John Bett is an actor, writer, director. A founding member of 7:84, with The Cheviot, The Stag and The Black, Black Oil, he appeared in many other plays by John McGrath including Border Warfare and Satire of the Four Estates. Another play, Oranges and Lemons was specially written for him and was performed at the Mickery Theatre, Amsterdam and the Studio, Birmingham Rep. He directed a revival of The Cheviot for Wildcat, The Silver Darlings, Oh What A Lovely War and The Jolly Beggars. Other directing includes Macbeth on Inchcolm, Queen Margaret at Dunfermline Abbey, an open-air Pageant at Aberdeen and a raft of shows at Oran Mor including 5 written by him: Laughing at the Fuhrer, Night Hawks, According to Ben, Shirred Eggs, Ocean Swell.
As an actor his recent credits include Jury Play (Traverse,October 2017), Waiting For Godot at Royal Lyceum Edinburgh (Winner of Best Production and Best Ensemble – June 2016), Uncle Vanya at West Yorkshire Playhouse, The Devil Masters (Traverse), Dalgety (Young Vic/ Òran Mór), The Enquirer, (NTS), Hamlet (Shakespeare’s Globe), The Bacchae (Rose Theatre New York) and The Drawer Boy (Finborough) which earned an OFF West End Nomination. Other nominations were for Christmas Carol (Royal Lyceum) The Government Inspector (Communicado), receiving Best Actor for Scenes from an Execution (Dundee Rep)
He appeared at National Theatre in Remembrance of Things Past has done several shows with the Italian Theatre Company La Zattera di Babele in Rome and Sicily, worked with an Aboriginal Theatre company in Glasgow and London, and directed a promenade production in Athens.
He has appeared in a dozen international films, most recently, Not Another Happy Ending and Tamara Drewe.
Perhaps best known for his years in Scotch and Wry, and the sit com, Rude Health. Recent Television appearances include Father Brown and the forthcoming A Very English Scandal.
His own plays have been performed in all the major theatres in Scotland. A Happy Medium had an extensive tour of England and Northern Ireland. His large-scale production Para Handy was an Eden Court production which toured to Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen. Pitlochry Festival Theatre mounted a revival in October 2017.His work with Dorothy Paul (7 shows in all) received a BAFTA Light Entertainment Award and one of his shows for Fiona Kennedy, The Kist, has appeared in various venues in the UK and in Tartan Week in the Upper West Side New York.
He is presently directing a Music in the Community show which will be performed in the Playfair Library and Edinburgh University Quad.
Two films he features in, No End to Enderby and The Muse, will be shown in Kelvingrove Art Gallery in Glasgow in the spring.,John trained in Scotland and is a recipient of the prestigious Ian Bannen Memorial Award for best actor, he is also a fellow of The Royal Society of Arts.
Recent West End work has included the roles of Msr. Lefevre and Don Attilio in The Phantom of the Opera (Her Majesty’s Theatre, West End), He also covered and played the role of Andre in the same production and John was later delighted to be asked to perform in The Phantom 25th Anniversary Concert at The Royal Albert Hall. Previous to this, he had played the leading man role of Tony Tee, in the West End production of Shout! The swinging Sixties Musical (West End) John is also a regular performer at The Other Palace Theatre in London having most recently played Brad in Cult!and Fredrick Meyrick in The 43 Club.
Recent TV work has seen him play the roles of Richard Williams in Silent Witnessand Alex McRanald in Doctors, both for the BBC. Other TV work has included: Oscar Farrell in River City(BBC) and Leo Miller in the Bafta award winning series five of Still Game(BBC).,Gordon Cree was born in Ayrshire, Scotland and was classically trained in singing and piano at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. In a career that has now entered its third decade, he has been able to maintain an active career both in the entertainment industry and in several areas of the classical music world.
He has entertained throughout the world in theatre and cabaret, including three seasons in the Stardust Room at the Nevele Grande Hotel in New York, bookings in France, Germany, Sweden, Canada and the USA and is a favourite aboard the world’s leading luxury cruise liners.
In classical music, he is frequently to be found in opera, oratorio, recital and concert throughout the world, as well as being a very popular guest performer with choirs, orchestras and music clubs throughout the UK. He is also in some considerable demand as a conductor and orchestral arranger/orchestrator, having conducted and arranged for many leading orchestras, including the BBC Concert Orchestra, the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, the Halle Orchestra, The BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, The Scottish Chamber Orchestra, the Orchestra of Scottish Opera, the Scottish Concert Orchestra, The Scottish Festival Orchestra, The National Youth Orchestra, The Auckland Philharmonia (New Zealand) and the Adelaide Sinfonia (Australia).
Throughout his career, he has regularly to have been found supporting such artistes as Moira Anderson, Marilyn Hill Smith, Kenneth McKellar, Roy Hudd, Jane McDonald, Elaine C. Smith and American opera legend, Marilyn Horne. He has frequently performed before most of the principal members of the British royal family, as well as foreign royalty.
He is married to leading Scottish classical mezzo-soprano, Cheryl Forbes, with whom he works frequently either as co-singer, accompanist or conductor, and they live near Glasgow.
