Jonathan Parker
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Jonathan turned 50 during lockdown – and has been interested in theatre since primary school. Under Mike Davison and then Karen Hylton, Lesley Hughes and Lynne Murphy-Bristowe he always seemed to be involved in a production somewhere!
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He joined the drama groups in Hornsea (now HATS), as well as taking leading roles with Beverley Musical Theatre and a long association with the wonderful Northern Theatre Company. He has appeared in over 50 pantomimes and was dame at Hull City Hall along side Gemma Oaten and Martin Daniels. He appeared at the National Student Drama Festival in Love Kevin and in Sweet Charity at the Edinburgh Fringe. He has made several TV appearances - all far too small to be worth a mention! He has also worked on stage with Julian Clary, Jim Bowen and Sooty and Sweep – who said variety was dead! He also enjoyed directing his friend, “Allo Allo” star Vicki Michelle, in the musical “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas”.
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A TV quiz show veteran too, Jonathan has appeared on Supermarket Sweep in the days of Dale, Blankety Blank with Lily Savage, Greed with Jerry Springer and A thousand and One Things You Should Know with Sandi Toksvig.
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He began presenting Westenders on BBC Radio Humberside (and later on BBC Radio Lincolnshire too) back in 2001 – and loved spreading theatre news across Yorkshire and Lincolnshire as well as playing everyone’s favourite musical theatre requests. He was also a stage host for Comic / Sport Relief as well as regularly hosting the Race for Life events at Sewerby. He was also part of the team with BBC Yorkshire who raised over £1,000,000 for Sport Relief.
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He has also been in all but one of the BBC’s annual Children in Need pantomimes as the dame and now regularly appears at the Cottingham Civic Hall in their annual panto. Jonathan also enjoyed a long association with Rock Challenge as both a judge and stage host.
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He set up One Off Productions back in 2007 to stage a “one off” production of The Witches of Eastwick and here we are 14 years and a pandemic later!
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Away from theatre he likes nothing more than time with family and friends, Portpatrick, in South West Scotland and a glass of something in the sun – if these can all be combined then even better.
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Jonathan is looking forward to taking One Off Productions much further and then to retire to Scotland - in the not too distant future!
One Off Productions - a brief history...
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One Off Productions was set up back in 2007. I wanted to stage a production of The Witches of Eastwick and had every intention of it being a “one off”. It was a very ambitious first show - a huge West End set was hired in and of course the musical requires the 3 leading ladies to fly. I approached the much missed Lynne Murphy-Bristowe and to my delight she was available and very interested. I also approached popular local leading lady Emma Burgess and the third witch (so to speak) was a childhood friend, Rachel Broxham, who has gone on to take leads in most of our productions. Another local star, Richard Gorton, was the perfect Darryl Van Horne and put these together with some of the top names in local theatre, including Sandra Shepherdson and Barrie Wheatley, and you have a wonderful line up. They were also backed by some of the top talent in the area – many of whom are still with us 14 years later! The show was a huge artistic success, audiences and critics loved it but we did struggle to fill the theatre. Not a problem we had with our next show, The Full Monty, back in 2009 when we were both the fastest selling and biggest ticket seller of any amateur show that had been at the theatre for a week!
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Since then we have gone on to produce musicals nearly every year both at Hull New and of course at the wonderful Hull Truck. We have also toured some of Barrie Wheatley’s plays around the area and we even won a Sell Out Fringe Award in Edinburgh with Barrie’s play “Kerouac And All That”.
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People often ask what's been my favourite show so far – Witches will always have a special place in my heart because it was first. Our productions of Calendar Girls and Company brought together 2 smaller but amazingly talented casts. White Christmas was a dance spectacular – due to a wonderful cast and the amazing choreographic skills of Julie Long – a wonderful lady who has choreographed and co- directed most One Off shows. I must also mention our Musical Directors along the way - Jacqui Thompson, Bryan Hodgson, Elliot Styche and now the very lovely (and always 5 minutes late) Andy McIntosh.
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Our other shows include Me and My Girl, Peter Pan the musical (we are obsessed with flying), The King and I, The Wizard of Oz, The Sound of Music, Oliver and Gypsy. I would also like to mention The Drowsy Chaperone – my favourite production – partly because I was in it but mainly because of the huge wealth of talent on the stage, and also The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas – the show when TV leading lady Vicki Michelle (of “Allo Allo” fame) stepped in to take over the lead with just 2 weeks of rehearsals.
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We have big plans for the future - including our return to the New, some ambitious (and different) shows at Truck and much, much more.
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Members have always said it was the friendliest society and we hope it stays that way – come along and see for yourself! Whether it’s our annual BBQ or the now famous “Carols at Carols” you will be made very welcome.
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Jonathan Parker - Director
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