Discovering the Golden Age of Musical Theatre
Spend a week practically immersing yourself in the riches of musical theatre giants as you develop knowledge and performance skills in singing, text, lyric, character and song interpretation.
This course champions the innovative creative genius of the writers and composers of what are often referred to as ‘legit” musicals. With a director and musical director, you will discover and celebrate this vital, informative chapter in the long history of musical theatre and its many forms.
You will tackle genre defining works from the likes of Kern, Gershwin, Berlin, Loesser, Lerner and Lowe, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Meredith Wilson, Bernstein and all their respective librettists and book writers.
During the week you will:
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Work with a director and musical director in a rehearsal format on songs and scripts
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Explore, in-depth, the storytelling mechanisms found in an expansive selection of musical theatre repertoire
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Learn and employ multifaceted, fresh approaches to performing, understanding and realising classical material in a space
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Develop your confidence, creativity and technical ability as a performer
This course welcomes singers/actors who gravitate towards character driven storytelling, who love a performance challenge, who are comfortable with movement/staging and who enjoy working in a supportive and energetic rehearsal room.
Conor is an actor, director, multidisciplinary artist, facilitator and vocal coach, originally from County Derry in Northern Ireland. He trained for three years at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts.
As an actor, he has worked extensively in theatre, musical theatre, TV and film locally and internationally. He was Off West End Award-nominated (Best Male in a Musical, 2017) for Miss Nightingale (The Vaults, London); played Fr Tom O’Gara and John Hume respectively in The White Handkerchief and Hume: Beyond Belief - the first two critically acclaimed instalments of the Derry Playhouse’s Peacebuilding Trilogy; starred alongside Siobhan McSweeney in The Freedom of the City (Arts Over Borders' FrielFest); originated the titular role of Chezzie in Oscar-nominee Dave Duggan’s Chezzie’s Chance; and featured in the first national tour and original cast recording of In The Midst of Plenty. He will reprise his role as Fr Tom O’Gara in the remount of The White Handkerchief in January 2026.
Film and TV credits include: Skintown (Cyprus Avenue Films - currently in post-production); Trespasses (Channel 4 / Wildgaze Films) The Talk (Winner of ‘Best In Show’ - Boston Wicked Queer Film Festival & Winner of ‘Audience Award’ - Clones International Film Festival) Death of The Primate (Winner of ‘Best Short’ - Nottingham International Film Festival);
He is a co-artistic director and co-founder of GOLEM!, a queer, neurodivergent and female led company specialising in repurposing and reimagining original texts. GOLEM!’s genesis began when Conor was programmed by Alexandra Spencer-Jones to create a production for Action To The Word’s site specific Shakespeare Festival, Catford-Upon-Avon in the Broadway Theatre Catford. He sourced the creative team to produce Macbeths, which transferred successfully to The Hope Theatre. GOLEM! has since produced several highly acclaimed plays including I Know You Of Old, (which played at the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Dell in Stratford Upon Avon), Tomorrow Creeps (an immersive horror piece developed for London’s Vault Festival), and Is He Earnest? (A time-bending verbatim-based disco-infused story about Oscar Wilde. After initial workshops at the Clapham Omnibus Theatre, this latter piece was developed further at Coventry University, with Conor serving as movement director.)
In 2023 he succeeded Kieran Griffiths as co-director of The Playhouse Music Theatre Company - an incredibly successful initiative commissioned by The Playhouse in Derry to offer free local performance training and an introduction to the professional industry. This work involved the development of a year long programme of training oriented projects and productions through 2023 to 2024.
Other credits as a director/creative include: Playdates Season 4; Frankenstein/Goblin Market/Romeo & Mohammed (Sinew Productions) Anything Is Possible If You Think About It Hard Enough (Waterloo East Theatre); Little Shop of Horrors (The Playhouse); HOLE (Old Red Lion); The Human Voice (The White Bear); KIN (Lion & Unicorn)
Other developmental work includes: A Kept Man (a brand new queer musical by writer and director Matthew Bugg currently in development) and Faust and Maggy (workshopped at the RADA Studios in 2021 with opera director Jonathan Moore); Refuge (a co-production with Theatre Royal Bury St. Edmunds and Dance East, written by Danusia Iwaszko and women from BSE’s Women’s Refuge).
Sarah works nationally and internationally within the theatre industry as a musical director/pianist/composer and educator. She is a graduate of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.
Recent musical director credits include: The High Life (Scottish tour) (National Theatre of Scotland and Dundee Rep, nominated for best music and sound and best production and winner for best ensemble at the 2026 CATS awards), Get Jack London workshop, Damien Gray and Kip Winger (Hartshorn-Hook Productions), Good Night, Mad Night, Strange Night A Cabaret (The Playhouse, Derry NI), The critically acclaimed actor musician Storyhouse original of Kinky Boots ( Storyhouse, Chester), Little Shop of Horrors (The Playhouse, NI), A Midsummer Night’s Dream, MD and Composer( Grosvenor Park, Chester), Beyond Belief, The Life and Mission of John Hume, the critically acclaimed 2nd installment of Derry Playhouse’s Peace-building Trilogy (The Guildhall, NI), The Producers ( The Playhouse, NI), CATS Asia Pacific tour and London (Really Useful Group), Ultimate Broadway (Shanghai, GWB Entertainment), Love of a Nightingale MD and Composer (Ciromedia), The Coup,Coup,Club (Northern Premiere)(Darren Clark, Slunglow, Red Ladder), Because of You- Musical Supervisor (SimG Productions), Evita (Leeds Grand Theatre), Joseph (Bill Kenwright Ltd)
Other theatre credits include Strictly Ballroom (Global Creatures in partnership with West Yorkshire Playhouse), Showboat (Gillian Lynne Theatre), Night of a Thousand Voices (The Royal Albert Hall, London), Sunday Night at The Theatre Royal (Drury Lane Theatre, London), Conductor for Sing the Musicals at The Bridgewater Hall, The Sage, Sheffield City Hall and at the SECC for BBC children in need. Recordings include work for BBC Radio with The Orchestra of Opera North and broadcasts for Australian and Asian Television. Musical director for Sweeney Todd, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella, Assassins, Into the Woods, Sweet Charity (RCS). Visiting musical director of Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, ArtsEd and Leeds Conservatoire and a mentor for The MA and PGDip musical directing programmes at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.
Course leader/music director and vocal coach for The Musical Theatre Company (The Playhouse, Derry). Sarah is delighted once again to be a tutor for the NODA summer school, which always promises to be an exciting and incredibly rewarding week for all involved.