We are equally committed to utilising fresh, energetic and raw talents of young creative artists in conjunction with the expertise of the more established practitioners to generate a fertile environment for the nourishment of all their creative talents.

We are committed to delivering exciting theatre for an equally diverse audience.



The Cherwell Theatre Company is the resident theatre company at the Mill Arts Centre in Banbury, Oxfordshire.

The company grew out of several very successful theatre productions. These productions were the result of collaborations between the Mill Arts Centre and Oxfordshire theatre practitioners, Nasser Memarzia and Karen Ford. But significantly, these projects were intentionally organised in such a way to involve as many professional and non-professional creative artists as possible in order to establish a fertile, creative environment which was both fresh and raw, but also benefited from professional know-how and expertise. Each production embraced and positively encouraged local performing arts students and professional practitioners to work side by side. It was the success of these productions that justified the formal establishment of the company and it will be the continuation of a commitment to diverse and innovative new work that utilises a range of talents that will remain core to the company’s artistic policy.

Even prior to it's official launch, the company established a following in the form of a local audience who had enjoyed our past productions and declared an interest in the company’s future productions.

Just as significantly, there is an extensive network of local actors, writers, designers, technicians, drama teachers, dancers, musicians and business people who have already collaborated with the company in our past productions. Rightly, they feel a sense of ownership of the company. Our intention is to further establish and develop such invaluable links.
 

Currently, CTC has four members on its board of directors with a range of artistic and administrative experience. The company is looking to expanding its board with at least two further members, preferably with legal and business backgrounds.


The current members of the board of Directors are:

Nasser Memarzia is a theatre practitioner with thirty years of professional experience as actor, director, writer and teacher of drama. He was a founding member and artistic director for Yorkshire Theatre Company Ltd. throughout the eighties, where he helped develop the company from a local, small scale, to a national touring company. During this time, he directed many plays for YTC as well other theatre companies nationwide. He has written several stage, radio and TV scripts and has a BAFTA nomination for "Breath of Life" and an LWT "Plays on Stage" award for "Dusky Warriors" to his name. Dusky warriors has also been adopted by Kingston University as an example of modern, historic drama. As an actor he has worked extensively on the stage and for TV and the film industry. He played George Khan, in the original West End production of East is East, has performed in a one man show at the National Theatre and has worked in the film industry with such directors as Les Blair (Leave to Remain), Danny Boyle (Millions), Riddley Scott (Kingdom of Heaven), Antonia Bird (Hamburg Cell) and Stephen Spielberg (Munich).


Karen Ford trained at The Guildhall School of Music and Drama. She has worked extensively in every area of the industry for over forty years, ranging from weekly rep productions to numerous appearances in the West end, and including appearances in the theatres throughout the country; too many to mention. As well as playing Heloise in 'Heloise and Abelard', she produced the production for an extensive tour of England and Ireland.
Radio work includes some 40 plays, and television appearances are considerable, but perhaps what brought Karen the most notoriety was her 7 years as Miss Booth, The Art Teacher in Grange Hill.
Karen has directed and produced numerous productions as well as teaching drama and voice at Oxford & Cherwell Valley College.
Karen is also the managing director of 'Ducdame' a professional training company whose clients include Thames Valley Police , Barclays Bank and the Office of Fair Trading.

Deborah Clarke currently works for Oxfordshire County Council; she is a senior manager at The Mill Arts Centre in Banbury where she is responsible for the development of the professional performance programme.
Her background is in theatre and in education, having studied drama at Hull University she established her own community theatre company and worked for several years as an actor and director in the North of England.
Deborah has worked as an education officer for Humberside County Council, where she was responsible for the development of curriculum and training for Humberside Youth Service.
The Mill is an arts centre with learning at its core and with a particular focus upon young people and has already worked very successfully with Cherwell Theatre Company on a number of theatre initiatives involving young people. Deborah is delighted to be a board member of Cherwell Theatre Company.

Karen Corradi comes from a vast administrative and managerial background, where she had to develop a high level of communication skills and practical problem solving abilities. She has a wealth of over 30 years of experience; 20 years of which at director level in industry and 16 years as a business partner. After so many years of working in the commercial sector, Karen decided to nurture her creative instincts. She enrolled at Oxford and Cherwell Valley College as a mature student in Performing Arts where her first play was selected by CTC for a professional production at The Mill.
Currently, she is studying for a Joint Degree (Hons.) in 'Performing Arts with Communication, Media and Culture' at Oxford Brookes University.
Karen plans to continue working within the creative industry where she feels most fulfilled.