who we are

multi story was created in 2000 by Bill Buffery and Gill Nathanson inspired by their visits to Canadian Fringes and building on years of touring experience in the UK.

As the name implies, multi story are centrally concerned with the enduring power of story - and with communicating the richness of the old stories to new audiences, both young and old.

Gill Nathanson trained as a Drama Teacher and worked with some of the UK's top Education and Community theatre companies before joining Orchard Theatre Company in 1989.  As well as playing leading roles with the company, she ran three Youth Theatres and an extensive workshop programme.

Gill made a starring debut as Puss in Boots at her Primary School in the Wirral. She trained at Bretton Hall in Yorkshire but then headed southwards and set up camp in Devon. Which led, inevitably, to work with England's leading TIE company at The Belgrade, Coventry, and in Wales with Theatr Powys.

She eventually found gainful employment in Devon with Plymouth based Rent-a-Role and in 1989 started an 11 year association with Orchard Theatre Company.

For Orchard Theatre she played Mrs Linde in A Doll's House, Sonya in Uncle Vanya, the title role in Medea, the bride in Surviving Bluebeard, all the women in La Ronde, and a host of other roles in a variety of new work, children's plays and classics.

Gill was also responsible for devising and delivering a comprehensive programme of theatre-skills workshops for schools, colleges and adult groups.  A trained teacher herself, Gill has proved herself particularly adept at developing programmes of activity that sensitively complement the work of teachers.


Education & Training

  • Bretton Hall College 1975-79
  • Full Equity 1982

Physical characteristics

  • Height 5'10" | Build slim
  • Hair brown | Eyes brown

Career details

  • 2000 - present: Co-director multi story theatre company

    Producer, performer and workshop leader.

    Productions: The Firebird, East o'the Sun West o'the Moon, The Golden Key, The Magician's Daughter, Baby Iron Teeth, Tattercoats, Poor Jack, Clever-Clogs & the Cunning Princess, Twelve Wild Ducks, Beauty & the Beast, The Adventures of Perseus, The Labyrinth, Little Brother and Little Sister, Burd Ellen, Jason & the Golden Fleece, Viking Tales and Pandora for young audiences and Medea, Earthly Delights, Cassandra, Dancing with Angels, Surviving Bluebeard, Beast!, Backward Glance, Sealskin, Every Mother's Son, The House Jack Built, Almost Heaven, Digging the Dirt and Pericles - All At Sea for adult audiences.

    Workshops: skills workshops with theatre students; role play with unemployed young people; actor/facilitator in conflict resolution work for the Social Services.

    From 2007 - present: co-director of Barnstaple's Fringe TheatreFest

  • 1989-2000: Performer & Education Officer Orchard Theatre Company
    • The Contract  The Woman (lead)
    • Medea  Medea
    • Ubu Rules  Ma Ubu
    • An Enemy of the People  Katharine
    • La Ronde  all female characters
    • Dead Man's Hat  Cattle Kate
    • A Doll's House  Mrs Linde
    • Uncle Vanya  Sonya
    • A Lady of Letters  Mrs Ruddock
    • Plantation  Pocahontas/Virginia

    directors:Bill Buffery, Zoe Hicks, Georges Verin, Geof Keys, Nigel Bryant


  • 1982-88:  performer with:
  • Rent-a-Role  dir: Sheila Snellgrove, David Oddie
  • Belgrade TIE  dir: Brendan Murray, Stephen Ley
  • Theatr Powys  dir: Bob Tomson, Jonathon Morgan, Jamie Garvin


Films

  • Thursday   Mary   dir: Dan Weldon
  • Tequilla   Julia   dir: James Pounce

Television

  • Down to Earth   Deputy Head   BBC
  • Teachers   Janice   dir: Richard Dale

Audio tapes

  • Beauty & the Beast   Princess Nell
  • The Little Mermaid   Sycorax

Skills

  • singing   good alto
  • instruments   piano (gde 8), accordion, saxaphone
  • sport   swimming, tennis, lacrosse
  • experienced workshop leader
  • good ear for accents
  • clean driving license

Bill Buffery both performed and directed with the Royal Shakespeare Company, was Deputy Director of the National Youth Theatre and was Artistic Director of Orchard Theatre Company for eleven years.

Bill played Narcissus at an impressionable age and has never been the same since.

After six years with the National Youth Theatre, Bill started his professional acting career with the Royal Shakespeare Company. After 5 years treading the boards around the country he joined the full-time staff of the National Youth Theatre, directing a mixture of devised productions, new writing and Shakespeare.

Bill re-joined the RSC in 1987. He directed productions of A Midsummer Night's Dream and Lucy Gannon's writing debut, Keeping Tom Nice. He was also assistant to a number of RSC directors.

In 1989 Bill was appointed Artistic Director of Orchard Theatre Company. Over the next decade he directed 40 productions, acted in 18 of them and wrote or adapted 12.

More than anything he enjoyed the variety - classics, new plays, children's shows, Glastonbury Festival, France and Canada plus the delight of travelling the length and breadth of South West England in all weathers.


Education & Training

  • Perse School 1966-73
  • National Youth Theatre 1972-77
  • Oxford University BA Hons English 1974-77
  • Bell Language School Cambridge/RSA CELTA 2000
  • Full Equity 1977

Physical characteristics

  • Height 5'10"
  • Hair brown | Eyes blue

Career details

  • 2000 - present: Co-director multi story theatre company

    Writing, creating and performing The Firebird, East o'the Sun West o'the Moon, The Golden Key, The Magician's Daughter, Baby Iron Teeth, Tattercoats, Dragon Fish, Poor Jack, Clever-Clogs & the Cunning Princess, Twelve Wild Ducks, Beauty & the Beast, The Adventures of Perseus, The Labyrinth, Little Brother and Little Sister, Burd Ellen and Jason & the Golden Fleece, The Vikings and Pandora for young audiences and Medea, Earthly Delights, Cassandra, Dancing with Angels, Surviving Bluebeard, Beast!, Backward Glance, Sealskin, Every Mother's Son, The House Jack Built, Almost Heaven, Digging the Dirt and Pericles - All At Sea for adult audiences in the UK, the USA, Canada, South America, Norway, Portugal, Czech Republic, Finland and The Ukraine. Theatre skills workshops for students. Inset training.

    From 2007 - present: co-director of Barnstaple's Fringe TheatreFest

  • 1989-2000: Artistic Director Orchard Theatre Company

    Touring mainly in South West England but also nationally and in France and Canada. Directed 40 productions, wrote or adapted 15, and acted in 18. Productions directed included: Frankenstein, Deadman's Hat, Sweeney Todd, Plantation, Surviving Bluebeard, The Contract, Reynard Fox, Fen, The Snow Queen, The Winter's Tale, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Venus & Adonis, Romeo & Juliet, Uncle Vanya, A Doll's House, La Ronde, An Enemy of the People, Ubu Rules, Medea.

  • 1988: director with Royal Shakespeare Company

    Directed productions of A Midsummer Night's Dream and Keeping Tom Nice. Devised an anthology to represent the RSC in Japan.

  • 1987: assistant director with Royal Shakespeare Company

    Assistant to Deborah Warner, Terry Hands, Jonathan Miller, John Caird and Bill Alexander.

  • 1983-1986: Deputy Artistic Director, National Youth Theatre of Great Britain

    Directed 9 productions - a mixture of Shakespeare and new plays - and a variety of workshops with young actors.

  • 1977-1983: Freelance actor and director

    Two years with the Royal Shakespeare Company, seasons at the Nottingham Playhouse, work with repertory companies around the country, a tour with the Royal Court and several leading television roles.

Films

  • Caleb Williams   Herbert Wise   Claridge Films
  • Thursday   Dan Weldon   Tallstories

Television

  • By Common Consent   Ron Daniels   BBC
  • Fast Hands   Alan Clarke   Thames TV
  • The History Man   Rob Knight   BBC
  • No Surrender   Barry Davies   BBC
  • Trial & Retribution IV   Michael Whyte   La Plante Productions
  • The Bill   Brian Parker   Pearson TV
  • Office Gossip   Francis Matthews   BBC