Ian has been variously described as "the English dictionary definition of show-business" and "a confused eclectic". He was voted one of SA's Top Ten Theatricals by the The Star and has received twelve theatre awards for Best Musical Performances, Best Musical Productions and Best Original Scripts. To celebrate his 40 th birthday in July 2004 and his 21 st year in show-business he hosted Handful and Highlights which raised more than R250 000 for the Theatre Benevolent Fund.

He is currently on a national tour with his next big challenge a one man show where Ian is Captain Entertainment in Music and Mayhem - earning the most fantastic rave reviews and delighted audience reaction. At the same time, his new production of A Handful of Keys is also touring nationally, and enjoying the same kind of success that it has enjoyed over the last 11 years of its existence. In the first half of 2005 Ian consulted on two productions, Behind The Mask ( starring Rory Rootenberg ) and Uptown Guys, scripted and directed the SABMiller Decades - Celebration of 150 years ( in Milwaukee ), scripted and directed Born to Run (for The Barnyard Theatres, as well as staging a series of gala fundraisers with Rory Rootenberg .

In December 2004 The Rocky Horror Show was playing in Cape Town, A Handful of Keys had its 11th season in Johannesburg where he clocked up his 600 th performance and his ballet Rock-a-TuTu for The South African Ballet Theatre was playing at the State Theatre Pretoria.

As writer and/or director, shows have included The Rocky Horror Show, Big Band Blast, Madiba's 85 th Birthday Celebration, People of The Dew (the original jazz ballet for the Enthronement of the Bafokeng King) Two Women in Song , Femme! Fatale? , Cadenza , Two Thin Men Sing , Six of the Best , Say It With Music , A Handful of Keys , Cadenza X-Trav , Per Amora , Who Stole The Orchestra? , Roll Over Beethoven , Glory Days , the controversial musical Fiela's Child , for which he wrote score, script, and lyrics, and recently Umoja - The Spirit of Togetherness , which has toured the UK, Europe, Australia and the Far East. He has also done extensive industrial and corporate work from cast extravaganzas to tiny little plays .

As a performer roles have included the tap dancing Bobby Childs in Crazy for You , Frank 'n Furter in The Rocky Horror Show , Narrator in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat , Captain Tempest in Return to the Forbidden Planet , Eugene in Brighton Beach Memoirs , Buttons in Cinderella , Mordred in Camelot and Jeff Barry in Leader of the Pack . His versatility has made him an ideal performer in compilation shows, including A Handful Of Keys , Femme! Fatale? , Six of the Best , Viva Sun City , A Touch of Webber - A Taste of Rice , Say It With Music , Cafe Follies , two Rock 'n Roll shows , Mae West and the Boys, Big Band Blast and he modelled a very effective Donny Osmond hairstyle as host for 72 episodes of Muziek a la Carte .

Ian is married to Vivienne Lawrence. As well as performing together with his wife, they are also well known for the long and successful campaign to raise the many millions of rands needed to enable their first two children to undergo Bone Marrow Transplants for Maroteaux Lamy Syndrome (MPS 6) a fatal genetic illness. They now have two children, Oscar and Kasvia - "the most fulfilling and longest running production of my life".