Peter Kenny


Peter Kenny is a voice-over artist actor, singer and designer living in South West London. Raised on Merseyside he gained a BA in Drama from the University of Hull.

Career

Early career

Initially Peter worked for Edinburgh District Council, at the now defunct Nelson Halls, building, amongst other things, trick props and Cinderella's Coach for the King's Theatre Pantomimes. He then went on to work for the Royal Lyceum Theatre at their Roseburn Studios. After four years working as a freelance, including projects for Perth Rep, Scottish Theatre Company, Scottish Heritage and The City Gallery; he moved to London and took up his career as a performer.

Puppetry

His first engagement as a performer was with Playboard Puppets in the stage version of the popular children's Television Show, Button Moon. Roles included: Queen Wibbly, Ragdoll, Fairy Fungus, and Little Bottle. He subsequently remained with the company on a freelance basis as a puppet maker and operator, including ad campaigns for Robertsons Fruit Drinks, McDonald's, and the pilot episode of Spooks of Bottle Bay.

Acting

In theatre he has worked for a wide range of companies including: The Royal Shakespeare Company, as Ferdy the male soprano in Peter Gill's production of John Osborne's A Patriot For Me. He appeared as the lead role of Henry in the award-winning short film The Take-Out Directed by Jamie Thraves. As a member of Greg Thompson's A&BC Theatre Co. He toured the world in their iconic production of Shakespeare's The Tempest and created the role of Pilate in Greg's play, If I Were Lifted Up From Earth. In 2006 he composed the music for A&BC's production of Shaw's Saint Joan at the Fischer Center in New York, in which he also played La Hire and The English Soldier. As part of the RSC's "Complete Works" season at Stratford upon Avon, Peter played Thomas Cromwell and was the "ethereal soprano" singing from the darkened nave in Greg Thompson’s production of Henry VIII.
From 1993–94 he was a member of the BBC Radio Drama Company which he describes as, "...the best vocal training I ever had!" where he worked alongside some of the greatest names in the British Entertainment industry. He has subsequently worked as a freelance performer in a whole host of productions on UK national radio.
He was an active member of the Staging the Court Project, which endeavoured to bring academic study and theatrical practice together to recreate a performance of a play in the Great Hall at Hampton Court as it may have been performed before Henry VII.
In 2011 he joined the Tell Theatre Company and has performed in their first two productions Marriage by Gogol and A Respectable Wedding by Bertolt Brecht.

Audio books

Following a chance meeting on a tube with Matthew Walters a producer he had worked with at the BBC, Peter started recording unabridged audio books as a reader for the charity Listening Books. Titles included: Junk by Melvin Burgess, Face and Refugee Boy by Benjamin Zephaniah, Consider Phlebas, Look To Windward, Player of Games, Surface Detail, The Wasp Factory, and Transition by Iain M. Banks.
He subsequently recorded The Wasp Factory as a commercial recording twelve years later for Iain Banks' publishers Hachette and Little Brown, and was generously reviewed by Sue Arnold in The Guardian.
In 1998 he was invited to record books for the RNIB and has since recorded a large range of titles including: Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson, Revolution Day by Rageh Omaar, One Good Turn by Kate Atkinson and At My Mothers Knee by Paul O'Grady.
Kenny is now an established audiobook reader with over fifty titles recorded. He regularly records the Library editions of Mandasue Heller's dark northern thrillers for ISIS Publishing, and the abridged and unabridged recordings of Iain M. Banks' space operas about The Culture. He has recorded W. J. Burley's crime novel, Wycliffe and the House of Fear for Orion Publishing, Medicus and the Disappearing Dancing Girls by R. S. Downie, The Prestige by Christopher Priest, Mother's Milk by Edward St Aubyn and Young Wives' Tales by Adele Parks.
The table below chronicles Kenny's audiobooks. It is not complete.
Release dateTitleAuthor
Mar 2007The Steep Approach to GarbadaleIain Banks
May 2007 Young Wives' Tales Adele Parks
Mar 2008The Wasp FactoryIain Banks
Apr 2008The PrestigeChristopher Priest
Sep 2009TransitionIain M. Banks
2010Surface DetailIain M. Banks
2011Consider PhlebasIain M. Banks
2011The Player of GamesIain M. Banks
2012Use of WeaponsIain M. Banks
2012The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and DisappearedJonas Jonasson
2012The Hydrogen SonataIain M. Banks
2013ExcessionIain M. Banks
2013InversionsIain M. Banks
2013Use of WeaponsIain M. Banks
2013The Crow RoadIain Banks
2014The First Fifteen Lives of Harry AugustClaire North
2014Blood of ElvesAndrzej Sapkowski
2014The Last WishAndrzej Sapkowski
2014Baptism of FireAndrzej Sapkowski
2014Time of ContemptAndrzej Sapkowski
2014The Girl Who Saved the King of SwedenJonas Jonasson
2014Look to WindwardIain M. Banks
2014The State of the ArtIain M. Banks
2015Sword of DestinyAndrzej Sapkowski
2016The Swallows TowerAndrzej Sapkowski
2016Hitman Anders and the Meaning of It AllJonas Jonasson
2017Lady of the LakeAndrzej Sapkowski
2018Season of StormsAndrzej Sapkowski
201884KClaire North

Video games

Kenny has lent his voice to a few video games.
Release dateTitleRole
1996'No specific role
2014'No specific role
2014Elias Zelen / Furrante / Shrimp

Corporate voice work

Kenny has voiced an extensive set of training videos for Romonet Software Suite, the flagship product from Romonet.

Singing

As a singer he has frequently been cast in roles such as Ferdy, Feste and Balthasar. He was a member of the early music group Passamezzo, with whom he recorded four CDs.