Calamus

Ralph is a Dutch actor and playwright who trained at Meisner Toneelacademie ('14 - '17). After graduating, Ralph pursued his love of theatre by doing classic plays, including Wilde's 'The Importance Of Being Earnest' and Chekov's 'The Seagull,' and more contemporary pieces such as 'Noises Off,' by Michael Frayn. In 2020, he created Strike Me Pink Productions and wrote his first full-length play 'Peanut Pie - A Queer Tragicomedy.'

Pádraig is an Irish/Belgian actor based in Rotterdam. After attending performing arts school in Belgium, and appearing as Chinche in Muerto! (Judas Theaterproducties) and Kleine Jan in 14-18 (Studio 100) he attended The Lir National Academy of Dramatic Art in Dublin, completing a foundation course in Acting and Theatre. He then received his Bachelor degree in Music Theatre from Codarts University of the Arts in Rotterdam in 2022. In 2021/2 he was the swing and cover for Young Prince Charles in the Medialane musical Diana & Zonen. He has appeared as the recurring character Florian in the 4th season of Hunter Street (Nickelodeon) and played the role of Peter in the feature film The Pod Generation (Scope Pictures) which premiered at Sundance Film Festival. He has dubbed many voice over roles in Flemish, including: Kleine Kristoff in Frozen, Kardez in Strange World, Buck in The Good Dinosaur, Nico in Elena of Avalor (all for Disney) and Pete in My Parents are Aliens (ITV).

Anna graduated with a degree in Film & Theatre Studies from her native New Zealand and has spent the last 15 years nurturing her performance skills in Sydney, Vancouver, London, and now Amsterdam. After a break from acting she returned to the stage in 2022 performing with InPlayers ('Silver Wedding'), Downstage Left ('Womberang') and their joint production of 'It's a Wonderful Life'.

Keith is originally from Oldham in the North of England, and currently works as a Drama teacher at the British School of Amsterdam. He has been in the Netherlands for ten years, and in that time he has performed in a variety of English language productions, including The Wolf & Cinderella's Prince in Happily Ever After's production of 'Into the Woods' and Algernon in QETC's 'The Importance of Being Earnest'. With InPlayers he has appeared in many productions, held the position of Chairperson and also directed & produced the double bill 'The Virtuous Burglar & Silver Wedding'. 'Calamus' is Keith's first show with Strike Me Pink, and he is really proud to be part of this exciting, queer project.

Ken graduated from the Drama Centre in London and has been based in the Netherlands for several decades. During that time he's played in a wide range of productions for companies such as InPlayers, Orange Tee Group, Mike's Badhuistheater Group, and was also a part of Strike Me Pink's first production 'Peanut Pie'.

Lara is a Dutch actress who graduated from the Fontys Hogeschool voor de Kunsten in 2011. Since then, she has worked as an actress/dancer/singer and voice-over. Among others she has appeared on tv shows such as “Flikken Rotterdam”, “Morten”, “De Zaak Menten” and “Celblok H” and filmed the Dutch movie “Net als in de Film”. She starred in Strike Me Pink's first production, Peanut Pie, as Ruth Evans and is thrilled to be back on stage with Calamus as Virginia!

Shirley was born and raised in Malta. She discovered a strong passion for the theatre during her early teens which led her to study and graduate from the national theatre academy in Malta, followed by a diploma at LAMDA. She has played lead roles at the National Theatre such as ‘Twelfth Night’, ‘King Lear’, ‘Macbeth’, ‘Merchant of Venice’, ‘God of Carnage’, ‘The Lady of the Sea’, ‘A Touch of Spring’ and many more. She has also played in various local television series and sitcoms. Shirley was a founding member of Faces Theatre Group and later Troupe18:45. In 2013 she moved to The Netherlands and was active in the theatre scene playing in ‘Mother Courage’, ‘Love in a Rain Barrel’, ‘Allo Allo’, ‘Straight and narrow’, and ‘That’s not what happened’. ‘Calamus’ is Shirley’s return to the stage after the Covid-19 hiatus.

Hugh is an Amsterdam-based teacher and actor who has experience with several English-speaking theatre productions, having done two shows apiece with InPlayers, Orange Theatre Company and Strike Me Pink Productions, and one with Queen's English Theatre. His character in our previous production, 'Peanut Pie', was so evil that some audience members refused to speak to him afterwards; he is hoping the much kindlier role of Dr. Robert Baugh in Calamus will undo the damage.

Robert Jan is an actor who started his career at the age of three. He is best known for portraying the role of the Mayor in national commercials for Johma salads. Other commercial credits include work for Duyvis peanuts. Theatre credits include 'The Cherry Garden' (The Netherlands), 'Der Vater' and 'Am Weihnachten' (Germany). Film credits include 'Sam en Moos' (2015), 'Tuut' (2019), 'Noodlot' (2020), 'Fases' (2020). TV credits include 'Klokhuis', 'Welkom in…', & the remake of 'Floris'.