Laurence Toczek started Spud Theatre in January 2010. Their first show was a stage adaptation of Irvine Welsh’s cult novel, Trainspotting. Laurence named the company after one of the characters, the hapless but likeable junkie, Spud Murphy. Since then, the company has put on many productions, both locally, in Leeds and Halifax, and at the Edinburgh and Camden Fringe Festivals. Laurence has directed all the productions and also took the parts of Sherlock Holmes in The Hound of the Baskervilles and Dr Seward in Dracula. He has adapted for the stage the original Sherlock Holmes’ stories, The Dancing Men, The Speckled Band and The Hound of the Baskervilles, the Sheridan Le Fanu novella, Carmilla, and the Sherlock Holmes’ pastiche, The Tangled Skein, by leading Sherlockian David Stuart Davies. He has also devised two shows for the stage, The Murder Trials of Sir Edward Marshall Hall and A Pot of Paint. Laurie performed his one man show based on John Polidori’s 19th century novella, The Vampyre, in Leeds in July 2021 and at the Camden Fringe Festival in August 2021. In 2024, Laurence graduated from YAFTA International’s Spotlight accredited Acting for Screen Diploma course with a Merit.