THE STAFF

TRUDI REES
Acting

Trudi trained originally in classical ballet and had a successful dance career before retraining as an actress at The Poor School, graduating in 1997. She has worked extensively in the West End, in regional theatre, television and as a Director at The Poor School for 20 years, until its closure in 2018. Recent productions include The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Tom and Viv, The Accrington Pals and The Lady from Dubuque.

MARCELLE DAVIES
Movement/ Dance/ Animal Study

Marcelle was Head of Movement at The Poor School for 27 years. She has also worked at RADA, Rose Bruford College and London School of Theatre Studies. She has taught movement and early dance at BADA and for Florida State University in London on their Theatre Studies course. Marcelle has worked as a Movement Director on productions at Rose Bruford and for companies such as Ridiculusmus, Shady Dolls and The Canting Crew. Originally working as a clown and acrobat and in physical theatre, she toured as an actress with companies such as Trickster Theatre, Accordo Povo, South Glamorgan’s Theatre in Education Company and Actors’ Workshop Cardiff before becoming a movement teacher.

CHRISTIAN FELLNER
Voice

Christian trained originally as a classical singer at Trinity College of Music in London and in Moscow, Russia. An interest in the spoken voice took him to the Central School of Speech and Drama where he graduated with distinction from the MA Voice Studies course. He has been teaching and coaching voice for twenty-five years, training people from all walks of life as well as many actors and singers. As a performer, he has worked as a soloist in opera and concert in Europe, Russia and the Middle East. He continues to perform as a recitalist and his recording of Schubert songs – Aufenthalt – was released in May 2016.

JEN MALARKEY
Movement

Jen trained at Central School of Speech and Drama, where she gained a first class MA in the teaching of movement for actors. Teaching includes Middlesex University, Italia Conti, Central School of Speech and Drama, Birmingham School of Acting, Identity Drama School and The Poor School. She sits on the audition panel for Central School of Speech and Drama for undergraduate entries. Jen is Artistic Director of Encounter. Through Encounter she makes shows about (extra)ordinary events, ideas and people. The company is committed to creating new work with dance by working in collaboration with both trained and untrained performers from a range of communities and artistic disciplines. They have presented shows at Soho Theatre, Traverse, Lowry, Watford Palace Theatre, Northern Stage, ARC Stockton and The Yard.

JONATHAN D’YOUNG
Movement

Jonathan originally trained at Middlesex University on the BA Performing Arts Drama course under the tutelage of John Wright. Following this, he worked with numerous companies and directors as an actor. Jonathan also has a musical background as a drummer and percussionist and was the front man of the theatrical post-punk grunge band Myernark. He later combined all of this experience into developing the theatre company, NMT Automatics that specialises in updating classical myths. As Co-Artistic Director he has produced, written, composed and created narrative based work that has explored free movement, chorus, tragedy, choreography, multi-media, object manipulation, expressionism, naturalism, epic, poor, mask and total theatre. In order to gain a greater understanding of movement, the body and his practise, he completed an MA in Movement: Directing and Teaching at Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in 2019, and now has an approach influenced by experiential anatomy, Emile Jaques-Dalcroze’s Eurythmics, Lecoq’s sense of play and cognitive science; with a particular interest in the role of stillness, rhythm and metaphor in creating embodied action. He has taught at Rose Bruford, Central School of Speech and Drama and The School. 

ALISON DE BURGH
Stage Combat

Alison is the first female Fight Director – the first woman to gain entry to the Equity Register of Fight Directors. She has worked with the RSC, National Theatre, Shakespeare’s Globe and on numerous West End shows and national tours. Her work on opera includes the ENO, WNO, Scottish Opera, Glyndebourne and many more. On screen she has worked for the BBC, and for various ‘indie’ movie companies. She was not only stunt advisor but also took a part herself in the teaser for the movie Mindhorn. As a tutor, Alison was Fight Master at the Webber Douglas Academy for sixteen years. She taught regularly at The Poor School for over ten years and provided Stage Combat Classes at the Actors Centre for  nine years. Alison has a Masters in Historical Research. She is also a coach with the British Academy of Fencing and is a Long Bow Champion and coach.

GRANTLEY BUCK
Singing

Grantley was Head of Musical Theatre at the Urdang Academy in Covent Garden for seven years, Head of Singing at Master’s Performing Arts for six years and Head of Musical Theatre at The Poor School for thirteen years. He has also worked for Arts Educational, The Roundhouse and the Globe Centre. He spent two years as a principal in the West End production of GREASE. Grantley obtained a BA (Hons) in Music from Leeds University.

The core staff are also joined by a number of visiting tutors and directors throughout the course of the two year training.