The Stage2 Blog

On 13th March, Ex-Member George Hannigan came back to deliver a Comedy 101 Masterclass for our Members! Since leaving Stage2, George went on to train at the Oxford School of Drama and then joined the cast of Mischief Theatre’s ‘A Comedy About a Bank Robbery’ on a National Tour and then in the West End. Following that, he has gone on to film for ITV, Sky Cinema and Netflix.

The workshop saw 20 of our members engaging in fun and comedic games and exercises, gaining lots of hints, tips and insight from George to develop their comedy skills. He even treated us all to a Q&A to gain further knowledge and wisdom learning from his career!

Here’s what our members had to say about it:

‘Fantastically Funny. I learnt a lot about comedy and feel I’m a funnier person because of the work shop. It was great meeting George and seeing the success that old Stage 2 members go onto achieve.’

‘The comedy 101 masterclass was amazing with some truly hilarious and spontaneous moments brought about by the other participants and encouraged by George who facilitated us through some old and new exercises that were such fun. I found the style of comedy really open and wished we had more time to try out a few more exercises and to watch some more of Mischief Theatre. The Q&A was really helpful to get a view of his career, comedy and some helpful ideas for our own comic or acting lives.’

‘This masterclass was an amazing opportunity to work with an ex-member successful in the industry and learn from his experience. It was also great to be able to do something extra with friends and focus on creating something amusing and enjoyable together.’

‘Working with George was truly a dream come true. It was such an interesting experience to learn so many useful tips, tricks and techniques for comedy performances and life as an actor in general from a professional actor and it really opened my eyes to different skills and area of acting that I hadn’t yet realised existed. Seeing how someone who I had in fact been in a play with and looked up to almost 7 years ago had gone so far and gained so much experience in such a short space of time really inspires me in terms of my acting and I hope to have more opportunities with more exciting ex members in the future.’

‘I think this masterclass was an incredible opportunity, not only was it conducted in a manner that was friendly and felt open to everyone – but taught me a lot about the drama industry and comedy as a whole! It’s always so interesting to learn hints and tips about the world of acting you didn’t know before, and what better way to learn about them, than from a successful, established actor himself. It was educational yet still filled with so much fun – a pretty perfect evening.’

Ex-member Dan Nash (memorable for playing Laertes in our 2015 production of Hamlet), has just finished a tour of All’s Well That Ends Well, following his graduation from the BA Acting Course at Italia Conti. It was an outdoor tour of Shakespeare’s All’s Well That Ends Well that was taken round heritage sites across the south of England, covering four venues in total (Wardour Castle, Great Fulford Manor, The Charterhouse and Vann Garden) with many more heritage sites offered by owners for following years (fingers crossed!). In the modern rehearsal world, he had a few weeks of occasional zoom rehearsals followed by one week’s rehearsal in person and then straight into touring! They also had some incredible audience members, from the queen’s solicitor to the Father of the House of Commons to HUGH BONNEVILLE!! He said ‘It’s been a lot of fun and I’d love to do it all over again!!’

Well done Dan, we are so proud of you! Congratulations and here’s to the next production you’re involved in!

Ex-member Connor Fox (Romeo from our 2011 production of Romeo & Juliet) has just finished as Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing at the Oxford Shakespeare Festival. Company founder Liz and members Elijah and Louis were lucky enough to get to go and see him shine on stage. We are so proud of Connor for the incredible performance he delivered!

‘Due to the strength of the characterisation in this production and the skill of the actors playing Benedick and Claudio (Connor Fox and Christian Peterson) the initial scenes place this to the fore, as much as the romance between Claudio and Hero (Amber Anne Allen) and the ongoing skirmishing between Beatrice (Beth Burns) and Benedick. The relationship between Benedick and Claudio was made more prominent than in any other productions of this play I have seen and the play felt much better balanced for it. It was as if a missing piece of the play had been found. The two actors were very well matched and played off one another in a way you might expect from two young men who had been comrades-in-arms.’

We are bursting with pride at the news that ex-member, Khalid Daley, has been cast as John Laurens/Philip Schuyler in the main cast of Hamilton in London’s West End. Anyone who knows Khalid knows just what a kind, energetic, grounded and good-hearted person he is – that combined with his abundance of talent means that this is well and truly deserved. We are so excited for him and cannot wait to cheer him on from the front row! Keep your eyes peeled for news of a company trip to go and see him at some point soon…

 Our Summer Term devised piece was a huge success and it now LIVE to watch on YouTube (www.youtube.com/stage2yt), either as a whole piece or in separate categories. Our members worked incredibly hard to produce a mix of monologues, duologues, sketches and physical theatre pieces as a young people’s response to the pandemic and the events of last year – we couldn’t be prouder of the work they created and how they all conducted themselves with such enthusiasm, sensitivity and intelligence/awareness. Please enjoy the pieces and let us know what you think in the comments!

We are absolutely bursting with pride at the news that ex-member, Yolanda Kettle, has been announced in the casting for Netflix’s Jane Austen Movie Persuasion. We can’t wait until it hits our screen and we can see Yolanda gracing Netflix with her incredible talents once more. We’ve always loved seeing Yolanda both on stage and screen over the years in projects such as Marcella (Netflix/ITV), The Crown (Netflix), Oil (Almeida Theatre), Love Nina (BBC) and The Deep Blue Sea (National Theatre) – just to name a few! 

On 13th March, Ex-Member George Hannigan came back to deliver a Comedy 101 Masterclass for our Members! Since leaving Stage2, George went on to train at the Oxford School of Drama and then joined the cast of Mischief Theatre’s ‘A Comedy About a Bank Robbery’ on a National Tour and then in the West End. Following that, he has gone on to film for ITV, Sky Cinema and Netflix.

The workshop saw 20 of our members engaging in fun and comedic games and exercises, gaining lots of hints, tips and insight from George to develop their comedy skills. He even treated us all to a Q&A to gain further knowledge and wisdom learning from his career!

Here’s what our members had to say about it:

‘Fantastically Funny. I learnt a lot about comedy and feel I’m a funnier person because of the work shop. It was great meeting George and seeing the success that old Stage 2 members go onto achieve.’

‘The comedy 101 masterclass was amazing with some truly hilarious and spontaneous moments brought about by the other participants and encouraged by George who facilitated us through some old and new exercises that were such fun. I found the style of comedy really open and wished we had more time to try out a few more exercises and to watch some more of Mischief Theatre. The Q&A was really helpful to get a view of his career, comedy and some helpful ideas for our own comic or acting lives.’

‘This masterclass was an amazing opportunity to work with an ex-member successful in the industry and learn from his experience. It was also great to be able to do something extra with friends and focus on creating something amusing and enjoyable together.’

‘Working with George was truly a dream come true. It was such an interesting experience to learn so many useful tips, tricks and techniques for comedy performances and life as an actor in general from a professional actor and it really opened my eyes to different skills and area of acting that I hadn’t yet realised existed. Seeing how someone who I had in fact been in a play with and looked up to almost 7 years ago had gone so far and gained so much experience in such a short space of time really inspires me in terms of my acting and I hope to have more opportunities with more exciting ex members in the future.’

‘I think this masterclass was an incredible opportunity, not only was it conducted in a manner that was friendly and felt open to everyone – but taught me a lot about the drama industry and comedy as a whole! It’s always so interesting to learn hints and tips about the world of acting you didn’t know before, and what better way to learn about them, than from a successful, established actor himself. It was educational yet still filled with so much fun – a pretty perfect evening.’

Ex-member Dan Nash (memorable for playing Laertes in our 2015 production of Hamlet), has just finished a tour of All’s Well That Ends Well, following his graduation from the BA Acting Course at Italia Conti. It was an outdoor tour of Shakespeare’s All’s Well That Ends Well that was taken round heritage sites across the south of England, covering four venues in total (Wardour Castle, Great Fulford Manor, The Charterhouse and Vann Garden) with many more heritage sites offered by owners for following years (fingers crossed!). In the modern rehearsal world, he had a few weeks of occasional zoom rehearsals followed by one week’s rehearsal in person and then straight into touring! They also had some incredible audience members, from the queen’s solicitor to the Father of the House of Commons to HUGH BONNEVILLE!! He said ‘It’s been a lot of fun and I’d love to do it all over again!!’

Well done Dan, we are so proud of you! Congratulations and here’s to the next production you’re involved in!

Ex-member Connor Fox (Romeo from our 2011 production of Romeo & Juliet) has just finished as Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing at the Oxford Shakespeare Festival. Company founder Liz and members Elijah and Louis were lucky enough to get to go and see him shine on stage. We are so proud of Connor for the incredible performance he delivered!

‘Due to the strength of the characterisation in this production and the skill of the actors playing Benedick and Claudio (Connor Fox and Christian Peterson) the initial scenes place this to the fore, as much as the romance between Claudio and Hero (Amber Anne Allen) and the ongoing skirmishing between Beatrice (Beth Burns) and Benedick. The relationship between Benedick and Claudio was made more prominent than in any other productions of this play I have seen and the play felt much better balanced for it. It was as if a missing piece of the play had been found. The two actors were very well matched and played off one another in a way you might expect from two young men who had been comrades-in-arms.’

We are bursting with pride at the news that ex-member, Khalid Daley, has been cast as John Laurens/Philip Schuyler in the main cast of Hamilton in London’s West End. Anyone who knows Khalid knows just what a kind, energetic, grounded and good-hearted person he is – that combined with his abundance of talent means that this is well and truly deserved. We are so excited for him and cannot wait to cheer him on from the front row! Keep your eyes peeled for news of a company trip to go and see him at some point soon…

 Our Summer Term devised piece was a huge success and it now LIVE to watch on YouTube (www.youtube.com/stage2yt), either as a whole piece or in separate categories. Our members worked incredibly hard to produce a mix of monologues, duologues, sketches and physical theatre pieces as a young people’s response to the pandemic and the events of last year – we couldn’t be prouder of the work they created and how they all conducted themselves with such enthusiasm, sensitivity and intelligence/awareness. Please enjoy the pieces and let us know what you think in the comments!

We are absolutely bursting with pride at the news that ex-member, Yolanda Kettle, has been announced in the casting for Netflix’s Jane Austen Movie Persuasion. We can’t wait until it hits our screen and we can see Yolanda gracing Netflix with her incredible talents once more. We’ve always loved seeing Yolanda both on stage and screen over the years in projects such as Marcella (Netflix/ITV), The Crown (Netflix), Oil (Almeida Theatre), Love Nina (BBC) and The Deep Blue Sea (National Theatre) – just to name a few! 

On 13th March, Ex-Member George Hannigan came back to deliver a Comedy 101 Masterclass for our Members! Since leaving Stage2, George went on to train at the Oxford School of Drama and then joined the cast of Mischief Theatre’s ‘A Comedy About a Bank Robbery’ on a National Tour and then in the West End. Following that, he has gone on to film for ITV, Sky Cinema and Netflix.

The workshop saw 20 of our members engaging in fun and comedic games and exercises, gaining lots of hints, tips and insight from George to develop their comedy skills. He even treated us all to a Q&A to gain further knowledge and wisdom learning from his career!

Here’s what our members had to say about it:

‘Fantastically Funny. I learnt a lot about comedy and feel I’m a funnier person because of the work shop. It was great meeting George and seeing the success that old Stage 2 members go onto achieve.’

‘The comedy 101 masterclass was amazing with some truly hilarious and spontaneous moments brought about by the other participants and encouraged by George who facilitated us through some old and new exercises that were such fun. I found the style of comedy really open and wished we had more time to try out a few more exercises and to watch some more of Mischief Theatre. The Q&A was really helpful to get a view of his career, comedy and some helpful ideas for our own comic or acting lives.’

‘This masterclass was an amazing opportunity to work with an ex-member successful in the industry and learn from his experience. It was also great to be able to do something extra with friends and focus on creating something amusing and enjoyable together.’

‘Working with George was truly a dream come true. It was such an interesting experience to learn so many useful tips, tricks and techniques for comedy performances and life as an actor in general from a professional actor and it really opened my eyes to different skills and area of acting that I hadn’t yet realised existed. Seeing how someone who I had in fact been in a play with and looked up to almost 7 years ago had gone so far and gained so much experience in such a short space of time really inspires me in terms of my acting and I hope to have more opportunities with more exciting ex members in the future.’

‘I think this masterclass was an incredible opportunity, not only was it conducted in a manner that was friendly and felt open to everyone – but taught me a lot about the drama industry and comedy as a whole! It’s always so interesting to learn hints and tips about the world of acting you didn’t know before, and what better way to learn about them, than from a successful, established actor himself. It was educational yet still filled with so much fun – a pretty perfect evening.’

Ex-member Dan Nash (memorable for playing Laertes in our 2015 production of Hamlet), has just finished a tour of All’s Well That Ends Well, following his graduation from the BA Acting Course at Italia Conti. It was an outdoor tour of Shakespeare’s All’s Well That Ends Well that was taken round heritage sites across the south of England, covering four venues in total (Wardour Castle, Great Fulford Manor, The Charterhouse and Vann Garden) with many more heritage sites offered by owners for following years (fingers crossed!). In the modern rehearsal world, he had a few weeks of occasional zoom rehearsals followed by one week’s rehearsal in person and then straight into touring! They also had some incredible audience members, from the queen’s solicitor to the Father of the House of Commons to HUGH BONNEVILLE!! He said ‘It’s been a lot of fun and I’d love to do it all over again!!’

Well done Dan, we are so proud of you! Congratulations and here’s to the next production you’re involved in!

Ex-member Connor Fox (Romeo from our 2011 production of Romeo & Juliet) has just finished as Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing at the Oxford Shakespeare Festival. Company founder Liz and members Elijah and Louis were lucky enough to get to go and see him shine on stage. We are so proud of Connor for the incredible performance he delivered!

‘Due to the strength of the characterisation in this production and the skill of the actors playing Benedick and Claudio (Connor Fox and Christian Peterson) the initial scenes place this to the fore, as much as the romance between Claudio and Hero (Amber Anne Allen) and the ongoing skirmishing between Beatrice (Beth Burns) and Benedick. The relationship between Benedick and Claudio was made more prominent than in any other productions of this play I have seen and the play felt much better balanced for it. It was as if a missing piece of the play had been found. The two actors were very well matched and played off one another in a way you might expect from two young men who had been comrades-in-arms.’

We are bursting with pride at the news that ex-member, Khalid Daley, has been cast as John Laurens/Philip Schuyler in the main cast of Hamilton in London’s West End. Anyone who knows Khalid knows just what a kind, energetic, grounded and good-hearted person he is – that combined with his abundance of talent means that this is well and truly deserved. We are so excited for him and cannot wait to cheer him on from the front row! Keep your eyes peeled for news of a company trip to go and see him at some point soon…

 Our Summer Term devised piece was a huge success and it now LIVE to watch on YouTube (www.youtube.com/stage2yt), either as a whole piece or in separate categories. Our members worked incredibly hard to produce a mix of monologues, duologues, sketches and physical theatre pieces as a young people’s response to the pandemic and the events of last year – we couldn’t be prouder of the work they created and how they all conducted themselves with such enthusiasm, sensitivity and intelligence/awareness. Please enjoy the pieces and let us know what you think in the comments!

We are absolutely bursting with pride at the news that ex-member, Yolanda Kettle, has been announced in the casting for Netflix’s Jane Austen Movie Persuasion. We can’t wait until it hits our screen and we can see Yolanda gracing Netflix with her incredible talents once more. We’ve always loved seeing Yolanda both on stage and screen over the years in projects such as Marcella (Netflix/ITV), The Crown (Netflix), Oil (Almeida Theatre), Love Nina (BBC) and The Deep Blue Sea (National Theatre) – just to name a few! 

On 13th March, Ex-Member George Hannigan came back to deliver a Comedy 101 Masterclass for our Members! Since leaving Stage2, George went on to train at the Oxford School of Drama and then joined the cast of Mischief Theatre’s ‘A Comedy About a Bank Robbery’ on a National Tour and then in the West End. Following that, he has gone on to film for ITV, Sky Cinema and Netflix.

The workshop saw 20 of our members engaging in fun and comedic games and exercises, gaining lots of hints, tips and insight from George to develop their comedy skills. He even treated us all to a Q&A to gain further knowledge and wisdom learning from his career!

Here’s what our members had to say about it:

‘Fantastically Funny. I learnt a lot about comedy and feel I’m a funnier person because of the work shop. It was great meeting George and seeing the success that old Stage 2 members go onto achieve.’

‘The comedy 101 masterclass was amazing with some truly hilarious and spontaneous moments brought about by the other participants and encouraged by George who facilitated us through some old and new exercises that were such fun. I found the style of comedy really open and wished we had more time to try out a few more exercises and to watch some more of Mischief Theatre. The Q&A was really helpful to get a view of his career, comedy and some helpful ideas for our own comic or acting lives.’

‘This masterclass was an amazing opportunity to work with an ex-member successful in the industry and learn from his experience. It was also great to be able to do something extra with friends and focus on creating something amusing and enjoyable together.’

‘Working with George was truly a dream come true. It was such an interesting experience to learn so many useful tips, tricks and techniques for comedy performances and life as an actor in general from a professional actor and it really opened my eyes to different skills and area of acting that I hadn’t yet realised existed. Seeing how someone who I had in fact been in a play with and looked up to almost 7 years ago had gone so far and gained so much experience in such a short space of time really inspires me in terms of my acting and I hope to have more opportunities with more exciting ex members in the future.’

‘I think this masterclass was an incredible opportunity, not only was it conducted in a manner that was friendly and felt open to everyone – but taught me a lot about the drama industry and comedy as a whole! It’s always so interesting to learn hints and tips about the world of acting you didn’t know before, and what better way to learn about them, than from a successful, established actor himself. It was educational yet still filled with so much fun – a pretty perfect evening.’

Ex-member Dan Nash (memorable for playing Laertes in our 2015 production of Hamlet), has just finished a tour of All’s Well That Ends Well, following his graduation from the BA Acting Course at Italia Conti. It was an outdoor tour of Shakespeare’s All’s Well That Ends Well that was taken round heritage sites across the south of England, covering four venues in total (Wardour Castle, Great Fulford Manor, The Charterhouse and Vann Garden) with many more heritage sites offered by owners for following years (fingers crossed!). In the modern rehearsal world, he had a few weeks of occasional zoom rehearsals followed by one week’s rehearsal in person and then straight into touring! They also had some incredible audience members, from the queen’s solicitor to the Father of the House of Commons to HUGH BONNEVILLE!! He said ‘It’s been a lot of fun and I’d love to do it all over again!!’

Well done Dan, we are so proud of you! Congratulations and here’s to the next production you’re involved in!

Ex-member Connor Fox (Romeo from our 2011 production of Romeo & Juliet) has just finished as Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing at the Oxford Shakespeare Festival. Company founder Liz and members Elijah and Louis were lucky enough to get to go and see him shine on stage. We are so proud of Connor for the incredible performance he delivered!

‘Due to the strength of the characterisation in this production and the skill of the actors playing Benedick and Claudio (Connor Fox and Christian Peterson) the initial scenes place this to the fore, as much as the romance between Claudio and Hero (Amber Anne Allen) and the ongoing skirmishing between Beatrice (Beth Burns) and Benedick. The relationship between Benedick and Claudio was made more prominent than in any other productions of this play I have seen and the play felt much better balanced for it. It was as if a missing piece of the play had been found. The two actors were very well matched and played off one another in a way you might expect from two young men who had been comrades-in-arms.’

We are bursting with pride at the news that ex-member, Khalid Daley, has been cast as John Laurens/Philip Schuyler in the main cast of Hamilton in London’s West End. Anyone who knows Khalid knows just what a kind, energetic, grounded and good-hearted person he is – that combined with his abundance of talent means that this is well and truly deserved. We are so excited for him and cannot wait to cheer him on from the front row! Keep your eyes peeled for news of a company trip to go and see him at some point soon…

 Our Summer Term devised piece was a huge success and it now LIVE to watch on YouTube (www.youtube.com/stage2yt), either as a whole piece or in separate categories. Our members worked incredibly hard to produce a mix of monologues, duologues, sketches and physical theatre pieces as a young people’s response to the pandemic and the events of last year – we couldn’t be prouder of the work they created and how they all conducted themselves with such enthusiasm, sensitivity and intelligence/awareness. Please enjoy the pieces and let us know what you think in the comments!

We are absolutely bursting with pride at the news that ex-member, Yolanda Kettle, has been announced in the casting for Netflix’s Jane Austen Movie Persuasion. We can’t wait until it hits our screen and we can see Yolanda gracing Netflix with her incredible talents once more. We’ve always loved seeing Yolanda both on stage and screen over the years in projects such as Marcella (Netflix/ITV), The Crown (Netflix), Oil (Almeida Theatre), Love Nina (BBC) and The Deep Blue Sea (National Theatre) – just to name a few!