Nathan Taylor

Photographs
The following photos were all taken during "Ape! The Musical", a tale of evolution, set in the middle of a dyptheria outbreak in the Venezuelan rain Forest.
All pictures on this page courtesy of www.gabriellemotola.com

The rollicking first number, "Vivisection" kicks the show off to an energetic start.
(Left to right: Nathan, Lucy Trodd, Ruth Bratt, Adam Meggido,
Oliver Senton, Pippa Evans)

Nathan's villager character, Paco, dares to try the local
witch-doctor's mysterious elixir.
(Left to right: Mike McShane, Adam Meggido, Oliver Senton,
Lucy Trodd, and Nathan.)

As Lawrence, the talking(!) gorilla, Nathan is attacked by the other jungle animals, led by the fearsome Oliver Senton.

Lawrence finds the injured scientist (Pippa) in the jungle, and reveals what has happened to him: he can talk!

Very sick from the deadly infection, Lawrence and the
scientist (Pippa) say a tearful farewell.

Another action shot from the gorilla fight scene, conducted in slow motion, to the beautiful soundtrack of Pippa's Verdi-esque aria.

The jungle creatures torment Pippa's scientist in a Bob Fosse inspired extravaganza.
(Left to right: Oliver Senton, Mike McShane, Nathan,Ruth Bratt, Pippa Evans.)

Lawrence is finally beaten, and succumbs to the other animals' onslaught.
(Left to right: Adam Meggido, Oliver Senton('s back!), Nathan, Mike McShane, Ruth Bratt)

In the early summer of 2008, Nathan found himself getting involved with a group of improvisers, called the Showstoppers. After protesting wildly for as long as he could, he finally relented, and agreed to take part in one of their workshops, and before too much longer, was invited to join the gang for a three-week run of the show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival that August. After just two tryouts in London, at the Hen and Chickens Theatre, and at the Wheatsheaf, Nathan and the rest of the Showstoppers team were Scotland-bound.

The Showstoppers are no ordinary improvisers - with just a few suggestions taken from the audience (title of show, themes, settings, and a few musical genres), they set off and create a complete 80-minute musical, all made up on the spot, including chorus numbers, solos, dance routines, love interests, goodies, baddies, and everything else needed to create a fine piece of musical theatre.

The show ran at the George Square Theatre, in a small porto-cabin venue, as part of the first ever specific Musical Theatre Festival in Edinburgh, where the cast performed seventeen world premieres of brand new musicals in a little under three weeks. No mean feat!
With rave reviews and sell out audiences, the show made its way back to London, to begin a long residency at the prestigious King's Head Theatre in Islington, and can be seen there every Monday night for the foreseeable future (Book early, as tickets are selling fast!)
While in Edinburgh, the Showstoppers were joined by a couple of guest stars, including Dean Haglund, regular cast member on the X-Files, and by Impro stalwart, and Whose Line Is It Anyway favourite, Mike McShane. Mike also visited the cast in London, and took part in the show, Ape! The Musical.
The last five shows in Edinburgh took a slightly different format: with legendary theatre maverick Ken Campbell at the helm, five theatre critics were asked to write reviews of imaginary shows, which were read to the cast on stage, for the first time, in view of the audience. It was then the cast's job to provide the show that the review could have been written about. Much madness and mayhem ensued!

Sadly, the last show that the Showstoppers performed in Edinburgh was to be Ken's last ever public appearance, as he died suddenly, just a week later. Nathan considers it an honour and a privilege to have been just a small part of the great man's career and theatrical heritage.

The Showstoppers cast is made up of a rotating group of performers, including: Adam Meggido, Dylan Emery, Lucy Trodd, Pippa Evans, Ruth Bratt, Oliver Senton, Nathan Taylor, Sean McCann and Phil Pellew. They have been joined onstage by Mike McShane, Dean Haglund, Tim Edwards and the late Ken Campbell. Music is provided variously by James Lovelock, Christopher Ash and Duncan Walsh Atkins.