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Guildhall drama teacher Ken Rea celebrates 30 years at School

15.07.2008

Inspirational teacher honoured by past and present students including Orlando Bloom and Ewan McGregor

Over a hundred Guildhall School drama students and alumni attended a presentation on Thursday 10 July to celebrate drama teacher Ken Rea’s thirty years at the School. In addition, high-profile alumni such as Orlando Bloom , Ewan McGregor and Damian Lewis sent messages remembering Ken as an inspirational teacher.

Orlando Bloom commented: “Ken always said ‘be dangerous, don’t be afraid to make a fool of yourself. Be courageous!’ I miss his classes, but the lessons I never stop learning!”

For Damian Lewis the word “generosity” sums up Ken, “In his teaching and in his insisting that actors should first and foremost be generous on stage: it wafted around sweaty rehearsal rooms like a soothing balm.”

Ewan McGregor said “Ken’s opinion always meant a great deal to me, and still does now. When I know he’s in the house when I’m on stage, I still get the wobbles. I still want him to like what I’m doing.”

Before joining the Guildhall School, Ken Rea was a professional actor and director in New Zealand, working with some of the country's leading theatres and on television. He began teaching at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in 1977, just as it moved to its current Barbican site. In addition to his work at Guildhall he runs theatre workshops throughout the world and has also worked with many theatres including the Royal Shakespeare Company. He is artistic director of Koru Theatre, a physical theatre company based in London.

He has been a regular feature writer for The Times and was for 15 years a theatre critic for The Guardian. His book A Better Direction, which examines the issues of director-training, was published by the Gulbenkian Foundation in 1989.

The long list of actors he trained at Guildhall also includes Joseph Fiennes, Sarah Lancashire, Daniel Craig, Neil Morrissey, David Thewlis, Alistair McGowan, Daniel Evans, Rhys Ifans, and Michelle Dockery.

Current drama students presented Ken with an ancient gym mat signed by all, ‘with the sweat of many generations of students soaked through it’, and thirty sunflowers representing each year he has taught at the School.

Speaking to the gathering, Ken said, “While you’re here at drama school, you have the luxury of ideals – you can afford to dream of a bright future in a friendly world. I think our job as teachers is to fire up that idealism so strongly that it will send you out into an uncertain world, confident enough to  keep those dreams alive through all the ups and downs of your career.”