Sarah McCourt joins the cast at Marjon
Released: 27.09.19
Dr Sarah McCourt joins 91视频鈥檚 Performing Arts department as Programme Lead for Acting, Musical Theatre, and Performing Arts Education. Having had a long, successful portfolio career which has seen Sarah teaching in Further and Higher Education institutes; such as Cornwall College and Warwick University; as well as acting in TV shows such as 鈥楪alavant鈥�, Sarah McCourt hopes to bolster the University鈥檚 Performing Arts department.
鈥淚鈥檓 really excited for the future here at Marjon, not only for what I can bring to the table, but I鈥檓 eager to learn from my students and colleagues as well.鈥�
Sarah is a member of Equity, the UK trade union for creative practitioners. She was elected as Secretary for Equity鈥檚 Devon and Cornwall Branch Committee earlier this year.
鈥淲e鈥檝e got a number of campaigns running at the moment. One of them is 鈥楥ast it here鈥�, which is all about bringing Casting Directors and Directors down to cast and work here, as well as improving our facilities down here, so that when our graduates leave, they have the option of staying in the South West to work, rather than having to move to London, Birmingham, or Manchester鈥� Sarah explained.
Dr McCourt has a number of prestigious qualifications in both acting and teaching, including a PhD in Drama. Having had a late diagnosis of dyslexia, Sarah is passionate about Performing Arts as an alternative way to learn. She said:
鈥淚 struggled a lot at school and it wasn鈥檛 until I was 19 that I found out that I鈥檓 dyslexic, which had been affecting my learning for years.
鈥淚鈥檓 really passionate about keeping Performing Arts in schools, because I think if you鈥檙e finding it really hard to engage, it can be a great way into learning. If it wasn鈥檛 for theatre, I wouldn鈥檛 have ever developed a love for words.鈥�
Sarah is the Founder and Artistic Director of , which is based in the South West. Restless Theatre CIC aim to promote playful multidisciplinary approaches to sharing stories through creating and touring a diverse repertoire of classic and new stories. 鈥淲e started off doing adaptations of Shakespeare鈥檚 plays, and now we do a lot of devised and new-writing work. We recently did a show called 鈥楴etwork tales鈥�, which is a heart-warming comedy in which stories about their fellow train passengers bring an estranged father and daughter together.鈥�
Alongside her teaching at 91视频, Dr Sarah McCourt is an active member of the creative arts industry.
鈥淚 do a mixture of acting and applied theatre. I鈥檝e run workshops and youth theatres for places like Northcott Theatre, The Pauline Quirke Academy, Razzmatazz, and at the moment I鈥檓 a Workshop Facilitator for Theatre Alibi. That entails going into schools and running workshops about their story-telling and devising techniques.鈥�
Sarah spoke about how her past and current practice and research in the industry will feed directly into her teaching at Marjon.
鈥淲e鈥檙e training students in a holistic way, to become actors, so they need to know what it鈥檚 like working in the profession. In the acting industry, sometimes it depends an awful lot on networking and contacts, so it helps the students when we鈥檙e able to give them advice based on our own experiences.
鈥淚 still regularly go to classes and learn, because that鈥檚 a huge part of being a practitioner. Continuing to learn not only informs my own practice, but it allows me to model for my students, which I think is absolutely essential in Higher Education.鈥�
Find out more about BA (Hons) Acting, BA (Hons) Performing Arts Education, or BA (Hons) Musical Theatre at Marjon.