Recently voted most fancied male at New College by a select committee, Matthew “quite good hugger” Ranger’s confidence is riding high. Renowned for his talented photography, relationship counselling and interpretative dance skills across Oxford, Matthew has the world at his feet. Still, after realising that his only CV-worthy achievement at Oxford so far had been a (bedazzling) 3rd place in Mr. Oxford, Matthew decided to burrow deep into Oxford’s underworld to find something ghastly to do. Alas, after deciding to shun musical theatre many years ago, Matthew has now returned to the dark side and is banging out tunes like he’s never banged before. Matthew is happy to entertain at children’s parties at weekends and funerals during the holidays.

Apart from a brief Cuppers foray with 'Beyond Therapy', this is Ursula's first drama performance in Oxford. She is interested in politics, badminton and David Suchet. Since starting rehearsals for Swing! Ursula has a new-found respect for people with ridiculous regional accents.

Adam is a first year English student who cut his dramatic teeth in the distinctly weird Dead Mother Cabaret last term. Although Adam has not been to Yorkshire since a day trip when he was 7, he feels he has done all the research necessary to become a convincing Northerner by watching Emmerdale and drinking Tetley’s.

Isla Binnie is currently in her second year of a degree in English & Spanish at New College. Her serious theatrical bent is perfectly illustrated by the productions with which she has been involved in Oxford. Her performance as the long-suffering, class-A-drug-dependent Lulu in Adam Grant’s Cuppers production of Mark Ravenhill’s Shopping and Fucking was unfortunately not popular enough with the judges to help the cast through to the second round of the competition. More recently, she manfully donned some very convincing facial hair to play the crooked tailor Mr Fiddler in New College’s ‘pantomimsical’ version of The Emperor’s New Clothes, which was a roaring, fun-for-all-the-family success and packed out the Holywell Music Room.

Tim’s previous acting roles include that of Dennis in Alan Bennett’s Habeas Corpus. He studies French at St Catz, and has A-Levels in Maths, French and Economics, as well as a distinction from the Priscilla Presley School of Elvis Impersonation.

Anna is in her second year studying French and Portuguese at St. Peter’s College. Studying these languages has meant hours spent poring over mediaeval literature which has nearly pushed her to gauge out her eyes with a blunt toothpick. However, on the plus side, it has lent itself nicely to putting on ridiculous accents. She edits the St. Peter’s college publication, tastefully named ‘The Peterphile’, organizes Open Mic Nights, and wrote a horrendously non-P.C Christmas pantomime called ‘Snow White and the Six Dwarves’ (not enough people auditioned). There was a time when she took part in serious plays, but has since decided that this is a total waste of time, and prefers to concentrate on more light-hearted and less socially-acceptable works of theatre. She has no idea what she wants to do in the future, but hopes that it will include no corporate firms, suits or pressure, but lots of music instead

Charlie Mallinson is making his return to musical theatre, having been absent since he played Greenwood in Kiddy Fiddler On The Roof at the Moser Theatre (HT07). Despite numerous TV appearances, including "Question Asker #4" on Vanessa's Real Lives, and "Audience Member" on Loose Women, he has decided to turn away from TV after Jane McDonald called him "a filthy young'un" live on air. If not working 9 to 5, Charlie enjoys going back to his Tennessee Mountain Home, donning his Coat of Many Colours and recalling his Smoky Mountain Memories with his best friend Jolene. He has throughly enjoyed his time working on Swing, and reminds us all - I will always love you.

Hannah enjoys pretending that musical theatre will help her pass her music degree. At Oxford, she has performed in ‘Princess Ida’ and ‘The Gondoliers’, and was Musical Director of ‘The Boy Friend’ last term, as well as playing in the band for various shows including ‘The Threepenny Opera’ and ‘Passion’. She has also sung at St John’s and currently Keble Chapel choir, but can be more commonly found as a percussionist in various ensembles, including Oxford University Orchestra, Philharmonia, and anything else with lots of things to hit! Hannah is in her second year at St Catz.

Leila is a first-year studying Ancient and Modern History at Balliol College. Having spent most of her time since arriving in Oxford hounding news stories like a ravenous dog on heat, she is taking time off from being part of the scum-of-the-earth journalist pack to revive her musical side. Alongside her role in Swing!, Leila can be seen running around half-naked playing Janet in The Rocky Horror Picture Show. When she isn't roaming the streets screaming about some social injustice or other, Leila is likely to be found struggling with herself (literally) in the doorway of Cafe Creme, or pulling pints with gusto and a smile at Oxford's finest college drinking establishment, Balliol's Lindsay Bar.

Patrick is in his second year studying French and German at Exeter. His involvement in the Oxford drama scene has so far been mostly limited to supporting his friends' various endeavours with boundless enthusiasm, but performed in a cuppers production of 'Johnny, don't jump!', two performances with Exeter's own improv group 'Invisible Theatre' for the Turl Street Arts Festival this year and last, and produced Exeter's summer play last trinity, 'The Real Inspector Hound'. A passion for musical theatre has, however, always simmered beneath the surface, and he still cherishes his memories of being an over made-up sailor in a school production of 'Anything Goes'; he is thrilled about at last getting in touch with his inner diva in Swing! When not treading the boards, he enjoys lounging around, pissing about and the odd instance of social and moral transgression.

Andrew is a second year Classics student at New College. Although Swing! marks his musical début in Oxford, he has performed in Anthony and Cleopatra and Philoctetes. He is a man of few words, so he’ll leave it there, thank you very much.

Kit is a second year classicist at Exeter. Fresh from MODS, his turn to musical theatre is a new one, but, in his time at Oxford, he has been involved in plays for college, including “The Real Inspector Hound” (TT07), and two “Invisible Theatre” productions (HT07, HT08), as well as the new play, “The Chicken Farmer”, for OUDS (MT08). In these he has played, respectively, a womanizing cad, a wife beater, a member of a dangerous cult, and a Nazi, so he is justifiably worried that he has been typecast as a villain at such an early stage in his career, like John Malkovich was. Kit is therefore grateful and lucky to have landed the role of Norman in Swing! - an essentially harmless working husband with a penchant for lobbing shoes at people’s heads.

Adam Alexander Orlando Grant, a second year studying Russian at New College, keeps musical theatre permanently enslaved in his cacophonous dungeon of talents, alongside air hockey and data entry. After receiving a standing ovation for his single, beautifully-delivered line “Are you hurt?” in the otherwise dull ‘Crimes Passionels’ at the Oxford Playhouse, Orlando went on to direct ‘Shopping and Fucking’ for Drama Cuppers, only to be cruelly overlooked for the shortlist for forbidding full penetration during the climactic anal rape sequence. In Michaelmas 2007, Adam co-directed the roaringly successful ‘Mojo’, which was universally praised for its ‘FHM-esque’ violence and prolific swearing. His most recent role was as vegetable-vendor Sean in the pantomime The Emperor’s New Clothes (MTO7) which frequently required him to raise one eyebrow.

Meg’s daytime job is fight street crime and injustice. Whilst not pepper-spraying in the eyes of dark-souled little-old-lady beaters, she does however enjoy a good dabble in musical theatre. She is increasingly aware, however, of directors’ tendencies to cast her as the ‘gimpy (but loveable) female’ and suspect this might be on account of the way that she runs. She is a second year History and Politics student and the former president of a cappella group the Oxford Belles, and current JCR president of Corpus Christi college, where she enjoys the sweet taste of power, authority and diet coke (during JCR meetings.) After her role as the 33-year-old virgin Marigold in Kiddy Fiddler on the Roof last year, Meg is delighted to be making a return to the stage as another female with a floral name.

Hannah is a second year PPE-ist at Worcester, and has taken full advantage of the opportunity to 'work' whilst 'watching' cricket and sunbathing by the lake. She has chosen Swing! as her opportune moment to make her Oxford stage debut, having spent previous terms maintaining her sanity via the Bridge and Alpha bar. Citing musicals as outlining her childhood, she is excited to appear in one based on her native North London; all elements of her youth combined.

Hana Chambers is a first year English student at New College. To the distress of her tutors she has followed in the footsteps of her college mother Lauren to become A Thespian. She made her Oxford acting debut in the delightfully-named New College Cuppers play ‘Sugartits’, followed by a part as the female lead Alice in ‘The Desert of the Real’. Last term she was assistant director of a new translation of Jean Paul Sartre’s ‘Huis Clos’, which was all very cerebral, however she is really perfectly happy to abandon existentialism in favour of a bit of razzmatazz and borderline-tasteful innuendo.

Sarah's involvement in Swing! marks her acting début in Oxford, and indeed the world at large. For the role of Mini House-wife No. 3, Sarah was asked to lose 40 pounds. She responded with quiet dignity.

Daniella is a second year Law student at New College. Daniella loves being uncool, playing weird avant-guarde music on her recorder and tootling very long baroque works on her flute. She also loves pretending to be cool by singing; she has been a member of the jazz band ‘About Time’ and the a capella group ‘The Oxford Alternotives’. Daniella has played in lots of prestigious venues, ranging from the Royal Albert Hall to BBC’s ‘Blue Peter’ to pavements throughout Europe. She burst onto the Oxford musical scene in MT07 as a cheeky farm-girl in a pantomime production of ‘The Emperor’s New Clothes’.

In between keeping Topshop in business and terrorising kebab van owners, Olivia manages to squeeze in an English degree. Although this is the first musical jamboree she has been involved in, she enjoys indulging her inner hippy; organising and performing in various Open Mic nights at college as well as contributing to a couple of student newspapers. She is currently helping to organise an Arts Festival at her college, so catch her strumming and humming around town.

Guy is an English student currently in his second year at Exeter College. Clinging desperately to comedy, he has appeared in Tom Stoppard's 'The Real Inspector Hound' and produced 'Be My Baby' in Hilary 2008, but his favourite role so far has been that of Mr Bolmondley in 'Kiddy Fiddler on the Roof'. When not playing caricatures of himself, Guy is involved in student journalism and finds himself in the occasional lecture (but rarely in the subject he studies).

Oxford loves Jonathan. Often found treading the fine line between genius, adonis, artiste, and socialite, he is also partial to sushi, exhibitionism, and Dr Seuss as well as to compound-nouns, the majority of which seem to describe his understandably few bad habits: condiment-over-application and auto-coiffure are among the best. Despite being blessed with this superfluity of talents, Jonathan is still wonderfully capable of acting with sincere humility, and can often be found walking in public to allow the prole to familiarise themselves with greatness. It was no surprise that, during a recent mobile disco outside the Radcliffe Camera, he was named the Power of Heart when the human components of Captain Planet were being assigned, nor indeed that his blood type is A+. Among his other credentials, he is a third year choral scholar at New College reading Classics, and warns you that his life is an unbearably incessant string of trendy obligations. Finally, his part in the play is similar to him only insofar as they are both internationally successful. Fact.

David, despite playing the role of a thirteen year old boy in this production, is actually quite a geriatric of the Oxford stage, having been hanging around the university for nearly four years now. While at Oxford he has performed in a number of musicals namely: West Side Story, Kiss Me Kate, Grease, The Boyfriend and Kiddy Fiddler on the Roof where he has played a consistent line of parts involving dorky or repressed youths. More recently he also tried to do a ‘proper’ play, appearing in The Merchant of Venice, where he was pleased to find that Shakespeare can also descend into a level of debauchery not too dissimilar from North London tennis wives. In the future David would like to grow up and get a job; or, failing that, continue to act out a vision of demented puberty.

"What she lacks in vocals, she makes up for with sheer volume" - The Cherwell

 

Anna Mrowiec is in her second year at Oriel studying English. Having been nominated for the Best Actress Award at Cuppers last year with The Bald Prima Donna, Anna decided that she was to lazy to pursue an acting career. Fortunately, being a close, personal friend of the director, she was offered a part in Swing! that she could never have obtained based on talent. She turns in an average performance, and is certainly worth coming to see in action.

"Fairly good" - The Oxford Student