Our Tutors

Meet our film, mime, speech and drama tutors below.
Ciara Feely

Ciara Feely

ATCL, LLCM (TD), Director and Science Communicator

Ciara is the Director of Betty Ann Norton Theatre School. She joined the school at age 10 and completed all of her grades before attaining her ALCM teaching diploma in 2014 from University of West London. She has worked with the school ever since, later attaining her LLCM Teaching Diploma. In April 2020, Ciara was promoted by Betty Ann Norton as Director of the school. She predominantly works with our teenage and adult students, in particular she runs our Speech and Drama Teaching Diploma course and trains our speech and drama tutors. Outside of this, Ciara also works in Statistics and Computer Science and is currently pursuing a PhD at University College Dublin, with a particular interest in Science Communication. While this may seem disparate to drama, the creative problem solving, confidence, communication and time management skills she learned as a student of Betty Ann Norton Theatre School contribute greatly to her successes in the sciences and as director of the theatre school.

Grace Halton

Grace Halton

Producer, BA (Hons) Technical Theatre, The Lir

 Grace was a student of the school for 10 years. Here she completed Grade 1-8 Speech and Drama from Trinity College London, and her ALCM teaching diploma. Grace studied her BA (Hons) in Stage Management and Technical Theatre at the Lir Academy. Alongside being one of our speech and drama tutors, Grace works on professional theatre productions with companies such as The Abbey Theatre, The Gate Theatre, The Gaiety Theatre, and Project Arts Centre. She was Trainee Producer with Rough Magic’s artist development programme, COMPASS. Grace is supported by an Arts Council/An Comhairle Ealaíon Agility Award. Grace loves teaching poetry performance and can be heard reciting poetry in the Museum of Literature Ireland. As a student, she was the senior winner of the national poetry speaking competition ‘Poetry Aloud’. Grace is currently Production Manager on the Gaiety Theatre’s production of Hangmen by Martin McDonagh. 

Daniel (Dan) O'Farrell

Daniel (Dan) O'Farrell

ALCM (TD)

Daniel was a student of the Betty Ann Norton Theatre School from 2006 where he completed his grades with Trinity College London (then Trinity Guildhall). He attained his ALCM teaching diploma from University of West London in 2017 with distinction, receiving a mark of 90 in his practical exam! During his time as a student, he performed in many of the school’s performances including ‘Our Town’ and the Irish premiere of ‘Coram Boy’. Daniel enjoyed commercial work on screen as a student. As well as now teaching for the school, Daniel often appears as a guest actor in the school shows such as ‘The Eternal Globe’ which can be found on our YouTube channel. Dan is currently starring in a short film called ‘A Betting Man’. Special skills in teaching include: creative writing, story telling, characterisation and comedy.

Kevin O’Murchu

Kevin O’Murchu

Film Tutor, MA Contemporary Screen Industries, BA (Hons) Film

Kevin has been our Head of Film since early 2019. He teaches Film to both the Junior and Teen students. He has completed his Master’s degree in Contemporary Screen Industries from Dublin City University to accompany his BA (Hons) in Film. Kevin has worked for production companies such as ScreenScene and Octagon Films and the media department in Trinity College Dublin. He is also a freelance photographer and videographer which is evident in the quality of the footage he takes during our live performances. Kevin has produced several short films, music videos and has a keen interest in the history of cinema. He is currently working on a new short film but it’s top secret so we can’t say anymore!

Charlotte O’Reilly

Charlotte O’Reilly

Physical Theatre & Mime Tutor, LeCoq Graduate

Charlotte was a student of Betty Ann Norton Theatre School for 9 years. During that time she received a distinction in all grades up to and including Grade 8 Speech and Drama. From 2017-2019 Charlotte tutored mime at Betty Ann’s during which time she completed her ALCM teaching diploma from the University of West London and became one of our speech and drama tutors. Charlotte attended the prestigious L’École International de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq in Paris, France. There she has studied physical theatre performance and creative practice.  Charlotte’s studies at Lecoq have developed her love for movement, mime and physical theatre. This is something she is always eager to share with her students. Charlotte recently toured around europe with a production of Tom Sawyer. She is a recent recipient of the Arts Council/An Comhairle Ealaíon Agility Award which she will use to develop a new performance. 

Charlotte recently presented a work in progress piece in Smock Alley Theatre as part of Scene and Heard after which she gave an interview with our teenagers who attended.

Evie O’Brien

Evie O’Brien

Speech and Drama Tutor, BA Drama and Performance, Conservatoire of TU Dublin

Evie was a student of Betty Ann Norton Theatre School for 10 years. Here she attained both her ATCL Speech and Drama performance diploma (2018), and her ALCM Speech and Drama teaching diploma (2019). During her time at the school Evie worked closely alongside Betty Ann Norton as a team tutor. She is a graduate of the Drama (Performance) course in the TU Dublin Conservatoire. Evie is passionate about performing and during her time at the school appeared in many productions including “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” as Hermia, and Cecily in “The Importance of Being Earnest”. She also continuously played an active role in many of our devised scenes -which placed first at Feis Maitiu- including a dynamic performance entitled “The Magdalene Women”. Evie is an ardent advocate for the social, emotional and communicative benefits that drama can offer to people of all ages and abilities. As a speech and drama tutor, her particular interests include: improv, characterisation, movement, acting, and storytelling. 

Evie has been nominated as the Spotlight representative for TUDublin’s Drama and Performance Graduates 2023. She is represented by Lisa Richards Agency. 

Martha Breen

Martha Breen

Acting Coach, BA (Hons) Acting, The Lir

Martha is a graduate of The Lir National Academy of Dramatic Art where she attained her Bachelor in Acting in 2018. She has been teaching drama since 2012. Martha has worked as a professional actor with some of Ireland’s leading production companies such as Rough Magic Theatre Company in their productions of ‘Hecuba’ (Dublin Theatre Festival 2019), ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ (Kilkenny Arts Festival 2018, winner Irish Times Theatre Award Best Ensemble). Martha has also worked on screen with roles in ‘The Doireann Project’, ‘Vikings Valhalla’, and ‘Camelot’. She won Best Actress at Spokescreen Film Festival Awards for the short film ‘Bus to Dublin’. She starred in the Gate Theatre’s Dublin Theatre Festival production of ‘Once Before I Go’ in October 2021 as Young Lynn. You may recognise her from THAT heart-wrenching television advert for Vodafone. Martha was nominated as best supporting actress for her role as Ariel in Rough Magic’s ‘The Tempest’ (Kilkenny Arts Festival 2022), by the Irish Times Theatre Awards. 

Martha is currently rehearsing for a production of ‘The Beauty Queen of Lenane’ in the Lyric Theatre, Belfast. 

Sinéad McGee

Sinéad McGee

Musical Theatre & Drama Tutor, BA (Hons) Drama & Theatre Studies CIT

Sinéad has a BA(Hons) in Theatre and Drama studies from CIT and completed her ALCM Teaching Drama and Communication Diploma from the University of West London with Betty Ann Norton Theatre School. Sinéad has been teaching Speech and Drama, and Musical Theatre for the past nine years. She also choreographs and directs musical productions. Sinéad has completed her intermediate I.S.T.D ballet and modern dance exams. She also achieved her Gold Medal with LAMDA for Speech & Drama, Singing and Musical Theatre. Along with teaching, Sinéad is a professional actor who has performed in many theatres across Ireland and has featured in RTÉ series. She is a voice actor for a new children’s animation series called Zoonicorns which came out at the end of 2022!

Sinead is a recipient of the Arts Council/An Comhairle Ealaíon Agility Award and recently performed alongside our speech and drama tutor Martha as part of ‘Centenaries’ in The Abbey Theatre.

Sinead is on a sabbatical for the academic year 22/23. 

Vanessa Schaefer

Vanessa Schaefer

Speech and Drama Tutor, Dip Acting and Theatre The Lir (TCD)

After beginning drama at a young age with Betty Ann as her teacher, Vanessa went on to complete the Foundation in Acting course at the Lir Academy in 2017. Since then, she has acted in various short films as well as a feature film ‘Dive’ which can be watched on Amazon Prime. In 2021, Vanessa returned to Betty Ann Norton’s to attain her ALCM teaching diploma from University of West London and has been one of our speech and drama tutors ever since. She is pursuing a Masters in Screenwriting at IADT. Vanessa believes speech and drama are essential for building confidence in students and nurturing creativity in a safe space. Her favourite thing to teach is characterisation and particularly how to incorporate vocal and physical expression into your character. She loves improvisation, storytelling, reading aloud, and developing scenes from conception through to a full staging.

Niamh McAllister is a speech and drama teacher with Betty Ann Norton Theatre School

Niamh McAllister

Speech and Drama Tutor, BA Acting The Lir Academy (TCD)      Niamh hails from Bangor, Co Down and graduated from The Lir National Academy of Dramatic Art in 2018 where she trained on the BA Acting course. In 2021, she completed the Drama Facilitation Course with Youth Theatre Ireland. She has worked as a freelance drama facilitator since 2021, delivering drama workshops in association with Dublin Port, The Lir, CAMRY and Fishamble.

Niamh is a professional actress and voiceover artist and works across film, theatre, tv and radio. In theatre, Niamh has had roles in ‘Blackout’ with the Lyric Theatre Belfast, and ‘New Fish’ in Smock Alley Theatre. Most recently, she performed at Edinburgh Fringe Festival with her comedy improv troupe ‘Broad Strokes’ and will return with the troupe again in Summer 2023. Niamh is also a writer and wrote, directed and starred in her first comedy short film ‘Dead on Arrival’ which will be due for festival release in 2024.  Other screen credits include feature film ‘Nocebo’, BBC series ‘Three Families’ and BBCNI sketch show ‘Dry Your Eyes’ for which she wrote sketches and starred in.

Genevieve Holmes

Genevieve Holmes

Speech and Drama Tutor, ALCM (TD)

Genevieve was a student of the Betty Ann Norton Theatre School since 2009. Here, she completed her grades with Trinity College London. She also attained both her ATCL Speech and Drama performance diploma (2019) and her ALCM Speech and Drama teaching diploma with the University of West London. During her study for her teaching diploma, Genevieve also worked alongside the late Betty Ann Norton as a team teacher.
During her time as a student, Genevieve performed in many of the school’s performances including “The Eternal Globe”, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” any “The Importance of Being Earnest”.
Genevieve is an avid writer. She is particularly passionate about the benefits drama can have in developing a more creative mindset which may be applied to many areas of life. She loves to encourage students to write and perform their own works in class.
Outside of drama, Genevieve is currently pursuing a BA in psychology at University College Dublin.

 

Arianna Gorman is a speech and drama teacher in dublin who has her qualification from university of west london

Arianna Gorman

Speech and Drama Tutor, ALCM (TD)

Arianna started in Betty Ann Norton Theatre School when she was 11 years old and has successfully obtained all of the Trinity College London Speech and Drama grades. In addition she completed her ALCM Speech and Drama teaching diploma in 2020 with the University of West London. Arianna has been teaching with Betty Ann Norton’s for three years, initially as a team teacher and, now, as a tutor. 

Arianna is currently studying Ancient History and Classics in Trinity College Dublin and is very interested in the roots and history of the performing arts around the world.

She likes to emphasize the importance of drama as a ‘safe space’ for children and employs this as an ideology in all of her classes.

Arianna performed in many Betty Ann Norton Theatre School productions, including : Oscar Wilde’s “The Importance of Being Earnest”, “As You Like It” by William Shakespeare and “The Eternal Globe” which was assembled by Betty Ann. She has also competed in many Feis Maitiu competitions and has wonderful memories from them. 

Gavin Jennings

Gavin Jennings

Speech and Drama Tutor, ALCM (TD)

Gavin Jennings is a speech and drama teacher based in Dublin. He was a student of Betty Ann Norton Theatre School for eleven years. Gavin received an acting diploma from Trinity College London in 2021. He acquired a teaching qualification in drama and communications from University of West London, London College of Music in 2022 and has been a tutor with the school since then.

Gavin is a particularly strong voice actor and specialises in poetry recital and literary theory. Gavin teaches our junior students and assists all ages with accent work for auditions.