BIOGRAPHY

I began clowning around as a youngster and found my way into amateur theatre in Farnworth and Bolton.

In 1986 I co-founded Animus Theatre Company, working as a devisor/director and as an actor. Animus toured North West England, Austria and Germany for two years in a variety of community theatre venues, including hospitals, churches, schools and universities, as well as at numerous theatre festivals. Animus’ style combined physical theatre, clowning and verse-work, three areas in which I have retained a passionate interest.

I studied Art, Drama & English at Chester College, graduating in 1990 with a First Class Honours degree and the English Prize.

I lectured in Theatre Studies at the West Cheshire College for a year, teaching A-level and BTEC as well as an evening community theatre course.

In 1993 I completed an MA in Shakespeare Studies for the Shakespeare Institute of the University of Birmingham under the tutorship of Professor Stanley Wells, before resuming my acting career.

Over the succeeding years I have worked as an actor, director and teacher of theatre. As a performer I have toured extensively throughout the UK, but also in Germany, Holland, Belgium, Hong Kong, Austria, Switzerland, Japan, Norway, Italy, Sweden & France. I was a regular performer for The English Shakespeare Company, initially joining their Education team as a performer for five shows, then as a director of productions of Romeo & Juliet and Macbeth, before joining the main company in the title roles of Hamlet and Titus Andronicus.

My television credits include Coronation Street, Emmerdale, Peak Practice, Strange, Blackpool, Eastenders, From Here to Paternity, Cathedral – Fire at York, Doctors and The Somme.

I have helped devise numerous workshops in support of my own and other people’s work and have taught and lectured in theatre throughout the UK from primary to post-graduate level, including assisting the Royal National Theatre’s Education Company on how to run workshops on Shakespeare for students. I ran similar courses for the Association of South Wales Drama Teachers and the National Association of Youth Theatre Directors. I have run workshops on storytelling, melodrama, mask-work, improvisation and physical theatre, as well as many hundreds of workshops on Shakespeare for schools in England. I also have substantial experience in role-play and learning & development. I contributed to the Arts Educational School (Chiswick) foundation course, teaching Shakespeare, Improvisation, and Audition Technique, as well as directing several Summer School productions. I have also been a regular project director and teacher at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts and more recently at Guildford School of Acting.

I now live in West Berkshire, UK and am married with two children.