Biography
Training LAMDA 1957 to 1959
Gold medal
Experienced professional performer
And celebrated voice coach of the Linklater method
After a childhood favouring dance, I discovered acting.
Barney Colehan, producer of the famous Music Hall programme for BBC television The Good Old Days convinced me that I was an actress who danced.
My first appearance on television at the age of fourteen was for his show Top Town .
At seventeen years I graduated from the Joseph Wright School of Art in Derby with five O levels, and went on to train at LAMDA (London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art). At the age of nineteen I was a professional actress touring in Peer Gynt and The Winter’s Tale for The Arts Council of Great Britain, starting out at the Arts Theatre Cambridge and culminating in a Welsh tour.
Regional repertory theatres were still thriving then, and that is where I developed my performance skills. For the next few years I worked as a jobbing actress in theatres all over the British Isles including The Traverse theatre Edinburgh, Hampstead Theatre Club, and The Phoenix, London West End.
As well as seasons at the Nottingham Playhouse, Cheltenham Everyman, Colchester and Perth in Scotland and Canterbury and the Adeline Gene theatre in East Grinstead.
Opportunities came along in television, with numerous supporting and leading roles. Shows such as Z Cars, Softly Softly/Task force and several of The Avengers- plus several individual plays, sketch-work in comedy shows- and I played the popular character of Iris Murdoch in the BBC television series United which ran for two years.
In films I was cast in The Waltz of the Toreadors with Peter Sellers, Sky West and Crooked , with Haley Mills and Ian McShane, A Touch of Love with Sandy Dennis, The Bargee with Harry H. Corbett, Oliver with Ron Moody and Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde with Ralph Bates.
In 1973 a growing interest in teaching techniques came together with a wonderful learning opportunity.
While at LAMDA I had studied voice with Iris Warren and Kristin Linklater and had good reason to recall that training with gratitude and affection. In 1973 Michael McCowan, the Principal of LAMDA, got sponsorship from THE ARTS COUNCIL to bring Kristin back from the USA to train invited former students in her unique method of voice training. Because of my interest in movement and dance Michael suggested I focus on, and develop, the link between the physical body and freeing the natural voice. So began a fascinating and rewarding journey. Applying the groundwork done at the time-and working with thousands of students-I gradually developed my own particular approach to many aspects of voice-work. Knowledge of the physical equipment, the relevance of the spiritual dimension and learning to trust an intuition born of experience-all play their part.
I have the pleasure of teaching the widest age and ability range in most of the leading London drama academies and stage schools. LAMDA, RADA, the Drama Studio, the Italia Conti Academy of Performing Arts and the Arts Educational. Plus a long, hands on involvement with adult education via the renowned City Lit in Covent Garden, and professional bodies such as The Actor’s centre in London.
I studied Historical Dance and Period movement for eight years with the late Belinda Quirey and taught this in many of the leading drama and stage schools.
Alongside these activities I have always worked privately with clients on voice- training and coaching in self presentation- actors and those from the business world. I am an advanced speaker in the Toastmasters public speaking and leadership programme. In 1996 I was co founder of the Kachina Spirit Theatre co. establishing a New North London fringe venue, giving me the opportunity to stage –direct, and enabling new writers and actors to showcase their talents.
Travel has been a strong theme in my life and where possible I have combined it with voice work initiatives. Holding voice and movement workshops and working with individuals I have been able to spend time in the United States, Australia and several European countries. In 1999 I participated in the Sterwerk Theatrewest Voice Festival in Rotterdam.
I have worked as an acting trainer for The Grey Eyed Theatre company for disabled actors. And coached The Thunderbugs pop group for their video for Bullit films and Sony productions.
In the Corporate world I have taught presentation skills to clients at Helaba financial futures. Over Arup Partnerships. The London Underground’ .
In 2006 I returned to treading the boards. What a fascinating journey to meet myself again at the beginning.
