Hi Gwenllian, great to meet you, can you give our readers some background on yourself and your career

Hello! Great to meet you too. I’m an actor based in Llanharan but originally from Llanwinio in West Wales and I’ve been working as an actor for about 16 years. I trained at Rose Bruford College and then stayed in South East London for many years after graduating. As an actor I’ve had some wonderful experiences and opportunities and in recent years I’ve also been fortunate enough to work as an acting tutor which I’ve thoroughly enjoyed.  

Rose Bruford College

Viv Goodman, lecturer on the AS and A Level Drama & Theatre Studies course across Coleg Gwent. Recently employed you to work with her students. Were there any teachers or youth group leaders who supported your route into the arts?

I have to say that I was very lucky growing up in a community that generally valued culture and the arts.  I had a wonderful drama teacher at Ysgol Y Preseli, Eirian Wyn Jones, who inspired many of us to pursue a career in the industry.   She was incredibly supportive and encouraging.  I was also a member of Aelwyd Crymych and under brilliant leadership from people like Kevin Davies and Eleri Mai Thomas I had countless invaluable experiences with the choir, drama club and ‘Gwersyll Gwaith’. 

Viv Goodman, lecturer on the AS and A Level Drama & Theatre Studies course across Coleg Gwent.

You recently supported the delivery of a unit called Women in Drama, at Coleg Gwent. What did this entail?

I joined Viv for a class at the start, middle and end of the unit so it was really interesting to follow along with the students on their journey through the process of creating devised pieces. It was great to talk all things women with them and having just had a baby I felt extra passionate about chatting about the highs and the lows of my experiences as a woman working in theatre.  The students were taking inspiration from The Paper Birds Theatre Company and so were keen to collect real stories to add as verbatim so a couple of the students in particular were interested to find out how my career was going as a new mother. I also supported and looked at the physical storytelling in one of the devised pieces and then there was a piece that was using some Welsh language too so I assisted with the shaping of that piece. 

The Paper Birds, theatre company

Viv often supports practising creatives to deliver activity with her students; do you feel this has value?

It has enormous value.  They get an insight into the reality of what being an actor, writer or director really entails which might not always be what they expect! Viv invites a variety of artists too so they get a different perspective from each and meeting practising creatives allows them to see that following a similar career path might be possible for them too if that’s what their goal is.  Viv creates a supportive and collaborative room which is brilliant…by inviting us in she places emphasis on creating industry connections which is really useful and motivating for the students and a thought provoking and inspirational experience for myself. 

The cultural sector is dominated by middle-class white men. Has the work to improve diversity for women had an effect? What more needs to happen?

 I know a lot has changed over the years but I think so much more needs to happen.  Arts funding has been cut time and again over the past 20 years so it feels like a very difficult time for the whole sector and a lot of the issues women face does come down to lack of funding but I think that we really do need to create more opportunities and open up space for more women. We should also focus on supporting and mentoring women during all stages of their career.  Women are probably more likely to have care responsibilities and without support it becomes really challenging to work within the system.   Also, in general far more girls take up drama in schools and yet this isn’t reflected in the cultural sector …it’s not as if the talent isn’t there so we have to keep pushing for more opportunities.  

Is the decline in A-level Drama take up, affecting who goes into performing arts training?

Absolutely. Especially for working class kids.  With cuts to publicly funded arts youth organisations and far less opportunities for young people to access drama activities, drama in schools might be the first opportunity for young people to engage with the performing arts and knowing how instrumental my drama teacher was in supporting my preparations for auditions for drama schools I’m certain that it will have a big impact. An A level Drama course is not just valuable for people who want to pursue a career in the arts- it builds confidence, develops communication and creativity.  Skills that are essential for pretty much any career.

And finally what culture have you been consuming recently that you would recommend  to our readers?

I have a 15 month old at home who hates sleep so consuming culture is tricky at the moment!  The highlight over the Christmas holidays however was going to see the Sherman Christmas play in the studio – ‘The Frog Prince’ written by Gwawr Loader and Directed by Elin Phillips. It was my son’s first experience of the theatre! Beautiful performances from Anni Dafydd and Owen Alun enthralled us from start to finish!

The Frog Prince

I’m also really looking forward to seeing Haylee McGee’s  ‘Age is a Feeling’ in a few weeks at the new Soho Theatre in Walthamstow and hoping it will be the first of many theatre trips this year!

Age is a Feeling