AMY HAMLEN - Associate Director

Amy has co-produced Apollo Theatre Company's productions of The Dumb Waiter, Blue Remembered Hills, in which she also appeared as Audrey, Our Town in which she played Emily, and Carrie's War  in which she played the title character.  She also wrote and starred in her original one-woman show Keep the Home Fires Burning, which toured the UK twice in 2013 and 2014.

Amy is originally from Bristol, where she began ballet at the age of 3. She then moved on to train at Laine Theatre Arts, where she graduated in 2009 with a Trinity Diploma in Musical theatre, and an additional Diploma in Speech and Drama with distinction. Since then she has performed in many styles of theatre, from opera to Shakespeare, including most recently Ivor Novello's Gay's The Word, which she also recorded the Revival Cast Recording for. Other credits include Free As Air, A Little Night Music, Follies, Hamlet, A Christmas Carol, Sweeney Todd, and the Olivier award winning production of La Boheme.

Amy has taught and choreographed for many different performing Arts schools, both in Bristol and in Surrey, including Laine Theatre Arts children school, Guildford School of Acting’s full time degree students and Bristol School of Performing Arts. She currently teaches for Discover, a group for disabled adults based at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, and First Dance Studios in Mayford, where as well as taking regular dance classes, she also choreographs couples' first dances for weddings.

Apollo Theatre Company was founded in 2010 by Tim Astley upon graduating from the Guildford School of Acting. Our first production, Sir Harold Pinter's The Dumb Waiter  played in the Mill Studio, Guildford in 2011 to sell out audiences.  In 2012, our production of Blue Remembered Hills  by Dennis Potter toured England and received five-star reviews. In 2013 we presented the 75th Anniversary Tour of Our Town  by Thornton Wilder, which was described in one review as "close to perfection". 2013 also saw Apollo's first original production, Keep the Home Fires Burning  preview at the Ventnor Fringe Festival in August, prior to a full tour in the autumn.  2014 Saw our biggest production to date, Carrie's War, as well as a second tour of Keep the Home Fires Burning  and our first ever children's production, Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories. 

TIMOTHY BOND - Associate Artist

Timothy has worked with Apollo as both an actor and musical director, most recently helping to create Keep the Home Fires Burning.  He has appeared as Arnold Murray in The Code Breaker, Simon Stimson in Our Town and Donald in Blue Remembered Hills.

Originally from Liverpool, Timothy trained at Guildford School of Acting. Other theatre credits include: Man 2 in Cheese (Hackney Attic), Peter Sutcliffe in Sutcliffe (Old Red Lion), Rasputin in Waiting for Soso (Old Red Lion), Christopher Marlowe in The Demise of Christopher Marlowe (Edinburgh Festival Fringe), Various in Loveplay (St. James Cavalier, Malta). Whilst training Timothy was chosen to represent the school in both the Carelton Hobbs Radio Competition at the BBC and the Sam Wanamaker Festival at The Globe Theatre where he performed Petruccio to a full house. 

Film work includes From Runcorn with Love and The Irish Brew Shenanigans. 

Timothy also wrote and directed his first play The First Day of My Life  for the 2011 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

LUCY BETTS - Associate Director - Children's Theatre

Lucy is  currently Head of Performance for the Yvonne Arnaud Youth Theatre in Guildford.

She read Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies at Roehampton University, London. During her studies, she was involved in the creation of a production company, which toured several plays in France and venues in London.

Following graduation, Lucy worked as a practitioner for Chichester Festival Theatre, Havant Borough Council and several schools in Hampshire and West Sussex. In 2009 she developed the Youth Theatre at the Spring Arts and Heritage Centre in Havant, before moving to the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre in 2010. 

Directing credits include Fantastic Mr Fox, Lord of the Flies, The Firework Maker’s Daughter (Mill Studio, Guildford), Peter Pan (Yvonne Arnaud Theatre), Sophie Shadow, Just So Stories (Edinburgh Festival Fringe).

TIM ASTLEY - Artistic  Director

Tim trained at the Guildford School of Acting and, shortly after graduating in 2010, founded Apollo Theatre Company and made his directorial debut with their first production, Sir Harold Pinter’s The Dumb Waiter. 

The following year he directed Apollo’s first touring production, Dennis Potter’s Blue Remembered Hills, followed by the 75th Anniversary UK Tour of Thornton Wilder’s Our Town and Nina Bawden’s Carrie’s War in which he also played the role of Billy.

Alongside his wife, Amy, Tim created Apollo Theatre Company’s first original production, Keep the Home Fires Burning, which told the oft-forgotten roles women played in World War II.  He also directed another original piece, The Code Breaker, which celebrated the life and work of Alan Turing.

A lifelong fan of radio comedy, Tim fulfilled a long-time dream in 2015 when he produced and directed the 50th Anniversary Tour of his all-time favourite radio show, Round the Horne which toured the UK three times and played for eight weeks in London’s Museum of Comedy.  Following this wonderful experience, Tim collaborated with Colin Elmer, who played Kenneth Williams in the show, to create an original production about the great man.  Entitled Cult Figure, the production toured the country in 2017 and 2018. 

Bitten by the bug of recreating comedy classics, Tim produced and directed another classic radio comedy to the stage in The Goon Show and is also looking forward to directing yet another, Hancock’s Half Hour in 2019.

Apollo Theatre Company

Apollo Theatre Company are a professional theatre company based in Guildford, Surrey, and aim to produce exciting productions of both classic and original plays and comedies.