Tel: 07714 333 659

E-mail: cribhut@yahoo.co.uk

Chris was surrounded by performance from an early age, with his first on-stage appearance from inside the womb as his mother performed ‘Waiting at the Church’ whilst heavily pregnant! Unfortunately, other than a keen interest in going to the theatre, writing his own music and singing with the school choirs, Chris didn’t find the confidence to join the local amateur society and get up on stage to perform until he was sixteen. Soon after this, in the summer of 1998, aged seventeen Chris began to have singing lessons with Paul Kingdon and suddenly discovered the voice he never knew he had. Paul’s wonderful guidance, together with his new found love for theatre performance, quickly had Chris’ future aspirations refocused. After completing his A levels (English, History, Politics and General Studies!), Chris undertook a Btec National Diploma in Performing Arts at The Hub Theatre School, St Austell. From here he successfully auditioned for a place on the BA Hons degree in Performance, Musical Theatre option at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts in London. Chris was kept extremely busy with the rigorous training and performance programme at Mountview, but also managed to become a father to the first of his three wonderful children in Cornwall, get married to his beautiful wife and, in order to finance the regular commute, establish himself as part of a cabaret duo Monsoon working in the South West. During his time at Mountview, Chris explored his own music writing using some of the awesome talent he was surrounded by to practice and polish ideas. But he always felt frustrated that he never ‘did’ anything with these pieces and that they were never shared with, or scrutinized by a larger audience. Having successfully graduated, family commitments and his love for Cornwall saw Chris return in the hope of giving his family a better way of life. Alongside other jobs and becoming Musical Director for Liskeard Musical Theatre Company, he began working as a peripatetic singing teacher for Cornwall College, St Austell and, as opportunities presented themselves, Chris managed to establish himself as a permanent member of the Performing Arts lecturing team. It was only a matter of time before the performer inside of him led Chris to want to be more actively involved in the creative process than simply writing material for others to perform. He now relishes the challenges and opportunities that this new venture, Cribhut Theatre, has in store and hopes that he will finally have an outlet and opportunity for his performance and composition to reach a wider audience…. he just hopes they like it!!