Author Archives: Conrad Toft

Cross-Gartered Players: Here Comes the Sun (2,4,6 March)

Cross-Gartered Players is looking for actors for our production of Here Comes the Sun by Heli Pärna at FEATS 2026, which takes place this year May 22–25 in The Hague.

The play is an exploration of intimacy, relationships, and unexpected love stories – set in a brothel. It is funny, tender, and a little surprising.

Auditions will take place on Monday 2nd, Wednesday 4th and Friday 6th March. For more information and to sign up for a slot, please click here.

Any questions? Don’t hesitate to reach out! crossgarteredplayers@gmail.com

ECC: Entertaining Angels (3-5 May 2026)

ECC Brussels will be performing Richard Everett’s Entertaining Angels from 14-24 October 2026, directed by Conrad Toft. Auditions will take place at Conrad’s apartment near Tomberg metro station at the beginning of May.

  • Grace, aged 61
  • Ruth, her sister, early sixties
  • Bardolph, her husband, sixties
  • Jo, Grace’s daughter, early thirties
  • Sarah, incoming vicar, early thirties

There will be a cast read through in May and then rehearsals will be from June onwards (with a break for most of July and August). Rehearsals will mainly be on Mondays, Thursdays and Sundays. Please email Conrad at conradtoft@gmail.com with any questions.  

You can sign up for the auditions here.

Butties 2026

Thanks a lot to Róisín, Kevin and Rachel for hosting the Butties 2026 in their beautiful garden.

Awards and winners (in bold)

Best Props

  • Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (BLOC): Isabelle Deneyer & team
  • Grease (Green Parrot)
  • Homunculus / Trash Day (ECC)
  • Little Shop of Horrors (Smoosicals): Cat Harris & Isabelle Deneyer
  • Puss in Boots (ECC): Sandy Holderbach & team

Best Costumes

  • Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (BLOC): Tonia Jolly & team
  • Grease (Green Parrot, Mar 2026): Mary Williams, Elena Shcherbina
  • Homunculus (ECC): Mary Williams, Elizabeth Tanghe
  • Little Shop of Horrors (Smoosicals): Noémie Léonard, Chloé Quaresme
  • Puss in Boots (ECC): Fiona McGinnis, Sheila Hewitt, Hannah Riley, Jennifer Gee

Best Newcomer

  • Eleanor Poppy Reeve
  • Eleonora Fusco
  • Jacey Schult
  • Rosette Seck
  • Timothy Agotha

Best Set Design & Construction

  • Grease (Green Parrot): Richard Milsom, Peter Lemerle
  • Home, I’m Darling (ECC): Steve O’Byrne, Jeremy Larkin, Kateryna Sakhanevych, Conrad Toft, & team
  • Homunculus (ECC): Tom Mallan, Patrick Maher, Becky McKay, Erica Faller, & team
  • Little Shop of Horrors (Smoosicals): Richard Craddock
  • Puss in Boots (ECC): Michael de Prins, Conrad Toft, Oscar Feen, Steve O’Byrne & team

Best Producer

  • Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (BLOC): Alexander Just, Barbara Bauer
  • Grease (Green Parrot): Andrew Fisk, Rebecca Milsom
  • Little Shop of Horrors (Smoosicals): Emma Quaedvlieg
  • Puss in Boots (ECC): Chris Jones
  • The House of Bernard Alba (ITG): Tony Regan

Best Lighting

  • Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (BLOC): Chris Harding, Sergey Morozov, Andrey Kaplan
  • Grease (Green Parrot, Mar 2026): Lucas Steeno
  • Homunculus / Trash Day (ECC): Andy Williams, Maja Lay, Chris Nobbs
  • Little Shop of Horrors (Smoosicals): Andy Williams
  • Puss in Boots (ECC): Ant McCarthy, Louis Cloetens, Angelos Dimopoulos, Leo Jones & team

Best Stage Management

  • Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (BLOC): Marie Rousseaux
  • Glensheen (Smoosicals): Giselle Maksoud
  • Grease (Green Parrot): Boff Muir
  • Little Shop of Horrors (Smoosicals): Pierre Halloy
  • Puss in Boots (ECC): Andy Ing

Best Actor

  • Manu Peix: Johnny – Home, I’m Darling (ECC), Male Creek Chorus – How I Learned to Drive (ATC), Orin – Little Shop of Horrors (Smoosicals)
  • Michael Agotha: Willy Wonka – Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (BLOC), Seymour – Little Shop of Horrors (Smoosicals)
  • Neale Mcdonald: Luka – The Fifth Step (ITG), Clay – Homunculus (ECC)
  • Paul Musiol: O’Hara – Friends Help You Move (ITG), Patrick – Love In a Glass Jar (ITG)
  • Rafael Plata: Puss In Boots – Puss In Boots (ECC)

Best Publicity and Design

  • Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (BLOC): Eva Konrad-Just, Tommaso De Re, Isabelle Deneyer, Emilia Kitsiou, & team
  • Glensheen (Smoosicals): Emilia Kitsiou
  • Grease (Green Parrot): Rebecca Milsom
  • Homunculus (ECC): Ilona Hendrix, Joachim Dos Santos, Katya Sakhanevych
  • Little Shop of Horrors (Smoosicals): Emilia Kitsiou

Kenway Lifetime Achievement Award

  • Conrad Toft
  • Mary Williams
  • Steve O’Byrne
  • Tanya Arler
  • Tim Middleton

Best Hair & Make-up

  • Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (BLOC): Valeria Enea, Janet Gray, Mel Ciriaco, Laraine Alder, & team
  • Grease (Green Parrot): Felipa Ferraz, Chloé Van Thielen
  • Homunculus / Trash Day (ECC): Jennifer Gee, Gemma Santasusana, Martha Mendez
  • Little Shop of Horrors (Smoosicals): Emilia Kitsiou, Maya Cañizares Jenni Gee & Hazel
  • Puss in Boots (ECC): Mel Ciriaco, Valeria Enea, Jayne Lindau, Gemma Santasusana

Best Sound

  • Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (BLOC): Andrew Fisk, Mihir Samavedam, Chenoa Burca
  • Glensheen (Smoosicals): Loren Wiklander, Steve O’Byrne
  • Grease (Green Parrot): Andrew Fisk, Anton Pavlov, Lucas Steeno
  • How I Learned to Drive (ATC): Karen El Haddad, Nastassia Maes
  • Little Shop of Horrors (Smoosicals): Andrew Fisk, Steve O’Byrne

Best Actress

  • Becky Mckay: Judy – Home, I’m Darling (ECC), Mimi – Homunculus (ECC)
  • Jacey Schult: Constance – Trash Day (ECC), Simmer – Homunculus (ECC)
  • Juliana Subach: Rizzo – Grease (Green Parrot)
  • Maja Lay: Li’l Bit – How I Learned To Drive (ATC)
  • Victoria Barbazanges: Mrs Teevee – Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (BLOC), Marjorie- Glensheen (Smoosicals)

Best Director

  • Grease (Green Parrot): Kathy Lemerle, Jenny Clarkson, Steven De Mesmaeker
  • Home, I’m Darling (ECC): Kateryna Sakhanevych
  • Homunculus (ECC): Tom Mallan, Ashley Norman
  • Little Shop of Horrors (Smoosicals): Cath Howdle, Matt Carver, Jean Emmett
  • The House of Bernard Alba (ITG): Jane McBride

Golden Butt

  • Aravind Dhakshinamoorthy for juggling multiple projects at once and still succeeding
  • Cat Harris for the puppets in Little Shop of Horrors
  • Cath Howdle for creating Smoosicals, being involved in several shows and always being a class act
  • Conrad Toft for the sheer quantity of things he does on and off stage
  • Esther Pozo Vera for juggling directing, acting, chairing BSS & parenthood

Best Show

  • Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (BLOC)
  • Grease (Green Parrot)
  • Homunculus (ECC)
  • Little Shop of Horrors (Smoosicals)
  • Puss in Boots (ECC)

Fun facts and figures

20 shows included in the Butties this season, five of which were double bills:

  • Home, I’m Darling (ECC, Sep 2025)
  • The Gun Monologues (ATC, Oct 2025)
  • Knocked (BMC, Oct 2025)
  • Measure for Measure (BSS, Nov 2025)
  • Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (BLOC, Nov 2025)
  • Friends Help You Move / The Fifth Step (ITG, Nov 2025)
  • Puss in Boots (ECC, Jan 2026)
  • How I Learned to Drive (ATC, Feb 2026)
  • Grease (Green Parrot, Mar 2026)
  • The House of Bernard Alba (ITG, Mar 2026)
  • Homunculus / Trash Day (ECC, Apr 2026)
  • Glensheen (Smoosicals, May 2026)
  • Little Shop of Horrors (Smoosicals, May 2026)
  • Anthony & Cleopatra (BSS, May 2026)
  • Love in a Glass Jar (ITG, May 2026)
  • Zero for the Young Dudes (EYT, May 2026)
  • The Real Lady Macbeth (EYT, May 2026)
  • Green-Eyed Monster / Othello in Forty Minutes (BSS, May 2026)
  • The Zoo / Trial by Jury (BLOC, Jun 2026)
  • Studio Nights – Bench / Together (ATC, Jun 2026)

Nine groups, including two new ones (in bold) for 2025-2026:

  • American Theatre Company: ATC
  • Brussels Light Opera Company: BLOC
  • Brussel Musical Creatives: BMC
  • Brussels Shakespeare Society: BSS
  • English Comedy Club: ECC
  • English Youth Theatre: EYT
  • Green Parrot: GP
  • Irish Theatre Group: ITG
  • Smoosicals

A few fun stats:

  • 1213 entries in the programmes for this year
  • 625 different people appeared in the programmes (and about 660 names, given all the misspellings and different versions!)
  • The person mentioned the most times was Andrew Fisk (15)
  • The person involved in the most shows was Steve O’Byrne (8)
  • The person involved with the most groups was Tommaso De Re (5)
  • The people who have been in the audience for most shows were Manu Peix & Conrad Toft (12)
  • 186 people voted in the Butties
  • 8 people tried voting for themselves!