Christopher Tester

Chris was born in Boston, Lincolnshire in 1981.  He was the son of two teachers who had met at work – Mary (English and Drama) and David (History).  At the age of nine, his mother got a job in Somerset she couldn’t refuse, and so the Tester family moved to Shepton Mallet, Somerset in the summer of 1989.

 

Chris was surrounded by theatre from an early age.  His mother had made several trips from Belfast to Stratford-upon-Avon to see the RSC, and these regular trips to the theatre – whether it be the Bath Theatre Royal, RSC or Barbican in London – came thick and fast.  One of Chris’ first memories is of being invited to read from Pericles’ book in the RSC production at the Barbican’s Pit Theatre by the lead actor.

 

Chris’ education was straight forward – he was academically hardworking and managed to get a good set of GCSE’s under his belt and four ‘A grade’ A-Levels.  However, at eighteen his stage experience was still limited to only two performances – a baptism of fire playing the Marquis de Sade in Marat/Sade and as Don Pedro in Much Ado About Nothing.  Acting, as a career, was still far from his mind.

 

Fortunately, Chris gained a place on Warwick University’s English and Theatre Studies BA programme. There, he was mentored by the brilliant Carol Chillington Rutter and Tony Howard.  Thanks to the nature of the degree, he also managed to work under Adrian Heathfield, a man exceptional in his field of devised and physical theatre.  Unfortunately the two departments clashed over a a practical piece called Cry Darkness Chris was involved in during his final year, but he managed to graduate with a 1^st class degree.

 

      

[Mixing with lovely ladies and being served 'cake' by men in suits... the Warwick way!]

 

Warwick was also vital in providing Chris with consistent performance opportunities.  Keen to be involved from the very beginning, Chris worked his way up the casting hierarchy, playing The Man in a physical adaptation of Clemence Dane’s Granite, McCann in Pinter’s The Birthday Party, plus Antonio in The Tempest, The Young Soldier in The Last Days of Mankind and the Bridegroom in Lorca’s Blood Wedding (all at Warwick Arts Centre).  The Last Days of Mankind was also selected for showing at the prestigious National Student Drama Festival.

 

However, the pivotal moment in Chris’ early acting career came not at Warwick, but at the 2002 Edinburgh Fringe Festival.  He was performing in two plays at the time; the lead in A Cool Million: The Dismantling of Lemuel Pitkin (dir. Jack McNamara), and ‘B’ in Failbetter Productions Crave – both at the Smirnoff Underbelly.  Both were very successful, and after a full month of performing, Chris’ dream of becoming a professional actor had crystallised into an adamant determination.

 

             

[Cast and crew from both shows at Ed Fringe 2002; Preview of A Cool Million at the Latchmere Theatre, London]

 

After Warwick, Chris took a year out to work and relieve student debt whilst applying to drama schools.  Ultimately, he was fortunate enough to be accepted at seven different institutions, from which the Central School of Speech and Drama proved his favourite choice.

 

Since joining CSSD, Chris’ journey has been something of a rollercoaster ride.  After a extremely inspiring and promising first year, issues concerning the school’s takeover of another drama school (Webber Douglas Academy) plus personal problems left him far off his original goals.  Despite the willingness of the school to let him participate fully in third year productions, Chris felt unprepared for his showcase year, and decided to take the situation into hand.  As a result, after a reviving trip to Moscow Art Theatre, he embarked on training in Meisner technique at The Actors Temple with the view to re-commencing at Central in September 2007. 

 

During the last year, Chris has complimented his exploration of Meisner with various performances.  Starting with the role of Harcourt in Tower Theatre's production of Restoration classic The Country Wife, he subsequently collaborated with artistic director Jonathan Heron in Failbetter Productions' Samuel Beckett double bill - Rough for Theatre II and Ohio Impromptu.  The latter production was granted a one-off performance at Warwick's CAPITAL Centre, the company's spiritual home.  But perhaps most importantly, this lead to the development of a one man show with Chris combining the role of performer with co-adaptor.  Diary of a Madman, the outcome, was workshopped at Oxford's Pegasus Theatre before running at The Rosemary Branch Theatre for three weeks.  Chris and Jonathan's tailored version of Gogol's short story subsequently received a number of highly positive notices - most notably a 4* review in Time Out.   

 

In October 2007, Chris returned to Central to complete his training and performed in three of the school's graduate shows; Pillars of the Community, Chips with Everything and The London Cuckolds.  After presenting two scenes as part of Central's West End showcase, he secured representation with JLM Personal Management.  Having graduted in June 2008, Chris has also had his first playscript, The First of the Next undergo rehearsed readings at the Royal Court, CSSD and Sourfeast Theatre, and intends to continue his playwrighting alongside his actor training.