40th Anniversary Gala Performance and Mexican Fiesta

Neil gained a BA in Theatre Studies and Philosophy from the University of Ulster and went on the train as an actor at RADA. He has since worked extensively as an actor, writer, director and teacher. Theatre credits include his self-penned play Coming Up (Watford Palace), Beginners (The Unicorn), The Village (Theatre Royal Stratford East), How To Hold Your Breath and Khandan (Royal Court), Drawing The Line (Hampstead), Much Ado About Nothing, Midnight’s Children, and The Hypocrite (Royal Shakespeare Company), Tintin (Watford Palace & West End), The Man Of Mode (National), Twelfth Night (West End), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Colchester, Mercury),  The Merchant Of Venice and The Honest Whore (Shakespeare’s Globe). For Television Neil’s work includes Eastenders, Doctors, Hustle, Citizen Khan, Undercover, Holby City, Don’t Take My Baby, Happiness, Back Up (BBC), Not Safe For Work, Friday Night Dinner, Home and several episodes of Humans Series 3 (Channel 4), Albert’s Memorial, The Bill (ITV) Amerikan Kannibal (Discovery). He also plays the regular character ,Rajesh, in Idris Elba’s award-winning In The Long Run (Sky 1 and Starz USA) Film work includes Filth, Still Life, Closed Circuit, Wild Target, Another Me, My Sweet Home, Gate To Heaven, and the lead role in Italian Movies (2012). Radio includes The Red Oleander by Tanika Gupta, Goan Flame, Ask Mina, and the recurring drama Recent Events At Collington House (BBC Radio 4) As a writer Neil’s plays include Coming Up (Watford Palace), Small Miracle (Tricycle Theatre), Five Beats To The Bar (Radio 4) and the long-running series Westway for the BBC World Service. Neil is an honorary research fellow at Birkbeck, University of London, has taught acting at East 15 Drama School and is a member of the RADA Audition Panel.

Anoushka Lucas is a singer, songwriter, composer and actress. Her music has been championed on Radio 2, where she has appeared on the Jamie Cullum show and BBC Introducing, and she was the inaugural winner of Jazz FM's Love Supreme Competition in 2013. She has sold out shows at Cheltenham Jazz Festival, the 606, and Bush Hall to name a few, and in the past year supported Tom Oddell, Sophie Ellis-Bextor and Ashley Henry. Her debut album "Dark Soul" was released earlier this year. As a theatre composer, Anoushka co-composed an original score for Klook's Last Stand (Park Theatre, 2014/NAMT Festival 2017) with Omar Lyefook, and The Etienne Sisters (Theatre Royal Stratford East, 2015) with Sheila Atim and Nikki Yeoh - both with books by Che Walker. Anoushka also composed and performed in Sparks (2018, Edinburgh Festival, voted Best Musical of The Fringe) by Jessica Butcher. As an actor, Anoushka most recently starred in Chiaroscuro (Bush Theatre) and has played Mary Magdalene in the Olivier Award winning production of Jesus Christ Superstar (Regent's Park Open Air Theatre, 2016) and in Sparks (Vault Festival/Edinburgh Festival/High Tide Festival 2018).

This is Jimena Larraguivel’s debut at Gate Theatre. She is a Mexican actor who started her acting career in the UK with award-winning theatre company Ten Ten Theatre (National Tour). Recent theatre credits include: Shakespeare Walks and Shakespeare Within the Abbey (Shakespeare’s Globe), Day of The Living (RSC), Sonnet Sunday (Shakespeare’s Globe), Nosocomial (Camden People’s Theatre), and The House of Bernarda Alba (Cervantes Theatre). Screen credits include: Spider-Man: Far From Home (Marvel), Babies (Ten Ten Productions), Conscript (Guildhall Pictures), and Apple Tree Yard (BBC1). When not performing, Jimena’s other job is being mum to a wonderfully lively five year old boy.

Training: The Boury Academy Santiago has wanted to perform since age 7. He has attended weekly dance and drama classes at The Boury Academy as well as studying Salsa and Latin dance from a young age. He loves to perform and challenge himself but also loves a break to play on the computer with his friends.   Santiago recently made his Professional Debut playing the role of ‘Nayib/Young Emilio’ in the West End Production of ‘On Your Feet’ where he also got to perform as part of the cast at West End Live.  He is incredibly excited to join the cast and take on this new challenge and would like to thank his family and his teachers for their ongoing love and support. 

Juan-Leonardo has had the opportunity of working on some wonderful professional projects through his agency Alphabet Kidz. He has been involved in a variety of commercials for brands such as Nesquik, David Lloyds, Quorn and Save the Children. He has also had the pleasure to work on feature film ‘Papilion’ as well as short film ‘The Life Tree’ in which he was the lead child. As well as all his acting endeavours, Juan-Leonardo is an avid tennis player and just this year won the 12U tennis tournament at David Lloyd Acton. He trains 4 times a week with academy Tennis Unito and he also represents Surrey County in the 12U division. Juan-Leonardo is born of Mexican parents and loves going to Mexico to visit his grandparents and eat the amazing street food there! Juan-Leonardo and his whole family are so excited about this opportunity!