Gay Soper is an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 actress.

She is perhaps best known for her performance in the musical Godspell

Godspell

Godspell is a musical by Stephen Schwartz and John-Michael Tebelak. It opened off Broadway on May 17, 1971, and has played in various touring companies and revivals many times since, including a 2011 revival now playing on Broadway...

 with David Essex

David Essex

David Essex OBE is an English musician, singer-songwriter and actor. Since the 1970s, Essex has attained nineteen Top 40 singles in the UK , and sixteen Top 40 albums...

, Julie Covington

Julie Covington

Julie Covington is an English singer and actress, best known for recording the original version of "Don't Cry for Me, Argentina".-Career:...

 and Jeremy Irons

Jeremy Irons

Jeremy John Irons is an English actor. After receiving classical training at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, Irons began his acting career on stage in 1969, and has since appeared in many London theatre productions including The Winter's Tale, Macbeth, Much Ado About Nothing, The Taming of the...

 as well as Mme. Thenardier on the Complete Symphonic Recording of Les Misérables

Les Misérables (musical)

Les Misérables , colloquially known as Les Mis or Les Miz , is a musical by Claude-Michel Schönberg, based on the novel of the same name by Victor Hugo....

. She also performed all the voices for The Flumps

The Flumps

The Flumps is a children's programme which was produced in 1976 by David Yates. It was broadcast by the BBC many times from 1977 to 1988.-Overview:...

, a famous children's TV series in Britain, and created the role of Mrs. Bennett in the musical version of Pride and Prejudice by Bernard J. Taylor.

In 1974 she was an original cast member of the musical Billy based on the story of Billy Liar

Billy Liar

Billy Liar is a 1959 novel by Keith Waterhouse, which was later adapted into a play, a film, a musical and a TV series. The work has inspired and featured in a number of popular songs....

 with Michael Crawford

Michael Crawford

Michael Crawford OBE is an English actor and singer. He has garnered great critical acclaim and won numerous awards during his career, which covers radio, television, film, and stagework on both London's West End and on Broadway in New York City...

, Elaine Paige

Elaine Paige

Elaine Paige OBE is an English singer and actress best known for her work in musical theatre. Raised in Barnet, North London, Paige attended the Aida Foster stage school, making her first professional appearance on stage in 1964, at the age of 16...

, Avis Bunnage

Avis Bunnage

Avis Bunnage was a British actress of film, stage and television.She attended Manley Park Municipal School and Chorlton Central School in Manchester. She worked as a secretary and a nursery teacher before deciding to become an actress...

, Bryan Pringle

Bryan Pringle

Bryan Pringle was a British actor who appeared in television, film and theatre productions.Born in Tamworth, Staffordshire but raised in the Lancashire town of Bolton he trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. In 1958, he married character actress Anne Jameson; together they had...

 and Lockwood West

Lockwood West

Lockwood West was a British actor. He is the father of actor Timothy West and the grandfather of actor Samuel West....

.

In 1975 she starred in the British sex comedy The Ups and Downs of a Handyman

The Ups and Downs of a Handyman

The Ups and Downs of a Handyman is a 1975 British comedy film directed by John Sealey and starring Barry Stokes, Sue Lloyd and Bob Todd. After his wife inherits a cottage in the countryside, her husband takes up a job as the local handyman but soon becomes entangled with the women of the...

, opposite her then-husband Barry Stokes.

Her theatre work includes: Good (RSC

Royal Shakespeare Company

The Royal Shakespeare Company is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs 700 staff and produces around 20 productions a year from its home in Stratford-upon-Avon and plays regularly in London, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and on tour across...

); Mother Courage

Mother Courage

Mother Courage is a character from a Grimmelshausen novel Lebensbeschreibung der Ertzbetrügerin und Landstörtzerin Courasche dating from around 1670...

 (National Theatre

Royal National Theatre

The Royal National Theatre in London is one of the United Kingdom's two most prominent publicly funded theatre companies, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company...

); and Sunday in the Park with George

Sunday in the Park with George

Sunday in the Park with George is a 1984 musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Lapine. The musical was inspired by the painting "A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte" by Georges Seurat...

, Jorrocks, The Canterbury Tales, Godspell

Godspell

Godspell is a musical by Stephen Schwartz and John-Michael Tebelak. It opened off Broadway on May 17, 1971, and has played in various touring companies and revivals many times since, including a 2011 revival now playing on Broadway...

, Billy

Billy (musical)

Billy is a musical based on the novel and play Billy Liar by Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hall. The book was written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, the music is by John Barry, and the lyrics are by Don Black.-Production:...

, Side by Side by Sondheim

Side By Side By Sondheim

Side by Side by Sondheim is a musical revue featuring the songs of Broadway and film composer Stephen Sondheim. Its title is derived from the song "Side by Side by Side" from Company.-History:...

, The Mitford Girls, Les Misérables

Les Misérables

Les Misérables , translated variously from the French as The Miserable Ones, The Wretched, The Poor Ones, The Wretched Poor, or The Victims), is an 1862 French novel by author Victor Hugo and is widely considered one of the greatest novels of the nineteenth century...

, Which Witch, and Salad Days

Salad Days

Salad Days is a musical with music by Julian Slade and lyrics by Dorothy Reynolds and Julian Slade. It premiered at the Bristol Old Vic in 1954, and transferred to the Vaudeville Theatre in London on August 5 of that year, running for 2,283 performances to become the longest-running show in...

 (West End

West End theatre

West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...

). She was in the original cast of the 1970s musical Betjemania based on the poems of John Betjeman

John Betjeman

Sir John Betjeman, CBE was an English poet, writer and broadcaster who described himself in Who's Who as a "poet and hack".He was a founding member of the Victorian Society and a passionate defender of Victorian architecture...

. She has made many TV appearances, and appears in the 2004 film version of A Christmas Carol

A Christmas Carol (2004 film)

A Christmas Carol, also known as A Christmas Carol: The Musical, is a 2004 television film based on a 1994 stage musical of the same name, with songs written by Alan Menken and Lynn Ahrens . The musical is based on Charles Dickens' famous 1843 novella of the same name, produced by Hallmark...

 with Kelsey Grammer

Kelsey Grammer

Allen Kelsey Grammer is an American actor and comedian. He is most widely known for his two-decade portrayal of psychiatrist Dr. Frasier Crane on the sitcoms Cheers and Frasier...

. She is currently (Nov 2010) appearing with Opera Della Luna as 'Buttercup' in Gilbert and Sullivan's 'HMS Pinafore'.

External links

• Gay Soper Official Website