CRAVE'S ORIGINS & VISION:

In October 2023, having won a prestigious Enterprise Award from Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, Gavin Antony created Crave Theatre with a vision to create training and performance opportunities for sober actors. Drawing from his unique lived experience of acting and addiction recovery he formulated a concept which he is certain would have been inspirational and beneficial to him on his own journey through early sobriety. 

His concept of the company is twofold: 

1. To provide professional actor training opportunities for those previously affected by alcoholism or substance abuse who wish to either reconnect to the art of acting or to pursue a career in acting for the first time. 

2. To create high quality public productions that challenge existing preconceptions of addicts and, where possible, bring fresh and authentic perspectives on the themes surrounding addiction.
 

Gavin originally trained as an actor at The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), where he received a scholarship to study from 1998 to 2001. After graduating he was making promising progress within the industry however, his growing dependence on alcohol escalated out of control and in 2004 he abandoned his acting career. 

By 2015, after 20 years of sustained alcohol abuse, Gavin had become severely ill and was warned that he would only have 6 months left to live if he continued to drink.

His life was saved when he received valuable government funding to spend a 24-week period in a residential rehabilitation centre in West Sussex, which carefully set him on a path to sobriety. This has now lasted nine years and whilst he has continued to rebuild his life, his recovery is still prioritised above all else. 

Once in stable recovery for two years, Gavin established a small-scale immersive theatre company, and soon after directed his own addiction-based contemporary adaptation of Hamlet for various fringe festivals throughout 2018. The following year, having resecured an acting agent, he made his West End acting debut in Ian Rickson's production of Ibsen's Rosmersholm at the Duke of York's Theatre, alongside Tom Burke, Hayley Atwell, and Giles Terera.

Alongside his directing and acting work, Gavin also began teaching acting as a freelancer and in 2019 he completed a Post-Graduate Certificate in Performance Teaching at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. In 2023, he graduated again, this time with a master's degree in Actor Training and Coaching from Central, and currently lectures in acting at several universities and conservatoires nationwide.

Now he has set his sights on combining the two passions of his life for the benefit of others:

"Having rebuilt my own health and life over the past ten years with the help of a huge number of people in so many different fields and sectors, now I really want to give something back which can help other performers who have struggled with drink or drugs at some point in their lives. I truly feel that the insight I've gained through my own journey can be used to assist others who want to re-engage with their passion for acting as I chose to, but improve their experience by providing an simpler and more supportive pathway.

I am committed to building as strong a team of acting, education, and recovery based professionals around me in order to grow the company, and reach as far as possible to achieve our charitable aims. I certainly feel we have done this in the charity's choices of trustees (see below), who are experts in their fields and will keep the charity running in the years to come. Now I want to create a burgeoning and bristling sober community and theatrical company, which is a standard bearer for anyone working in the arts or performance sector or in the field of recovery and mental health. If what you've read about us so far is applicable or of interest I invite you to come and be part of it." - Gavin Antony, 2024
 
CRAVE's VISION 

• To cultivate a compassionate environment for actors or performers who are recovering from a period of alcohol or drug dependency.
• To provide fresh artistic opportunities for self-expression, restored confidence, connection and inclusion through our recovery-informed acting classes and performances. 
• To challenge the stigma and perceptions of alcohol and substance abuse 
• To produce fresh interpretations and adaptations of classical and contemporary plays. 
• To provide a supportive platform to unlock and illuminate the creative potential of sober actors, helping them to discover or rediscover their passion for acting. 
• To shape future stories around addiction and how they are told.
• To grow a transformative artistic community focused on fostering resilience through a self-reflective and analytical approach to the craft of acting.
• To train and inspire future generations of sober actors to reach their full potential and go on to be change makers in society and in the industry.
• To foster creativity through our highly specialised and professional training, in environments that nurture personal growth.