Ed

Hello! I am an actor and tutor based in Gospel Oak, North London. I studied at The University of Manchester, graduating in 2010 with Double Honours in English Literature (2.1) and Drama (First Class).

As an actor I have worked extensively across both stage and screen. My most notable stage credits include leading roles in 3 West End productions: '12 Angry Men' opposite Martin Shaw, 'Hay Fever' opposite Felicity Kendall, and 'Shakespeare In Love' for which I was directed by Declan Donnellan. I have also appeared in plays at the Lyric Hammersmith, the Gate Theatre, Birmingham Rep, Leicester Curve, Edinburgh Lyceum, Theatre503, Royal & Derngate, Oxford Playhouse, the Unicorn and many others.

On television I played the lead roles of Sir Louis Scatcherd in Julian Fellowes’s 'Doctor Thorne' on ITV opposite Tom Hollander and Doc Holliday in Netflix’s 'Wyatt Earp and the Cowboy War', as well as roles in 'Vikings:Valhalla' (Netflix), 'The Sandman' (Netflix), 'Informer' (BBC), 'Domina' (Sky), 'Silent Witness' (BBC), 'Being Human' (BBC), and 'Married Single Other' (ITV). On film I appeared in 'Denial' with Rachel Weiss, award-winning short film 'The Brain Hack' (for which I received the Best Actor award at the British Horror Film Festival), and 'Hard, Cracked The Wind' by BAFTA-winning filmmaker Mark Jenkin.

Aside from acting I have worked in a wide variety of industries and environments from pubs to call centres to NHS trusts. Primarily I have worked as a bookseller and more recently helped launch an independent coffee shop in Barnsbury. All these roles have been people-facing and I have developed an ability to engage with people from all backgrounds and experiences. I am enthusiastic about finding common ground and identifying in what ways I can assist people.

I am also in the process of opening my own independent bookshop in North London where I intend to hold poetry nights, author talks, play readings and other community events.

Tutoring Experience

I am a regular tutor for Junior Lawyers Club where I lead classes in public speaking and debating skills for ages 9-18. JLC is a DofE-approved activity provider and each week I teach groups of no more than 6 children exercises designed to improve their articulacy, mental agility, and confidence.

Additionally, during the pandemic I founded ReadThrough, an online play reading/workshop company that performed and taught GCSE and A Level set texts for school-age children across the country. Overall ReadThrough events reached approximately 45,000 students nationwide, employed innumerable actors and performers (including Dame Harriet Walter, Simon Callow, George MacKay, Jade Anouka, Pearl Mackie, and Joe Lycett), and was featured on ITV News, BBC News, and in The Observer. We led bespoke online workshops for individual school groups analysing and performing extracts from plays on the syllabus, with a particular focus on Shakespeare, and put on 3 large scale performed readings of 'Macbeth', 'Romeo & Juliet', and 'Othello' that were available nationwide and free to all students.

I also occasionally work with play writing undergraduates at Bath Spa University helping them develop and refine their work.

Tutoring Approach

I believe that successful tutoring is reliant on an atmosphere that is free from pressure and enthusiastic, in order to create a space for lively and constructive discussion. In that spirit I like to get to know my students - their interests and hobbies - so that I can better imbue them with a sense of confidence in who they are and the ideas they have about a text.

Literary criticism is a discipline that is driven by original and surprising textual analyses and getting students to realise that their unique perspectives are not just valuable but utterly central to subjects like English Literature and Drama is my utmost priority. I therefore strive to create an environment where creative thinking is as encouraged as much as the technical skills of being adept at reading texts closely and having a grasp of their historical and literary contexts. It is important to me that my lessons are fun as well as rigorous and detailed. If a student enjoys a subject they are much more likely to feel an ownership of it.

For younger students I work on building up their articulacy and their confidence by gently introducing tips on how to express their thoughts with fluency and enthusiasm. This has the added benefit of strengthening their relationship with the English language which is then invaluable when it comes to studying texts for school.

Having said that I will cater lessons for all ages based on each individual students' abilities, and I work hard to be extremely familiar with all set texts so that we can work with examination and coursework requirements in mind.