Frankie Godliman
Frankie is RDG's most experienced actress, amazingly having appeared in 120 RDG productions. She joined the group as a young teenager in the late 60s as Frances Santon. Since then she has played a huge gallery of roles ranging from the disabled child in A Day In The Death Of Joe Egg to the ancient millionairess in The Visit. In addition she has appeared in most of our musicals. She made an affecting Sally Bowles in Cabaret and a delightful Eliza in My Fair Lady. At drama festivals she has won numerous Best Actress Awards - notably in Agnes of God and Fool for Love. In 2000 she played one of Lear's Daughters which won the British Final in 2000 and played at Monaco in the International Festival. She was also part of the cast of Bed which represented England at the British Finals at Inverness in 2002.
Married to our chief set builder, John Godliman, Frankie contributes greatly to the success of RDG in her key role as group secretary. Frankie crowned a very successful 2002 by winning the Best Actress Award at the Spelthorne Festival for her role in "Talk to me like the Rain", part of the Tennessee Williams presentation - Till I Fall Off, while in 2003 she made a strong emotional impact in Passion Play followed by her performance in Losers which was awarded the Best Actress Cup at the Woking Festival, the fifth time Frankie has won this prestigious trophy.
In 2004 she was part of the cast of the Woking Festival, winning production of the original play The Allotment. She played the astringent Eleanor in the comedy Dead Funny and began 2006 with her appearance in the multi-award winning festival producion of And Go To Innisfree. In 2007 she appeared in our notable production of Breaking The Code following which she made a highly theatrical Judith Bliss in Coward's Hay Fever. Contrast came again with her next moving performance - as Evelyn in Kindertransport. More recently she garnered yet more acting awards firstly for her many-layered performance in the festival-winning But Yesterday which was followed by her remarkable performance in The King.
In 2009 Frankie gave one of her best comedy performances as the drink-befuddled Arabella in our sell-out production of RolePlay followed by another great comedy performance in Who Was Hilary Maconochie? which won her the Best Actress Cup at Spelthorne Drama Festival. She retained the same trophy in 2010 for her accurate portrayal of the waspish Coral Browne in An Englishman Abroad. In 2011 she made it a hat trick by again winning the Best Actress Trophy at Spelthorne Festival for her remarkable, emotional performance in A Kind of Alaska. The previous week she had won a similar award at the prestigious Woking Festival. Nine months later the haunting A Kind of Alaska won the British All-Winners Festival in Blackburn.
In 2012 Frankie gave a performance - both funny and touching - as the bereaved Annie in Calendar Girls. She was awarded the Best Actress trophy at 2014 Spelthorne Festival for playing the hugely demanding central role in the winning production of Definitely the Bahamas. 2015 began with her performance as a complex therapist in Seven Year Twitch. In our celebratory production of The Beggar's Opera she played a delightful waspish Diane Trapes. In 2018 Frankie's sensitive performance as a therapist in Ghost Story won high praise from the adjudicator at the Woking Drama Festival.
The following year was gave a wonderful performances the waspish self-centred queen bee in our popular comedy Humble Boy. After the Covid hiatus Frankie added another Best Actress Trophy to her credit for her vibrant performance in the physical theatre play 100 at the 2021 Woking Drama Festival. In 2022 she played the despairing mother of the title character in Uncle Vanya and the following year she played the heartfelt central title role in our award-winning production of Albertine in Five Times In 2024 she played a delightful Aunt Julians in the Ibsen classic Hedda Gabler
For many years Frankie had been the group's super-efficient secretary.