About the Cast

Rob Edwards (Ralph)

Rob has been a professional actor more years than he cares to remember. He has worked across all the media : theatre, TV, film and radio, and played everything from Ray Cooney farce to Shakespeare, from a scientist being strangled by a robot in Dr Who, to Hamlet , to being the original Scar in the West End production of the Lion King for which he received an Olivier nomination. In 2018 he won a coveted Royal Television Society award for best actor in the BBC’s drama “Men who sleep in cars”. Just before lockdown Rob completed a stint playing Major Metcalf in Agatha Christie’s “ The Mousetrap”.

Rob and Jonathan Hirons have been friends from the age of eleven, ever since they sat in neighbouring desks at the Royal Worcester Grammar School. This is their second collaboration on a “drama” since they wrote and shot movies together on the Malvern Hills using Jon’s uncle’s 8mm cinecamera when they were teenagers.

Jonathan Hirons (Jerry)

Jonathan is film-maker, writer and musician and wrote Three for the Road.

In 2014, he produced the short fiction film Cast Adrift. He mainly produces factual films, most recently for the EU’s Erasmus and Leonardo projects on subjects as wide-ranging as radicalization and entrepreneurship in the creative industries. He is just won an award from the Tavistock Trust to write and produce a documentary about  Aphasia.

He has also worked in community radio as a presenter and producer. He also wrote and produced several annual radio pantomimes. In his music world, he plays guitar and [sometimes] sings. He has been in several bands – most notably with Urban Blues and Blazin’ Blue

He is also behind the long-running blog – Vernon Grope:Diary of a Rock Star

In case you’re wondering, the title Buffalo Lounge came from a friend of Jonathan’s, Robert Gray.  We were recording some poetry and the line ‘Is there still tea in the Buffalo Lounge’ came up and it stuck.

Virginia Denham (Barbara)

As a long-established actor, Virginia has extensive experience on stage, television, film and radio. Stints in Coronation Street, East Enders, The Bill and comedy sketch shows, as well as serious dramas have accompanied her critically acclaimed work in the theatre.

Performing in the West End, regional theatre and with the National and the RSC, she has also played lead roles in major productions abroad, including My Fair Lady and The Cherry Orchard, which then transferred to the UK.

Recently she has been concentrating on more voice oriented work, primarily Podcasts.

She is delighted to have the opportunity to work with her friend from RSC days, Rob Edwards.

Zubin Varla (Nigel)

Zubin has worked across theatre, film and TV, with roles in Deep State, Strike Back, Our Girl.
He has worked in the West End, for the National and the RSC where he first met his good friend Rob.

Colin Meehan – Original Music

Colin has performed in bands covering many different styles of music and now plays in two performing jazz bands and a rehearsal band run for the u3a.

He is currently setting up a new blues band which finally incorporates the horn section he has always wanted.

It took retirement for him to discover the joys of singing since when he has taken it up seriously and performed extensively with choruses in the UK.

Performances have taken him to New York and throughout Europe singing music ranging from classical to modern mainly in the a cappella style. He has also had the privilege of recording in the famous Abbey Road Studios in London where he was in the chorus for a recording which topped the Classic FM chart in 2012.

Paul Rose – Original Music

Paul started his musical endeavours learning piano at the age of eleven and then euphonium in the school brass band before going on to play both tuba and tympani in the orchestra, not simultaneously, of course.

However, from the age of thirteen he realised that jazz and the drums were his true love and it took a further three years of persuasion to convince his father to allow him to have a kit in the house.

His first band was a punk rock outfit whose crowning glory was a gig at the Southend United Football Club supporters annual party. This was followed by several stints with various amateur rock bands before finally joining up with Colin and Jonathan to play the Blues on the Hertfordshire pub circuit.

After the demise of the blues outfit, Paul finally achieved his lifetime ambition and put together a jazz and swing band – The Out of Handers – who are to be found making people dance on a regular basis at various venues, parties and festivals around the north west London area and surroundings.