Our hosts
Audrey has been teaching yoga since 2002 and is qualified in the tradition of Krishnamacharya, holding a British Wheel of Yoga diploma. She is also a trained teacher of TRE (Tension or Trauma Release exercises) and works with people dealing with stressful situations, uncertainty, anxiety, and mind/body health issues, as well as those working through grief and PTSD.
TRE is a self-help method using simple exercises to activate the body's natural mechanism of shaking or trembling to release stress, tension, and trauma, thereby calming the nervous system and restoring balance.
Audrey is offering TRE sessions for groups or individuals as well as her own yoga classes.
Micky Pallant is a musician and actor and has run the Portobello Live! Community Arts festival and the Portobello Live! Choir for several years. He works as an activities coordinator at local care homes, working with residents who suffer mainly from dementia and a wide range of disabilities. He teaches guitar and ukulele, running groups for both adults and children.
Micky is offering the chance to sing in our community choir, either as a casual drop-in, or on a more permanent basis. All singing abilities welcome! He also offers individual and group guitar and ukulele lessons.
Rukhsana Ahmad is a British writer of Pakistani origin. Her stage plays include Homing Birds (shortlisted for Best Stage Production by Asian Media Awards) and River on Fire (runner-up for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize). Her books include: The Hope Chest, The Gatekeeper’s Wife and other stories and Mistaken: Annie Besant in India. She has scripted several original plays for BBC Radio 4 and World Service. Her many adaptations include Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children (nominated: Sony award) and Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys (nominated: Best Adaptation by the Writers’ Guild Award).
Rukhsana will be offering a course in creative writing inspired by a real life story.
Rebecca Andrist is the co-founder of Jiva Healing, and has been running Healthy Eating, Detox and Yoga Retreats in the UK and abroad since 2004. She is a qualified Nutritional Advisor, Yoga Teacher and Massage Therapist.
Her plant-based cooking classes are an inspiration to anyone who has attended any of her classes or retreats.
I am the founder of Kite Studios (est. in 2005), a creative oasis in Shepherds Bush which offers inclusive art, drawing, pottery and printmaking workshops to children and adults of all ages, abilities and needs.
I will be offering drawing sessions for families and individuals of all abilities, aimed at developing a mindful approach, which helps to build confidence. Also on offer: pottery with my brother & gardening with my father.
Saul Boyer is an actor, comedian and award-winning writer (RSC-Marlowe Other Prize 2014), who trained at ArtsEd and Cambridge University. He has written for stage, audio and is in the process of developing a screenplay with a prominent film production company.
Saul is also a tutor of nine years’ experience and has a degree in English Literature from Cambridge University.
Saul is offering sessions on playwriting, screenwriting and how to write narrative and sketch comedy, as well as home tutoring sessions for kids and adults. He is also offering voice and performance coaching.
Anton has written ten plays championing the need for roles for women in theatre, all focusing on the lives of celebrated women of the 19th and 20th centuries. His plays include Bette & Joan, starring Greta Scacchi and Anita Dobson (Arts Theatre) and Mrs. Pat, starring Dame Penelope Keith (Chichester Festival Theatre).
His first contemporary play, Year of the Virgin, was recently read at The Charing Cross Theatre, starring Sian Thomas.
His plays have been performed worldwide and are published by Samuel French Ltd.
Anton is offering coaching on how to create a play for the stage, whether from an original idea or an adaptation from an existing work.
Joanna is an actress working principally in Theatre and television, including Romeo and Juliet (National Theatre), Let The Wind Carry Me Home (National Studio, Southwark Playhouse), Twelfth Night (Noel Coward Theatre), Bodyguard, DCI Banks and Extras.
She is offering sessions to enable you to find your authentic voice and maximize your potential as a communicator, and more…
Described by the Evening Standard as ‘One of London’s great singers and songwriters’, Joe Cang’s unique voice and musicianship has seen him perform and record in major venues, studios and writing rooms globally. Originally signed by Clive Davies (Bruce Springsteen, Santana, Aretha Franklin) Joe is known for his diverse yet distinctive musical repertoire which has taken him to international chart success.
Joe is offering a private concert via Zoom or Facetime as part of the Singing for your Supper sessions.
Lee is a yoga teacher and physical theatre performer. Since training as a Sivenanda yoga teacher in 2005, she has been teaching private clients, companies and institutions including the BBC, The London School of Economics and Wandsworth Prison. As a physical theatre performer she has performed with Ockham’s Razor and Tilted. Lee also works alongside the charities Aching Arms and Sands, creating physical theatre and storytelling workshops that give voice to those who have experience loss through miscarriage or stillbirth.
Lee is offering movement and storytelling sessions as part of her ‘Every Body tells a Story’ practice. These are open to everyone.
I'm Clare and I'm a book publisher. I've worked for several of the bigger houses (including Orion, Hodder and HarperCollins) as well as setting up two companies, first The Friday Project and more recently RedDoor Press.
I'll be offering sessions with RedDoor author Hattie Edmonds on how to make sure your book is ready to be published. I'll also be looking after our in-house Book Club.
I’m an Italian and I grew up in Naples, where my family owned a renowned pasticceria (cake shop). As a child I would race back from school to watch the pastry chefs making and decorating the cakes, which I would then try to recreate at home.
I will be offering Italian inspired cookery sessions & classes for adults & kids.
Maddy has been running the hugely popular Music with Maddy classes for the children of Hackney for the past 13 years. These sessions include singing, dancing, instruments, puppets and lots of creative fun and games for children and babies age 0-5 and their carers.
Maddy will be offering online music sessions with a combination of classic and original kids songs that support children’s learning and development while having lots of fun with props and small instruments.
I am a singer and actor with many years professional experience in West End and regional theatres (inc. Much Ado About Nothing/Love's Labours Lost - RSC, Theatre Royal Haymarket, Malory Towers - Emma Rice, Wise Children, Precious Little Talent - Orange Tree Theatre). I am also part of the Nannying agency, Bea & Co. I’ve had extensive experience as a tutor as well as a child entertainer.
Rebecca is offering: tutoring, coaching & entertainment for kids + tuition in acting or singing
I am a TV, film and stage actress, and have played regular roles in comedy and drama productions from Skins, Fresh Meat and Cuckoo to Back to Life, PhoneShop and Pulling.
My special skill is helping to spot the gaps in an actor's presentation and helping with ‘branding’, which basically means finding your unique acting ability – and the one that is most saleable.
I am offering one-to-one sessions for actors and aspiring actors.
Sarah is a former dancer with the Royal Ballet. After graduating from RADA, she worked as an actor in lead roles in theatre companies including RSC, Out Of Joint and Citizens Theatre Company.Sarah currently coaches JPYA singers at the Royal Opera House in movement and performance. She also privately coaches students and professionals and has recently worked with principal dancers of the Royal Ballet. Sarah’s speciality is using movement to access the authentic Self, that inner source of creativity and Presence.
Sarah is offering Connection to your True Self through Movement sessions.
Simon is a theatre and screen actor, most recently seen as General Quinn in Star Wars 9 and Douglas Carswell in Brexit An Uncivil War. On stage his many roles include Petruchio in The Taming of the Shrew (Shakespeare’s Globe), Malvolio in 12th Night (National) and The Once-ler in Dr. Seuss’s The Lorax (Old Vic), which was described by the Guardian as ‘the best family show since Mathilda’.
Simon and his son Theo will be reading Dr. Seuss’s The Lorax.
In 1996 Faustomaria opened the Innergy Yoga centre in West London where he taught the 'Art of Living' through the asanas of Hatha Yoga, the philosophy of Raja Yoga, the stillness of Meditation, the transcending heart of Kirtan Chanting and the selfless service of Karma Yoga.
Faustomaria teaches a 'Hatha Flow' involving the awareness of breath, as energy, to move into more complex asanas. He also leads monthly sessions of Kirtan, using the singing of ancient mantras to focus the mind and open the heart. Book yoga classes here: www.dorelli.co.uk
Lucille is a fine art painter who specialises in figurative paintings. She studied at St Martin’s and at the Byam Shaw School of Art (scholarship) in the 80’s and went on to teach life drawing at Byam Shaw. She also taught painting and drawing from direct observation and compositional pieces in art schools and privately.
Lucille will be offering a 3 week portrait painting course and still life drawing classes.
After a ten year career as a music journalist for a German pop magazine, Hattie became the first in-house writer at Comic Relief, working in a team on comedy projects with Richard Curtis, as well as interviewing project users including Rwandan widows, women experiencing domestic violence and child carers. Her first novel Cinema Lumiere topped the Amazon fiction charts and her second The Spectacular Vision of Oskar Dunkelblick was described as “a beautifully crafted tale about a young man’s spiritual transformation.” She is currently writing a book about the heart from a scientific, personal and spiritual perspective.
Hattie is offering sessions on: ‘Writing for Wellbeing’, ‘The Alchemy of Emotions’ and ‘Writing from the Heart'.
A specialist voice coach for 20 years, Milly has worked alongside some of Britain's finest actors, including Sir John Gielgud, Sir Michael Gambon and Dame Helen Mirren. Since 2004 she has been coaching business leaders and managers in the UK, Europe and the Far East through her company Be Heard. She has also collaborated on projects with John Malkovitch, Willem Dafoe, Nicholas Cage, Miranda Richardson, the Royal Ballet and Sadler’s Wells as well as directing several documentaries for C4 and the BBC.
Milly is offering one-to-one mentoring to help you become an effective public speaker.
Nathan is a poet and performer. His first poetry collection, Threads, was longlisted for the Polari First Book Prize 2017 and his work has been presented at major venues including Royal Court Theatre, Southbank Centre and Latitude Festival as well as on Channel 4. He is also a puppeteer and puppet-maker and has created puppets for Soho Theatre and run puppet-making workshops for Little Angel Theatre.
Nathan is offering puppet-making sessions for children and adults and he is curating personalised poetry readings for our Supper Sessions.
Ailon Freedman is an artist, comedian, clown and storyteller (secretly disguised as a yoga teacher). He has taught clowning internationally after developing his own humour-based workshops known as ‘Clown Healing’.
Ailon is offering Clowning, Games and Playfulness sessions (for kids of 7 +) as well as Clowning for Beginners for individuals and groups.
Elizabeth Fremantle is a novelist, whose published works include Queen’s Gambit, The Girl in the Glass Tower and Sisters of Treason. As EC Fremantle her ‘electrifying, brilliantly executed thriller’ The Poison Bed was a Times Book of the Year. The Bookseller described her as ‘a major new voice in historical fiction,’ and People Magazine called her ‘a brilliant new player in the court of royal fiction.’
Elizabeth is offering creative writing classes.
I am offering one-hour Kundalini Yoga & Meditation classes for groups as well as one-to-one sessions.
I am a Certified Facilitator of ‘The Work’ of Byron Katie and you are welcome to join my online courses and personal one-to-one sessions.
I am also trained in non-violent communication (NVC) and facilitate groups and one-to-one sessions
Richard Henders is an Olivier nominated actor of over thirty years experience. He has worked extensively at the National Theatre, RSC, Donmar Warehouse and the West End, most recently performing in Company at The Gielgud.
Richard is offering one to one drama tuition. If you are preparing for an audition or simply wanting to give acting a go, Richard’s wealth of experience and knowledge with a kind and practical approach will help you unlock your potential as an actor.
Gillian Higgins is an international criminal barrister at the chambers of 9 Bedford Row. She is also the author of Mindfulness at Work and Home (Reddoor Press, 2019). She has pioneered work in mindfulness amongst her professional peers, rapidly building a reputation as a leader in the field. Gillian has taught mindfulness to members of the financial services, judges, lawyers, HR professionals, mediators, clerks, chefs and a wide range of other professionals.
Gillian is offering her new Everyday Mindfulness 8-Week Online Course.
Peter Keserue is an experienced multi-instrumentalist who applies his musical skills to work in care settings, both with children in SEND schools and in homes working with residents with dementia. He runs projects using iPads which allows individuals and groups with little or no musical training, and with very diverse abilities, to create and perform high quality, meaningful music in a single workshop.
Peter is offering one-to-one sessions and training to teachers and music specialists.