I am an actor. I trained first at the Anna Scher Theatre in Islington where I paid 50p for two hour sessions every Friday evening and Saturday afternoon. I then started at the Miskin in 1992 in the first year the course ran. I was attracted to it then for the same reason I work here now; It is a working  theatre. We do plays here.

I was a nightmare when I was training, closer to Kevin the teenager than Robert De

Niro and no-one would have thought I’d end up working here but... As far as I’m concerned I’m still training. I learn as much from the young actors I direct here as I do working inside the industry with highly acclaimed actors, directors and technicians.

I often feel more like a cheerleader than a “Member of Staff” because I believe in the place and I believe in the training it provides. It can be chaotic, it is sometimes unstructured and, on occasion, it does my nut but the people I work with here are committed and inspirational. Every aspect of the Miskin experience replicates the performance industry; the passion, the conflict and the time and graft it takes to strive for excellence. And it’s less than 50p a session.