Award).

Pete Sorel-Cameron
Performer

Pete is an actor, musician and writer. The newest addition to the Barbershopera team, Pete joined in Spring 2009, and among his professional credits, he has acted for the RSC in a production of Lord of the Flies. When not appearing in close harmony stage shows, he spends his time writing, performing and recording music with his band Whole Schebang, who have played at some of London’s best loved venues. Since graduating from the University of East Anglia in Norwich, he has also been writing for various media outlets, including CNN and The Guardian, and one day he might write a novel.

Lara Stubbs
Performer

Lara trained at Webber Douglas. Theatre credits include; Barbershopera II (Pleasance Edinburgh) Cloudcuckooland (Liverpool Everyman), Barbershopera (Pleasance Edinburgh, Theatre 503 & National Tour), Pinocchio (Dukes Theatre Lancaster), Broadway in the Shadows (Grand Theatre Luxembourg & Arcola), The Tempest (Cliveden Open Air). Film credits include; After Much Persuasion (Carsick Pictures), Last Word (Kunworks Productions), Two Letters (Cannes 2008). Lara is also a professional singer and has performed in numerous concerts both in the UK and the Middle East.

Sarah Tipple
Director

Sarah has recently completed a year as a director in residence at the Young Vic under the Wilson Brothers Scheme. Her directing credits include; Bay & the parallel production of Annie Get Your Gun (Claire Studio, Young Vic), Barbershopera II (Pleasance Edinburgh), Barbershopera (Theatre503 & Pleasance Edinburgh), Mad Funny Just, winner of the Old Vic New Voices Theatre 503 award (Theatre503) Mayfly, (Old Vic New Voices 24 Hour Plays), The Wrong Man (Pleasance Theatre & tour). As assistant credits include: Turandot, Madam Butterfly and Partenope (English National Opera) The Member of the Wedding (Young Vic), Enemies (Almeida Theatre). Last year Sarah was shortlisted for an Arts Foundation Fellowship in Theatre Directing.