Meet the cast for Captain Corelli's Mandolin

There are five actors and over 30 puppets in this new production of Captain Corelli's Mandolin. The show is a co-production between the Marjanishvili Theatre in Tbilisi, Georgia and the Mercury Theatre in Colchester, England. One of the actors is Georgian (Natalie Kakhidze who plays Pelagia) and four are British, three of whom are regulars at the Mercury Theatre.

In this blog we meet the three Mercury regulars.These short interviews were recorded at the start of the rehearsal process when they had just arrived in Tbilisi. Once the show has opened in Colchester we'll get their views again.

Tony Casement has been at the Mercury for twelve years and is now Associate Director at the theatre, responsible for the theatre's community and education programme. He has directed a number of shows at the theatre including The Grapes of Wrath and Journey's End as well as acting in company shows.

As well as acting and directing, Tony also writes and his television piece Turn the World Down, written with Neil Bromley for Channel 4, was nominated for a Golden Rose at the 2002 Montreux Television Festival.

Tony plays the title role in Captain Corelli's Mandolin.

Gus Gallagher plays Mandras, a fisherman on the island of Cephalonia who captures the heart of Pelagia. At the outbreak of war he goes off to join the army with disastrous results. Gus was last at the Mercury in Pinter's The Lover, which is where Levan Tsuladze first saw him. Mercury audiences will also remember him from his performance as Romeo in which he tangoed his way into the heart of Juliet and in the title role in Coriolanus.

Roger Delves-Broughton is another stalwart of the Mercury, having worked with the company since its inception. He was last seen in Arthur Miller's A View From The Bridge. Roger works all over the country, travelling from his home in rural North Wales, and when not working he is a keen birdwatcher. You can read about his twitching in his posts on this blog as he has taken every opportunity in Tbilisi to get out and enjoy the different variety of birds to be seen in the Caucasus.

Roger is also a regular member of Wildworks, a Cornish-based international company that makes landscape theatre - large scale spectacular performances and artworks that grow out of their locations. He has been in three productions: A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings; Souterrain (co-produced with the Mercury) which played all over the UK and in France; and The Beautiful Journey.

Roger plays two parts in Captain Corelli's Mandolin: the Italian Quartermaster, who has 'access to everything'; and the British Spy, who lands on the island to report back to the Allies.

In the next posting we'll meet Mike Maran who wrote the stage adaptation of the book and plays Dr Iannis, and Natalie Kakhidze who plays his daughter Pelagia