Introducing the ROSS Staff

Martyn Knight - Director/Choreographer

West-End credits include Issacher in Joseph, Ephraim in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Sgt Jack Walters in South Pacific, and understudying and playing George in Metropolis. 

Martyn has also appeared, to name but a few, as Cliff in Cabaret, Oscar in Sweet Charity, Curly in Oklahoma!, Chantel in La Cage aux Folles, Arab in West Side Story, Georgio in The Gondoliers, Cornelius in Hello Dolly and Kenneth in Call me Madam. He was in Rep at the Manchester Library Theatre appearing in Merrily We Roll Along, Bent and Puss in Boots in the 80’s.

He was a member of the Players Theatre, London, and appeared on the final 4 years of BBC’s The Good Old Days. He also performed in front of HM The Queen in the 1985 Royal Variety Show in an excerpt of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.

In 1990, he decided to take early retirement from performing to do full time directing and choreographing for amateur societies as far apart as Newcastle to Yeovil, and Northampton to St Ives. He has directed and choreographed over  210 productions many of which have received awards.

Eric Wilson - Musical Director

Eric studied music at the University of Liverpool, graduating with honours, and later at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. A regular performer on both percussion and trumpet, Eric also works as a professional arranger and orchestrator with many published works to his credit (several of which appear on exam syllabuses). His work varies from music preparation and printing to creating piano reductions for the Royal Ballet, arranging music for orchestra and concert band or orchestrating musical theatre works. Eric has recently retired from the Royal College of Music where he has taught part of the BMus degree course since 1998. Conducting credits include Guys and Dolls, Broadway Pirates, West Side Story, Barnum, Jesus Christ Superstar, The Yeomen of the Guard, South Pacific, She Loves Me, Sweeney Todd, Brassed Off, HMS Pinafore, The Gondoliers, and Ruddigore.

Nikki Scott - Director

Nikki developed her directing skills when at University where she took shows to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. She has directed a diverse range of musicals including Our House, The Hired Man, Oklahoma!, Sweet Charity, My Fair Lady, Follies, Annie, Little Shop of Horrors, The King & I and The Wedding Singer. Other directing credits include Relatively Speaking, The Ghost Train and Calendar Girls. Nikki was part of the team who created Stage Technologies and later Managing Director of TAIT Stage Technologies who provide engineering solutions to worldwide entertainment venues. Projects include flying the car in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (London Paladium), flying the Witches in Witches of Eastwick and the Great Glass Elevator in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (both at Drury Lane). INternational projects include Cirque Du Soleil (Las Vegas) and Cruise Ships around the world.

Mike Payne - Musical Director

Mike is a professional musician who was born and brought up in Hertfordshire.  He trained at the Colchester institute studying piano and viola going on to join the staff as an accompanist for a couple of years. Most recently, since 2017 he has been seen, playing the keyboard for the long-running, professional tour of the Four Seasons show “Bye Bye Baby” and he is regularly on the creative team for professional shows including last Christmas, once again as Musical Director at the Elgiva Theatre in Chesham for Cinderella.

Mike works with numerous amateur societies primarily in the south of England and has well over 100 productions on his resume – many as musical director, but also as director, choreographer and even occasionally as a performer on stage!  His favourite shows include Titanic the Musical along with Stephen Sondheim’s Follies, which incidentally was the first show Mike was involved with at ROSS.

Martin Smith - Musical Director

Martin has been a professional musician since 1982, playing with bands and orchestras in the UK. He has conducted and arranged for bands and groups and has more than 30 years experience as a musical director. His show credits include Pippin, Bugsy Malone, Fiddler on the Roof, Half A Sixpence, Can Can, Cabaret, Kiss Me Kate, Barnum, Crazy For You, King and I, The Hired Man, I Love You Because, A Chorus Line and Singin' In The Rain. Martin was the resident Musical Director of Lemon Tuesday, an all female vocal group based in Hertfordshire for 11 years and also currently a freelance Trombone player for bands and shows. He has a passion for design and photography and has worked as a production designer for shows at the Watford Palace Theatre since 1991 and regularly photographs both professional and amateur theatre including 4 seasons at ENO.

Nicola Martinus-Smith - Director/Choreographer

Nicola trained in Musical Theatre at CPA Studios. While in her graduating year she was awarded the Stephen Mear performance Award and was also a finalist in the Stephen Sondheim Student Peformer of the Year competition, where she performed at the Garrick Theatre in the West End.

Since then, Nicola has performed in shows across the UK and abroad and has also worked as Assistant Choreographer at Mountview. Most recently she has directed and choreographed a variety of shows across Hertfordshire, including High School Musical and Beauty and the Beast.