Who We Are

Gavin Payne – Artistic Director

Gavin spent six years as a time-served engineer in a large factory in Norfolk but subsequent redundancy in the mid 80s led to a change in career and he studied drama at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, in Cardiff.

As an actor, his professional credits include tours of ‘Great Expectations’; ‘Aspects of Love’; ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ and ‘As You Like it’ at Regents Park; ‘Eastenders’ and many more besides.

In 1992 Gavin formed Walking Forward Theatre Company, which has grown to be one of the top educational theatre companies in the UK. With the company he has directed and produced a number of shows including ‘Never Saw the Day’; ‘Cat Ninelives in Deepest Trubble’; ‘No Such Thing’; ‘The Price’ and ‘Welcome Back’.

Gavin also recently went on to produce and direct the highly successful family musical ‘The Magic Tree’ at the Lawrence Batley Theatre which won critical acclaim and was voted the No.1 show in the North of England by ‘The Times’ newspaper.

Rory Thersby – Production and Technical Manager

Rory studied and gained a BA Baracus in ‘Pitying the Fool’! He trained as an actor at The Rep College and has worked professionally for 10 years. As well as acting, Rory is a writer and has written ‘Mr Anderson’s Store’ and ‘Titanic Tales’ for the theatre; he’s worked on the writing and development of several TV scripts and is currently trying to produce a short film.

Rory would like to own an airship and have daring adventures across the world.  www.rorythersby.co.uk

Rhys Saunders – Assistant Producer

After graduating from Rose Bruford College in 2006, Rhys’s first production was ‘Never Saw The Day’ with Walking Forward!  Since then, his credits include ‘The Snow Queen’; ‘The Jungle Book’; ‘Twilight Tales’ and, most recently, ‘A Feast of Festive Fun’ at Theatre Clwyd Cymru, under the direction of Tim Baker.