Will Hammond

Director of School of Performance

Will has worked in theatre, TV, film and radio. Having worked across mediums and platforms, Will can support students to become adaptable. His credits include the BBC, Lime Pictures, Greenwich Films, West Yorkshire Playhouse, Paines Plough, Frantic Assembly and Soho Theatre. Will has won the High Sheriff Award for New Writing from the Stephen Joseph Theatre, judged by Sir Alan Ayckbourn. He co-wrote the musical Kate and the Devil, which was shortlisted for the Stiles & Drewe Best New Song Award 2015. He feels it is important for actors to cultivate their own independent approach to acting in preparation for sustainable careers.

David Salter

Head of Acting (Stage & Screen)

David is an award-winning theatre director and acting teacher.

Previously he has taught and directed at a number of drama schools including RADA, Mountview, Rose Bruford College, Drama Centre, The American Academy of Performing Arts, New National Theatre Drama Studio, Tokyo and the Manchester School of Theatre, where he led the Acting Programme. 

David attended the Director’s Course at the Royal National Theatre Studio and has directed productions across the UK and internationally, including Brecht’s The Life of Galileo at the Studio Theatre, Washington DC. David was associate director to Peter Stein on David Harrower’s Blackbird at the Edinburgh International Festival, to Howard Barker on his production of Scenes From An Execution at the Barbican and on numerous productions at the Almeida Theatre including Richard II with Ralph Fiennes and the world premiere of The Shape of Things with Rachel Weisz and Paul Rudd.

publications

Contributor to ‘Actor Trainers on Acting: For The Twenty First Century’ Edited by Professor Anna McNamara for Routledge (upcoming)

Alan Pearce

Course Leader Acting (Screen & Digital Media)

Alan has worked as an actor for 20 years; in live performance at The National Theatre for Nicholas Hynter and in the West End for Rupert Goold; on film in Star Wars: Rogue One; Darkest Hour with Gary Oldman; on TV in Black Mirror and in season 2 of His Dark Materials. Alan has taught screen acting for 10 years at LAMDA and UCA, gaining a PGCert in Arts education in 2018; writing and directing over 15 short films for training actors.

Peter Carroll

Lecturer

A graduate of both Manchester University and Manchester Metropolitan, Peter also studied and developed his craft at The Acting Studio in New York City. He has a PGCert teaching qualification and has worked extensively in both education and the wider industry as a drama facilitator, workshop deviser and acting coach. He specialises in screen acting and the Meisner Technique. He remains very active within the industry. Peter is founder and creative director of Thinking Actors - an independent training and filming support centre for actors, content creators and casting. He’s passionate about Continued Professional Development. He works closely with both emerging and established talent and his clients can be seen across major terrestrial and digital platforms.

Peter believes his job is to facilitate an actor’s ‘truth’, their voice and their uniqueness. He aims to create confident, resilient, efficient and resourceful actors who understand and embrace the very different demands of acting for camera and the development of a life and truth under imaginary circumstances.

Matthew Dudley

Lecturer

Matthew has taught on and led professional training and degree programmes for over 15 years. After studying at Trinity College of Music and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, he performed in the UK and in Europe. Matthew has taught voice, text and singing at several respected training institutions, including Guildford School of Acting and Italia Conti, and has delivered workshops throughout the UK for organisations such as Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and the British Voice Association. He is a certified Associate Teacher of Fitzmaurice Voicework and has taught on the certification programme in Los Angeles. His teaching is influenced by his study of classical and contemporary voicework, and incorporates movement work, mindfulness and concepts taken from his study of psychotherapeutic modalities.

Gary Horner

Course Leader MA Acting, Lecturer & Visiting Lecturer

Gary trained as an actor at Guildford School of Acting before going on to work professionally throughout the UK. Subsequently he went on to gain his MA from The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in Voice studies and trained intensively with author of Freeing the Natural Voice, Kristin Linklater to become a designated Linklater teacher. Gary is an internationally recognised voice coach and director and has worked extensively within the UK Drama School sector.

Alongside being the course leader for the MA in Acting (Company) at LIPA, Gary continues to work professionally as a voice coach and director. Mostly recently, Gary was an associate voice coach on Henry VI part 3 at The Royal Shakespeare Company. Prior to this some of Gary’s credits include Matilda the musical (Cambridge Theatre, London), Acts of Resistance (Bristol Old Vic), The Boy with Two Hearts (Wales Millennium Centre / The Royal National Theatre), Brainstorm (The Royal National Theatre), Sour Lips (Oval House Theatre), The Arsonists (Watford Palace Theatre), Bush Bazaar (The Bush Theatre), Romeo and Juliet (The Chocolate Factory), Titus Andronicus (Bedlam Theatre/UK TOUR), In His Image (Hampstead Theatre), Reverie (Pleasance Theatre), Hello, Mr Capello (Watford Palace Theatre). 

Gary oversees the development and delivery of the MA Acting (Company) course, as well as delivering across the BA and Foundation courses within the Acting department. He directs projects, final year productions and teaches technical voice and voice into text. 

Working within the theatre industry with some of the biggest theatre companies and theatres around the UK allows Gary to understand the current trends within the professional sphere and ensures that the training he delivers at LIPA is relevant and fully prepares students for entering into the acting industry. 

Publications/research

A non-elitist approach to Professional Development in Actor Training - Drama and Theatre Publication – Summer Term 1 – 2019/20 (Publication)

Northern Centre for Voice and Movement bringing Cultural Capital to a forgotten land – International Network for Voice Symposium – 2019 (Presentation)

Sophie Mensah

Lecturer

Sophie Mensah is a professional actress with experience in theatre, television, and film as well as voiceover and extensive work in corporate role play. She is a member of Spotlight, Equity and a proud member of The Actors Benevolent Fund.

Sophie has taught as a freelance acting teacher at institutions such as The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, East 15 Acting School, St Mary’s University and more. She has extensive experience in coaching actors in their audition technique. She specialises in text analysis and developing the actor’s personal methods of approaching and developing a character.

Sophie has an MA in Actor Training and Coaching from the royal Central School of Speech and Drama and studied a BA Hons in Acting at E15.

Beth Vyse

Lecturer

Beth is a critically acclaimed and award-winning creator/performer. She recently finished an international tour of her own show As Funny As Cancer, she also has national and regional theatre, global RSC, BBC, and ITV credits to her name. Over the last 20 years she has worked tirelessly within an industry she adores to become an established comedian, director, and lecturer – sharing her wealth of experience to help educate and encourage those with her shared passion for performance.