Workshop Teachers & Facilitators

Cass is a theatre practitioner, teacher and researcher.  She trained at WAC Arts, Goldsmiths and Central School of Speech and Drama, and holds a PhD on the use of the techniques developed by Michael Chekhov and Suzanne Bing in actor training and theatre making.  Cass has over 25 years of experience working in theatre, physical theatre, dance-theatre, music theatre, opera, film and television.  She is the Founder and Co-Director of  The Chekhov Collective and has used Chekhov Technique in her own directorial work, and her training of performing arts practitioners, since 1998.  During this time, she has trained stage and screen actors, directors, choreographers, dancers, devised theatre makers, scenographers and community theatre practitioners in the use of Chekhov Technique at Arts Ed, Central School of Speech and Drama, E15, Rose Bruford College, and at Goldsmiths, Brunel and Kent Universities.  Cass has also trained directors in the use of Chekhov Technique in professional contexts such as the Royal National Theatre Studio and the Young Vic Theatre Directors’ Programme. She was a Board Director for MICHA in the USA and contributes to their international teacher training programme.  As a researcher, Cass has written articles/chapters, and delivered papers, on many aspects of Chekhov’s practice and was co-lead researcher on the long-term and cross-institutional practice research project that led to the publication of Michael Chekhov in the Twenty First Century: New Pathways, which she co-edited with Tom Cornford (2020). In addition to her work with Chekhov Technique, Cass is a specialist in the use of play in actor training, directing and making theatre, and has been practically exploring and researching the work of the seminal French actor, director and actor-trainer Suzanne Bing since 1998, sharing her research widely as practice, pedagogy, practice-research, articles, papers and book sections.  She is a highly experienced creative and pedagogic leader in actor and director training, and currently works as a consultant at Guildhall School of Music and Drama. 

Roanna is a performance-maker, facilitator and movement artist, creating work internationally including movement direction, audio work and choreography for theatre, dance, music videos and site-specific events. Roanna is also Senior Lecturer at the University of Kent where she specialises in psychophysical performance practice, and is Course Director for the MA Performance and Theatre Making. 

Roanna was co-founder and co-director of The Chekhov Collective UK for its first decade. She has studied with the Michael Chekhov International Academy in Berlin and contributed as faculty for MICHA in the US. She has published on actor-wellbeing, body activism, Chekhov technique in actor-movement and dance, and dialogues between theatre training, therapy and creative facilitation. Since 2020 she facilitates long-term community creative arts spaces for making/discussion/discovery, and is the creator of RAW, a programme of Relational Arts Workshops designed for medical professionals and community mental health contexts.

Hester is an International Theatre Maker, Clown, Director, Performer, Teacher and Community Arts Facilitator. Play is at the heart of her work. She devises performances that are socially engaged, highly visual, physical, sensory, interactive and often immersive. Her specific artistic interests lie in interdisciplinary collaboration, embodiment practice and participatory experiences in non-theatre spaces.

She has directed and taught actors, artists, students, teachers, and community groups in the UK, India, Malaysia, China, France, Italy and Indonesia. Most recently she has taught clown at Bristol School Of Acting and Bristol Clown School, as well as trained non-actors in confidence, teamwork, public speaking and facilitation skills through play (NHS, UK, Marphy’s Playhouse, China, and Borderlands Charity, UK). Trained at Ecole Philippe Gaulier (France), Goldsmiths (University of London, UK), Chekhov Collective (UK), National Association of Street Artists UK, Trinity Laban Centre (UK), National Theatre (UK), SACPA (Indonesia) and with Clowns Without Borders (UK). She is Co-Artistic Director of Malaysian based company, Wayang Kitchen, who fuse food and performance. She is founder and co-founder of The Lost Cabaret Bristol and Paris, respectively.

She has worked with devised & physical theatre pioneers David Glass Ensemble for 6 years, as well as Omnibus Theatre, Bristol Old Vic Theatre, Trinity Community Arts, Goldsmith’s University, Poplar Union, Bristol Beacon, The Egg Theatre Royal, The Wardrobe Theatre, Now Theatre (MY), Teatro dei Rozzi (IT), Shoreditch Town Hall, Jackson’s Lane, Borderlands Charity, Bristol Refugee Festival, Legal Aliens Theatre, Filskit Theatre, Roustabout Theatre, Shambala, Latitude, Melaka MAP (MY), London Clown and Edinburgh Fringe Festivals, as well as unconventional spaces such as Bristol Zoo, the Brunel Tunnel Shaft, Clifton Suspension Bridge Museum, and the streets of Paris, London, Melaka and Bristol.

www.hesterwelch.com

@lostcabaretbristol

@wayangkitchen