Without Malice Or Ill Will
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Buxton Fringe Guru
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Ray Castleton won the Best Male Actor Award at The Buxton Festival Fringe 2019 for his portrayal of Geoff Marsh. The play was also nominated in the Best Theatre Production category. Geoff Marsh began his working life as a coal miner. Ten years later he became a Police Officer. Ten Years after that he faced his old mates across the picket lines during the year-long strike. A year which became the most bitter and divisive in British industrial history. Here, Geoff tells the personal story of his family, his career and the choices he made during the year that changed everything. The story of a man gripped by the dilemma of the choice between family, friends, community and the duty to his oath and uniform.
"Ray Castleton, both writer and performer, is pitch-perfect. He is every inch the retired policeman, affable yet authoritative - but moving through the events of 1984 he evokes confusion and disbelief at the way policing changes, and officers from outside the community taunt and confront the miners. He moves effortlessly through the gears as his anger surfaces, reflecting on how events take their toll on his community, and his deep and abiding sadness at how he and his family are affected as they become perceived as being on the wrong side."
— Stephen Walker, Buxton Fringe Guru
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