Mike Meer

Michael Meer comes from a theatrical family, the origins of which date back to a music hall act featuring ‘The Three Meer’s’ - a comedy acrobatic act comprising three of his great uncles. His father was, for some years after the Second World War, a professional actor who continued on the amateur stage until he was way over seventy. Michael’s mother worked for the D’Oyley Carte Opera Company as a costume designer and wardrobe mistress whilst his sister danced professionally before going into teaching. His niece is currently employed as a professional dancer.

Michael himself first appeared on the stage in a speaking role at the age of six, with his first paid performance in the Rose Tattoo by Tennessee Williams the following year. By the age of 27 he had appeared on the stage of every theatre in Leeds and Bradford, (all 8 of them) was working for BBC Radio Leeds on an arts programme and producing advertising voice-overs for the ‘Bradford Sound’. His named credits run to more than 1500 productions as performer, director or technician. Having trained as a scenic designer and stage manager his first professional directing venture, at the age of 19, was so successful that it ran for four weeks instead of the scheduled one. 33 years later that production of ‘Oh What a Lovely War!’ is remembered with affection by many members of the original cast and audience.

Following three months in a production of ‘Oliver’ Michael had small - one off - roles in both Coronation Street and Emmerdale Farm before finally knuckling down to some formal education. Subsequently he worked as both Company Manager and Stage Manager at the Leeds Grand Opera House which led to work with Ken Dodd, Les Dawson, The Grumbleweeds, Dick Emery and Roy Hudd in pantomimes across the country. Further work included trips to Washington, Philadelphia and Carnegie Hall - New York, followed by several tours to Japan, Europe, South Africa and America most notably with the English National Opera Company and the D’Oyley Carte Opera Company. Both companies presented productions which included scenery designed by Michael. He was company manager for the last acclaimed tour of the Monty Python Team to Canada. Other notable tours of Great Britain include Godspell, Oh What a Lovely War, Oliver, The Good Companions and with David Essex. He was also theatre stage manager for the very last broadcast of the Good Old Days from Leeds. Michael was also partly responsible for revising the script which became the new edition of the four act version of the Importance of Being Earnest, first performed professionally in 1974. He has also written, produced and appeared in seven professionally made video training films. In the summer of 2004 he played a second lead role in a new film - ‘Crowlands’, shot in Cornwall, to be released early in 2005.

Since moving to Cornwall in 1978 Michael has worked in most of the major towns and in many of the villages - “no stage is too small”. He has won 9 major production awards with the Cornwall Drama Association and hosted four master classes for this organisation; the most recent of which was a three day course on aspects of stage design and scenery construction techniques. He instigated and managed the Calor Gas Pantomime awards in Cornwall for ten years which involved over 55 separate groups and was their principal adjudicator through the full term of the competition. He has also adjudicated at national levels for festivals of drama, musicals and pantomime. Under his direction the Cornwall Young Farmers Association has seen their entertainments team reach National Finals six times out of seven attempts and he has won the competitions national final four times – most recently three times in a row with three firsts in each competition; something no other county has ever achieved. Performance and directing successes in Cornwall include: One for the Pot (99 performances), Charlies Aunt, The Wizard of Oz, The Importance of Being Earnest (4 act version), Godspell, Pinocchio Cabaret, Oklahoma, the Sunshine Boys, The Dresser, Outside Edge, Lock Up Your Daughters, Romeo and Juliet and Richard the Third – Best Actor Award, Cornwall Drama Association.

Since being invited to join Redruth Amateur Operatic Society in 1996 for their production of Barnum, Michael has worked almost exclusively for this society. After directing and taking the lead in Barnum he directed Joseph – their second show in the Big Top designing and helping to build both massive sets for these shows. He continued to direct and manage their run of premieres in the Hall for Cornwall with Crazy For You, Hot Mikado, Mack and Mabel and 42nd Street, and especially acknowledges the extraordinary and fruitful partnership he has enjoyed on all RAOST shows with Esther Brokenshire. It is also with RAOST that he has been able to realise the ambition of producing near professional quality sets design and production with the ardent and dedicated team of technicians in the society. Together they have created mammoth and magnificent sets for Barnum, Joseph, Hot Mikado, Pinocchio, Follow the Star, Bugsy Malone and the most recent and most complicated – Jesus Christ Superstar.

He continues to work as a dedicated optician and contact lens consultant, and with his wife has been a foster carer for the last 10 years. He is also active in charity fund-raising having walked 500k across the Jordan desert to Petra raising £17,500 in the process. He continues to perform his own written works and takes part in other charity functions, most recently compeering a one night variety show in Falmouth which contributed £1534 to Cot Death charities.

He is currently writing a new revue and designing scenery for two professional productions. The scenery for the premiere of Les Miserables in Cornwall and the set for a major schools production of Smike! was designed and built by Mike early in 2004. The recent Cornwall Drama Association scenery design course is being re-worked by ‘popular demand’ and there is an on-going project to produce a manual of scenic design and construction techniques. To date he is now designing scenery for a premiere of Summer Holiday, a new production of West Side Story and the Camellia MC production of 2008.