Introduction to acting

Cara is multi-talented artist: a performer, writer, theatre, audio, film and TV maker, with many years experience as an Acting Coach in Adult Ed. She runs playful and engaging sessions blending voice, movement, improvisation, and text. Her unique approach draws on Stanislavski, Chekov, Hagen, LeCoq, Johnstone and Gaulier. She has a gift for running a good room, where participants feel safe, and supported, finding courage to create, collaborate and explore. In 2023/24, Cara was Artist in Residence at Morley College, where, with Sophie Trott, she developed the dressing room comedy ‘The Astonishing Adventures of Kitty and Peg’, based on rival Covent Garden actresses Kitty Clive and Peg Woffington. This played to packed houses at the Hen and Chickens Theatre in Jan 2024. They are in the process of producing a tour of the show in 2024, starting at Proteus Theatre, Basingstoke, where they will be associate artists in 2025. TV & Audio credits: 'Hendrix and Handel' (Sky Arts), 'How To Burn A Million Quid' (BBC Sounds), 'Ready Player Marx' (BBC Radio 4) Qualifications: PGCE in Drama (Royal Central School of Speech and Drama), BA HonsEnglish and Drama (U of Bristol)

Juliet Prague trained at the Drama Centre. Theatre is her first love; she was a founding member of Mkultra, a performance collective that presents work in the UK, Greece and Italy. Her extensive career as an actor includes 24 Hours at the Arnolfini (Bristol 2019), The Vagina Monologues (2019), Afterlives in Athens as part of the Hellenic Festival (2017), Circle of Blood shot in Niagara Falls by cult director Michael di Paolo (2014) and Square Rounds written and directed by Tony Harrison at the National Theatre. As director she has created theatre in unexpected places including art galleries and homeless communities. A skilled voiceover artist she has recorded many talking books and cartoons. She has also sung with Voicelab at the Southbank Centre. With her wide knowledge base including Stanislavski, the Method and Meisner Technique, Juliet has taught acting for over twenty years at City Lit, Regents University, Rose Bruford, Brunel, Royal College of Music, and has led training programmes for the corporate sector. She is also currently acting teacher at The Bridge Theatre Training Co.

Laura is an experienced theatre director, teacher and writer and has taught at City Lit since 2011. Laura has worked at a wide range of venues including the National Theatre, the Open Air Theatre Regent’s Park, Birmingham Rep, the Cambridge Arts Theatre, and Southwark Playhouse. She loves all types of plays, from new writing and devised theatre to Shakespeare and works in translation, and enjoys bringing scenes and characters to life with students in her classes. Laura studied English Literature as an undergraduate at Oxford University and went on to take an MA in Text and Performance Studies at King’s College London and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. She now splits her time between teaching and writing novels for young adults.

Sean trained at École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq, a world renowned school for physical theatre. Over the two years he trained in devised theatre, ensemble building, character development, mask work, mime, object manipulation / puppetry and clowning, among a vast array of other training. Sean also trained at East 15 Acting School on the BA Hons / Acting & Stage Combat degree graduating in 2011, gaining specialist skills in nine different weapon sets alongside an extensive acting program, in contemporary and classical work and practitioners. Sean works as a performer, director and choreographer, and regularly leads workshops and courses for theatre companies across the UK, Europe and Asia. His approach to theatre follows predominantly from his training at Lecoq, with the body and with a playful curiosity, exploring the space and how the body moves within it. In his courses he hopes to open up a deeper understanding of performance technique, emotional engagement, physicality and the exploration of all aspects of life through theatre and to share his deep profound love of what he does with others.

Deirdre is a supportive and dynamic acting, drama and accent tutor at Citylit. She trained in acting in NYC and at RADA , and studied Performance and Culture at Goldsmiths (MA). Her directing credits include new writing workshops of Shaken by Louise Page and staged readings of plays and musicals at RADA, a devised play The Disunderstood at CityLit; she has also directed large scale Music Hall Events for The Portico Gallery. As a writer, plays include Waking Beauty, The People Downstairs (Young Vic, Shortlisted for LWT Plays On Stage), The Lizzie Play directed by Rufus Norris (UK and international tours, Time Out & Playbill Critic's Choice) A Cautionary Tale for the National Theatre Studio, and Betty Has To Go Now, commissioned for the 2013 Solo Theatre Festival. Performance credits include Betty Has To Go Now, Adult Child/Dead Child, and What Happened to the Tyrant, Bessie in Arthur Miller's The Ride Down Mount Morgan (West End world premiere), Joanna in Home Free (directed by Kathy Burke), Jeeves and Wooster (ITV) and Simon Gray's Unnatural Pursuits (BBC TV)