Wellington the play

MARTIN WIMBUSH - Actor/Writer

Martin was born in London and trained at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. He has worked extensively with most of our leading repertory companies and his West End credits include The Importance of Being Earnest, City Of Angels, Mystery of Edwin Drood, Blandings Castle, and Outside Edge.

As well as his one-man show, Martin has appeared as the Duke of Wellington in the BBC docu-drama The Iron Duke, the 175th Anniversary Celebration of Kings College London and, most recently, in a new adaptation of his play, Miss Wilson’s Waterloo, by Ellis Jones, at the Finborough Theatre and special one-off performances on board the ship The World and at the Theatre Le Colombier, Cordes-sur-Ciel, in France.

A familiar face on television, his many credits include The Crown, Call the Midwife, Good Omens, The Outcast, Hustle, Garrow's Law, Cape Wrath, Hiroshima, He Knew He Was Right, The Lost Prince, Born and Bred, Macawber, Victoria and Albert, Vanity Fair, Countess Alice, Lovejoy, Glittering Prizes and Upstairs Downstairs.

Film credits include Royal Hearts, Legend, Anna Karenina, The Iron Lady, Mean Machine, Bridget Jones Diary, Gangster No 1, Orlando, Shadowlands, Old Curiosity Shop and Wimbledon.

ELLIS JONES - Director/Writer

Ellis has been deeply involved in the development of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, as Head of Acting, as Vice Principal, and currently as Artistic Director of the Academy's business arm, RADA enterprises.

As an actor, a career of over thirty years included acting in Shakespeare on the screen, television sit-com and stage performances ranging from Priestly to Wycherley.

He has directed in regional theatre throughout the country and was for three years the Artistic Director of the Century Theatre in Keswick, Cumbria. Much of his directing work at present is at RADA's splendid new Jerwood Vanbrugh Theatre. He also directs RADA graduate actors in performances on board the Cunard flagship ocean liner, the Queen Mary the Second.

The co-author of Wellington and Miss Wilson’s Waterloo, his other work as a writer includes adaptations of Dickens' novels for the stage and a useful handbook on stagecraft, Teach Yourself Acting, published by Hodder and Stoughton.

BENEDICT CRUFT - Musican/Composer

Benedict has recently retired as Dean of the School of Music at the Academy of Performing Arts in Hong Kong. He played during the 1970s in the LSO and the Philharmonia, before going as co-leader to the Hong Kong Philharmonia in 1980, where he also led the Tononi String Quartet.

Returning to London in 1984 he made a special study of the six Bach works for solo violin, performing them as a set more than sixty times in France, China, Vietnam, Macau, and Hong Kong, as well as in Britain. Over the last fifteen years he has mainly been working in London Studios, recording the music for films, television programmes and backing tracks for pop music, as well as occasionally composing for the theatre and television commercials. His recording of J.S.Bach's Sonatas and Partias for solo violin is published by Tononi Records.