Linda Russell
Linda made her debut appearance with the group in Adult Child/Dead Child, which was selected to represent the area at the Divisional Finals of the All England Theatre Festival. She followed this by playing the challenging role of Frankie Godliman's alter ego in Passion Play. She appeared in our award-winning presentation of The Allotment. and our major presentation of A Little Like Drowning. Linda appeared as a bemused eccentric aunt in The Cripple of Inishmaan following which she appeared in our acclaimed production of Breaking The Code. In Hay Fever she made a deliciously acid Myra Arundel followed, in contrast, with her touching portrayal of the Jewish mother in Kindertransport. She gave a touching performance as the afflicted wife in Broken Glass followed by another giant leap in character and style when she played the vacuous Dee in the popular comedy RolePlay. Linda's comic skills were further exposed when she played Ruth in Calendar Girls in complete contrast to her personification of rectitude in When We Are Married. In 2014 Linda moved into farce when she appeared in the award-winning Alarms - a performance which received high praise from the adjudicator at Elmbridge Festival. The following year she relished playing seven richly contrasted characters in Travels With My Aunt.
Astutely capturing the essential Orton style, Linda's performance in the black comedy Funeral Games won Best Actress nominations at both Woking and Spelthone festivals in 2015. She followed this success by playing one of the emotionally bereft teachers in Quartermain's Terms. In 2017 she gave a touching performance as the matriachal Ardsley family head in For Services Rendered whilst her following year began with her thoughtful performance as the lady's companion in Alan Bennett's People following which Linda gave a devastatingly accurate performance as Margaret Thatcher in our popular comedy Handbagged. In her next role she had to age considerably to play the evil-intending crow-like Corbaccio in our classic comedy Volpone. She followed this by playing the wildly eccentric Lady Bountiful in our period comedy, The Beaux Stratagem.
In 2003 Linda portrayed several very amusing cameos in our multi cast presentation of Under Milk Wood and in contrast followed this by creating a murderous character in our award winning festival play To Know When My Time Will Come.