Profile
I am Course Leader of the BA Acting.
I trained as an actor at The Guildhall School of Music and Drama and have worked extensively within theatre and TV. I have been a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company and whilst there directed a devised theatre piece as part of Not the RSC Production at the Almeida Theatre after receiving an Arts Council of Great Britain bursary to develop the production which was performed at the Bloomsbury Theatre. As an actress I worked with James Baldwin on Amen Corner and also featured in the BBC Radio 4 - James Baldwin’s Last Amen. I worked with director Claude Purdy (in Joe Turner Come and Gone, August Wilson’s first professional production), Adrian Noble, Roger Mitchell, Katie Mitchell and Phyllida Lloyd. I have been a commissioned writer, having had two plays broadcast on BBC Radio 4.
I joined Central in 1998, after training on the Voice Course where I gained my Postgraduate Diploma in Voice. I worked on the BA (Hons) Acting course, as a specialist in Voice, Speech and Text. I assisted the Head of Acting in the validation of the undergraduate three-course training model and established the Vocal pedagogy on the BA Acting and several MA courses, notably MA Classical Acting and MA Music Theatre, teaching on both courses.
As a Senior Lecturer, I have taught on a variety of courses including short business courses within the School of Community and Professional Development. I have acquired the depth and breadth of teaching experience and knowledge that can be adapted to meet different and selected audiences.
I am an active member of external networks such as ICV and VASTA and I am a fellow of the RSA.
Areas of Expertise
- Ritual Voice- An alternative training for Black actors
- British Black Theatre and its Voicing
- Application of methodology reflecting cultural diversity in the core syllabus
- Supporting Black British Theatre initiatives within the industry as voice/dialect workshop leader
- Voicing the Diaspora; Voice within performance/identity in contemporary performance
- Developing a methodology of creative inclusion within the drama school settings
Key Publications
2018. Jane Boston, ‘An Interview with Claudette Williams’ in Voice: Readings in Theatre Practice (London: Palgrave) pp. 143-150.
2007. ‘A Muse of Voices’ in An International Conversation about Voice. Ed. Bruce Wooding. (London: ICV Books, The Central School of Speech and Drama), p. 31.
External Practice
Voice/Dialect work Theatre
2021-2022. Get Up Stand Up Bob Marley Musical Lyric Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue. Director Clint Dyer
2019. King Hedley 11 by August Wilson; Theatre Royal Stratford East
2017. The Convert by Tony Award-nominated playwright Danai Gurira,
2016. Five Guys Named Moe; Festival Square Theatre Edinburgh
2015. Hamlet – Black Theatre Live in association with Watford Palace Theatre and Stratford Circus. All black cast production directed by Jeffrey Kissoon.
2014. Kingston 14, Theatre Royal Stratford East
2013. Josephine and I Cush Jumbo, Bush Theatre
2013. Fences by August Wilson, Duchess Theatre with Lenny Henry. Director Paulette Randal.
2006. Sweet Little Things by Roy Williams. Eclipse Theatre Company, West Yorkshire Playhouse.
2006. Three Sisters Birmingham Rep Director Paulette Randal
2006. Romeo in the City by Amber Lone. Theatre Centre
2005. Blest Be the Tie by Dona Daley. Royal Court / Talawa Theatre Co Production.
2005. Blues for Mr. Charlie by James Baldwin. Tricycle Theatre/ Talawa Theatre Co Production
2005. Gems of the Ocean by August Wilson. Tricycle Theatre. Director Paulette Randal
2004. Mother Courage with Oladipo Agboluaje. Nottingham Playhouse. Emma – award Nomination
Film/Radio
2018. BBC adaptation of Andrea Levy’s The Long Song starring Hayley Atwell with BAFTA awarded director Mahaila Belto
2018. Yardie Idris Elba directorial debut film
2007. Jonah Film 4. Directed by Kibwe Tavares. With Daniel Kaluuya, Malachi Kirby, Louis Mahoney.
2007 I Am Slave, Film 4
2007. Passing by Nella Larsen BBC Radio 4 Classic Serial
1992. Testimony and The Last Seed. Playwright – commissioned and broadcasted by Radio 4
Conference presentations and workshops
2016. Chicago VASTA Conference Presentation – panel speaker: Diversity, Internationalism and Pedagogy.
2016. Book Review: Psychophysical Acting: An Intercultural Approach after Stanislavski By Phillip B. Zarrilli for The Voice and Speech Review, the international professional journal for The Voice and Speech Trainer’s Association.
2016. 40 Years On: The Arts Britain Ignores and Diversity in British Theatre, Conference Leicester Curve Theatre.
2006. ICV trip to Moscow, Masterclass at the Moscow Art Theatre School
2006. Conference on Verse Speaking, Speaker, Rose Bruford
2006. ICV Conference; The Contemporary Voice; Workshop Leader
2005. Workshop Leader ‘The Urban Voice’. ICV Conference: The Contemporary Voice, at The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama.
Register of Interest
Nothing to declare.