Acting Teachers, Specialist Contributors

 

GILES FOREMAN, Director

Giles Foreman

Giles has worked as an acting coach at the Drama Centre, London; Deutsche Schauspiel Akademie, and The Forum for Filmschauspiel, Berlin; Creative Education, The City Lit, NODA, the Pula International Festival of Theatre, Croatia; the International Festival of Making Theater, Athens; Trixster in Paris, Algeria’s National Theatre, and for Switzerland’s FOCAL. He has run workshops all over the world and coached on the Swiss movie Swiss Grounding; German film Sunny Hill; a German / French / Swiss / Austrian co-production Sennentuntschi, directed by Michael Steiner; Pedaleur du Charme by Daniel von Aarburg; Romeos – a hit at the Berlin Film Festival, directed by Sabina Bernardi; and Ruhestoerung directed by Robert Ralston. He also worked on the video for the Kooks single Sway. He coaches many actors from all over Europe privately, preparing them for a range of film and TV roles: including, Daniel Sharman on Immortals and members of the cast from X Men. He attended the 2017 Academy Awards ceremony in his capacity as a producer and acting coach for Oscar-nominated short film La Femme et le TGV.
More about Giles

Further information on individual Coaching Services.

CHRISTOPHER FETTES, Professor Emeritus

teachers

Christopher Fettes

Christopher Fettes is one of the great theatre and actor pedagogues of the UK, and indeed, world theatre and the cinema industry. He began as an actor, working with the legendary East London Theatre Company – Theatre Workshop, under Joan Littlewood. He went on to join the ensemble at the Royal Court theatre in London during its heyday in the fifties, with George Devine and Tony Richardson.

Christopher’s great contribution came with his joint founding with Yat Malmgren in 1963 of the Drama Centre London, an acting conservatoire that changed the face of training in the UK and around the world. He introduced the Method to the UK, initially with the great UK method actor Harold Lang teaching at the centre, and then by inviting Uta Hagen’s protege Doreen Cannon to head the acting department. Christopher’s innovation was to combine the American developments of Stanislavski with the great European Classical tradition, and the Laban Jungian system of ‘Character Analysis’ as developed by Yat Malmgren.
To honour and preserve the work of Yat Malmgren (who died in 2002), in his retirement Christopher wrote a book – A Peopled Labyrinth – the only body of work that deals comprehensively with ‘The Histrionic Sense’ or, the Law of Expression. The book was published by GFCA Publishing in September 2015, and is available to purchase from the GFCA London Studio for personal visitors, and also online via Amazon. (now available in soft back)
We are thrilled that Christopher’s profound knowledge and understanding of this important work continues to be disseminated through Giles’ expertise – thus continuing to develop the understanding of Character Analysis in its fullest form.

LINDSAY RICHARDSON, Deputy Director

Teachers

Lindsay (Deputy Director, GFCA) is a professional singer and actor, who trained classically at Trinity College of Music, London and in musical theatre and acting. She has performed as a soloist at many of Britain’s major venues and festivals, recorded both on CD and DVD, toured and performed across Europe. Radio broadcasts include Radio 3′s In Tune, Danish Radio, and Radio 4′s Woman’s Hour. She has directed opera; and devised, coached and staged modern musical drama. She provides individual vocal coaching for presenters, singers and actors, and those in public life.
Lindsay coordinates the work of the GFCA London and GFCA Paris centres; in London; she coaches, directs and teaches singing voice privately, and on the Advanced Intensive Programme; she coaches and directs film-scenes for Pro-Intensive actor-courses; coaches and directs Classical scenes and film-scenes for the 1-year diploma at GFCA Paris. Her theatre directing projects include Fear and Misery of the Third Reich; and plays devised for and with Advanced actors: including The Ascent of Woman, Refugee, Exist Other Wise, Hero’s Journey; & Les Liens Qui Unissent (London & Paris combined project)

Lindsay designed the groundbreaking book on Character Analysis – A PEOPLED LABYRINTH – for and with the author, Christopher Fettes, & with Giles Foreman for GFCA Publishing. 

VISITING TUTORS PAGE

GFCA’s leading coaching team, A-Z:

Janet Amsden

Janet trained in the Art and Science of Movement at Nonington College of Physical Education for three years, before going to Drama Centre. She then became Yat’s movement assistant, before leaving for a career as an actress which has spanned forty years in theatre, radio, film and TV and is still ongoing. She has directed over fifty plays, ranging from the Soho Community Panto through drama school projects and graduating plays, to The Winters Tale for Manchester Youth Theatre at the Library Theatre (Best Special Entertainment Manchester Evening News Theatre Awards 1998). Also, Jazz Goes to the Movies and Guitars Galore – music concerts at Taplow Court, for UNICEF.
MOVEMENT [PSYCHOLOGY] TUTOR: ADVANCED; WORKSHOPS

Dylan Brown

Dylan has worked on many television productions as an actor, including Midsommer Murders, Vexed, Being Human, A Touch of Frost, Eastenders, Casualty and Holby. Film incudes Luc Besson’s Unleashed, Ken Russell’s The Mystery of Dr Martinu, Sacha Bennets’ Devilwood and Tuesday and Neil Marshall’s Centurion. Stage; National Theatre in Thea Sharrock’s Free Stage. At the Sheffield Crucible Theatre he played Puck in Michael Grandage’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Rosencrantz in Paul Miller’s Hamlet. Directing credits include Romeo and Juliet (featuring Anthony Howell) at The Drama Centre London and Ayckbourne’s Confusions for ACT Brighton, Accomplices by Simon Bent (featuring John Simm and Andrew Lincoln) at the Soho House London and Nevermind By Martin Sadofski. Teaching includes Diorama Arts Centre, Drama Centre London, Bodyworks, and the Academy of Creative Training. ACTING, DIRECTOR for ADVANCED: WORKSHOPS.

Dannie Lu Carr

Dannie is an actor, director, writer, consultant and public speaker, teaching at GFCA in London and in Paris. She specialises in The Meisner Technique and the work of Stella Adler. Her credits for both acting and directing include roles such as Morli in the Dalek Empire series, Banquo in an all-female production of Macbeth, Livingstone in Agnes of God and Maggie in Dancing at Lughnasa. As a director she has worked on several Arthur Miller, Brecht and Tennessee Williams productions amongst others. More recently she set up a production company, Flaming Poppy, and had her first book Brilliant Assertiveness published by Pearsons. She is currently working on her second book and her first feature film as a writer.
MEISNER TECHNIQUE TUTOR: ADVANCED; WORKSHOPS.

Sam Clemens

teachTraining: Drama Centre London. Theatre includes: King Lear, Romeo & Juliet, and Macbeth (RSC), Mother Courage and Her Children (ETT), Strangers on a Train, Frankenstein, Strictly Murder, Holmes and the Ripper, Deadly Nightcap and Murder with Love (Colin McIntyre Thriller Season, Nottingham), Relatively Speaking and The Reduced Shakespeare Company (Tabs Productions). Dealer’s Choice, Sherlock Holmes & The Ripper Murders, Accidental Death of An Anarchist, Rope, Murder Weapon, Random Harvest, Suddenly at Home, Up N’ Under, Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde, (Talking Scarlet). Wind in the Willows (ABA Productions). TV includes: Casualty (BBC), Family (LWT), Captain Travel (Disney). Samuel directed Celia Imrie and David Warner in audio series ‘Shilling & Sixpence Investigate’ for Big Finish Productions. Directing: a national tour of his father’s play, ‘Strictly Murder’ (Hello World Productions) which is being developed into a feature film. With his brother George, he also directs film as ‘The Clemens Bros’ and has won numerous awards on the festival circuit.
ACTING, DIRECTOR for ADVANCED: WORKSHOPS.

Jane Colenutt

Jane trained as an actor at the Central School of Speech and Drama. She has appeared in productions with the Royal Shakespeare Company, Channel Theatre Company, Frinton Rep, Bristol New Vic and Perth Theatre Company Australia. Whilst working in Australia she discovered the joys of improvisation. She subsequently trained under Keith Johnstone, whose teachings have had a great influence on the art of improvisation and theatre. Jane performs regularly on the London impro scene and is a member of Shotgun Impro.
IMPROVISATION TUTOR: FOUNDATION DIPLOMA; WORKSHOPS

Sam Goodchild

teachersSam is an actor, movement director and movement tutor. He started his formal training over a decade ago at the London School of Dramatic Art, later to complete the BA at Drama Centre London. Having had varied experiences within the discipline over the years, through the likes of Liana Nyquist, Shona Morris, Jackie Snow and Roisin Rae, his practice aims to give actors strong fundamentals, emotional freedom, and the most expressive body available to each individual. His practice is heavily based in Viewpoints, Animal Study and Laban. The ultimate goal simply is to achieve successful, clear and embodied physical storytelling.

MOVEMENT TUTOR: ADVANCED DIPLOMA; FOUNDATION COURSES; WORKSHOPS

Mandana Jones

Mandana trained as an actor at the Drama Centre under Christopher Fettes, Yat Malmgren and Reuven Adiv. She started working in the theatre, touring with Julius Caesar for Compass Theatre; and The Merchant of Venice, Volpone, Cymbeline and Julius Caesar with the English Shakespeare Company. She worked at The National Theatre in Robert Lepage’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and various new writing projects at the NT Studio. At Watford Theatre John Godber’s The Office Party, and at The Northcott Theatre, Tis Pity she’s a Whore. TV credits include: London Bridge, Bad Girls, Coming up for Air, Powers, Holby City, Born and Bred, Doctors, Casualty, EastEnders, The Bill, Silent Witness, Law & Order, Emmerdale, Line of Duty, New Blood, Liar, CB Strike. Mandana also teaches Acting/Screen Improvisation at the International School of Screen Acting in London. ACTING, DIRECTOR for ADVANCED DIPLOMA

Stuart Laing

teachersStuart trained at the Drama Centre London under Christopher Fettes, Yat Malmgren and Reuven Adiv. He has worked extensively for over 20 years in Film, TV, Theatre and Radio. Major TV roles in Blood and Peaches, Strikeforce, a 10-part BBC series In a Land of Plenty and Berkely Square, Vincent, Cambridge Spies, Spooks, Burn It and Every time you Look at Me, amongst others. Stuart was Rob Minter in Eastenders for two years and the lead character in a live one-hour special of The Bill.
Theatre work includes the Royal Court, Soho Theatre and the Bush in many new plays including premiers by writers such Neil La Bute, Simon Bent and Johnathan Harvey’s Hushabye Mountain at Hampstead theatre. Stuart has also appeared in the plays of Joe Orton, Tennessee Williams, Ibsen, Ayckbourne, Manuel Puig and Dennis Kelly’s Love and Money; West End appearances include The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime. He teaches at various academies, including on the directors’ course at RADA. In 2020 he directed the graduation play for the MA programme at the Drama Centre London.
ACTING TUTOR: FOUNDATION DIPLOMA, WORKSHOPS. DIRECTOR: ADVANCED

Grant Masters

teachers

Grant trained at the Drama Centre London, under the tutelage of Christopher Fettes, Yat Malmgren, Reuven Adiv. He was developer & Head of Acting for the Foundation course at the Drama Centre London, and resident director & acting coach on their main 3 year acting course. He was Artistic Director, producer & actor with the Pentagon Theatre Company based out of Milan in Northern Italy.  He continues as an independent acting & audition coach at institutions including E15, Webber Douglas, Rose Bruford, Central School of Speech & Drama; and is a role-play facilitator/workshop leader/communication skills & body language coach for many UK & International companies. Since 2018, he has been a regular acting coach and director for GFCA London programmes and workshops, and continues to be in demand for varied acting roles in Theatre, Film & TV.
ACTING TUTOR, DIRECTOR for ADVANCED DIPLOMA: WORKSHOPS

Liana Nyquist

Liana was born in Sweden. She studied at the Drama Centre and then became the assistant to the founder of the Drama Centre Dr Yat Malmgren, in the Laban analysis of character movement. Liana studied classical ballet at the Royal Academy in Sweden and the Martha Graham Technique at the London School of Contemporary Dance (The Place). She is a vanguard figure of physical theatre, having performed with various dance theatre/physical theatre companies all over Europe. While living in Brazil, she devised and gave workshops, worked for the British Council, the universities of Sao Paulo and Campinhas and performed with Brazil’s leading dance company Cisne Negro. She gives workshops in Movement and Analysis of Movement all over Europe and beyond.
As a Movement Director in the theatre she has extensive experience working with numerous directors in a varied repertoire: classical, contemporary, farce and beyond. As a Movement Specialist, she coaches actors in both TV and Film – most recently, Sennentuntchi (Kontra Production), Pedaleur de Charme (Maigimax Production) and Clash of the Titans (2009) with Liam Neeson. Liana is a lecturer at CSM, College of Arts and Design, University of the Arts, lecturing across the MA and BA courses. She is Head of Movement at the Drama Centre. MOVEMENT TUTOR & COACH, WORKSHOPS

Glen Snowden

Trained at the Royal Ballet School, Glen has danced extensively with ballet companies in Europe, North America and South East Asia. Recent choreographic engagements include The Bacchae for Thiasos Theatre Company performed in the amphitheatres of Pafos and Limassol (Cyprus); La Cenerentola and The Love For Three Oranges for English Pocket Opera;The Saint of Bleecker Street for Trinity College of Music; teaching historical dance in Tokyo plus a recent ballet, Von Ewiger Liebe to music by Johannes Brahms. Glen works also at Drama Centre London where he is Ballet Master and also teaches social and historical dance. Future choreographic engagements include a ballet to Bach cantatas.
MOVEMENT TUTOR: ADVANCED, WORKSHOPS

Odne Stenseth

teachersOdne is an actor who has performed in Australia, Norway, and the UK. As a teacher, he has also taught at Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, Fourth Monkey, and The Impulse Company, and provides workshops and private coaching for smaller groups. Odne specialises in the Meisner Technique, which he has been teaching since 2018. Based on a series of progressive exercises, the Meisner technique is unique in its ability to train an actor to get out of their own head, responding truthfully to what is happening in the moment, and creating performances grounded in a sense of expressive freedom. While it is the actor’s job to overcome barriers in their work, it is the job of the teacher to provide a safe and encouraging space to do so, and the values of patience, self-compassion, and taking charge of your own journey as an actor are essential elements of Odne’s teaching style. MEISNER TUTOR: ADVANCED

Specialist Advisors:

Sue Dunderdale

Sue Dunderdale, Head of our Directing route

Sue Dunderdale

Alongside her working life as a director of Theatre, Television and Film, Sue has continuously been employed in running workshops with fellow artists (directors, actors and writers), and in training students; from 2004-2014 she was Head of the MA programmes in Directing and Text & Performance at RADA. While there, she developed a new MA in Actor-Training: Theatre Lab, and was the Head of that Course from 2011-2013.
DIRECTING-MODULE ADVISOR: ADVANCED

Xanthe Parkin

Xanthe is a UKCP registered Integrative Body Psychotherapist who has a deep interest in what it means to be embodied. She has a BA in English and Drama.
BODY-PSYCHOTHERAPY COORDINATOR; INDIVIDUAL FACILITATOR

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