Maddy Telford
Musical Director (SLYT Alumni)
Maddy started her SLYT career as a student in 2013, appearing in Sweeney Todd (Mrs Lovett), Beauty and the Beast (Lumiere), and West Side Story (Diesel), and she has now progressed to the team of teachers. Maddy fell in love with Musical Direction at the University of Nottingham’s Musical Theatre society, most recently as MD for Songs for a New World. Maddy hopes to continue her studies in the field whilst leading weekly classes at SLYT, and is especially excited to MD SLYT’s 2022 production of The Lion King.
Ashley Jacobs
Musical Director
Ashley is a graduate of University of Leeds (BA Music) and gained his MA at Mountview where he trained as a Musical Director. Ashley is a founder member of The Ashatones, a barbershop quartet.
Most recently Ashley was Musical Director for the Union Theatre production of the all-male HMS Pinafore both at the Wiltons Music Hall and on tour, and he has also played Keyboards for the uk tour of Mamma Mia. He was also Musical Director for Mack and Mabel at PPA. Ashley is currently working on the International tour of Mamma Mia.
Adrian Lawrence
Infant Performing Arts & Dance Teacher/Choreographer
Born and raised in the Lake District, Adrian studied at the University of Warwick before gaining his GDip Dance and MA Dance Performance at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, where he toured nationally with Transitions Dance Company. He has trained extensively in ballet, tap, jazz, contemporary, street and commercial dance.
Adrian teaches at The BRIT School, the Royal Academy of Dance, South London Youth Theatre, Richmond and Hillcroft Adult Community College, and Thomas’s London Day Schools. His work has been showcased in theatres across London and he has won awards, as both a performer and a choreographer, at national competitions. Inclusivity is at the heart of his practice, and he truly believes that dance is for everyone.
Adrian has choreographed SLYT’s productions of The Lion King (Theatre Peckham, 2022), Adea’s Island (Shaw Theatre, 2023), Bring It On (Mountview, 2023), and The Little Mermaid (Theatre Peckham, 2023)
SUMMER WORKSHOP 2025 – Stephen Sondheim’s SWEENEY TODD
The SLYT SENIOR SUMMER WORKSHOP culminates in a fully staged production of SWEENEY TODD, the performance is accompanied by a full orchestra.
HOW DO I AUDITION FOR A PLACE?
Please complete the online registration form to express your interest in joining the company of SWEENEY TODD.
We will be holding COMPANY AUDITIONS on SUNDAY 9 FEBRUARY from 2.00-5.00pm. Anybody interested in joining the production is welcome to audition on this date. The audition will comprise of group singing workshop, a movement session and an acting workshop. There is no fee for auditions in 2025 and we are currently trying to secure funding for those who need financial assistance with the course fees.
Please complete the SENIOR APPLICATION FORM on the SLYT website to REGISTER YOUR INTEREST in the 2025 SLYT SENIOR SUMMER WORKSHOP. All venues for workshops and auditions are confirmed upon receipt of your application.
WHAT FORM DOES THE AUDITION TAKE?
Our auditions take the form of a workshop in three stages: Singing, then Movement/dance, finishing with an Acting/character workshop. You will audition in groups for the SLYT Production team as well as guest panelists from the West End.
The audition is designed to be challenging and fun, in a very encouraging and supportive environment!
DO I NEED TO PREPARE ANYTHING FOR MY AUDITION?
You will need to prepare a musical theatre song of your choice and provide piano sheet music for this song.
It should be a maximum of 3 minutes duration, and any cuts should be clearly marked for our accompanist.
WHAT SHOULD I BRING?
Bring piano sheet music for your chosen song for the accompanist. (No backing tracks or unaccompanied singing please).
Bring also a bottle of water and a packed lunch/snack for the breaks.
You may wish to bring a change of clothes for the dance audition, and wear something more appropriate for the more formal Singing and Acting workshops. This may help you present your character.
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?
You will be notified by letter within 10 days of the audition.
If you accept your place and role within the company you will need to obtain a parents signature to confirm your acceptance and also send a deposit to secure your place. This will be outlined in your acceptance letter.
WHEN DOES THE WORKSHOP AND PRODUCTION TAKE PLACE?
The course takes place from Monday 4th – Saturday 9th August (6 days), then resumes on Monday 11th – Friday 15th August 2024 (5 days), from 10am to 6pm every day, except for production days on Thursday 14th and Friday 15th August, when call times reflect the performances. The 2 final shows are at 2.30pm and 7.30pm on Friday 15th August 2024.
Full commitment to all of the 11 days is required. Please do not submit an application if you are not able to commit to the full workshop.
All rehearsals take place at St Faiths Centre, Red Post Hill, Dulwich, SE24 9JQ and all technical rehearsals and performances take place at CENTRAL LONDON VENUE TBC.
IF I AM SELECTED FOR THE SLYT COMPANY, HOW MUCH WILL IT COST?
The cost of the 2-week workshop is £525 per student and this includes all tuition, costumes, props and an allocation of free tickets for the performances of the show. We intend to obtain funding in order to be in a position to offer those requiring assisted places full or half scholarships for this years course. Please see details of this below and do not be deterred from applying if you are not able to meet the full course fees.
GUIDELINES FOR AUDITIONEES.
Places in the company and roles within the production will be allocated based on the merit of your audition.
No prior commitment or attendance at South London Youth Theatre will be taken into account when making casting decisions.
FUNDED PLACES / BURSARIES
In 2025 we intend to be able to offer full or part funded places to any student wishing to take part, who is not in a position to meet the cost of the course fees. Students and families wishing to be considered for any funded place should apply through this website, stating their need for funding at the point of registering. Updates on any funded places for 2025 will be made public as soon as we have confirmation. All applicants will be offered a free audition.
Douglas Hansell
Musical Director & Singing Teacher
Douglas is currently appearing in the Australian tour of Come From Away as Kevin T. Prior to this he worked with Australia’s flagship Sydney Theatre Company in the political satire, De Ja Revue. More local work in the past year includes The Killer Beside Me (October Films), Manhattan Parisienne (The Other Palace) Thirty Three (Leicester Square Theatre), and Beauty and the Beast (Regal Theatre, Worcestershire)
Other theatre credits include Titanic (Charing Cross Theatre), When Blair Had Bush and Bunga (Pleasance Theatre, Edinburgh), A Doll’s House (Seymour Centre, Sydney), Open For Business (Sydney Theatre Company), Going Bush (Bush Theatre London), Oedipus Rex (Sydney Festival), Freud’s Last Session (Sydney’s Theatre Royal), Macbeth, The Importance of Being Earnest, Lady Windamere’s Fan (Darlinghurst Theatre Company), Neighbourhood Watch, We’re Going On A Bear Hunt (Ensemble Theatre), Emily Eyefinger (Monkey Baa Theatre Company), The Temperamentals (New Theatre), The Cold Child (Griffin Theatre Co.), Actors At Work (Bell Shakespeare Co).
Film and television credits include The Silent (Lightning Oak Productions), The Ghost of Cassley (ZDF), Critical (SkyUK), Home and Away (Channel 7, Australia), Underbelly (UBB Productions), All Saints (Channel 7, Australia), Failure To Thrive (Nicky Bentham), Critical (Sky UK), Tell Me How You See The Sky (Palmer Productions), The Code (ABC, Australia), 36 Squad (Breakaway TV).
As a teacher, Doug has worked with SLYT, Urdang Academy, Mountview, City Academy and Associated Studios. He is also the director of the City Academy Collective Chorus.
Training: Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA).
Daisy Horan
Production Designer & Dance Teacher
Daisy started as an SLYT student back in 2013 appearing in Hairspray, The Wiz and Les Miserables in 2015. After studying performing arts at University Daisy has grown and honed their craft as a designer and choreographer and is the first SLYT student to progress to the team of professional teachers.
They have worked with Off The Middle, Crooked Tree Theatre and Taxi Man Productions and more as a set & costume designer, hair & makeup artist and performer. Daisy also has a freelance design business alongside teaching weekly at South London Youth Theatre. For SLYT Daisy has taken creative control of the set design for The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, make-up and hair for Edward Scissorhands, and they also created the enchanted object costumes for our production of Beauty and the Beast.
JON ROBYNS
PATRON & WORKSHOP LEADER
Jon is currently playing the role of Jean Valjean in Les Miserables in the West End, having recently reigned as King George in the West End production of Hamilton.
“I am thrilled to support the work of SLYT and look forward to working with the students myself in the future!”
His stage credits include: Robbie Hart in The Wedding Singer (UK Tour); Eddie in Sister Act (UK Tour); Emmett Forrest in Legally Blonde (Curve Theatre, Leicester); Caractacus Potts in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (West Yorkshire Playhouse); Alternate Huey in Memphis (Shaftesbury Theatre); Adam Nehemiah in Dessa Rose (Trafalgar Studios); Jamie in The Last Five Years (Greenwich Theatre); Galahad in Spamalot (Harold Pinter and Playhouse Theatres); Hollis in Road Show (Menier Chocolate Factory); Enjolras in Les Miserablés (Queen’s Theatre); Marius in Les Miserablés (Queen’s Theatre), Princeton/Rod in Avenue Q (Noel Coward Theatre); Mark in Rent (English Theatre Frankfurt); Alternate Chris in Miss Saigon (UK tour).
Recording: Memphis (Original London Cast), Solo Album ‘Open Book’ (Curtain Records); Enjolras in Les Miserablés 25th Anniversary
Jon trained at Mountview Academy of Performing Arts.
Katharine Woolley
Associate Musical Director & Founder Musical Director
Katharine trained at The Guildhall School of Music and Drama and at The Royal Academy of Music. She was the Children’s Music Producer on the Netflix film adaptation of Matilda, having previously been the Children’s Musical Director for the RSC production of Matilda in London’s West End. Katharine was the Musical Director for the Broadway musical Waitress, in the West End. Previously to this she was Assistant Conductor for The Jersey Boys, West End, as well as playing keyboards for the show. Other work includes Avenue Q (West end), Beauty and the Beast (UK tour) and CATS (Arena tour). Katharine established her own theatre school, Stage By Stage Theatre Arts, based in South-west London alongside teaching singing at many local theatre schools including South London Youth Theatre.
For SLYT Katharine was Musical Director on our productions of Fame, Hairspray, The Wiz, Les Miserables, The Lion King and Legally Blonde in 2022 and Bring It On in 2023, both performed at Mountview. Most recently Katharine has been Musical Director for Legally Blonde (Regents Park Open Air Theatre) A Christmas Carol (Old Vic) and The Time Travellers Wife (West End).
Matt Penson
Drama Teacher / Director
Matt is over the moon to be joining SLYT! Matt trained as an actor and graduated from the Arts University Bournemouth in 2016. Since then he has been work predominantly in theatre playing such roles as Romeo (Romeo & Juliet), Brutus (Julius Caesar), Charles Dickens (The Ghosts of Mr Dickens) and Macbeth (Macbeth) to name a few. Matt has toured up and down the country playing every type of venue you can imagine, theatres, churches, schools, outdoor amphitheatre, parks, bombed ruins, Anglo Saxon burial sights and even graveyards! Matt also has experience with film, puppetry and motion/performance capture.
Some of Matt’s directing credits include, Twelfth Night (Riverside Youth Theatre), Julius Caesar (Lion & Unicorn Theatre) and Another Day (Camden Fringe). As a director Matt has had the opportunity to lead workshops with a wide variety of groups; children, adults, vulnerable adults, children with special educational needs, refugees seeking asylum and prisoners. ”
Lydia Huhne
Drama Teacher / Director
Lydia Huhne trained as an actor at Rada and through various seasons with the National Youth Theatre.
She then co-ran “Burnt Out Theatre”, a company producing, directing and touring various shows. Lydia also commissioned and helped devise new writing, most notably the play “Muscovado”, which was the winner of the Alfred Fagon Audience award in 2015.
Since having children she has focused her attention on teaching and facilitating drama workshops within a range of settings including an intergenerational project for the NHS during the pandemic. She is currently doing a Masters at The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, in Applied Theatre and Education. She strongly believes in the power of “play” for well-being, and the benefits of creating ensemble theatre. She is thrilled to have started at SLYT and is excited to create new work.
EAMONN O’DWYER
Musical Director & Singing Teacher
Eamonn is a highly sought after British composer and has been working with SLYT at our weekly classes since 2011. An Associate of the Royal Academy of Music, he has worked as a musician in theatres all over the world. As a composer he has written original music for Mrs Beeton Says… (Bristol Old Vic Theatre School); The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (NYMT, The Other Palace); The Comedy of Errors (RSC, UK Tour); Flesh & Bone (National Theatre Studio); One Voice (Old Vic); Julius Caesar Re-imagined (RSC, Swan); Grimm Tales & Peter Pan (Chichester Festival Theatre); Improbable Fiction (Mill at Sonning); Hansel & Gretel, Alice in Winterland, The Wind in the Willows, The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe, A Christmas Carol, Hamlet, Tess of the d’Urbervilles & Arabian Nights (Rose Theatre, Kingston); Three Sunrises (St James Theatre RE:act); The House of Mirrors & Hearts & The Man Who Was Thursday (Arcola Theatre); A Flea in Her Ear (Tabard Theatre); Stones in his Pockets (Dukes, Lancaster); Five Children & It (Tristan Bates); Portia Coughlan (Old Red Lion); Around the World in Eighty Days, Sherlock Holmes & The Glass Menagerie (Chipping Norton Theatre); Much Ado About Nothing (Stockholm English Speaking Theatre); A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Barakura Festival Theatre, Japan); The Massacre (Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds); Liquorice & Smokerings (New Wolsey, Ipswich); and Frankenstein (Dorset Corset Theatre Company).
The score for his original musical The House of Mirrors & Hearts won the MTM Award for Best New Score at the Edinburgh Festival in 2010, and after its critically acclaimed run at the Arcola Theatre in 2015, received its US premiere in July 2016.
BEN LEVY
Musical Director & Singing Teacher
Ben read Music at The University of York before graduating with his MA in Musical Direction from Mountview. As a musical director, he has worked extensively in theatre including musical theatre, opera and pantomime. As a choral director, he conducted Military Wives Choir, York, Harmonize Contemporary Choir and Park Grove Children’s Choir for four years, also serving as Guest Musical Director for Easingwold Singers and BBC York In Harmony. In 2019, Ben was engaged as Musical Director for BBC Children in Need, conducting the children’s choir at Hintze Hall, The Natural History Museum, and is looking forward to working with them again for their next season.
As a teacher, he has experience teaching for a wide range of drama colleges, recently including Emil Dale Academy (EDA), Momentum Theatre Arts Academy (MPAA), Italia Conti, City Academy, PQA College, London, Bodens College of Performing Arts, SLP College and SLP Junior Academy (Head of Singing). He currently holds roles as Musical Director/Singing Teacher for Spirit Young Performers’ Company (SYPC) and South London Youth Theatre (SLYT) and has been Artistic Director for Riverside MT Summer School for Ulster University since 2016. When not conducting or teaching, Ben enjoys engagements as a singer, pianist and music examiner.
MD CREDITS: Godspell (50th Anniversary Production, Off-West End), The Music Of James Bond – And More! (Germany Tour), Feel It Like A Man – Musical Supervisor/Composer (Action To The Word), West End Misfits (The Other Palace), Sweet Charity (Playhouse Theatre, Hitchin), The World Goes Round (Camp Baco, USA), Mozart! (Catalyst Festival), Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella (Imagine Theatre Ltd), Underneath The Arches (Plowright Theatre), It’s Showtime!, Another Op’nin’ Another Show (Grand Opera House, York), The Selfish Giant (Composer/MD) (workshop), Kiss Me Kate, Pippin (SLP College), Lizzie and the Dark (Opera Schmopera), Songs For A New World (Orillo Studios)
AS ASSISTANT MD: My Favorite Year, Death Takes A Holiday, Crazy For You, Fiddler On The Roof, Brass (Mountview), The Piper of Hamelin (National Youth Music Theatre)
OTHER CREDITS: The Sound of Music (Cyprus Production) – Rehearsal Pianist
Spencer James
Artistic Director
Spencer established SLYT in 2010. Prior to this he taught drama and led the Musical Theatre performance troupe at Stagecoach Dulwich for over 3 years, and taught drama at Jasspa, leading the Infant and Advanced Drama classes for over 7 years. More recently Spencer was thrilled to lead the Infant Performance Arts classes at Herne Hill School. Whilst still working as a professional actor, Spencer Directed and Choreographed youth productions in Bangkok, New York and across the UK. Today, and leaving little time for other ventures, SLYT attracts 200 students to its weekly classes, which lead to 6 full-scale productions each year at theatres across London.
Spencer trained as an actor at the GSA Conservatoire and at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts, gaining his B A Honours degree in 2003.
Professional theatre credits in London include The Scarecrow in The Wiz, Conrad Birdie in Bye Bye Birdie, Genie of The Lamp in Aladdin and Satan in Jerry Springer The Opera.
Spencer created the role of Shere Khan in a new musical adaptation of The Jungle Book, written by Richard Taylor and also played Billy Flynn in Chicago, touring Europe.
Television credits include Casualty, Doctors, Berkeley Square and Archie in Love In A Cold Climate, all for the BBC.
Uniform Guide
Your child’s South London Youth Theatre T-SHIRT should form part of the SLYT uniform to include:
BLACK bottoms (leggings/tracksuit bottoms/stretchy trousers)
BLACK daps/Jazz shoes/Trainers
(Please do not send your child to class in any of the following:
flip flops/sandals/birkenstocks/heavy shoes/boots/Dr Martins/Ugg Boots. These items are not appropriate for the activity).
SLYT branded T-shirt.
Uniform should be worn to EVERY SLYT class (except Wednesday Senior Drama)
Girls should never wear dresses or skirts to any class as this is not practical for movement and leads to girls having to sit out of exercises.
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Consent Form for Photography at South London Youth Theatre
Still photography and videography are core facets of the performing arts. South London Youth Theatre (SLYT) commissions photography for rehearsals, performances and back stage preparations. These images are used in print, on our website and our social media profiles for SLYT publicity purposes. They are a mandatory part of SLYT. They will never be used out of context or by an unauthorised third party. Photographs may continue to be used after a student leaves SLYT.
To comply with Data Protection regulations, we require written consent to this for all students as follows:
- Students 15 years old and younger require parental consent
- Students 16 and17 years old require both parental consent and the student’s consent
- Students 18 years and older require the student’s consent.
By completing this form you grant full rights to use the images resulting from photography / video filming to SLYT, and any reproductions or adaptations of the images for publicity or other purposes to help achieve SLYT’s aims.
Acceptance of this is essential for SLYT membership.
If any student or parent does NOT wish their images to be used in future publicity please contact Spencer James to discuss.
Additional information that you may wish to know:
- Images will be held in accordance with Data Protection regulations.
- Students’ names will not be attached to photographs without consent.
- Parents may ask to see SLYT’s photography agreement
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