Young Actors Studio
The Team 2010/11
Erica Eirian - YAS Leader
Erica trained at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama and
Cardiff College of Education and has worked in professional
theatre, radio and television for the past 30 years. She combines
her part-time role as YAS Leader with her career as a professional
actor and theatre director. She has just completed filming the
second series of The Indian Doctor, the award-winning,
popular drama series for BBC One Daytime TV, starring Sanjeev
Bhaskar in which she plays the role of Sian Davies. Erica is also a
founder member and director of Cardiff based Theatr Pena.
As YAS Leader she is responsible for creating and maintaining an
engaging and challenging learning environment for all our students
and for the recruitment of the YAS Team.
Anna Fonge - YAS Administrator
Anna is a graduate of the University of Birmingham where she
studied for a BMus. Anna is the first point of contact for our
students and their families and is responsible for providing YAS
with administrative support.
YAS Tutors
"The tuition given at YAS is hard, challenging and
tiring.....but boy is it worth it! I have never received tuition of
such a high standard before" Chris, age 18, Cwmbran (2008 - 2010
Acting Student)
YAS tutors are experienced specialist teachers and workshop
facilitators as well as professional practitioners. Meet some of
the tutors who are working with us during the academic year
2011/12.
"The teachers are easy to approach and you don’t
feel intimidated – it’s a really nice atmosphere" Rachael, 19,
Bournemouth
"The teachers are really great – they tell you it’s
hard, they don’t cover that up. They push the boundaries and put
you out of your comfort zone which makes you more confident both in
and outside of college" Toni, 19, Cardiff
Matthew Bailey - Acting Tutor
Matthew has worked variously as a performer, a musical director, a
director, a voice consultant and an education animateur for a wide
range of arts organisations in Wales and England. In recent years
these have included: music organisations (such as the BBC National
Orchestra of Wales and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Society);
drama organisations (like BBC Radio Drama Wales, the Unicorn
Theatre [London], the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Sherman
Theatre, the National Theatre, Moving Being); and training
organisations (for example, the Royal Welsh College of Music &
Drama and Loughborough University). He has worked on vocal
technique with students as varied as young offenders in prison in
Aylesbury and TV presenters in BBC Wales. Nowadays he works
principally for the Cardiff-based crime-reduction charity Safer
Wales.
Julie Barclay - YAS Theatre Workshop Group
Tutor
Julie trained at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. In
2006 she joined the Drama Department staff, teaching Contemporary
Text Studies to BA Acting students. She has worked extensively in
repertory theatre and for BBC radio/television. She will shortly be
directing a production of A Kind of Alaska by Harold
Pinter and appearing in The Censor by Anthony Neilson with
The Faction Collective at Chapter Arts Centre. She also works for
Theatr Ffynnon using actor training techniques to help adults with
learning difficulties and physical challenges into employment.
Isaac Blake - Movement Tutor
Isaac completed a 3 year undergraduate Diploma Dance Theatre Course
at Laban and also attended The Martha Graham School of Contemporary
Dance, New York. Whilst at Laban, Isaac experienced working with
various artists and companies including Adventures in Motions
Pictures (AMP), DV8 and Rambert. Since Laban, Isaac has worked with
Ragdoll, the BBC, Chapter Arts Centre, Arts Council, FIND, S4C and
Local Housing and Education Authorities in and around Wales and
London.
Jain Boon - Acting Tutor and Theatre
Workshop Group Tutor
Jain trained at the Royal Welsh
College of Music and Drama. She has toured extensively with,
amongst others, Theatr Powys, New Perspectives and Quicksilver
Theatre. She has also played Trafford Tanzi with Durham
Theatre Company touring to bloodthirsty wrestling fans in the North
East. Jain is the Assistant Director of Gwent Theatre, one of a
Wales-wide network of eight professional Theatre in Education
companies and has worked as an actor and director with the company
for seventeen years. She also teaches and directs with the Gwent
Young People's Theatre.
Dick Bradnum - Acting Tutor
Dick Bradnum read English at Birmingham University and then went on
to train at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama and the
Institute of Education, UCL. He was a founder member of The Custard
Factory Theatre Co. Dick's acting credits include Romeo and
Juliet and Macbeth (English Shakespeare Company),
The Office and My Hero (BBC TV). He has appeared
in many radio dramas, and was for seven years a regular MC on the
comedy circuit. His most recent performance was as Malvolio in
Twelfth Night at York Theatre Royal,a performance the Yorkshire
Post described as "a masterclass." He has always worked with young
people,lecturing and teaching. Being around young people
occasionally compensates for his having very little hair and being
middle-aged.
Caroline Bunce - Theatre Workshop Group
Tutor
Paul Clements - Acting
Tutor
After training and working as a teacher of English
and Drama in Birmingham, Paul Clements joined the staff of the
newly-opened Midlands Arts Centre in the city to run the youth
theatre division. He later moved to Manchester and became the
founding artistic director of Contact Theatre. He has subsequently
taught, acted and directed in Canada, Scandinavia and in the UK.
Paul was Director of Drama at the Royal Welsh College of Music and
Drama, 1985-1996, and Principal of Mountview Academy of Theatre
Arts from 1996 until he retired in 2008. He was also artistic
director of the National Youth Theatre of Wales for five years
before going to Mountview. His book The Improvised Play
was the first full-length study of the work of Mike Leigh. While
continuing to teach and direct on a freelance basis, Paul is
currently assisting Sabine Berendse with the first English
translation of a book written by her father about the German
composer and close personal friend of Bertolt Brecht, Hanns
Eisler.
Karol Cysewski - Movement
Tutor
Karol is from Poland and moved to London to train
at Laban Centre, graduating in 1998. He is also a graduate of State
Ballet School in Poznan, Poland. He has performed with Poznan Opera
House, Polish Dance Theatre, Transitions and in 2003 joined Carte
Blanche in Norway. Since August 2005 Karol works for National Dance
Company of Wales. Whilst working as a dancer Karol always taught
dance gaining experience in a variety of different styles and
techniques.
Chris Fossey - Acting Through Song
Tutor
Simon Harris - Acting
Tutor
Simon is an award-winning director and is
currently Associate at the Torch Theatre, Milford Haven. After
training at RADA he worked as an actor for twelve years with many
of the country’s leading directors and companies. As Artistic
Director of his own company Thin Language, his first play
Badfinger premiered at The Donmar in 1997. Until 2007
Simon was Artistic Director of the national company for new writing
in Wales – the multi-award-winning Sgript Cymru, where he was
responsible for a rolling programme of new work including over
twenty productions. His recent work has included The Elsinore
Project for Volcano Theatre, Pea! for Likely Story
and his first production for the Torch Flowers From
Tunisia.
Tom Hodgkins - Acting Tutor
Buddug Verona James - Acting Through Song
Tutor
An acclaimed mezzo soprano as well as an actress, Buddug trained at
the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and National Opera Studio.
She has worked with Almeida Opera, Cleveland Opera (USA), English
Pocket Opera, English Touring Opera, Glyndebourne, Lanternhouse
International, Netherlands Opera, Opera Atelier (Canada), Opera
Circus, Opera North, Opera Northern Ireland, Opera Theatre Company
(Dublin), Opera 80, Operavox Cartoons, Mid Wales Opera, Music
Theatre Wales, Siobhan Davies Dance Company, Theatr Genedlaethol
Cymru and theatr peña. An extensive concert repertoire includes
Mozart's Ch'io mi scordi di te with the BBC Welsh Symphony
Orchestra and Jane Glover, Elijah at the Royal National
Eisteddfod with Owain Arwel Hughes, Verdi Requiem with Malcolm
Archer at Wells Cathedral and Dvorak Mass at the Auditorio
Nacional, Madrid. In collaboration with Cardigan’s Theatr Mwldan
and the Arts Council of Wales, Buddug has commissioned two
one-woman shows; Castradiva by Mark Ryan and A Knife
at the Opera by Chris Harris – both plays have toured to
numerous theatres and festivals in the UK and Ireland including
Edinburgh and Buxton. Buddug recently premiered Find Me a
Primitive Man – a revue featuring classics from the Great
American Songbook accompanied by jazz musicians Paula Gardiner,
Richard Roberts and Paul Smith. Since 1999 Buddug has been a vocal
tutor at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. She has
directed Pirates of Penzance, Ruddigore, Acis
and Galatea, Dido and Aeneas, Orpheus in the
Underworld and Hercules for RWCMD. In 2001 Buddug was
honoured with the Druidic White Robe of Gorsedd y Beirdd at the
National Eisteddfod. She is also a Welsh Singers Competition
Winner.
Deborah Light - Movement Tutor
Deborah works freelance as a contemporary dancer, choreographer and
teacher. Her work has recently been recognised through receipt of a
2009 – 2010 Creative Wales award from the arts council. Among
others she has performed for Welsh Independent Dance, Sean Tuan
John, Sherman Cymru, Diversions Dance House, Institute of Crazy
Dancing, Polish Dance Theatre and Transitions Dance Company. She is
developing a strong solo performance practice and this work has
been presented both nationally and internationally. She has also
received choreographic commissions from Welsh Independent Dance,
University of Salford and Polish Dance Theatre. Deborah graduated
from Laban Centre London in 2001 with a BA (hons) and PGdip.
Phil Mackenzie - Theatre Workshop Group
Tutor Autumn Term
Jennifer MacKerras – Alexander Technique
Tutor
Jennifer is a singer, recorder player and mother. She has worked in
professional theatre as a director and workshop leader,
particularly with children. She first studied the Alexander
Technique when strain-related injuries stopped her form working and
enjoying activities which she loved.
Yvonne Murphy - Acting Tutor
Yvonne Murphy read Drama at Manchester University and went on to
train at the RWCMD and later as a teacher of English & Drama at
The Institute of Education, UCL. Yvonne's directing credits include
Sherman Cymru, The Welsh National Opera (Max Dept), The English
Shakespeare Company (Education), The National Theatre (Education)
and BAC. Yvonne also runs Shakespeare Summer Schools, is a script
reader for Sherman Cymru and has worked as an actor in theatre, TV
and radio.
Richard Mylan - Acting for the Camera
Tutor
Louise Osborn - Theatre Workshop Group
Tutor Autumn Term
Philippa Reeves - Acting Through Song
Tutor
Along side her own performance work, Philippa has lectured in
singing in the Drama School of the Royal Welsh College of Music and
Drama for over seventeen years. A classically trained singer, she
has worked in Britain and Europe in a wide range of musical styles,
she has performed with the physical theatre company ELAN in Europe
and the American composer and choreographer, Meredith Monk. She has
gained a reputation for her work in contemporary music, most
recently working with the dancer Tanja Råmon and designer,
film-maker and dj, John Collingswood on a series of improvised
performances culminating in the premier of Virta at the Royal Opera
House.
Through her work as both singer and teacher she continues to
explore the notion of the interdisciplinary singer, an actor singer
who can move effortlessly between the demands of text and music,
and it is this expertise that she brings to her teaching.
Anita Reynolds - YAS Theatre Workshop Group
Tutor
Anita trained at the RWCMD and has been a professional actress for
many moons now. She has appeared on various TV programmes such as
Tracy Beaker, Holby City and Doctors and
has acted in many stage shows. Anita enjoys the learning process
that comes with working with young people, and most of all, she
enjoys watching them shine.
Nicola Reynolds - Audition Technique
Tutor
Nicola trained at RWCMD and is now a professional actress with over
15 years experience in Theatre, Television, Film and Radio. Nicola
has been on the audition panel at the college for many years and is
employed as a visiting professional on various projects linked to
the BA course in Acting.
Nicola Rose - Acting Through Song
Tutor
Nicola Rose graduated from the Royal Welsh College
of Music and Drama with a BMus Hons in 2008, where she studied
piano accompaniment. Whilst there, Nicola received the
accompaniment prize in 2005 and 2008, and the Mansel Thomas Award
for Musicianship in 2007 and has recently taken up the position of
Junior Fellow to work within the vocal department at the college.
As well as being a private piano teacher, Nicola also enjoys
playing for an array of singers, instrumentalists, choirs,
children's groups and drama societies in and around Cardiff as well
as working as a repetiteur for the Welsh National Opera MAX
department, Music Theatre Wales and as a tutor on the YAS
course.
Emma Stevens-Johnson - Voice
Tutor
Emma is an experienced, professional actress. She has performed in
various types of theatre and made appearances in film and
television in programmes such as The Bill,
Casualty and Crimewatch. Teaching since 2004, she
has worked with organisations such as The Wales Theatre Company,
Script Cymru, BBC Radio Wales, Theatre Royal (Bath), Hijinx and
Barnet Dysphasia Society and on national and international films
such as Submarine (Warp Films). With a Master in Voice
from The Central School of Speech and Drama, London, a PGCE from
Cardiff University, plus a diploma in Dramatic Art from The Oxford
School of Drama, Emma brings all this professional experience into
her work as a voice coach.
Cover
John Lovat
John has worked in Theatre and Education since 1977, when he helped
to found 'FairPlay', the first ever Theatre In Education company to
tour the South West of England. He first came to Wales in 1983 to
join Gwent Theatre, where he worked for many years as an actor,
director, writer and tutor. He has also worked in television and
radio and in 1996 moved into teaching. He now teaches English and
Performing Arts at Crickhowell High School and maintains his
contact with the Gwent Theatre Company by working as a freelance
tutor for the Junior Youth Theatre. John has enjoyed teaching
acting classes at YAS over the past two years and looks forward to
continuing his association in the future.
In addition to our tutors, we employ a number of Student
Mentors drawn from RWCMD Acting Students who assist the
YAS Team and give support and encouragement to our YAS
students:
Ross Capel (1st year BA Acting student and ex YAS Student)
Alex Griffin-Griffiths (2nd Year BA Acting student and ex YAS
Student)
Annes Elwy Lewis (1st year BA Acting student and ex YAS
Student)
Isabella Marshall (2nd Year Ba Acting student)
Sophie Morgan (2nd Year BA Acting student)
Ashleigh Packham (2nd year BA Acting student)
Cover: Naomi Everson (2nd Year BA Acting student)