PATRONS & VISTING TUTORS
During 2019 students at BSA have received masterclass sessions from Andy Nyman (Fiddler on the Roof), Jodie Steele (Heathers), Jenna Hopgood (Come From Away), Helen Simmons (dialect & voice coach) & our patron Jeremy Taylor (Phantom of the Opera).
Our Patron 
Jason Connery
Jason Connery has appeared in over 80 films, television movies and series, combined, since his breakthrough role as "Robin Hood" in the UK television series Robin of Sherwood in 1985.

The son of Sean Connery and Diane Cilento. Connery grew up in London and Scotland. He attended boarding school at Somerset, where he received a half-scholarship for swimming and held the under-16 freestyle record for the south of England. 

Connery's interest in acting developed while studying at Gordonstoun School in the north of Scotland. He started the Inter-House Players Group - wherein two houses combine to put on one play each term. Connery also took on directing duties and directed fellow classmate Edward Wessex (aka Prince Edward) in "Hotel Paradiso". Connery was accepted to The Bristol Old Vic Drama School and, one year later, to Perth Repertory Company in Scotland. For six months, he did weekly repertory work, acted, and worked as the assistant stage manager in an effort to earn his Equity card. He worked hard, rehearsing one play by day and performing another by night, learning as much as he could along the way. His big break came in 1985 when he took over the role of "Robin Hood" in the very popular UK television series "Robin of Sherwood" (1985). The role launched him to stardom in England and he remains a cult favorite with the show's passionate fans. He has since had starring roles in feature films including Return of the Thief of Baghdad, Bullet to Beijing, Macbeth, Urban Ghost Story, Shanghai Noon, Wishmaster 3 The Gates of Hell, and Night skies. He has also starred in Television Movies, Merlin, Spymaker The Secret Life of Ian Fleming, Lightspeed, Mountain of Diamonds, and many series, Smallville, Liberty’s Kids, and Shoebox Zoo to name but a few.

Connery had directed plays many years ago but after starting “Short Mondays” with friend Jonathan Fraser, where film makers could come and show their films and have a Q and A session afterwards on the first Monday of every month, he threw himself into making short films all leading toward his first feature “Pandemic” which he also Produced in 2008/2009. He then went on to direct and Produce, The Devil’s Tomb, 51, and wrapped on The Philly Kid, which was released thru Warner Brothers in May 2012. In 2015 he shot Tommy’s Honour in Scotland and opened the Edinburgh International Film Festival in 2016 and won the Scottish Bafta for best film later in the year. www.tommyshonour.com. 

He has a number of other projects in development and will start principal photography on Tortellini in Croatia at the beginning of September. Through affiliations with Coventry University's new filmmaking facility and the "Independent Filmmakers Group” Connery has been giving Master Classes on Low Budget Film Making, giving a full insight into the process from start to finish. He has also over the last five years been touring the United States teaching an intense weekend acting class, starting with the basics and working towards an on camera monologue and specifically picked scene for each individual.
Our Patron
Jeremy Taylor


Jeremy trained at the Guildford School of Acting.


Theatre credits include: 
Raoul in The Phantom of the Opera (Her Majesty's); 
Fiyero in Wicked (Apollo Victoria); 
u/s Galileo in We Will Rock You (Dominion); 
Evita (UK Tour);
Rolf in The Sound of Music (London Palladium and UK Tour).


Television credits include: 
Luke Kempner's Impression of 2015 (ITV2); 
Olivier Awards 2012 (BBC2); 
A League of their Own (Sky1).

Masterclass Expert - Gerry Tebbutt


Gerry began his career as an actor in weekly rep at Shanklin Theatre performing in seventeen plays in eighteen weeks and followed this working with repertory companies up and down the country before embarking on a career in musical theatre. In the West End he appeared in many long running productions such as "The Canterbury Tales" (Phoenix) "Annie" (Victoria Palace) "Billy" (Drury Lane) "Irene" (Adelphi) "Strike A Light" (Piccadilly) "The Wizard of Oz" (Victoria Palace) "Gypsy" (Piccadilly) "Mack & Mabel In Concert" (Drury Lane) "The Wombles" (Shaftesbury) and two Royal Variety Performances from The London Palladium. He spent many years touring provincial theatres and has probably appeared in most theatres in the U.K. - many of which no longer exist! Alongside Antony Tuckey he was Associate Director of the Wolsey Theatre Company, Ipswich for ten years where he directed and choreographed many plays and musicals including the National Tour of “Little Shop of Horrors” starring Lorraine Chase, the European premiere of the Richard Rodgers musical “Two by Two” and the first regional production of Martin Sherman’s “Bent”. He set up the Wolsey Youth Theatre which became a training ground that attracted over a hundred young people from Suffolk who wanted to pursue a career in performing arts. He was a regular Guest Director/Choreographer at the Queens Theatre, Hornchurch, Palace Theatre Watford, Mercury Theatre Colchester, Pitlochry Festival Theatre and Playhouse Derby. Gerry was Overseas Director for the Kenya National Theatre in Nairobi where he directed and choreographed multi-racial companies in various plays and musicals and he has worked extensively for the Academy for Performing Arts at the Lyric Theatre, Hong Kong. Working abroad as a director, tutor and lecturer has included Hungary and Vienna, Holland, Norway, Jordan, America and Israel. Gerry has had a long association with the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford and has directed and choreographed many productions on the main stage and for the last sseventeen years has directed their annual pantomime. He was Head of Musical Theatre at GSA (Guildford School of Acting) from 1994 – 2011 and Head of Musical Theatre at PPA (Performance Preparation Academy) 2011 – 2015 and has guest directed at Urdang Academy, Mountview, Guildhall, Italia Conti and is currently external examiner for Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. For the last sixteen years he has directed the annual pantomime for the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford. To date Gerry has been involved in over three hundred theatre productions either as a performer, choreographer or director and continues to lecture on theatre. Dramatic Lines published his book on “Musical Theatre” which is aimed at young people hoping to follow a career in performing arts and he continues to run Masterclasses for the Theatre Royal Haymarket as part of their “opening doors” Programme aimed at students gaining places in main stream drama schools. He was a founder member of MTEA (Musical Theatre Educators Alliance – Philadelphia) and is a board member for the Ivor Novello charities. Gerry recently played Scooter in Ballroom at Waterloo East Theatre and has just written and directed Elvis, 1969 Las Vegas for APA Productions
Masterclass expert - Tracy Collier

Tracy began her acting career in 1979 when she toured Italy with various musicals, plays and television. On returning to this country she appeared in repertory theatres around the country and at Drury Lane, the Adelphi Theatre, as Lady Jacqueline Carston in Me and My Girl, and the Royal National Theatre as part of both the Olivier and the Littleton companies. 

She has also been a director, choreographer and movement director. She has also written the book for three short musicals, Hart to Hart, The Other side of the Rainbow and The Mitfords. 

Her own work Silence a Language for her own company Time4Change was performed in 2007 at the Electric Theatre in Guildford.

At present Tracy is Senior Lecturer, Head of Movement at E15 drama school, a post she took up in 2007, prior to that she was Senior Tutor Musical Theatre, Dance and Movement at GSA , a position she held for 10 years. 

Tracy first became involved in Laban's work in 2003 when she undertook an MA at the Laban Centre Creekside, where she was privileged to be mentored by Dr Valerie Preston-Dunlop, author of Laban’s biography and later she joined Jean Newlove for workshops. Both these practitioners were taught directly by Laban. Tracy has delivered papers for the Centenary Laban celebrations and also the Laban Guild.
Masterclass Expert - Emma Gersch

Emma is founder and Artistic Director of Moving Stories, and previously trained as an actor at the University of Hull and the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. 

Following several years working as an actress in the UK and abroad, Emma discovered her real passion in directing. Directing credits include radical reinventions of Greek Classics, including ‘Agamemnon: Stripped, Re-Loaded, Re-Told’ (Bath, BAC), Complex: Electra (Camden People’s Theatre), ‘Mummies and Daddies – Medea Re-visited’ (Bath), ‘Orestes Re-Examined’ (South-West Prison Tour, & the Southwark Playhouse), and Hipploytus: Re-Framed (Bath). Emma is a regular director at the renowned Minack Theatre in Cornwall, where credits include ‘Hamlet’, ‘The Comedy of Errors’ (USA and Canada tour), ‘West Side Story’, ‘Twelfth Night’ for Moving Stories, which won the Minack Trophy for best production 2012, ‘The Tempest’, and ‘The Winter’s Tale’ . Other directing credits include ‘Vanessa and Virginia’ (Riverside Studios and European Tour), ‘Judith’ by Howard Barker, (Etcetera Theatre), ‘The Bald Prima Donna’ (Kings Head Theatre and UK Tour) and ‘The Tempest’ (Franklin Stage Company, New York). 

Emma is also a theatre practitioner and acting tutor, currently teaching at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and LAMDA. 

Emma was Senior Lecturer/Teaching Fellow in Drama at Bath Spa University until 2012. Emma is also founder and director of Emma Gersch Training Ltd and delivers actor based role-play training across a wide range of sectors including the NHS and the British Red Cross.
Masterclass Expert - Michael Gattrell

Michael is currently the director of the Theatre Royal panto having directed Aladdin starring Bill Ward and the year before Jack and the Beanstalk with Nigel Havers. 
Previous to Bath he directed Cinderella for UK Productions in Basingstoke starring Keith Chegwin and Katy Ashworth Michael is an agent for Theatre, TV, Film and Commercials for Chris Davis Management. 

Michael's previous work includes Operations Manager for Picturedrome Electric Theatre Co, Marketing Manager at Derby Theatre, Head of Programming for Bill Kenwright Limited and for many years was the General Manager of The Capitol in Horsham. Michael was responsible for producing and directing the Christmas Pantomime each year in Horsham and their festive studio productions with such artistes as CBeebies presenters Justin Fletcher and Sarah Jane Honeywell. TV’s Todd Carty, Gillian Wright, Anna Williamson, Sandra Dickinson, Lorraine Chase, Lynda Baron, Louise Jameson and Faith Brown to name but a few. He also directed the World premiere stage production of Rod Campbell’s best selling book Dear Santa. 

Whilst working in Horsham he also become the Artistic Director of the District Arts Festival for many years attracting headline performers and organising outdoor music events to full capacity. He was instrumental in the District Olympics celebration.. He has worked with CBeebies star Mister Maker on his LIVE show touring Butlins resorts, and was artistic consultant on Rod Campbell’s Dear Santa in Northampton, Swindon, Shrewsbury, Crawley and Singapore. 2017 has seen him develop the stage production of Dear Zoo by Rod Campbell and is hoping that it will embark on a national tour very soon He has also worked with various theatre companies in Hampshire and West Sussex as an actor, singer as well as a director. His favourite productions being Brassed Off, The 39 Steps, Sideman and The Hired Man.
Photo - Anna Barclay
Masterclass Expert - Stephen Carlile

Stephen trained at Guildford School of Acting.
He has performed in many theatre works including The Go-Between as Viscount Trimingham, Evita, The Producers as Lead Tenor, Peter Pan as Smee, The Wizard of Oz, My Fair Lady as Freddy Eynsford-Hill, Next Door's Baby as Dickie O' Brien, The Pirates of Penzance as Frederic, Space Family Robinson and The Phantom of the Opera.

Carlile has also done voice over work in many radio plays including Doctor Who, Songs from Jesus Christ Superstar and Vanity Fair.

Carlile also appeared in the 2008 drama film Brideshead Revisited as English Lord.

Stephen is currently playing Scar in Disney's Lion King on Broadway.
 
 
Masterclass Expert - Bryan Husband

Bryan trained at the Royal College of Music, London, and the Welsh College of Music and Drama, Cardiff. 

 He sang in opera houses around the continent before taking up posts as singing tutor at several UK drama colleges, including GSA, Mountview and Italia Conti. 

Bryan is now a freelance performer, tutor, music adjudicator, and music examiner in Classical and Jazz, and Rock & Pop. He also instructs skiing. 

Since 2008, Bryan has taught on the MT BA at Trinity Laban, where he teaches individual students and Music Theatre Voice classes.

Masterclass Expert - Jean Pierre
Van Der Spuy

 Jean-Pierre is a freelance director from South Africa and trained at the Guildford School of Acting. Current/Future projects include: Porgy and Bess (Grange Park Opera), The Dreamers (a new musical) Mary Poppins (Japan) and The UK and International tour of Miss Saigon. Directorial credits include: Oliver! (Grange Park Opera), Barnum starring Brian Conley (UK Tour). Associate Director: Miss Saigon (Japan), Half A Sixpence (Noel Coward Theatre), Miss Saigon (Prince Edward Theatre), The Phantom of the Opera (Her Majesty's Theatre), The Phantom of the Opera (Royal Albert Hall in celebration of its 25th Anniversary). Resident Director: The Phantom of the Opera (Her Majesty’s Theatre), Miss Saigon (UK Tour 2004) and Children’s Director of Mary Poppins (Prince Edward Theatre). He has worked on the Olivier Awards, West End Live, The Royal Variety Show, Children in Need, This Morning, The Alan Titchmarsh Show and Good Morning America for CBS. Jean-Pierre is one of the founders of the Bridge Project, a creative exchange programme with South African theatre practitioners and actors. Prior to working as a director, Jean-Pierre was an actor appearing in numerous west end productions and tours.
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