"Entering the Labyrinth"

Christopher Fettes (1929-2024) was 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. After meeting Yat Malmgren, Christopher developed a career as an educator, and as a theatre director of some renown. He directed a number of famous productions – notably his seminal interpretation of Marlowe’s Dr Faustus and Schniztler’s The Lonely Road with two of his acting students, Anthony Hopkins and Colin Firth – introduced the work of Calderon de la Barca to the British stage – and created a fascination with the work of Thomas Bernhard. Christopher’s great contribution came with his joint founding with Yat Malmgren in 1963 of the Drama Centre London, an acting conservatoire that in it’s day, changed the face of training in the UK and around the world. They 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. Later, an assistant of Lee Strasberg, Reuven Adiv took over the 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. Initially seen as a dissident organisation by the British acting world who didn’t want to endure the demands of actually ‘feeling’ something ‘for real’ as was demanded by the Method, the school kept producing notable actors. There are huge numbers of recognised British actors who owe their training to Yat and Christopher, including Anthony Hopkins, Sean Connery, Colin Firth, Pierce Brosnan, Michael Fassbender, Paul Bettany, Tom Hardy, Anne Marie Duff, Geraldine James, Frances de la Tour, Tara Fitzgerald, Helen McCrory, John Simm among many others. Graduates of the academy run National Theatres all over the world, while others like Giles, head drama schools based on the original Drama Centre model. To honour and preserve the work of Yat Malmgren (1916 - 2002), Christopher wrote the defining book about Character Analysis / Movement Psychology  – A Peopled Labyrinth. It is the only book that deals comprehensively with the subject of ‘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 via Amazon.co.uk. We honour Christopher’s towering achievements.