John Ringham

Reading the latest Equity Journal this morning, I was saddened to learn that John Ringham passed away on 20th October 2008. We worked together at The Everyman in Cheltenham, John's home town, on a production of All My Sons; John played Joe Keller and I played his son, Chris. Posted above are some production photographs.

We got on extremely well together, he really was a joy to work with although I think its fair to say that he didn't take any prisoners when it came to the job of acting, which he was clearly passionate about. I had taken over the role of Chris from another actor a week after rehearsals had started. Understandably, John was a little 'edgy' about the prospect of effectively starting again with someone new and with only two further weeks to go before opening. We met at the beginning of afternoon rehearsals on the Monday of week two; as the director was introducing me to the company, John's immediate response was "I don't care who he is as long as he can act!" No prisoners indeed!

Somehow I needed to reassure him that he had no cause to worry and that I was up to the job. From the end of that first afternoon, I made sure that I was 'off the book' for every subsequent rehearsal. That seemed to do the trick, he relaxed and we very quickly got into our stride and made terrific progress. It subsequently proved to be one of those occasions where the entire company of actors, crew and production staff worked brilliantly well together and came up with a remarkable production of which I am extremely proud. Sadly, our professional paths never crossed again.

 
I loved working with John and hope he felt the same about me.