My Gurus – Liza Vallance

Mr Millington

I grew up in a small village in South Wales, in the days when studying drama at GCSE or A Level in such a place was impossible. Instead, I buried my head in play texts and books about theatre and dance, mostly fed to me by my outstanding English teacher and my first Guru, Mr Millington. He offered a steady supply of ideas and subject matter; I have a vivid memory of being in the school library with a huge and heavy book about Merce Cunningham, taking in the detail with wide eyes and a head full of questions to pester Mr Millington with later. I read Shakespeare, Beckett, Osborne and Ayckbourne texts aloud in my bedroom, imagining a world in which I could do this for a job. Mr Millington died when I was doing my A Levels and I was bereft – he’d opened up such a wonderful world to me.