Click here for our 2010 Diary

Inspiration Theatre Company:

Was formed in 2003 with the production of Willy Russell’s play version of Blood Brothers which featured Ben Hartley and Jooles Morrison. Jooles later went on to resurrect the company after the departure of Ben.  

Jooles enlisted the help of John Elliott and Siobhan Hill to help with the production of Wizard of Oz, funding came from the Peel Pantoloons for this one off production. It soon became clear throughout the run that Inspiration Theatre Company or ITC, as it’s become known, were a force to be reckoned with and there was definitely a hole in the market for a new theatre company in Peel.  

Jooles, John and Siobhan approached the Peel Centenary Centre with a plan of producing three different show a year, shows that would attached all ages and target key audiences. We settled on a “Musicals” show, a summer family musical and a comedy play. During our summer production of Oliver it became clear that we needed an extra pair of hands to help out with, the administration side of the operation. Cathy Lord was the clear choice for this position; she is still with us today. Four directors strong we trundled through another year of productions. Through the production of Musicality one member of the cast really stood out, he was helpful and a dab hand with the technical support of the show. We wasted no time and got him on board too!  

So there are now five directors to ITC… 
Jooles Morrison       Artistic Director/ Sales and Marketing 
Siobhan Hill            Financial Director
John Elliott             Musical Director 
Catherine Lord        Administrative Director
Mike O’Neill            Stage Manager and Technical Director  

So, our story continues…The Centenary Centre decided to take a chance on us and we became the in-house theatre company. A chance that has been a massive success as we are still in partnership to this day.  

In 2009 ITC celebrated its 5th Birthday, so we must be doing something right! We have followed the same format and produced a whopping 12 different productions to date. The majority directed by its original member Jooles Morrison.   

It’s wonderful to see the Company going from strength to strength. Looking back at our productions over the years you can see how we have aged well. Little things like, in our first production we had just a piano and drums to our last production where we had a five piece band. Feedback we received from members of other theatre companies, the turn out to our auditions and the recognition we are getting from the public. Its wonderful to see and I hope the five of us can keep it together and make it work in the same way, if not better for the next five years. 

This is how each director became a part of Inspiration Theatre Company.
		Jooles Morrison: was asked to play the part of Linda in Blood Brothers, ITC first production. After this production the then director Ben Hartley moved to London . Jooles later put the company back together with a production of Wizard of Oz. Jooles has directed and choreographed most of ITC productions to date. She has also played lead roles such as Audrey in Little Shop and Nancy in Oliver! She likes to have cameo in all her productions and as played parts such as the murder hand and the voice of god and can usually be heard at the start of shows doing the introduction.
		Siobhan Hill Siobhan, like John and Jooles, is one of the original three who started the theatre group with the success of Wizard of Oz.  At that time, she was approached by Jooles to take on administration, accounting and assisting directing for ITC which she thoroughly enjoyed and has continued to do so.  Siobhan has since gone on to star in many of the plays and also directed one.  She is often used an assistant director due to her keen eye and her crowd control abilities.
		John Elliott  John Elliott was approached by Jooles as she knew he had possession of a script that she wanted to use.  When she asked if the script and he said yes, providing he does the music for the show!  Much to Jooles delight!  John has been with ITC ever since and has played and conducted for every musical
		Cathy Lord: Cathy got involved with Inspiration when she turned up to auditions with her daughter for the Wizard of Oz in 2006.  Having stayed and watched the auditions she decided she would like to give it a go and auditioned for a place in the chorus.  Later she was given a speaking part in ‘Five Blue Haired Ladies’ and has played several parts since which have included principal roles including her recent role as Elaine in ’Evil in Tents’.  With her background in administration she proved to be useful with helping out with the paperwork for Inspiration and became the Secretary in 2007.  Later on in the year she was asked to become a Director in charge of the administration side of productions.
		Mike O’Neill … by day he is a theatre technician at Nobles Hospital and in the evening he’s back in the theatre here at the Centenary centre.  He first became involved with inspiration when he took his daughter to the auditions for Wizard of Oz.  After watching the rehearsals he became involved with helping to build the scenery.  One thing led to another and  he was eventually asked to become a director looking after the stage side of Inspiration’s productions.  After many successful shows he caught the acting bug and has since appeared in several of our productions.

With thanks to photographer Liam Reynolds, we now have a picture gallery 
of some of our recent productions. Click on any of the following to view  
Musicality  -  Murdered to Death  -  Anne of Green Gables