WHO
A working life committed to the identification, development and sharing of human stories.
At the beginning of my now 45 years young career, I trained as an actor in a classical conservatoire setting, before fate and Les Mis sent me diving deep into the rich and exciting world of Musical Theatre.
Alongside a thriving acting career, further study opportunities then led me into the world of classical singing and finally to a Masters Degree in Actor Training and Coaching at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. Across the journey I have revelled in defining roles on iconic productions such as Les Miserables, Phantom Of The Opera, Sweeney Todd, Cats, Mamma Mia to name a few. Working with a cavalcade of extraordinary artists, I’ve observed and learnt from the very best, making every stop a learning post.
This fed and built my passion for a life of creative exploration and constant curiosity. Myriad artisitic adventures span everything from Classical Opera through avant garde Visual Theatre to wild and confronting Glam Rock Comedy Cabaret.
Working extensivly as a concert artist, I have appeared across my homeland of Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, UAE, India, Sweden, Spain, Italy and the UK and Ireland.
I’ve also had the great privilege of regularly being in the rehearsal room on many original productions and developmental workshops of new stories/shows.
The past 10 years afforded me the unmatchable challenge and pleasure of guiding, mentoring and being inspired by the rising generation of performers. I have taught and directed at many of the UK’s key training institutions, including Rose Bruford, Royal Central, and Italia Conti with three years as Senior Acting Tutor at Mountview Academy across all courses.
This culminated in 7 extraordinary years as Head of Acting on the renowned Musical Theatre course at ArtsEd. In those years I was responsible for a full reimagination and reframing of the ArtsEd MT Acting provision and culture, which has been enthusiastically recognised and embraced by the Industry at large.
At this moment, to my intense pride and delight, there are scores of my ex students filling out the cast lists of productions in the West End, across the UK and the European mainland.
WHAT
Acting is not magic -
People are !
My passionate commitment is to the pursuit of a working partnership between active curiosity, personal empowerment and identifiable skill, all focussed on underpinning artistic and creative agency.
Acting is technique, a practice, a form, a structure, an approach and a curiosity, but it is not magic. The only wizardry is in the individual lives, thoughts and choices of the people delivering it. I am actively entranced by the interplay between the idea, the author and the brave individual who has taken it up. At the heart of all this is genuine fascination with meeting the individual and the version of the tale that only THEY can tell.
I’m endlessly delighted by the surprise and original thrill created by a new voice. My job as an Acting Teacher, as I see it, is to champion, develop and enable that authentic voice in each of my students, whilst always actively stewarding them towards practical performance.
Humour, fun and kindness are at heart of my working ethos, complimented by a commitment to detail, rigour and hard, smart work. Central to that is the collaborative spirit and that is always my first focus. Nothing good is ever created in turmoil or fear, so finding a safe, kind, playful arena is key/paramount.
Acting is a knowable, practical discipline and there is nothing more enjoyable than collaborating on each new foundation, which is why I keep coming back to the table.
HOW
If you’re not in transition, you’re not working.
Just as there are myriad stories, ideas and gestures, so there are a rich and exciting range of paths to knowledge/agency.
My career has afforded me access to so many individual creative processes and outcomes that it would be ridiculous to align myself to a singular doctrine or creative dogma. Not to say that I am not wholly well versed in foundational modern acting practices - Stanislavski, Meisner, Lecoq, Feldenkrais, amongst others, all inform and occupy my work - but just as my own creative processes respond and grow, so do my approaches to teaching acting.
Diversity in acting styles is perhaps one of the most interesting and captivating elements of the craft. Actors employ a wide range of styles and techniques to bring a character to life, reflecting intense naturalism through cartoon grotesquery to the wildly abstract. Each style has its own unique characteristics and invites actors to explore different aspects of themselves and their characters. Moreover, acting styles also reflect the diverse cultural, social and historical contexts in which we move.
The beauty of a variety of approaches to actor training lies in the fact that it allows actors to experiment and find their own unique approach/voice . When training students, my eye is always balanced on what the individual knows, what the material demands and what the industry understands.
In activating, developing and inspiring my students, I always work with an eye to the moment, the personal understanding and the particular collaborative instant/dynamic. Whether it be one to one coaching, investigation through masterclass or group workshopping, the guiding aim is always on recognition, deconstruction, experimentation and building skill/agency through play.