Shamiron Productions are thrilled to bring back Don’t Trust me, I’m a Dentist to the stage as part of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival 2020.
The sketch-style narrative is based on true experiences of former (occasionally mad) dentist Amir Rahimzadeh and is co-written by (sporadically kooky) character comic Sharon Heywood. This one-act rollercoaster is directed by Aussie TV legend Roz Hammond who is no stranger to the MICF, having performed in six and directed in two festivals.
AMIR RAHIMZADEH
Originally born in Iran and raised in the UK, Amir qualified as a dentist before realising his passion for the Arts. He started his career in the theatre back in 2002 and performed on the fringe scene in his home town of Manchester whilst still practising dentistry. He has several notable credits within the circuit including Manchester’s Royal Exchange Theatre, The 24:7 Festival and touring the UK with the play Vienna during which he met his future wife and partner in crime, Sharon. By 2010 Amir had moved largely into screen acting, ditching the latex gloves and dental drill for a more fulfilling career.
Amir’s film credits include the BAFTA-winning Last Night in Edinburgh, Freesia, Go With God and Jon Stewart’s Rosewater. Most recently, he was one of the principal cast in Timur Bekmambetov’s award-winning Profile which had its Australian premiere at the 2018 Melbourne International Film Festival.
After emigrating to Australia in 2016, Amir has been busy with various film projects but he is best known here as the regular character Hamid Jafari in the ABC TV series The Heights which has just completed its second season of production in Perth.
As a team, Amir and Sharon have written and produced several comedies together on stage and screen including the multi-media sketch shows Perverted Moves in the Dark and its sequel The Second Coming both of which toured Manchester to great audience response. Don’t trust me, I’m a dentist was first performed in Melbourne in 2017 and gets its second outing at the 2020 MICF.
SHARON HEYWOOD
Sharon Heywood is a British-Irish actor. She decided to escape the big UK chill just in time for Boris to ruin the country, and quite likes the true warmth of the Aussies. The weather’s not too bad either. Sharon spent many years back in the UK writing and producing her own work, whilst juggling life as a professional chef and teacher. But as they say all the best material comes from true life experiences. This enabled her to go on to create comedy and she has an extensive back catalogue of multi-media sketch shows at Buxton and Edinburgh Festivals, character stand up, and independent short films.
Sharon was short listed for Manchester XFM comedian of the year judged by UK’s Justin Lee Collins in 2013 with her character Moon. Sharon has had some of her work featured on, UK radio Crooked Comedy sketch show, ITV’s Shoot the Writers, and also had her short comedy Brenda and Ken shown at the Nightpiece Edinburgh film festival 2014. Whilst in Australia, Sharon has been busy building her network and worked on some very different projects, including the Light and Sound show for Sovereign Hill in Ballarat, the web series Neighbourhood Watch, the play Worth performed at the Melbourne Fringe Festival in 2018, several independent short films including Whiplash, Dog Dayz2, Screaming Demons, and
the comedy web series Please Rewind. She is soon bringing her best known stand-up character Moon to the small screen in The Grant web series and will be knuckling down as part of the core writing team on City Limits.
ROZ HAMMOND
Roz Hammond is a highly accomplished theatre, film and television actor, writer and director.
As an actor, she has performed in six Melbourne International Comedy Festivals (Made In Spain, Slippers At Sea, Up and At ‘Em, Australia, Garden Ho,, The Writers Part 2, Gym and Tonic) and she has directed two shows: Footy Chicks and These Things Happen.
On television, she has appeared sixty episodes of ABC drama The Heights, ten seasons of Shaun Micallef’s Mad As Hell, together with Five Bedrooms and Jack Irish. Other long running roles include three series of The Librarians, three series of The Micallef Programme, three series of both Skithouse and Thank God You’re Here together with guest roles in everything from Blue Heelers, Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries, The Let Down, Please Like Me, It’s a Date, Offspring, Mr and Mrs Murder, Outland, Slide, The King, Curtin and Newstopia.
She has performed leading roles for the Melbourne Theatre Company, Black Swan Theatre Company and Playbox Theatre. Her own solo shows have toured internationally and she has been nominated for Best Show at Perth Fringe Festival, the Golden Gibbo at Melbourne International Comedy Festival and Best Female Performance at the Dublin Fringe Festival.
Her film roles include Australian classic Muriel’s Wedding and The Dish.
As a writer, her credits include Home and Away, It’s a Date, Little Lunch, Skithouse, Eric, Small Tales and True as well as her solo theatre shows. Her directing credits include short films Busting Out The Bells, Family Secrets and the TV pilot Shine Bright.
