Stuart Piper

Stuart Piper is a London-based Agent and Producer represents actors and creatives such as directors and designers, as Managing Director of Cole Kitchenn Personal Management Ltd. His client list includes actors Janie Dee, Dame Joan Collins, Josie Lawrence, Pixie Lott, Katherine Jenkins OBE, Jackie Marks, Hannah Spearritt, Glynis Barber, Rita Simons, Mica Paris, Phoebe Thomas, Louise Jameson, Julia Hills, Dani Harmer, Mark Moraghan, Sid Owen, Patsy Palmer, West-End and Broadway theatre stars Alison Jiear, Cassie Compton, Julie Atherton, Caroline O'Connor, Emma Williams, David Bedella, Rosemary Ashe, Sophia Ragavelas, Lauren Samuels, Melanie La Barrie, Alexandra Silber, Judy Kuhn, Mazz Murray, Paul Baker, Leila Benn Harris, David Shannon, and creatives Arlene Phillips, Russell Labey and Nick Winston. In 2010, the agency became part of ROAR Group led by Chairman Jonathan Shalit, expanding to become part of a group of entertainment companies.^[1] His team of agents include Oliver Thomson, Alex Segal, Ashley Vallance and his assistant is Brooke Kinsella MBE.^[2] In July 2015, The Stage called him a "Star Maker" in a front page interview,^[3] and Broadcast Magazine have announced him as a Director of new ROAR Comedy company with Corrie McGuire from Objective and Professor Jonathan Shalit OBE.^[4]

He has also produced West-End theatre, and his most notable productions include Associate Producer on Pixie Lott in Breakfast at Tiffany's at Theatre Royal, Haymarket in 2016,^[5] Diana Vickers in Hatched 'N' Dispatched at Park Theatre September 2015,^[6] Neil Henry's Magical Mindsquirm at Edinburgh 2015,^[7] Nicholas Hoult in New Boy and Phill Jupitus in Lifecoach at the Trafalgar Studios. He also established the Whatsonstage.com Awards live concerts, which take place annually in a West-End theatre from 2006–present.^[8]

He is a regular columnist for The Stage newspaper, and has an online blog on The Stage Online.^[9]

He was formerly a child actor, best known for roles in The Politician's Wife, Plastic Man and Tom's Midnight Garden.^[10]

He has a son called Charlie born January 2010 with Robyn North from whom he separated in 2013.^[11]

Agent

As Managing Director of Cole Kitchenn Personal Management Ltd. His client list includes actors Janie Dee, Josie Lawrence, Dame Joan Collins, Pixie Lott, Katherine Jenkins OBE, Hannah Spearritt, Glynis Barber, Rita Simons, Mica Paris, Phoebe Thomas, Louise Jameson, Julia Hills, Dani Harmer, Mark Moraghan, Sid Owen, Patsy Palmer, West-End and Broadway theatre stars Alison Jiear, Cassie Compton, Julie Atherton, Caroline O'Connor, Emma Williams, David Bedella, Rosemary Ashe, Sophia Ragavelas, Lauren Samuels, Melanie La Barrie, Alexandra Silber, Judy Kuhn, Mazz Murray, Paul Baker, Leila Benn Harris, David Shannon, and creatives Arlene Phillips, Russell Labey and Nick Winston.

As Director of ROAR Comedy (announced by Broadcast Magazine July 2015 ^[12] with co-directors Corrie Maguire and Professor Jonathan Shalit OBE, their clients include Pete Firman, Vikki Stone, Marcel Lucont and Olivia Lee.

The personal management company was originally a subsidiary of West-End theatre production company Cole Kitchenn Ltd, and in 2010 it became part of The ROAR Group, a group of entertainment companies led by Chairman Jonathan Shalit as reported by The Stage Newspaper.^[13] The merger led to the agency being affiliated to other companies in the group such as Music Management & TV Talent company ROAR Global.^[14] His team of agents include Oliver Thomson, Alex Segal, Ashley Vallance and his assistant is Brooke Kinsella MBE.^[15]

Jonathan Shalit told The Stage: "I was excited by Stuart Piper, who is a dynamic young man, he’s a new agent really championing his talent, which I haven’t seen from a lot of theatrical agents. A lot of theatrical agents are too old-fashioned and gentle and we work in a massively competitive world, and you have to be aggressive at pushing your talent forward."^[16]

He writes a column for The Stage Newspaper regularly and has an online blog 'Agent's Take' ^[17]

The company runs a Casting Suite in central London that opened in 2012.^[18]

Producer

Stuart has also produced West-End theatre, and his most notable production was Nicholas Hoult in New Boy which broke all box-office records at the Trafalgar Studios, and as reported in the Evening Standard, "The show has become the fastest selling and highest grossing at the Trafalgar Studios since they opened five years ago." ^[19]

He is Associate Producer on "Breakfast at Tiffany's" starring Pixie Lott which opens at Leicester Curve in March 2016, tours and then transfers to the Theatre Royal, Haymarket Summer 2016.^[20] He is also Producer on Hatched 'N' Dispatched at Park Theatre September 2015 starring Diana Vickers, Wendi Peters and Vicky Binns ^[21] and is Producer of Neil Henry's Magical Mindsquirm at the Edinburgh Festival at Pleasance Dome in August 2015.^[22]

Other productions include Phill Jupitus in Lifecoach at the Trafalgar Studios which was nominated for Whatsonstage.com Award for Best New Comedy, Caroline O'Connor The Showgirl Within and Frances Ruffelle Beneath The Dress at the Garrick Theatre, Howard Goodall's Days of Hope at the King's Head Theatre and Snoopy! The Musical at the New Players Theatre. He also worked as a General Manager for two years for Cole Kitchenn Ltd working on such productions as the Laurence Olivier Award winning Death of a Salesman starring Brian Dennehy and Clare Higgins at the Lyric Theatre, the Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize winning I Am My Own Wife at the Duke of York's Theatre and Daddy Cool at the Shaftesbury.

He also established in 2006 the Whatsonstage.com Awards live concerts, which take place annually in a West-End theatre.^[23] They have been hosted by Sheridan Smith and James Corden (2008/2009), Christopher Biggins and Mel Giedroyc (2010), Miranda Hart in 2011 and Jenny Eclair and Alan Davies in 2012, and Rufus Hound and Mel Giedroyc in 2013 and 2014.

Child actor

He began his career as a child actor, and at the age of 9 appeared in Annie Get Your Gun at the Prince of Wales Theatre. He then had a career in television and film with his credits including series regular roles as Paul Matlock in the BAFTA and Emmy Award winning The Politician's Wife by Paula Milne playing the son of Juliet Stevenson and Trevor Eve and James MacConnell in Plastic Man with John Thaw and Sorcha Cusack. He also played Serge in Absolutely Fabulous, Richard Kent in The Famous Five, Hubert in The Boot Street Band and John Thornton in Catherine Cookson's The Girl. His films included Hubert in Tom's Midnight Garden for MGM with Gretta Scacchi, Penelope Wilton, and Joan Plowright and Steven Carmody in Daisies In December with Joss Ackland and Jean Simmons.

On stage, he was also a member of the National Youth Music Theatre (NYMT) and played Dandy Dan in their West-End production of Bugsy Malone alongside a young cast that included Sheridan Smith, Jamie Bell, Ben Barnes, Hannah Spearritt and James Bourne.^[24]

References