TTI - Guy Masterson Productions
COMPANY HISTORY 1991 - 2011
Guy Masterson's first company was formed in 1991 as Boy's Own Productions and, two years later, started trading as Guy Masterson Productions. After almost a decade of touring brilliant small-scale theatre domestically and internationally, this expanded into Theatre Tours International Ltd.
In its 30 years, Guy Masterson's Theatre Tours International has become the most highly visible theatre production company at the Edinburgh Fringe and developed a worldwide reputation for presenting small to medium scale, pared down theatre to the highest possible standard. The company name has become synonymous with quality theatre, and the company has developed a large and loyal gloabal audience base.
The list of Edinburgh hits is extensive, many of which have toured domestically and internationally to great acclaim for over 15 years since their inception; Under Milk Wood, Animal Farm, Shylock, Berkoff's Women, Playing Burton and Adolf all rank in the top ten played solo shows of all time worldwide. It's 2009 hit, Morecambe, (co-produced with Feather Productions) became a West End hit and won the Olivier Award for Best Entertainment in 2010.
The overseas shows that it has presented in the UK have been among the hottest shows at their particular festival including Skin Tight, Krishnan's Dairy, Number 2, Horse Country, Americana Absurdum, Goner, Moscow, The Complete Lost Works of Samuel Becket and I, Claudia. The company success culminated iin 2003 in developing one of the biggest festival hits of all time, 12 Angry Men, cast with Stand-up comedians, which smashed all Edinbrugh Fringe broke box office records for theatre and set a trend for big budget shows emulated since with The Odd Couple which Guy Masterson directed for Assembly Theatre.
GMP-TTI is also officially the most highly nominated and awarded non venue based company at the Edinburgh Fringe over the past 18 years accumulating 10 Scotsman Fringe Firsts, 2 Best of the Firsts, 2 Jack Tinker Spirit of the Fringe, 3 Herald Angels, 3 Best Actor Awards (and 25 further nominations) among many other lesser awards.
Internationally, TTI has developed a wide international reputation particularly in Australia where it originated CIT - The Centre For International Theatre in Adelaide - which is dedicated to presenting international works at the Adelaide Fringe. 12 Angry Men, which played in Adelaide and Perth and New Zealand International Festivals was then recast with Australian actors and went on to play Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne in 2005. It won 4 Green Room (Melbourne) Awards and currently holds the box office record for drama in Australia. This tally is a testament to the enduring quality of the work produced and/or presented by the company.
For current touring shows, please click here.
1991: THE BOY'S OWN STORY Nominated: 3 London Fringe Awards: Best Actor, Best Solo Play
1994: PLAYING BURTON * UNDER MILK WOOD
1995: ANIMAL FARM
1996: THE HOUSE OF CORRECTION WINNER: The Stage Award Best Actress 1996 (Beth Fitzgerald)
1997: BYE BYE BLACKBIRD Nominated: The Stage Award, Best Actress 1997 (Beth Fitzgerald) * THE BALLAD OF JIMMY COSTELLO Nominated: The Stage Award, Best Actor '97 (Tim Balme) and LWT Best New Comedy Writing
1998: A SOLDIER'S SONG * SHYLOCK Nominated: The Stage Award, Best Actor 1998 (Gareth Armstrong) - HOLLYWOOD SCREAMS TALKIN' TURKEYS * SKIN TIGHT WINNER: The Scotsman Fringe First Award 1998
1999: ADOLF WINNER: Spirit Of The Fringe Award 1998, Nominated: The Stage Award, Best Actor 1997 (Pip Utton) * BERKOFF'S WOMEN Nominated: The Stage Award, Best Actress 1999 (Linda Marlowe) * KRISHNAN'S DAIRY WINNER: The Scotsman Fringe First Award 1999; Nominated: The Stage Award, Best Actor 1999 (Jacob Rajan) * THE DEVIL AND BILLY MARKHAM * BARE
2000: ALL WORDS FOR SEX Nominated: The Stage Award Best Actress (Jules Leyser) * AMERICANA ABSURDUM WINNER: The Scotsman Fringe First Award 2000, Nominated: The Stage Award Best Ensemble 2000 * I KISSED DASH RIPROCK!!! * NO.2 WINNER: The Scotsman Fringe First Award 2000, Nominated: The Stage Award Best Actress.
2001: ANIMAL FARM * CASTRADIVA * FERN HILL & OTHER DYLAN THOMAS WINNER: Stage Award Best Actor 2001 (Guy Masterson) * HIP HARP FANTASIES * IT WAS HENRY FONDA'S FAULT * MOSCOW * RESOLUTION Nominated: The Stage Award Best Actor 2001 (Pip Utton) * SLAPS 'N' TICKLES
2002: A SLIGHT TILT TO THE LEFT * OLEANNA * FILLER UP! * THE COMPLETE LOST WORKS OF SAMUEL BECKETT * HORSE COUNTRY WINNER: The Scotsman Fringe First Award 2002, BEST OF THE FIRSTS 2002, The Herald Angel (John Clancy), The Stage Award Best Actor 2002 (Dave Calvitto) * CINCINNATI WINNER: The Scotsman Fringe First Award 2002, Jack Tinker Memorial Spirit Of The Fringe Award (Nancy Walsh), Nominated: The Stage Award Best Actress 2002 (Nancy Walsh) * GONER * GOERING'S DEFENCE * INTIMACY
2003: 12 ANGRY MEN WINNER: The Strathmore Audience Award, Nominated: The Stage Award Best Ensemble 2003 * RED HAT & TALES Nominated: The Stage Award Best Actor 2003 (Nick salamone) * BLOWING IT * UNDER MILK WOOD WINNER: Jack Tinker Memorial Spirit Of The Fringe Award (Guy Masterson), Nominated: The Stage Award Best Actor 2003 (Guy Masterson) * THE STORY OF FUNK, * RETURN JOURNEY
2004: 12 ANGRY MEN toured to International Festivals of Perth (Australia) Adelaide and New Zealand. UNDER MILK WOOD resumed touring nationally after a 6 month hiatus, and Guy Masterson resurrected ANIMAL FARM for one performance at the Edinburgh Fringe. Guy also directed Rainer Hersh in BORGE AGAIN! to great acclaim and put together ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST (starring Christian Slater and Mackenzie Crook) which went on to two West End seasons. In September Guy Masterson returned to Australia to direct an all star Australian cast production 12 ANGRY MEN (OZ) which played in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne to universal acclaim and won three Melbourne Greenroom Awards for Most Outstanding Production, Best Direction & Best Supporting Actor (Alex Menglet) It was also nominated for a prestigious Helpman Award for Best Play.
2005: UNDER MILK WOOD toured variously domestically and internationally, culminating in a successful week of performances at The Bloomsbury Theatre in London. Guy Masterson also directed THE ODD COUPLE with Bill Bailey and several of the cast of 12 Angry Men of 2003 - which became the most successful show in Edinburgh History - He also directed SWIFT with Jeffrey Mayhew.
2006: UNDER MILK WOOD toured to the Adelaide International Fringe Festival, all over Holland with Ruud de Graff and continued touring variously throughout the UK. Guy Masterson also directed LEVELLAND, Rich Hall's debut play (both as a playwright and an actor) for the Melbourne International Comedy Festival and Edinburgh Fringe. He also directed COOKING WITH PUCCINI with Jeffrey Mayhew and presented a new production of ANIMAL FARM starring Gary Shelford.
2007: UNDER MILK WOOD returned to the Adelaide International Fringe Festival together with FERN HILL & OTHER DYLAN THOMAS & ANIMAL FARM. All played to sell-out crowds at the award winning Holden Street Theatre. Edinburgh Fringe 2007 Saw us presenting 7 shows including 3 world premieres... ARNOLD WESKER'S THE MISTRESS, FOLLOW ME, AN AGE OF ANGELS, ADOLF, AMERICAN POODLE, UNDER MILK WOOD (it's 5th Edinburgh) and PLAYING BURTON (10th anniversary edition and 3rd festival) All the shows received 5 star reviews, but this year's two runaway critical successes were Follow Me (which won a Herald Angel Award, The Fringereview.com Teapot and yet another Best Actress nomination for Beth Fitzgerald) and Playing Burton.
2008: UNDER MILK WOOD returned to the Adelaide International Fringe Festival for a 3rd successive season together with FOLLOW ME, and PLAYING BURTON. The shows were all critically successful and cemented the company's reputation at the World's 2nd biggest festival event. At Edinburgh 2008 we presented 6 shows including 3 World Premieres and 2 European Premieres. SCARAMOUCHE JONES was our big success, closely followed by VINCENT which was nominated for Best Solo Performance in the Stage. ABSOLUTION was a huge critical success for Owen O'Neill, REASONABLE DOUBT, WEIGHTS and YASSER also received a strong smattering of four and five star reviews. Click here for details. We also revived OLEANNA for a limited UK tour with Australian actresss Joanne Hartstone opposite Guy Masterson.
2009: OLEANNA played very successfully at the Adelaide International Fringe Festival. Guy Masterson also revived his performance of ANIMAL FARM for 3 Australian performances in Adelaide & Brisbane. Edinburgh 2009 was another ambitious affair presenting 6 shows. MORECAMBE and AUSTEN'S WOMEN were the two runaway sell-outs. Guy Masterson appeared in THE SOCIABLE PLOVER. SCARAMOUCHE JONES returned for a gala performance. And Justin Butcher directed two political pieces, THE STATE WE'RE IN and GO TO GAZA, DRINK THE SEA. Morecambe embarked on a limited National Tour prior to opening in London's West End on December 9th - where it triumphed and won Olivier Award nominations for Best Actor in a Musical or Entertainment and Best Entertainment.
2010: Saw us create CIT ADELAIDE - The Centre for International Theatre at the 2010 Adelaide Fringe, were we presented 8 shows: AUSTEN'S WOMEN, THE SOCIABLE PLOVER. SCARAMOUCHE JONES, THE EVENT, BULLY, UNDER MILK WOOD, FERN HILL and WEIGHTS. The season was a terrific success with David Calvitto winning the Adelaide Fringe Award for Best Performance, Scaramouche Jones winning a nomination for Best Production. The Sociable Plover won the plaudit, Most Popular Show in the Sunday Mail. Back in the UK, Austen's Women ran for three critically acclaimed weeks at the Leicester Square Theatre, MORECAMBE toured over 200 times throughout the country and it picked up the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Entertainment plus another nomination for Bob Golding in the best performance category! At Edinburgh 2010 we presented 6 shows including World Premieres of I, ELIZABETH, LONG LIVE THE KING and UK Premieres of I CLAUDIA (Canada) and A SOLITARY CHOICE(Australia). and in the autumn, Morecambe embarked on an 8 week number one tour before retiring after over 280 performances in 18 months! Under Milk Wood, Austen's Women and Fern Hill also played at the Metropolitan Theatre Ensemble in Kansas City.
2011: Guy Masterson premiered his new show, SHYLOCK this time with its originator, Gareth Armstrong, directing. In Feburary, the Second Season of CIT ADELAIDE was a huge critical success. We presented 10 shows: I, ELIZABETH, PHOENIX RISING, AMERICAN POODLE, GOERING'S DEFENCE, OLEANNA, ADOLF, SHYLOCK, THE SIX SIDED MAN, MUSSOLINI, and SMILER (Click HERE For details) SHYLOCK played at Edinburgh 2011 and garnered Guy Masterson his fourth nomination for Best Solo Performer for the Stage.
TOURING: Guy Masterson, his artistes and affiliates have toured nationally since 1991 and internationally since 1995 to over 75 destinations worldwide including International Festivals of Adelaide, New Zealand, Perth, Jerusalem, Albania, Armenia, Toronto, Belfast & Sligo; Other countries visited include; Albania, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Canada, Colombia, Estonia, France, Greece, Holland, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Israel, FYR Macedonia, New Zealand, The Philippines, Poland and Singapore. The company has also developed extensive ties with Australian and New Zealand Theatre presenting some of the finest Australian and New Zealand works at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival since 1997.
