Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
2 appearances
Drama teacher who founded a London theatre school that trained many EastEnders actors including Cathy Burke, Martin Kemp, and Pauline Quirk.
On the island
Eight records
It's a wonderful, tuneful tune and it makes it for a very good warm-up.
Because I find it a very moving piece of music and topple. I think he's got so much charisma and empathy in his voice and compassion. I really love it.
One LoveFavourite
I've chosen it because when I do my piece workshops This is the song that that all the children seem to love.
Well, Martin Luther King is one of my great heroes. And when I do my peace workshops all over the world and in class. I incorporate them in my drama classes, and Martin Luther King had such passion. in his voice. Yolanda King, his daughter who's sadly not with us now. came to our thirtieth birthday. and we put on Martin Luther King speech and we held hands. and walked through the theatre. Like sisters. And that was the most memorable moment in my life. And Martin Luther King h it was like his Spirit was was there.
I love Buddy Holly. And when he died I kept a lone vigil. in front of his photograph in Woolworths in Cork, and that was nineteen fifty nine and there was just me and him terribly upsetting, but so memorable.
This is dedicated to Ireland and two very dear friends in my life, Carl Damond and Alan Mills. So it's Danny Boy sung by Carl Damond accompanied by Alan Mills.
Yeats's wonderful poet, Ireland's number one poet, and it's very touching.
Well, it's a feature at the Anna Show Theatre. We have it at the end of the class. And I ask different people to compliment who they want in the group and why it was they were so good. So it's a lovely way of complimenting someone and getting c some constructive criticism across. And then we have this music underneath. And then the recipient of the compliment says thank you. And teachers have told me that they've tried this in class and it's worked like a dream.
In conversation
Presenter asks
1:21What do you say to young teenagers who come through the doors for the first time dreaming of a leading role in Oliver or a starring part in EastEnders?
Well, I give them the ground rules. that we start with discipline. But our staple is improvisation, and that makes for very believable actors. We have many actors over the years in East Enders. And that's the way to do it, I think, you know. How old are the kids? Well, we start them at six and then we go up to people in their sixties. There's no upper age limit.
Presenter asks
2:21What do you make of shows like Britain's Got Talent and X Factor that encourage youngsters to think there's a quicker road to fame?
Well, I don't like to see the pressure on the children. But I do enjoy the shows.
Presenter asks
3:00Gary Barlow says he worries about children not being mature enough to take criticism on these shows. What's your perspective?
I agree with Gary Barlow. I think to be heard publicly is not a good thing.
The keepsakes
The book
I'd like to take poem for the day. which has got three hundred and sixty poems. Old and new.
The luxury
Statue of Archbishop Desmond Tutu
I'd like a statue of him. and his right arm is in a position like a high five. Right, in the st of in the statue. In the statue. I've got you. That's right. And then I would come along and I would high five him. And it would trigger off his famous laugh.
Presenter asks
13:35Do you think your father recognized something in you that would be useful as a teacher?
Yes, I think he probably did. But I mean his view was no daughter of his was going to be a good for nothing actress. He wanted me to be a dentist, like him. He came from a family of four dentists, and he used to bring these prospective teenage dentists to meet me, to our mutual embarrassment.
Presenter asks
17:51At what point did your mother leave the family?
That happened, I think, about a year later. Did you have any warning of that? No. But it was extraordinary because I went to school the day she left. and I had a terrible feeling something was wrong. So I begged the headmistress, Miss Brown, to let me go home and I came home. And there was the inevitable note on the table. And I contacted my dad and she was gone. And um anyway she she left and she had a child. Dad was devastated. The child, however, you know, my sisters and I have met him. And he is just adorable, he really is.
Presenter asks
27:00When you returned to the theatre school after two years your position had been filled. Was that a distressing time?
Yes, that was very stressful and um I wanted my ol old position back, which is was principal.
“Enjoyment is the key. And it's integration through improvisation.”
“But I mean his view was no daughter of his was going to be a good for nothing actress.”
“I went to school the day she left. and I had a terrible feeling something was wrong. So I begged the headmistress, Miss Brown, to let me go home and I came home. And there was the inevitable note on the table.”
“I felt I couldn't get up. It was terrible because I couldn't control it. It was a shocking Feeling”