Kraig Thornber


Kraig Thornber is a British actor, singer and choreographer best known for playing the handyman Riff Raff in The Rocky Horror Show and Grandpa George in the musical Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. He is a former member of the National Theatre.

Early life

Born as Craig Thornber in Leicester in 1961, the son of Terence A. Thornber and Sheila, Kraig 'Pix' Thornber attended Bosworth Community College in his native Leicester before training for three years at East 15 Acting School, graduating in 1987.

Theatre career

In the West End he has appeared in Guys and Dolls, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, Oh, What a Lovely War at the National Theatre, Ariel in the original production of Return to the Forbidden Planet at the Cambridge Theatre and Riff Raff in The Rocky Horror Show at the Duke of York's Theatre and on the national tour.
Thornber's other theatre credits include The Beggar's Opera ; Sugar ; Brassed Off ; The Government Inspector ; The Threepenny Opera, Happy End and A Family Affair for Clwyd Theatr Cymru; A Mad World, My Masters; Riff Raff in The Rocky Horror Tribute Show ; Mr Mushnik in Little Shop of Horrors ; Sir Andrew Aguecheek in Twelfth Night Stafford Festival Shakespeare; Park Keeper in Mary Poppins ; A Midsummer Night's Dream and Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol for the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough; Oberon/Theseus in A Midsummer Night's Dream and The Mikado in The Mikado for the Stephen Joseph Theatre; Abanazer in the pantomime Aladdin at the De Montfort Hall in Leicester; an Ugly Sister in Cinderella at the Belgrade Theatre in Coventry; Nanny Nora in Sleeping Beauty at the Royal Spa Centre in Leamington Spa; Bob Sidebottom in an adaptation of Gogol's The Government Inspector by Deborah McAndrew at the Harrogate Theatre; Horace Percival in Somewhere in England for Clwyd Theatr Cymru The Front Page ; Fagin in Oliver! ; A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum; The Millennium Mysteries; Kurtz in Heart of Darkness ; The Emcee in Cabaret; Puck in A Midsummer Night's Dream ; Façade ; Loot ; The Gambler and Grandpa George in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane.

Film and television

His film and television appearances includes Dog-Boy in Liquid Television ; True Crimes; Brian Osbourne/Van Driver in The Bill ; A Thing Called Love ; Crimewatch File ; Riff Raff in The Rocky Horror Tribute Show ; Bar Sub Con in Inception and Gulag Prisoner in Muppets Most Wanted. As a dancer he has performed in the films Gulliver's Travels and Alice Through the Looking Glass.

Choreography

Thornber's choreography and Musical Staging credits include Murderous Instinct at the Theatre Royal, Norwich and the Savoy Theatre in London; and Cinderella ; The Threepenny Opera and Cinderella ; Keep on Running, Face, Cabaret, Pump Boys and Dinettes and The Comedy of Errors ; Phoenix and the Carpet and The Lost Dragon , and Three Minute Heroes. He played drums with The Apollinaires, a British 2 Tone/post-punk group. For Big Finish Productions audio dramas based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who he was Commander Pokol in Arrangements for War and Lord Paranesh in The Draconian Rage.
Thornber also works as Co-Director and Choreographer for the extraordinary all-singing, all-dancing comedy string-quartet Bowjangles.