Kraig Thornber

Kraig Thornber (born 1961) is a British choreographer, actor and singer 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. Born as Craig Thornber in Leicester in 1961, the son of Terence A Thornber and Sheila (née Baxter), he attended Bosworth Community College in his native Leicester before training for three years at the East 15 Acting School, graduating in 1987. 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 (1989) at the Cambridge Theatre and Riff Raff in The Rocky Horror Show at the Duke of York's Theatre (1994) and on the national tour. Thornber's other theatre credits include Sugar (Clwyd Theatr Cymru and the New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich); 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 (2006); Mr Mushnik in Little Shop of Horrors (2009 UK national tour); Sir Andrew Aguecheek in Twelfth Night (2009) Stafford Festival Shakespeare; Park Keeper in Mary Poppins (2008-9 UK national tour); Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol (2009-10); Oberon/Theseus in A Midsummer Night's Dream (2010) and The Mikado in The Mikado (2010) for the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough; Abanazer in the pantomime Aladdin (2013-14) at the De Montfort Hall in Leicester; an Ugly Sister in Cinderella (2010-11) at the Belgrade Theatre in Coventry; Nanny Nora in Sleeping Beauty (2011-12) at the Royal Spa Centre in Leamington Spa; Bob Sidebottom in an adaptation of Gogol's The Government Inspector (2012) by Deborah McAndrew at the Harrogate Theatre; Horace Percival in Somewhere in England for Clwyd Theatr Cymru (2014) and Grandpa George in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2015-17) at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. His film and television appearances includes Liquid Television (1992), True Crimes, Brian Osbourne/Van Driver in The Bill (1988-2004), A Thing Called Love (2004), Crimewatch File (BBC), Bar Sub Con in Inception (2010) and Gulag Prisoner in Muppets Most Wanted (2014). As a dancer he has performed in the films Gulliver's Travels (2010) and Alice Through the Looking Glass (2016). Thornber's choregraphy and Musical Staging credits include Murderous Instinct at the Theatre Royal, Norwich and the Savoy Theatre in London. 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.