Ed O'Driscoll

I've been working in the theatre business since 1990. After training in Performing Arts at Middlesex Poly I began my professional life on board the SS Romantica (originally built as one of Hitler’s hospital ships) as an Assistant Cruise Director - this meant operating the sound and lights for the cabaret, running the disco, trying to get Israeli passengers into Egypt (and vice versa), judging nightly fancy dress competitions and breaking up the occasional fight between irate waiters…happy days.

After jumping ship in Cyprus I began my work in theatre proper as a stage hand at the Grand Wolverhampton where I rose to the giddy heights of Flyman. When the the theatre went dark in summer 1993 I moved to Bournemouth for the summer season of the Sound of Music and within 12 months had married one of the nuns.

With my former nun (Lynn) I founded the cabaret trio Three’s Company and we began touring shows across the country until Calibre Productions was born in 1999. The shows were successful and basically one thing just led to another.

As Producers, Lynn and I have toured Beyond Broadway, Absolute Swing, A Night at the Opera and the hit musical concert Masters of the Musical. Between 2001 and 2006 we were performing in roughly 120 shows each year and clocking a lot of motorway miles...

Anyway in 2007 we struck lucky and had a bit of success with Dad's Army: the Lost Episodes starring Leslie Grantham. We've subsequently toured, to both critical and popular acclaim (I'm proud to say), stage productions of 'Allo 'Allo!, Porridge, Dad's Army Marches On, House of Ghosts (an Inspector Morse mystery written especially for the stage) and Duet for One starring Haydn Gwynne and Bill Gaunt. In 2011 we also toured an adaptation of Aardman's Shaun the Sheep transforming the animation into a children's ballet. This production went on to tour Saudi Arabia and the Middle East in 2012/13.

In addition to performance/production work I also founded the charity and Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation AIRinG (Arts in Rural Gloucestershire), which subsidises live professional performances to village halls and community centres.

Since 2004 I have also produced three successful 'Classic Response' concerts at the Royal Albert Hall featuring star names from the world of classical/classical crossover music which have raised funds to support SOS Children and their orphanage work across the world.