Ellen Hartley

Ellen has an MA in Professional Voice Practice from the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire Acting School, and an MA in Shakespeare and Theatre from The Shakespeare Institute Stratford, part of The University of Birmingham.

She has a BA/Hon in Acting from The Birmingham School of Speech and Drama. During her third year she represented the school at the annual William Poel Festival (now the Sam Wannamaker) performing at Shakespeare’s Globe.

Ellen enjoys working across many areas of voice work in both actor training and professional industry settings.

She is a visiting lecturer at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, teaching vocal anatomy, accent and speech, practical voice, and voice and text integration at MA and BA level to both actors and voice students and offering show support to their various productions. She has also worked with Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts on various accent and voice projects over the last couple of years.

In addition to her lecturing and teaching, Ellen is an Associate Practitioner with the Royal Shakespeare Company and works regularly with their Voice and Education departments on various projects and performances. She has also worked and performed with Shakespeare’s Globe’s Education Department and taken part in various research projects there. She currently trains the actors at Shakespeare’s Birthplace Trust for the heavy vocal demands of daily outdoor performance.

She regularly offers voice support to productions at the Belgrade Theatre Coventry and works with several local companies such as Strictly Arts Theatre Company who recently toured in the UK and the US. She has worked over several years with a local puppet theatre, Major Mustard’s Travelling Show, developing character voices and supporting performers with voicing in outdoor spaces.

Ellen is dyslexic and has a special interest in developing best practices for working with neurodiverse students and supporting them in training.