Munsbach Summer School

Graeme was first invited to teach at Summer School in 1994 and has since returned to this wonderful event on a regular basis. His work includes writing, directing, musical directing, acting and teaching. He has been at the Mercury Theatre in Colchester for the past 16 years as musical director for their Pantomimes.

Other theatre work at the Mercury includes The Resistible Rise Of Arturo Ui and Oh What a Lovely War for which he was the musical director. In addition, he played Sir John French in Oh What a Lovely War. He has also been musical director or composer for shows at the Everyman Theatre Cheltenham, the Liverpool Everyman, the Crucible Theatre Sheffield, New Perspectives Theatre Company, Salisbury Playhouse, Solent Peoples Theatre, Norwich Playhouse, Forest Forge Theatre Company and the West Yorkshire Playhouse, and at the London Palladium Graeme was in the cast of Showboat.

On film and television he has been in Truly Madly Deeply, Inspector Morse, Holding On, Streets Apart, Henry Pratt, Casualty, The Blonde Bombshell, Family Affairs, Micawber, Chucklevision and Murder City.

Graeme's directing credits range from professional, student and amateur productions including several community plays : Open Arms by Rib Davis, his own adaptation of A Midsummer Night's Dream called Wycombe's Dream, and two of his own plays Taking It's Toll and It's Hard To Resist, both community plays produced in High Wycombe. Professional directing credits include From Fetlock To Forecourt and Beast Feast for The Natural History Museum in London, which he also wrote. He co-founded and directed In Fieri Theatre with Mike McCormack.

Graeme is head of music & singing on the 3-year BA Acting course at the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts. His Musical Directing work there includes The Beggar's Opera, Into The Woods, Happy End, Billy and Assassins. He has also composed music for many projects at Conti, the latest being 'The Three Lives Of Lucie Cabrol and Tales From The Vienna Woods directed by Aofie Smyth. Both these productions are heading for the Edinburgh Festival this summer. Graeme is also singing teacher and 'acting through song' specialist at Drama Centre, London on the BA Acting course. Graeme holds a master's degree from London Metropolitan University where he lectured in drama.

Aoife trained as a director at The Drama Centre London specialising in Lee Strasberg under Reuven Adiv, UtaHagen and Annie Tyson. Her training also involved working on the Laban Malgram system under James Kemp.

Since graduating she has worked as a freelance theatre director. Her early work included assisting Nancy Meckler and Polly Teale on their productions of Madame Bovary and A Passage To India. She has also worked at the Young Vic with Tiffany Watt Smith on a number of Sean O'Casey's plays. These early experiences have informed and shaped her subsequent professional work and artistic values leaving her with a strong belief and commitment to the drama process.

In 2006 she began a two year stint as Associate Director at the Union Theatre, Southwark. At this unique venue she was responsible for a number of productions including Treehouses, Imposters, Spring Awakening, Stars In The Morning Sky and The Tinkers Wedding. She was also responsible for the development of up and coming artists and the promotion of new writing.

Since 2008 she has been involved in training and directing at Italia Conti and the Drama Centre working with students of acting and directing. With Italia Conti she has directed Tales from Vienna Woods, The Rover, Our Town, Once a Catholic, On the Razzle, Under Milkwood, As You Like It, Orpheus Descending, Dolly West's Kitchen and All's Well That Ends Well. At Drama Centre she sits on the Acting, Directing and Foundation audition panels.

She has maintained a close relationship with Studio Moliere in Vienna for whom she has directed Macbeth and Blithe Spirit. She has also worked there on programmes designed to introduce young people to classical theatre.

In addition to teaching and directing she found time for new writing projects such as Picture of Alchemy at the Etcetera Theatre, Camden and There's Something In The Fridge That Wants to Kill Me a script by award winning writer Chips Hardy at the Underbelly, Edinburgh and Theatre 503, Battersea. Aoife has also taught at ArtsEd, Lemmon Jelly Arts and Jigsaw Arts. In 2009 she established The Drama Centre Summer School, a three week course at the Drama Centre London and continues to run this.

Aofie was at our Summer School in 2009 and at Stageworks in Ireland in 2010.

Mike trained as an actor at Central School in the 1970's and has performed in regional theatres throughout Britain, played Shakespeare in Regent's Park and in 1990 led his own company on a world tour visiting Turkey, Israel, the South Pacific Islands and the Philippines. He has directed numerous productions throughout Britain and Europe and was the founding Artistic Director of the Finborough Theatre, London. He is also a puppeteer, mime and magician and was for some years Associate Director of Parasol Theatre for Children. He is co-founding Director (with Graeme) of In Fieri Theatre for whom he played Macbeth.

Mike first taught on the Summer School in 1982 when it was under the auspices of British Theatre Association Training of which he was member of the Board of Directors. He was Summer School Director from 1996-2003 and now has the honorary title of Summer School Mentor. Mike is Senior Lecturer in Drama at Liverpool John Moores University where he teaches across practical and theoretical subjects, most recently directing a new adaptation of Lady Audley's Secret.

Peta Lily is a performer, teacher, devisor and director. She has devised and directed theatre works in the UK, Hong Kong, Australia and Europe. She also teaches at Central School of Speech and Drama, The Actors Centre and other leading Drama Schools, as well as leading open workshops.

Lily has trained with Jacques Le Coq, Philippe Gaulier, Monika Pagneux, Theatre du Mouvement, Yoshi Oida, Carlo Bosso (Commedia dell'Arte), Sankai Juku (Butoh Dance), Alvin Ailey School in New York, Master Yeung Kim Wah (Cantonese Opera) and Mike Alfreds (Theatre Direction).

She has directed and devised pieces for David Glass, WSMD, YMT, ArtsEd, CSSD, Opera Circus, Portuguese companies Meta-Mortem-Fase and Tryfus and Alice for Refresh Theater in Liverpool. She is currently working with John-Paul Zaccarini on his Circo-Analysis Development Project and is Dark Clown consultant for Acrojou's new show Wake. Other work includes movement direction on Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead at the Library Theatre, Manchester. Recent performing includes Wolf directed by Kath Burlinson, solo shows In/Vocation and Midriff and comedy with Claire Dowie and Friends at the Drill Hall. As well as her numerous solo shows she has written three plays: The Porters Daughter, Blame and Random Oracle.

Mike trained as an actor at Central School in the 1970's and has performed in regional theatres throughout Britain, played Shakespeare in Regent's Park and in 1990 led his own company on a world tour of Lyall Watson's Cage. He has directed numerous productions throughout Britain and Europe and was the founding Artistic Director of the Finborough Theatre, London. He is also a puppeteer, mime and magician and has directed a number of large scale actor/puppet productions for Parasol Theatre for Children, most recently Snow White in Coleraine, Northern Ireland. He is co-founding Director [with Graeme] of In Fieri Theatre for whom he played Macbeth earlier this year. Mike has taught since 1982 and was a member of the Board of Directors of British Theatre Association Training. Mike is Senior Lecturer in Drama at John Moores University, Liverpool.

Rhys studied at Hull University; has an MA (distinction) in Theatre Arts from Goldsmiths College, London and in 1991 he won the Rose Bruford Trust Directors Award for his production Aquarium. He has taught and directed theatre in the U.K and abroad; recently in Tel Aviv, Israel directing David Edgar's Nicholas Nickleby. Other work abroad includes Shakespeare's Macbeth (Beit Zvi Theatre, Israel), Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men (Ramad-gan Library Theatre, Israel), Shakespeare's Twelfth Night (Harlekin Art Festival, France) and the world premiere of The Tale of Peter Vanicek by David Bridel (Nitra International Theatre Festival, Slovakia). Productions in the U.K include Absurd Person Singular by Alan Ayckbourn (Brewhouse Theatre, Taunton), the 30th Anniversary production of Steven Berkoff's Metamorphosis (The Albany, London), Dr Faustus (Latchmere, London), Road (Green Room, Manchester) Godspell (Tameside Apollo, Manchester) and world premiere's of The Immigrant Song by Mick Martin (The Albany, London), 100 Years of Enchantment by David Bridel (The Oval House/Union Chapel, London) and The Rabbit by Meredydd Barker working with Terry Hands at Clwyd Theatr Cymru.Touring productions include national tours of The Rime of the Ancient Mariner adapted for the stage from the poem by Samuel Coleridge and Aquarium a triple bill comprising Lunch by Steven Berkoff, the world premiere of The Frog Queen by Gerd Knappe and Landscape by Harold Pinter.

From 1996 to 1999 Rhys was Artistic Director of The Brockley Jack Theatre, London. Implementing a robust programme of new, classic and contemporary writing. Rhys turned this small studio space into one of the most popular small-scale venues in London. Productions included Bouncers, The Elephant Man, Sweeney Todd, The Hairy Ape, September in the Rain, East, and world premieres of work by Rhiannon Tise, David Bridel, Barney Aston and Mick Martin including the premiere of his BAFTA/TAPS award-winning play Life and Times of Young Bob Scallion.

Rhys was Resident Director at Tameside College in East Manchester from 1991-1993 where he worked alongside other specialist arts practitioners to empower and enable young people from a variety of backgrounds to engage with the imaginative and creative possibilities of the theatre. He has undertaken specialist training with Monika Pagneaux (L'ecole Le Coq) and Elke Tasche (Volksbuhne, Berlin) and has subsequently taught acting, storytelling and ensemble performance in Israel, France, Germany, Austria, Slovakia and Turkey; most recently in Istanbul for Z1 Films on behalf of the Royal Shakespeare Company. He has also taught audition technique, ensemble acting and directed a broad range of work in a number of British drama schools including Webber Douglas, Guildhall, Arts Educational, Guildford School of Acting and East 15.

Helen studied the piano at the Royal Northern College of Music and Peabody Conservatory, USA. After graduating from the University of Birmingham, she worked as an accompanist and ensemble player before being seduced into the world of theatre. Since then she has been a Musical Director working on both plays and musical shows in many repertory theatres in England, in London's West End and the Royal National Theatre ; she has toured in Europe and 'Godspell'ed in Africa with David Essex. Helen has taught and coached children, adults, musicians, actors, amateurs and professionals in drama schools (Rose Bruford College, RADA, Central School), adult education establishments, youth theatres, summer school courses and privately.

Singer, performer, tutor, voice researcher and writer, Barb Jungr has performed and workshopped in Europe, Africa, Asia, America and Canada. Her innovative shows embrace performance, singing, stories and humour. During 1999 Barb presents Red Roses Blue Ladies, Girl Talk, created with Claire Martin and Mari Wilson, a continuing collaboration with director writer, Julia Pascal and Bare, her new show for the Edinburgh Festival where, in 1987, she was the first woman to receive a coveted Perrier Award. She also appears in Opera Circus' Cut With a Kitchen Knife. She is also an experienced TV performer and broadcaster and composes and arranges themes for Julian Clary's spectacular shows. Barb runs adult and children's choirs, is a respected voice tutor and writes and researches on the voice.

Lyall was a theatre director and acting teacher for twenty-five years and directed several repertory companies including the Bristol Old Vic. He was co-founder, with Mike McCormack, of the Finborough Theatre. He has worked for the British Council, the British Theatre Association, the EEC and the Lincoln Center, New York, as well as at most major British Drama Schools, culminating in his appointment in 1987 as Deputy Principal of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Since leaving to write, he has had seven plays performed and his first film was chosen for the Leeds International Film Festival. He has seen his work presented at six Edinburgh Festivals, across Europe, in the House of Commons and as far away as Fiji.

Ris studied English and Theatre Studies at Lancaster University and trained at Britain's leading physical theatre school, The Desmond Jones School of Mime and Physical Theatre, where she now teaches. She is the founder of Mimus Mimandus, a touring company focusing on Brazilian themes, and performs solo as a clown/jester. She was a member of the board of Mime Action Group [now Total Theatre] with a particular interest in training and has written extensively for Total Theatre magazine. Ris recently spent six months in Rio de Janeiro working with Augusto Boal and Teatro do Oprimido and filmed his workshops both in Brazil and with the RSC in the UK.

Jen is a director, teacher and performer. She is based in Liverpool and has strong links with the Unity Theatre where she is to be Artist in Residence from Sept 2002 – Jan 2003. She was a founder member of Bare Faced Cheek Theatre Company and more recently Cut To The Chase Productions. Her directing credits include 2 award winning productions THERESE RAQUIN and WANNABE. She has taught at Liverpool John Moores University for the past 3 and a half years as well as Wolverhampton University, Hope Street Actors Centre and The Everyman Theatre, Liverpool. She has directed 2 extremely successful productions in Oporto, Portugal YERMA and WOMEN IN SHAKESPEARE for ESMAE Academy of Music and Theatre and has been invited to work with Teatro de Garagem in Lisbon later this year. She has been associate director on many community projects including OUR TOWN (Millenium Dome) and OUR HOUSE OUR HOME (Liverpool Housing Association and residents) as well as touring youth theatre productions and running a thriving youth theatre for 6 years.

Julia Mcleish is a teacher, singer, director, musical director and animateur. She trained at Middlesex University and has performed as a singer in many Musicals, concert halls and venues across the UK. She is the Artistic Director of Bedfordshire Youth Opera, being nominated for an East of England Arts Award for her 2001 production of SWEENEY TODD. Other recent productions include RIDERS TO THE SEA (JM Synge), TRIAL BY JURY (Gilbert and Sullivan), DOWN IN THE VALLEY (Weill) and INTO THE WOODS (Sondheim). Recently she has set up her own company Peculiar Productions which approaches work with an original educational concept. She has taught for eight years across the entire educational spectrum from schools and colleges to work in Higher Education at Luton University and most recently has been working as a choral animateur with under-privileged children.