John Woods

John Woods John built up a raft of experience with the Apollo Players and PMOS before joining Theatre Guild for our 2003 production of Sweet Charity. In 2004 he showed off his dancing skills as a cowboy in our production of Oklahoma! and in 2005 he took on his first minor principal role for the club as the Court Clerk in Hello, Dolly!. In 2006 John returned to play his first major principal role as Harrison Howell in Cole Porter's classic musical Kiss Me Kate and we are delighted that he played his first leading role for Theatre Guild in our 2007 production of The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. John is an active member of our busy Concert Party and in between Theatre Guild shows and concerts has managed to squeeze in the role of Jerry in a West Lothian College production of "Summer Holiday" and several principal roles in various plays and pantomimes for St. Serf's Players in Edinburgh! He has also played a number of principal roles for Leitheatre in Edinburgh. John's first EVER performance was at the tender age of 12 (aw, bless) singing the Skye Boat Song in a high voice for Lourdes Secondary School Choir! Out of the limelight John recently turned his back on a promising career as a (ahem) "Rocket Scientist" for a large defence electronics firm based in Edinburgh to become a lecturer in Electronics at a well known college in Glasgow. John remember's a funny theatre story: Playing the role of Jerry in Summer Holiday I had to disguise myself as an Italian waiter and distract the attention of Don and "the kids" during the wedding scene so that I could steal the keys to a motor scooter. This involved me dancing around in front of them in a Rumba routine shaking a pair of morracas while Stella sang "Theres a Song I Know". when suddeny the top of one of them flew off spilling the beads inside all over the stage. During the gasps from the audience (and cast), I theatrically stopped mid dance, looked at the handle in my hand, did an Italian shrug of my shoulders and threw the handle back over my shoulder, over the heads of the chorus and up to the back of the stage out of harms way. Then keeping a wary eye out for the beads rolling about the stage, started dancing, continued the scene, stole the keys and got off to the safety of the dressing room where I collapsed in hysterical laughter. There was uproar. The audience loved it and never realised how close to disaster we had come!! (John's Secret: despite having signed the Official Secrets Act, John has leaked information to confirm that he is a part-time Jedi Knight and a (not so) closet Trekkie. John also holds classes in the art of "The Italian Shrug" twice weekly!!)