Montage Theatre Arts Patrons

Emma Thompson is an multi-award winning and internationally acclaimed actress, comedienne, screenwriter and author. She first came to prominence in 1987 in two BBC TV series, Tutti Frutti and Fortunes of War; she won the BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress for her work in both. Her first major film role was in the 1989 romantic comedy The Tall Guy. In 1992, Thompson won multiple acting awards, including an Academy Award and a BAFTA Award for Best Actress, for her performance in the British drama Howards End. In 1993, Thompson garnered dual Academy Award nominations, as Best Actress for The Remains of the Day and as Best Supporting Actress for In the Name of the Father.

In 1995, Thompson scripted and starred in Sense and Sensibility, a film adaptation of the Jane Austen novel of the same name, which earned her an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay and a BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role among other awards. Other notable film and television credits have included her role in the Harry Potter film series, Much Ado About Nothing (1993), Wit (2001), Love Actually (2003), Angels in America (2003), Nanny McPhee (2005), Stranger than Fiction (2006), Last Chance Harvey (2008), An Education (2009), Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang (2010), Men in Black 3 (2012), Brave (2012), Saving Mr. Banks (2013) and Beauty and the Beast (2017).

In 2012, Thompson authored The Further Tale of Peter Rabbit to commemorate the 110th anniversary of the publication of Beatrix Potter‘s The Tale of Peter Rabbit. In 2013, she also penned The Christmas Tale of Peter Rabbit.

“I’m delighted to be Montage’s new patron. It’s crucial that children and young people have access to the arts regardless of their ability to pay. I’m also hoping to be able to inspire their writing, as well as their performing skills.”  Roy Williams, 2017

Roy began writing plays in 1990 and is now arguably one of the country’s leading dramatists. In 2000 he was the joint winner of The George Devine Award and in 2001 he was awarded the Evening Standard Award for Most Promising Playwright. He was awarded the OBE for Services to Drama in the 2008 Birthday Honours List.
His plays include: 
Antigone (Pilot Theatre/UK Tour)
Wildefire (Hampstead Theatre)
Advice for the Young at Heart (Theatre Centre)
The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (Pilot Theatre/ UK Tour)
Sucker Punch (Royal Court Theatre, nominated for Olivier Award for Best Play)
Kingston ’14 (Theatre Royal Stratford East)
Category B (Tricycle Theatre)
Angel House (Eclipse Theatre, UK Tour)
Days of Significance (RSC)
Joe Guy (Tiata Fahodzi)
There’s Only One Wayne Matthews (Polka Theatre)
Baby Girl (NT Connections)
Absolute Beginners (Lyric Hammersmith)
Little Sweet Thing (Nottingham Playhouse)
Slow Time (NT Education)
Fallout (Royal Court Theatre)
Sing Yer Heart Out For The Lads (NT)
Clubland (Royal Court Theatre)
The Gift (Birmingham Rep/Tricycle Theatre)
Local Boy (Hampstead Theatre)
Souls (Theatre Centre)
Lift Off (Royal Court)
Starstruck (Tricycle, Winner of John Whiting Award, Alfred Fagon Award & EMMA Award for Best Play)
Josie’s Boy (Red Ladder Theatre Co)
The No-Boys Cricket Club (Theatre Royal, Stratford East) . He also contributed to the
Royal Court’s Peckham The Soap Opera.

His work for television includes Let It Snow (Endor Productions/Sky), Fallout (Company Pictures/
Channel 4, Screen Nation Award for Achievement in Screenwriting), Offside (BBC, Winner of BAFTA
Children’s Film & TV Award for Best Schools Drama) and Babyfather (BBC).

For film he has cowritten Fast Girls (DJ Films).

For radio, his work includes adaptations of ER Braithwaite’s A Choice Of Straws and To Sir With Love and original plays Tell Tale and Homeboys. He has also created and written three series of Interrogation for BBC Radio 4.

Patron of Montage Theatre Arts since 2005

Sylvestra Le Touzel is a British television, film and stage actress. Sylvestra’s past television and film acting credits include The Iron Lady, Cloud Atlas, The Thick Of It, Titanic, Appropriate Adult, Lewis, Harry Enfield And Chums, Mansfield Park, Dirk Gently, Case Histories, New Tricks and Parade’s End.

Her stage work includes A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Twelfth Night, Henry IV (Parts I & II), Hamlet, The Merry Wives Of Windsor, Les Parents Terribles, Wild East, The Alchemist, Artists and Admirers and Les Enfants Du Paradis.

And remember the “Water in Majorca” Heineken Advert? That was Sylvestra!

Debby and Mayor Steve Bullock at Montage rehearsals for the Lord Mayor’s Show in 2005

Debby Bishop is a British actress and singer. She is probably best known to television viewers for her appearance in the second series of the crime drama Widows, having taken over the part of Bella O’Reilly from Eva Mottley.

She appeared in the films Scrubbers (1983) and was featured in the West End production of Blues in the Night. The highest grossing film she appeared in was Sid and Nancy (1986), in which she had a starring role as Phoebe. She also appeared in the films Walter and June, The Missionary and Party Party.

Debby Bishop’s additional theatre credits include Reggae Britannia and Restoration at the Royal Court theatre in London, The Wiz at the Lyric Hammersmith and the Crucible Theatre, and 1,000 Clowns at the Watford Palace. Additional TV credits include the Jasper Carrot Show, Video Stars, Bouncing Back, West of Paradise, Dido and Aeneus, and Pam in Blue Money. The last TV or film role Debby Bishop had was the role of Janney Hutton in Family Affairs. Her last theatre performance was the Cabaret in the House show with Peter Straker at Lauderdale House theatre in London, March 2004.