Sawtooth Productions develops and produces new performance work with professional artists of national standing, based in the East of England. The company is concerned with exploring what it takes to make work of genuine consequence, and with creating the conditions in which ambitious work and potential can emerge here where we live.
Acting Classes
We offer a season of one-day acting workshops at The Still Room in Norwich, led by members of the Sawtooth Company who, alongside their own performance work, are highly experienced coaches and facilitators. Sessions run at The Still Room on either a Saturday or a Sunday in the day time. For actors with some experience or training, it’s an excellent opportunity to develop your practice across a range of disciplines and connect with other creatives. We champion a community that’s ambitious and mutually supportive.
Autumn Masterclasses
The Sawtooth Autumn Masterclass Season covers everything from classical text work to screen technique, physical presence, and self-tape craft. Each session focuses on a distinct discipline, giving actors with training or some experience the chance to continue to evolve a broad, practical skillset from different perspectives and keep their skills live. You don’t need to be a specialist in a given area to benefit – an actor without a musical theatre background will still gain valuable technique and confidence from the Musical Theatre Audition or Listening masterclasses, for example.
Whether you’re working towards Residency auditions or simply want to sharpen your practice, the Season offers a structured pathway to develop and challenge yourself, with the choice of booking individual sessions or making the most of sustained engagement with a Season Pass.
Season Pass places are limited and reserved on a first-come basis, with a number of individual day pass tickets also available for each session. Booking early is recommended, as both are limited in number.
→ Register your interest to introduce yourself or to book a season pass, or book individual sessions below.
Working with Shakespeare’s Language
with Kirsty Bushell
Sunday 4th October 11.30am – 5.00pm
In this intensive one-day Shakespeare masterclass, actor and teacher Kirsty Bushell will guide participants through practical, hands-on approaches to unlocking verse and text – building confidence, clarity and authenticity of expression when working with Shakespeare’s text.
For those actors interested in the Winter Shakespeare Residency these Masterclasses provide an ideal development pathway.
Kirsty trained to lead Shakespeare workshops at the National Theatre, where her passion for teaching began, and has taught at LAMDA for over a decade. Her Shakespeare credits as an actor include Regan in King Lear opposite Ian McKellen (Chichester Festival Theatre & West End), Juliet in Romeo and Juliet (Shakespeare’s Globe), and roles in Richard III, Twelfth Night, The Tempest, The Comedy of Errors and The White Devil (Royal Shakespeare Company), as well as The Two Gentlemen of Verona (National Theatre).
BookMusic & Listening for Actors
with Jules Maxwell
Sunday 11th October 10.30am – 4.30pm
An ability to listen is vital for all performers, especially actors, and in this one day masterclass professional theatre composer and sound designer Jules Maxwell will explore ways to understand the power of sound and music in theatre.
Please bring (and preferably learn) a speech which you would like to explore during the class. Throughout the day we will play and replay each speech and consider how meaning can emerge through silence and layers of sound, and how underscoring can offer dynamic possibilities for an actor. We will also explore various singing exercises as a way to unlock dramatic potential.
Jules Maxwell composed for “Doctor Faustus”, “Antony and Cleopatra”, “The Merchant of Venice” and “Boudica” at Shakespeare’s Globe and “Love the Sinner” at the National Theatre. He has a long working relationship with Global Arts Corps in New York and is currently collaborating with them on a new theatre production in Paris entitled “Caravan”. He has created modern dance soundtracks for Wayne McGregor, Cathy Marston, Bern Ballet, Skanes Dansteater Malmö, Jasmin Vardimon and Candoco Dance Company and in 2019 his debut full length opera “The Lost Thing” was presented by the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.
BookAudition Masterclass: Musical Theatre
with Phil Cornwell and Ashleigh Harvey
Saturday 17th October 2026 11.30am – 5.00pm
Musical theatre auditions require actors to sing as well as act, but many non-musical theatre actors are also occasionally asked to prepare a song for a general audition. This Masterclass builds confidence and technique for musical theatre auditions specifically, as well as general audition confidence and technique that carries over to any audition situation.
Phil and Ashleigh founded In The Room Theatre, offering bespoke audition and singing coaching.
Phil trained at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and Trinity College of Music, and has an extensive record as a Musical Director, Supervisor and musician across West End theatre, national touring productions and screen. His Musical Director credits include Heathers the Musical and The Scottsboro Boys in the West End, and In the Heights at Kings Cross Theatre and Southwark Playhouse, which won the Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Music. He served as Musical Supervisor on the Rent 21st Anniversary Tour and Associate MD on the UK Tour of Come From Away. Screen work includes MD on the Netflix film Been So Long and piano consultancy on Bridgerton and Tolkien. He is currently working as Associate Conductor on the UK tour of Matilda the Musical, alongside regularly depping on West End shows, including Wicked and The Producers.
Ashleigh has been in the entertainment industry for 26 years years. She was most recently seen covering Polly and other roles in the West End and UK touring production, Fawlty Towers. She covered Beverley, Janice, Beaulah and Diane in Come From Away which toured the UK in 2024. Before that she was a dynamo cover on Mamma Mia’s UK and International tour in 2023. In 2022 she played Ms Fleming in Heathers at The Other Palace. In August 2009 she was awarded a position at the International Shakespeare Fellowship to study at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre.
Stage work also includes A Midsummer Night’s Dream; MacBeth; Much Ado About Nothing; The Pleasure Garden (Lady Lovelock) The Rocky Horror Show (Janet); 4.48 Psychosis; Bash; Pests; and Shrek.
BookShakespeare: Monologues
with Kirsty Bushell
Sunday 8th November 2026 11.30am – 5.00pm
Over the course of the day, work with Kirsty Bushell to embody a monologue from the inside out, finding how Shakespeare’s text lives in breath, thought and physical impulse, not just delivery. It’s a foundation that carries directly into Duologues, where that same embodied work is tested against another actor.
For those actors interested in the Winter Shakespeare Residency, these Masterclasses provide an ideal development opportunity.
Kirsty trained to lead Shakespeare workshops at the National Theatre, where her passion for teaching began, and has taught at LAMDA for over a decade. Her Shakespeare credits as an actor include Regan in King Lear opposite Ian McKellen (Chichester Festival Theatre & West End), Juliet in Romeo and Juliet (Shakespeare’s Globe), and roles in Richard III, Twelfth Night, The Tempest, The Comedy of Errors and The White Devil (Royal Shakespeare Company), as well as The Two Gentlemen of Verona (National Theatre).
BookVerbatim Theatre
with Joseph Arkley
Sunday 1st November 10.30am – 4.30pm
Ever wanted to become your neighbour? Bob from the corner shop. That obscure aunty. Verbatim theatre asks: how do we become other people, ethically, and without sending them up?
What does it take, technically and emotionally, to inhabit someone real? And where are the boundaries, the rules and responsibilities that come with it?
Over the course of the day, work with professional actor Joseph Arkley to explore the craft of performing real people. You will be asked to bring some materials of your choice to the workshop, details available on registration.
Joseph trained at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. He has performed extensively with the Royal Shakespeare Company, notably as Katherine in Justin Audibert’s gender-reversed production of The Taming of the Shrew, as Lucio in Gregory Doran’s Measure for Measure, and as Tybalt in Rupert Goold’s Romeo and Juliet. He has a long-standing connection to Richard III, having performed in the acclaimed Almeida Theatre production alongside Ralph Fiennes in 2016, before playing the title role in Perth, Scotland in 2018.
BookShakespeare: Duologues
with Kirsty Bushell
Sunday 22nd November 2026 11.30am – 5.00pm
Two people, one scene, and everything that passes between them, physically, psychologically and vocally. Duologue work is where embodiment gets tested against another person, in real time.
Over the course of the day, work with Kirsty Bushell on what it takes to fully inhabit a role opposite another actor, how status, intention and impulse move through the body as much as the line.
For those actors interested in the Winter Shakespeare Residency, these Masterclasses provide an ideal development pathway.
Kirsty trained to lead Shakespeare workshops at the National Theatre, where her passion for teaching began, and has taught at LAMDA for over a decade. Her Shakespeare credits as an actor include Regan in King Lear opposite Ian McKellen (Chichester Festival Theatre & West End), Juliet in Romeo and Juliet (Shakespeare’s Globe), and roles in Richard III, Twelfth Night, The Tempest, The Comedy of Errors and The White Devil (Royal Shakespeare Company), as well as The Two Gentlemen of Verona (National Theatre).
BookActing for Camera
with Joseph Arkley
Saturday 28th November 2026 10.30am – 4.30pm
Join professional actor Joseph Arkley for a one day intensive Masterclass in mastering self-tapes.
Throughout the day, we consider the technical requirements of lighting, eye lines, backdrops and more, whilst exploring your performance choices as an actor. Joseph will provide a selection of scenes to choose from, or come armed with a scene of your own.
Joseph trained at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. He has performed extensively with the Royal Shakespeare Company, notably as Katherine in Justin Audibert’s gender-reversed The Taming of the Shrew, as Lucio in Measure for Measure, and as Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet. He has a long-standing connection to Richard III, performing alongside Ralph Fiennes at the Almeida in 2016 before playing the title role in Perth in 2018.
His screen credits include The Capture, Wreck, Genius and Andor.
BookStudio Day
For those with a Season Pass or who joined Acting for Camera, The Still Room will be available for a day of independent self-tape work, writing and collaborative time.
Sunday 29th November between 10.30am – 4.30pm
Drop in, or stay and work together for the day.
Getting Comfortable in the Uncomfortable
with Matti Houghton
Saturday 5th December 2026 10.30am – 4.30pm
Details coming soon.
Trained at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Matti has worked extensively at the Royal Shakespeare Company and Shakespeare’s Globe throughout her career, playing Hermia in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and appearing in The City Madam, Cardenio, Henry VI and Richard III, before taking on Lady Macbeth in the Globe’s 2023 production of Macbeth. She played Cariola opposite Jodie Whittaker in The Duchess (of Malfi) at the Trafalgar Theatre, and received an Offie Award nomination for Best Actress for her performance in Brimstone and Treacle at the Arcola Theatre. Her stage work also includes The Crucible at Manchester Royal Exchange.
Television includes Believe Me, The Collection, Truth and Treason, Manhunt, Luther and Law & Order: UK.
Acting Through Intention
Matti Houghton
Saturday 12th December 2026 10.30am – 4.30pm
Details coming soon.
Trained at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Matti has worked extensively at the Royal Shakespeare Company and Shakespeare’s Globe throughout her career, playing Hermia in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and appearing in The City Madam, Cardenio, Henry VI and Richard III, before taking on Lady Macbeth in the Globe’s 2023 production of Macbeth. She played Cariola opposite Jodie Whittaker in The Duchess (of Malfi) at the Trafalgar Theatre, and received an Offie Award nomination for Best Actress for her performance in Brimstone and Treacle at the Arcola Theatre. Her stage work also includes The Crucible at Manchester Royal Exchange.
Television includes Believe Me, The Collection, Truth and Treason, Manhunt, Luther and Law & Order: UK.
Day & Season Passes
Sessions are available individually at £69 exc.VAT (£82.80 inc.VAT) each bookable above, or as a Season Pass for £400 exc.VAT (£480 inc.VAT).
Further season pass offers available for Summer 2026 Residency Alumni.
→ Season Pass Enquiries & Bookings Instalments available.
- Working with Shakespeare’s Language with Kirsty Bushell, Sun 4 Oct
- Music and Listening Masterclass for Actors with Jules Maxwell, Sun 11 Oct
- Musical Theatre Audition Masterclass with Phil Cornwell & Ashleigh Harvey, Sat 17 Oct
- Shakespeare Monologues with Kirsty Bushell, Sun 1 Nov
- Verbatim Theatre with Joseph Arkley, Sun 8 Nov
- Shakespeare Duologues with Kirsty Bushell, Sun 22 Nov
- Acting for Camera with Joseph Arkley, Sat 28 Nov
- Getting Comfortable in the Uncomfortable with Matti Houghton, Sat 5 Dec
- Acting Through Intention with Matti Houghton, Sat 12 Dec
Sawtooth Theatre Company
Sawtooth itself took shape in an old rooftop factory in Norwich's Creative Quarter. A sawtooth roof faces north to ensure the light it admits is steady. Shadowless. Undeceiving. Built so that makers could see exactly what they were producing.
In the great houses, the still room was always the place apart, where things were taken in their raw state and, through skill and time, distilled until clarity emerged. The Still Room is where the Sawtooth company now rehearses.
Kirsty Bushell
Actor/Director
Trained at LAMDA, Kirsty has played lead roles at the RSC, the National Theatre, Shakespeare’s Globe, the Royal Court and the Bush Theatre, among many others.
Stage credits include Angels in America (Headlong), The Cherry Orchard (Bristol Old Vic and Royal Exchange), King Lear at Chichester Festival Theatre and the West End opposite Ian McKellen, and Antigone, directed by Ivo van Hove alongside Juliette Binoche, which played the Barbican and the Edinburgh International Festival.
Television includes Tom Jones, Murder in Provence, Motherland, This Way Up, Silk (BBC) and Injustice (ITV), and the Netflix series Run Away.
Joseph Arkley
Actor/Director
Joseph trained at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. He has performed extensively with the Royal Shakespeare Company.
His most notable work with the company includes Katherine in Justin Audibert’s gender reversed production of The Taming of the Shrew, Lucio in Greg Doran’s Measure for Measure and Tybalt in Rupert Goold’s Romeo and Juliet. He has a long standing connection to Richard III, having performed in the acclaimed production at the Almeida Theatre in 2016. He then played the title role in Perth, Scotland in 2018.
Screen work has led him to playing Gregory Knox in The Capture for the BBC and Netflix. More recently he played Thomas Deveraux in Wreck (Season 2) for BBC and Hulu. He also played the great physicist David Bohm opposite Geoffrey Rush’s Einstein in Genius for National Geographic.
Matti Houghton
Actor/Director
Trained at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Matti has worked extensively at the RSC and Shakespeare’s Globe throughout her career.
RSC credits include Hermia in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The City Madam and Cardenio. At Shakespeare’s Globe she has appeared in Henry VI and Richard III, and played Lady Macbeth in the Globe’s 2023 production of Macbeth.
Stage work also includes The Crucible at Manchester Royal Exchange and Brimstone and Treacle at the Arcola Theatre, for which she received an Offie Award nomination for Best Actress. She played Cariola opposite Jodie Whittaker in The Duchess (of Malfi) at the Trafalgar Theatre.
Television includes Believe Me, The Collection, Truth and Treason, Manhunt, Luther and Law & Order: UK.
Phil Cornwell
Musical Director
Trained at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and Trinity College of Music, Phil has an extensive record as a Musical Director, Supervisor and musician across West End theatre, national touring productions and screen.
Musical Director credits include Heathers the Musical and The Scottsboro Boys in the West End, the latter also at the Young Vic, and In the Heights at Kings Cross Theatre and Southwark Playhouse, which won the Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Music.
He served as Musical Supervisor on the Rent 21st Anniversary Tour and Associate MD on the UK Tour of Come From Away. Screen work includes MD on the Netflix film Been So Long and piano consultancy on Bridgerton and Tolkien.
He is currently working as Associate Conductor on the UK tour of Matilda the Musical, alongside regularly depping on West End shows, including Wicked and The Producers.
Jules Maxwell
Composer
Jules Maxwell is a composer and songwriter from Northern Ireland.
His theatre work spans Shakespeare’s Globe, the National Theatre and the Young Vic. At the National Theatre he composed for Mother Courage, directed by Deborah Warner, and Love the Sinner, directed by Matthew Dunster. At the Globe his work includes The Merchant of Venice, starring Jonathan Pryce, and Boudica, starring Gina McKee. In 2019 his debut opera, The Lost Thing, was presented by the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, in collaboration with Candoco Dance Company.
He has composed for many choreographers and companies, including Wayne McGregor, Cathy Marston, Hofesh Shechter, Jasmin Vardimon, Charlotte Darbyshire, Theo Clinkard, Jane Mason, Laila Diallo, Jeanine Durning, Filip Van Huffel, Vincent Dance Theatre, Candoco Dance Company, Bern Ballet and Skånes Dansteater, Malmö.
Since 2012 he has been keyboard player with Dead Can Dance, and he has made two albums with Lisa Gerrard, Burn and One Night in Porto. With Lisa Gerrard he co-wrote songs for Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares’ 2018 album BooCheeMish, and he composed songs for Terra Mãe (2025), the album by Portuguese fado singer Lina Rodrigues.
Charlotte Darbyshire
Movement & Choreography
Charlotte Darbyshire is a dance artist, teacher, and somatic movement specialist, and former co-Artistic Director of Candoco Dance Company, where she was also a founding member. She spent over a decade as a Dance Lecturer at Trinity Laban, trained with Linda Hartley in Integrative Bodywork and Movement Therapy, and is a specialist in inclusive practice.
Katy Keyworth
Costume Supervisor
Katy Keyworth is a costume supervisor and maker with extensive experience across West End, touring and international theatre. She served as Head of Wardrobe on The Play That Goes Wrong for almost a decade. She also worked as a costumes and props maker on the Goes Wrong Broadway and international runs.
She has held senior wardrobe and costume supervisor roles on major UK tours and London productions including Hairspray, Sister Act, Evita, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Giving at Hampstead Theatre and Calculating Kindness at Camden People’s Theatre. Her West End credits include wardrobe deputy on Fatal Attraction at the Haymarket Theatre and costume supervisor for the Our House Charity Concert for Help for Heroes at the Savoy Theatre.
Alongside her theatre work, Katy is an accomplished maker whose commissions include pieces for the Royal Opera House, the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Globe Theatre and the National Theatre.
Catherine England Johnson
Psychotherapist
Catherine is a UKCP-accredited Psychoanalytical Psychotherapist with over 25 years of clinical and group therapy experience.
She works with actors, directors, producers, playwrights and filmmakers, holds a Spotlight listing and is a member of the Guild of Psychotherapists, London.
Catherine works alongside Sawtooth in the development and production of its work, bringing clinical and psychological expertise to the creative process.
Jacqueline Silver
Producer
Jacqueline is the founder and director of The Still Room and Sawtooth Studios and Productions. She is passionate about affording creatives the opportunity and community to make work and develop here where they live.
She trained as an actor in London and qualified to teach acting at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. She has nearly thirty years of experience across educational leadership, coaching and the arts, including roles at Guildhall School of Music and Drama and as a secondary school Headteacher. She holds an MEd in Educational Leadership and trained as an executive coach with Guildhall Ignite.
She is a trustee of the Norfolk County Music Festival and a Norfolk Ambassador for the Norfolk Business Board. She is currently studying for an MA in Creative Writing at UEA.
Sawtooth Residencies
Separate to the company’s own work, we offer a small number of residencies each year to actors based in the East of England. The residency is an opportunity to be directed by Sawtooth company members, to work seriously with text over a sustained period.
Each residency runs over several months with a group of around ten actors. The work is directed by Sawtooth company members and takes place at The Still Room, with independent rehearsal time in the space built into the programme. Ensemble dynamics are central to how the group works together and how the company is selected. Participants engage with the design and production process as part of the work.
Places are awarded by audition. The residency company is selected first; texts are usually then chosen in response to who is in the room. Participants are selected on the basis of their work, their commitment and their fit with the residency company.
There is a participation fee, details of which are shared with those invited to audition. We do not want to lose the right person to cost – if it presents a genuine barrier, we would rather have a conversation and instalment plans are available.
Winter 2027 Shakespeare Residency with Kirsty Bushell
If you are interested in auditioning for our Winter Shakespeare Residency, please get in touch for an initial conversation.
Auditions will take place on Sunday 17th January 2027 at The Still Room.
→ Get in touch
Summer 2026 Residency
Directed by Joseph Arkley and Matti Houghton.
This summer, Sawtooth Studios ran its first Summer Residency at The Still Room, bringing together twelve participants for a nine week creative development programme for actors.
Co-directed by Joseph Arkley and Matti Houghton, the residency explored Kirsty Bushell’s response to Chekhov’s Three Sisters. The company was supported by Catherine England Johnson as consultant psychotherapist, composer Jules Maxwell, and costume consultant Katy Keyworth.
Acting Coaching
One-to-one or pair sessions
One-to-one and pair sessions can be available for actors or creatives working toward a specific goal – an audition, a drama school application, a musical theatre audition or a particular project. Contact us to have a conversation so that we can find the best match for your requirements.