Roy Selfe
With over 80 RDG productions to his credit. Roy was one of our most experienced actors. Since he burst on our stage playing the flamboyant Bobby in The Boy Friend in 1970, he played a wonderful gallery of rich characters. These ranged fron Sir in The Dresser to Professor Higgins in My Fair Lady and from Billy Flynn in Chicago to old Jack in Dancing at Lughnasa.
A much-loved role which Roy made his own was Fagin which he played in both our productions of Oliver! but he made an equally memorable M.C. in Oh What a Lovely War (again playing the role in both our presentations) and Garry Essendine in Present Laughter.
In festivals he gave a wonderfully bitter/funny performance in the title role of Orton's The Good and Faithful Servant (1). An Orton expert he also appeared in our award -winning productions of The Erpingham Camp, Entertaining Mr Sloane and What the Butler Saw.
Roy won the Best Actor Award at the 1976 Guildford Drama Festival for his performance as Birdboot in our first production of The Real Inspector Hound 1.
In addition Roy directed ten productions for the group - notably Hobson's Choice, Tom Jones (1) and When We Are Married 1.
Roy was seen in our festival-winning production of Bed which won the English Final in 2002. He played his 75th role with the group as Johnny Pateenmike in The Cripple of Inishmaan, a performance which illustrated brilliantly Roy's great gift for comedy. From rural Ireland Roy then moved into Mandarin Chinese for his hilarious apearance in Thoroughly Modern Millie. At the 2008 Leatherhead Festival he was nominated for Best Actor for his very funny performance in Obituaries. He then 'crossed the Atlantic' for his role as the honest old farmer Giles Corey in our notable production of The Crucible. Roy made his 80th RDG appearance in our festival play The Cagebirds. He made his distinctive mark in a couple of cameo roles in Tom Jones (2) following which he made a wonderfully eccetric rustic in Cold Comfort Farm.
Roy's health declined in 2013 and he decided he would give up performing on stage although he continued to give the occasional talk to various local societies about his life in the performing arts. At the 2013 Annual General Meeting of RDG a photobook was presented to him containing around 100 photographs of productions he was in or directed over the years.
Sadly, Roy died in the summer of 2014. As a tribute to his talents and interests, a tribute show was performed at the Social Hall in Englefield Green. The Joy of Roy was performed by members of RDG, Hatton Operatic Group and Roy's family and friends. It was a warm and joyful production to celebrate the life of a true man of the theatre.