My Gurus – Melanie Sharpe

Brian Bishop

I’ve always worked in the arts. After training at Rose Bruford College of Speech and Drama and gaining a Diploma in Community Theatre Arts and Theatre in Education in 1983, I worked as a freelance actor/teacher for 10 years. Here I met my first Guru, Brian Bishop, who was then team leader of Theatre in Education at Belgrade Theatre Coventry and is now Education Director at Warwick Arts Centre.

I was 27 when I was successful in becoming a permanent actor/teacher for Belgrade. At the time, this was a major career goal. It was the one company I desperately wanted to work for. Their reputation as leaders in the field of devised age-appropriate T.I.E programmes was second to none, and I wanted to be a part of that legacy.

To say I was young and inexperienced is an understatement! However, Brian was the calm voice, the enabler who listened to your thoughts and opinions, who recognised some kind of spark in my performance and devising skills. Brian was and still is a passionate advocate of child-centred learning – of going on the journey with the child, not setting yourself up as the expert with all the answers, of asking open questions and listening to their answers. It’s a mantra still true today and a skill that applies throughout life, in all situations. He has become a friend that I still turn to both professionally and personally for that voice of calm. Everyone needs a BB!