Alan Barton 

Having started in 'Am-Dram' in 1982 as a set builder, Alan was treading the boards within six months, his first role being the 60-year old station master, Saul Hodgkin, in "The Ghost Train". Over the next fifteen years, in Germany, Cyprus and England, Alan portrayed numerous characters on stage, including Sir Toby Belch and Feste the clown in Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night", (two different productions), Saul/St Paul in “The Vigil”, Krogstadt the blackmailer in Ibsen's "A Doll's House", a drunken geriatric butler, Merriman, in "The Importance of Being Earnest" and many other leading and support characters, particularly in plays by Alan Bennett, Alan Ayckbourn and Ray Cooney. Alan has also directed and produced a number of plays and comedy reviews and was Secretary and Treasurer for two amateur dramatic societies. Alan then 'rested' for a few years before joining Gasleak to take part in "Jesus Christ Superstar", in which he played Peter the Apostle, his first musical role. He then appeared as part of the chorus in "Chess", understudying the principal role of the Russian, took the male lead role in "Ruddigore" and appeared in the chorus of "Sweeney Todd" and "Thoroughly Modern Millie". He also featured in the Gasleak comedy and musical review in June 2007. In 2008, Alan appeared in “Allo, Allo” as the Colonel, and enjoyed the role of The Patterer, a street singer, in “The Ragged Child”, and then 2009 saw Alan in the roles of Capt. Peacock in “Are You Being Served” and Filch the beggar in “The Threepenny Opera”. In addition to his roles with Gasleak, Alan also appears occasionally with a local Murder Mystery company, and regularly sings with the Melton U3A Singers, who have recently performed in Nottingham, Loughborough and Grantham in addition to concerts in Melton. In “The Vicar of Dibley”, which is Alan`s 49th production, he plays David Horton, a balding, arrogant man – so, once again, no acting ability needed, then!