I'm an English language teacher and theatre lover living in Bristol. I am the founder of actEnglish - a theatre community for non-native English speakers living in the UK and beyond. This includes courses, workshops, theatre trips and a small company. This blog reflects on the ideas about, and experiences of, teaching language through theatre. Contributions by myself, students and fellow teachers.
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ONLINE 121 classes now available. Book a free 30 minute sample class here
All upcoming events are listed below. For courses click on the option and complete the booking form and payment option (if applicable) at the bottom of the booking page. For free workshops please contact us on our email or using the contact form to request a place. Or click on the choice below to use the booking form.
NEW WORKSHOP!
USING SCRIPTS TO BOOST YOUR ENGLISH:
Join this workshop to explore more general drama activities with a speacial focus on using scripts and plays to develop your skills.
Join this workshop to learn how you can use scripts to overcome speech and comprehension challenges using plays written in English. You will discover techniques for acting and performance that also help you with speaking and pronunciation, using any new language quickly and confidently.
WHEN: Wednesday the 16th of July 2025
WHERE: Centrespace Studios & Gallery
6 Leonard Lane Bristol BS1 1EA
Please note: This is open and appropriate to everyone whether you took part in the last workshop or not.
An intermediate level or above is recommended to get the most out of the evening.
The event is free but voluntary donations toward space hire are very welcome.
FREE WORKSHOP: How theatre can help you improve your English.
I’m delighted to announce the first ever actEnglish workshop to be held in Bristol!
If English is not your first language and whatever level you are at this workshop could be for you.
The workshop is for second language English speakers with or without experience working in theatre and drama.
It will introduce you to the ways that theatre can help you develop your voice and confidence in the language. If you are interested in taking up opportunities in theatre or already have a background in this area it can also help feel fully prepared to overcome the challenges of performance and practice.
The workshop will last 2 hours and is completely free though donations toward space hire are welcomed.
When: June 7th 7:30pm- 9:30pm.
Where: Cato Street (side door), Easton · BS5 6JL. The venue is a short walk from Stapleton Road train station and buses run regularly from the city centre.
HOW TO BOOK: Use the booking form here or contact us using the contact form or emailing on actenglishcourses@gmail.co.uk to request a place.
Well it’s been quite a break but we are back with a new workshop on the 7th of June. This will be the first workshop to run in Bristol and places are filling up fast so book soon not to miss out.
Online classes are now available so please get in touch if this interests you. Remember you can book a free sample 30 minute class to try before you buy! You can book this here
We will adding course content, resources and discussions on all things theatre and English on the youtube channel on a regular basis so please subscribe to get regular updates. The first in the 60 second scripts series is up now with many more to follow…
26/1/20
New theatre trip is now announced for Thursday the 30th of January at Baron’s Court Theatre. We are off to see The Tricycle by Fernando Arrabal and produced by Gobo Teatro. This is going to be really interesting to see a Spanish play performed in English and should be a real inspiration to actEnglish participants. See the social events page for more details:
17/1/20
COMPANY: The end of last year included the performance of our play the English (Take 2). This went really well and it’s hoped to repeat the play – updated and with a new cast – in the summer at some point. Meanwhile we have plans to film parts of the show and bring in new actors. You can watch clips on our youtube channel and find out more about what we do on the company page. Many thanks to all those that took part and gave their time and energy.
CLASSES: Unfortunately, due to life circumstances it won’t be possible to run a new programme in the near future. However, there will be a one day workshop on February 8th for those that can’t wait. This will be the first full day workshop and has been designed based on the good practice built up by running classes over the past 3 years.
THEATRE TRIPS: We hope to run a new theatre trip in the very near future. This will be a social event for the company but open to new people that want to join.
20/9/19
CLASSES: It was a pleasure to welcome three new faces to our 4th session of the current class programme. There are still 5 sessions left before the big performance evening at the end of October. Over the coming weeks we will be working on duologues and monologues and getting them as polished as possible ready to be filmed. If you are interested in observing the performances please get in touch using our contact page.
COMPANY: We have a date! On the 24th of November 2019 we will be doing second performance of an updated version of our play “The English”. New members will be part of the this production joining with some of the original cast. This will be a small audience so be sure to book a place early. It would be great to welcome back old participants to watch and give us some feedback. Please check back for times and venue as this will be confirmed very soon.
CONVERSATION: We have a new theatre and conversation trip planned for October the 14th. We will be going to see “Young Voices” – a spoken word event at Rich Mix in Shoreditch. This is an open event which requires individuals to book their own tickets. Hope to see many new and old faces there!
CLASSES: We have our 3rd class of the current 10 class run coming up tomorrow and it’s been great to have old a new participants together in the same class. It’s never too late to get involved now and old members can repeat performances on our performance evening in October.
COMPANY: We had a very hot but enjoyable and productive workshop at the end of August. New members met up with old and new ideas were developed and old scenes redone. We now have a schedule set, a new script to write and a new performance coming up at the end of November. If successful we hope to repeat the performance in early 2020 and beyond.
24/8/19
ClASSES: New classes start this week with the first in a run of 10 on Thursday leading up to a filmed performance evening on Wednesday the 20th of October. New and old participants are welcome to drop in or sign up to 10 weeks. Former participants can also re-try previous performances as a one off at the performance night.
COMPANY: The company meet tomorrow and with 3 new members joining us to work on and develop our show “The English”. We hope to perform an updated version of the play sometime in November.
6/5/19
COURSE: The current 8 week course had just 2 session left with final performances at on the 15th. However, we are looking for opportunities to provide extra sessions and rehearsal time. A new 10 week course is being planned to run later in the summer.
As part of the course programme we went on the traditional course theatre trip to see “High School English” at the Hen and Chicken pub theatre in Islington. This was an enjoyable, comic play about challenges facing pupils with behaviour issues and their teachers and the struggle to communicate across the divide. We had a good group of 8 people attend and and everyone stayed at the pub chatting away until closing time. More theatre trips will certainly take place this summer.
actEnglish taking up a whole row at the Hen and Chicken Pub Theatre.
Company: Plans are being drawn up for an event to get new people involved in the company and the next production of our play “The English” If you have done a course and want to get involved please get in touch to find out more.
15/4/19
First reading of scrips on the Spring course
COURSES AND WORKSHOPS: The current Spring course is now halfway through and now closed to bookings and drop ins. We have a great group of 11 who are getting to know each other and their scripts.
This week is also the theatre trip week and we will be making our first visit to the Hen and Chicken pub theatre in Islington.
Meet up at the Southbank Centre to reflect and plan…
COMPANY: We finally got together for the first time after the scratch production in February. It was a great chat where we looked the positives and negatives about the show and made commitments to the next phase. We are going to aim to put it on again in late September or late October depending on availability – hopefully bigger and better!
25/2/19
COMPANY: On Monday the 18th our company “The Non-Native Collective” successfully premiered a scratch production of our play “The English”.
Despite a few hiccups and limited preparation time everyone pulled off a challenging piece of work which seemed to go down well with our audience. A few photos from rehearsals below. Thanks to all the Company members and supporters for all your hard work!
We plan to meet again very soon to look at ways we can improve and develop the play – hopefully performing it again in the near future.
COURSES: Our 8 week programme commences on the 20th of March and you can now sign up for the first session (and the following three) as individual sessions. Check the booking page for more information.
The free workshop at Applecart Arts is filling up and we hope to have a a good size group at that event on the 23rd.
25/1/19
Quick update on “The English” and how it came about…
The English brings together the work of the actEnglish company “The Non-Native Collective” since it was set up a few years ago. We have a core group of members who have contributed with ideas and we filmed a short at the beginning of last year which had the seeds of the production we are putting on in February. Though the core cast is small many more have contributed over the past year and extras have come forward to help out in the last few months.
This is scratch performance (sharing an idea before so we can improve on it) so we hope to develop it further in the future and get feedback.
Two competitors enter an English language teaching system where they are in competition to become a new language ambassador. Classes are mixed with bizarre tests and script recitals leading to a final performance when a winner will be decided. A teacher and previous champion are on hand to support the new candidates as tensions grow between the 4 characters and the system itself.
Dark but also light hearted – The English explores the power of language and teaching as the world gets smaller and language becomes highly competitive in the global market.
18/1/19
In November we completed a successful Autumn course with some fantastic performances from a lovely group of people. I hope to upload a few clips with commentary over the coming months. A new course has yet to be arranged but this should start in early/ mid March. All focus since then has been on the Company the Non-Native Collective and our new production “The English” – a dark but light-hearted examination of the English language industry. We can confirm a one time performance on the 18th of February at the Theatre Delicatessens’s Old Library near Denmark Hill. Next big rehearsal is on the 3rd of February and we have a LOT of work to do. A big challenge but I think we can do it!
Details here and bookings will open shortly on the bookings page…
In addition we have made contact with Applecart Arts in Newham with a view to running future courses and workshops – and maybe doing some performances using their amazing space and resources they have out there. Lot’s to look forward to in 2019!
2/11/18
The Autumn programme … is going well with just two sessions left before the final performances on film. A small but committed group have 3 separate duologues to perform. We also have our traditional theatre tripto see Moot Moot at the Yard theatre in Hackney Wick. Old and new participants are more than welcome to join us for this – just buy a ticket and meet half an hour before the show – you can also complete the booking form so we know you are coming.
Company:Our new show “The English” is coming on nicely and we hope to schedule performances for mid December to early in the new year, Tonight we read through the script which is coming together nicely. We will need extras to play small roles throughout the show so old members and new should get in touch if you are interested in taking a role and getting some new acting experience. Otherwise keep an eye out for dates and come along and watch! See the company pagefor more details.
4/3/18
NEW WORKSHOP ANNOUNCED!! We have a sample workshop coming up for those that want to try out actEnglish before the summer courses starting in June. This will be at the Nursery rehearsal rooms near London Bridge. For more details visit the bookings page!
27/3/18
COURSES UPDATE!!: Bookings are now open for two new summer preparation courses! These will run at the same time through June and July. See our bookings page for more deatails.
COMPANY: Five of the current company got together last week to chat about the next steps for the group. It was great to welcome Mickael and Georgia from the last course as new members.
We made some exciting plans to continue the current work an put together a film and performance in November.
Mickael in performance last year
We will be meeting on Tuesday evenings starting on the 10th of April. The future looks bright!
15/3/18
UPDATE!! There will be an informal gathering for actEnglish comapny folk old and new on the 22nd of March at 7pm. This is open to any previous course participants. We will be watching the pilot film made recently, getting know each other and thinking about plans for the summer. There may also be a short script to read through!
19/2/18
WORKSHOPS: A small workshop was run earlier this month and it was great to welcome back Christophe Delin who did the very first workshop back in 2016! Two more workshops will be run in the Spring – expect announcements very soon. More information on workshops can be found here.
COURSES: We are currently organising two new courses to run over the summer. These will be announced sometime over the next few weeks. For more information on courses see our course page.
COMPANY: The company has not yet met this year due to everyone having a busy schedule. However at the end of December we successfully filmed our work in progress. New course alumni and soon to join Mickael Blanchet kindly put the film together and it looks great. We will have it uploaded on the site soon. We hope to complete the film as the next stage of the project.
The actEnglish Company (Non-native Collective) in rehearsal in December.
We are currently trying to organise a get together for new members and old – hopefully before the end of the Month. If you have completed a course and would like to join please get in touch and look out for the event date. For more information about the company see the Company information page.
Due the arrival of a little person in the orginisers life things have been a a little slow this year – however with many events lined up for the summer actEnglish has lots to look forward to. The website is slowly being updated to include a previous film, a gallery and an easier booking process.
actEnglish 