David Antrobus - Biography
I'm a theatre-maker and educator, with over twenty-five years’ experience working in the performing arts. The hallmark of my work is a deep-rooted commitment to the vibrancy and fun of ensemble theatre-making, and a love of helping people of all ages and backgrounds find their unique creative voice.
After reading English at Oxford University I trained as an actor at the Guildhall School Of Music and Drama and have gone on to enjoy a wide-ranging career performing and directing in theatre, radio and TV. In latter years I have branched out into opera and teaching, and am currently Head Of Acting at The Royal Academy Of Music and Royal Academy Opera, as well as being a member of the Teaching Faculty at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. Alongside these roles I also work as a 1-2-1 coach for opera singers, actors and anyone keen to explore their creative voice...
Current and recent work includes :
I'm an Associate Artist of The Orange Tree Theatre, a theatre with which I've enjoyed a long association since 1997 as an actor and director, and was Artist In Residence there from 2012-14. During that time I directed Ibsen’s Love’s Comedy, the European premiere of It Just Stopped by Stephen Sewell, and was Associate Director of The Middlemarch Trilogy, as well as performing in productions such as Feydeau’s Sauce For The Goose and the UK Premieres of Anna Diosdado’s Yours For The Asking and Susan Glaspell’s Springs Eternal.
From 2014-16 I was Director In Residence at King’s College School in Wimbledon where productions included an adaptation of Christopher Logue’s War Music, The Long Day Closes, Peter Grimes, Tales From Ovid (Edinburgh Fringe Festival), The Exam (a newly devised play exploring teenagers’ attitudes to male identity), and Tales From The Wildwood, my own play inspired by indigenous storytelling from around the word. I also devised and directed three large-scale Community Productions (The Merton Mysteries, The Man Who Planted Trees and The Pilgrim Of Love), each involving over 150 pupils from 8 local schools.
Alongside this work in the theatre I'm also an experienced Bushcraft instructor and traditional woodsman with a lifelong passion for the outdoors. For fifteen years I've been running outdoor workshops for children and adults, and am the founder of Forest Journeys, an organization devoted to the sharing of Bushcraft skills, nature awareness, environmental education, and wellbeing through connection with our roots in nature.
After reading English at Oxford University I trained as an actor at the Guildhall School Of Music and Drama and have gone on to enjoy a wide-ranging career performing and directing in theatre, radio and TV. In latter years I have branched out into opera and teaching, and am currently Head Of Acting at The Royal Academy Of Music and Royal Academy Opera, as well as being a member of the Teaching Faculty at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. Alongside these roles I also work as a 1-2-1 coach for opera singers, actors and anyone keen to explore their creative voice...
Current and recent work includes :
- Lockdown Shakespeare : Bespoke 1-2-1 online sessions exploring the joys of speaking Shakespeare.
- Woodland Wellbeing Walks : Guided walks in the woodlands of the North Downs during breaks in Lockdown for small 'social bubble' groups. These walks are designed to help people rediscovering their connection with the natural world and its benefits for wellbeing and mental resilience.
- Rutgers Conservatory At Shakespeare's Globe : Faculty member teaching verse-speaking, acting, and performance skills. Assistant Director on As You Like It and Julius Caesar. Rutgers Conservatory is the flagship post-graduate training programme for actors at Shakespeare's Globe.
- Directing and devising Giant : an outdoor aerial concert in Epping Forest involving professional singers and 30 local Primary School children exploring professional climbing skills and performing in trees. Based on Oscar Wilde's The Selfish Giant, the show (a collaboration with Arts And Gardens) was an eclectic tour through songs, poetry and music celebrating our timeless interdependence with trees.
- Directing and devising The Pilgrim Of Love, a large-scale Community Production for KCS Partnerships involving over 150 children from 8 different schools across the Merton area.
- Co-librettist of In Parenthesis, a major new opera composed by the British composer Iain Bell. Commissioned by Welsh National Opera and 14-18Now, In Parenthesis was a centre-piece to the centenary commemorations of the Battle Of The Somme, and premiered at the Millennium Centre in Cardiff before touring to Birmingham Hippodrome and the Royal Opera House during the summer of 2016.
I'm an Associate Artist of The Orange Tree Theatre, a theatre with which I've enjoyed a long association since 1997 as an actor and director, and was Artist In Residence there from 2012-14. During that time I directed Ibsen’s Love’s Comedy, the European premiere of It Just Stopped by Stephen Sewell, and was Associate Director of The Middlemarch Trilogy, as well as performing in productions such as Feydeau’s Sauce For The Goose and the UK Premieres of Anna Diosdado’s Yours For The Asking and Susan Glaspell’s Springs Eternal.
From 2014-16 I was Director In Residence at King’s College School in Wimbledon where productions included an adaptation of Christopher Logue’s War Music, The Long Day Closes, Peter Grimes, Tales From Ovid (Edinburgh Fringe Festival), The Exam (a newly devised play exploring teenagers’ attitudes to male identity), and Tales From The Wildwood, my own play inspired by indigenous storytelling from around the word. I also devised and directed three large-scale Community Productions (The Merton Mysteries, The Man Who Planted Trees and The Pilgrim Of Love), each involving over 150 pupils from 8 local schools.
Alongside this work in the theatre I'm also an experienced Bushcraft instructor and traditional woodsman with a lifelong passion for the outdoors. For fifteen years I've been running outdoor workshops for children and adults, and am the founder of Forest Journeys, an organization devoted to the sharing of Bushcraft skills, nature awareness, environmental education, and wellbeing through connection with our roots in nature.