Jonathan Nibbs is an English character actor who trained during the 1970s at the Central School of Speech and Drama. He spent a number of years dedicatedly working in community and small-scale touring companies; perhaps most notably Orchard Theatre, based in Barnstaple, Devon, before years of repertory work at Clwyd, Chester, Harrogate, Hornchurch and elsewhere, during the early 1980s.
Periods of rep. work were interspersed with small television roles, a number of television commercials and many large (and small) roles for BBC Radios 3 and 4.
During the mid to late ‘80s Jonathan reduced his acting commitments to concentrate on building his own home and almost everything in it. This has led to his continuing employment as an artisan craftsman furniture-maker, carpenter, plumber, designer, manufacturer and installer of all things constructible for the household, during those periods when the entertainment business has not been as kind as it surely should have been.
Latterly - as is evidenced by his biography - Jonathan has been a founding and leading member of the highly acclaimed Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory theatre company in Bristol, after having previously worked with director Andrew Hilton and pioneering Bristol company Show of Strength.
Jonathan is a versatile musical performer, lending his talents in recent years to the setting of a new Guinness world record for ensemble spoons-playing. He is equally at home demonstrating his singing prowess - visit the Media page of this site for examples.
An interesting article by Professor George Brandt (ex Bristol University) - to be found in Volume 18, Issue 04 (November 2002) of the Cambridge Journals Online New Theatre Quarterly - draws particular attention to Jonathan’s acting creativity as Snout, The Tinker, physically building a wall on stage - possibly a first in Shakespearian presentation - in Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory’s Spring 2000 production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. This discussion is admittedly not the main thrust of the piece, but is a minor section in the whole devoted to the acclaimed development of the company; a worthy read in any event. A less expensive way to read about the wall-building alone is to land in the Reviews section of this website.