Geoff Norris is an actor, director, storyteller, voice, drama and movement teacher with over 40 years of experience teaching and performing.
Geoffrey was born in Durban, South Africa in 1951. He read Philosophy, History of Art, Politics and English at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. After extensive performing with the rock musical Hair in Southern Africa, Portugal and Spain in the early 1970s, he continued his theatrical training at the London School of Creative Speech, graduating in 1978.
Geoff has since then, given regular workshops worldwide, integrating the approaches of Rudolf Steiner, Michael Chekhov, Viola Spolin, Wilton Cole and others, his own included, to a wide variety of participants, including actors, singers, dancers, teachers, therapists, students and lay people and recently gave a very successful weekend course to 21 professionals in Madrid, both actors and voice teachers, organised by Vertico as part of their explorations into the Voice programme.
He taught speech, drama and Greek gymnastics at the London School of Creative Speech for many years under Maisie Jones and at the London School of Eurythmy under Marguerite Lundgren. He was voice and drama consultant at Michael Hall School, Forest Row, UK for over 18 years, and for 17 years he was movement, voice and drama teacher at The Hague Eurythmy Academy, now HS Leiden. Geoff has worked with texts in many languages, including Dutch, German, Italian, French, Spanish, Japanese, Danish, Finnish, Swedish, Norwegian, Polish, Ukrainian, Lithuanian and Russian.
From 2000 to 2013 he was theatre consultant, actor, singer, Conductus Leader and procession choreographer for Schola, Teatru Wiejskiego Węgajty, Northern Poland. With Schola he has performed Gregorian liturgical dramas in cathedrals throughout Poland as well as in Lithuania, France, Italy and Greece.
Until recently he was a teacher of Speech and Drama at the London Waldorf Teachers training, based at Rudolf Steiner House, and is involved in many Theatre, Film and Eurythmy projects on a freelance basis, as director, actor and voice coach. He is currently engaged in training individuals towards a Goetheanum recognised Speech Diploma, having graduated two students in the past few years.
As a founder member of The Rose Theatre Company and of Portal Productions he has performed and given workshops worldwide, including Scandinavia, Great Britain, Ireland and other European countries, as well as in Canada and the USA. With the Rose Theatre Company he played many and varied roles in all of their production, including both Gurnemanz and Trevrizent in their innovative dramatisation of the story of the Grail, 13 Mirrors. which received a 5***** review at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 1999.
As a member of the founding group of “Portal Productions” Geoff played the role of Professor Capesius in all four of Rudolf Steiner’s Mystery Dramas and contributed to the re-translation of the four plays from the original German into dramatic and flowing English versions with Pericles Theatre Company he played the lead role of an Irish bard in their production of the ancient Irish tale The Children of Lir, the Beggar King in The Bench, an evocative drama of love, hate, good and evil, and Gower, Helicanes and Cerimon in Shakespeare’s Pericles Prince of Tyre.
Geoff has toured his one-man Shakespeare recital, The Pangs of Love, and performed a programme of stories by Rudyard Kipling called In the High and Far-off Times to audiences throughout Europe. He has given poetry recitals with the Anderida Ensemble, Sol et Luna, A Concordance of Voices, and numerous solo programmes. He was a founder member of Ashdown Eurythmy, with whom he toured extensively in the 1980s, and has also toured the world as principal speaker and storyteller with the Stuttgart Eurythmeum, Botton Eurythmy, the Goetheanum Stage Players, Teatro delle Stelle and Eurythmy West Midlands Young Stage Group. Geoff also performed and co- directed Ishtar- eurythmy in dialogue with Chantal Heijdeman of Stichting Eigen Beweging, performing in the Netherlands, and including an acclaimed performance in the Moscow Eurythmy Festival. He will collaborate with her in the future.
Geoff has a long history of collaboration with Maren and Alan Stott of Eurythmy West Midlands and toured their programme Water-Islands in Great Britain, Ireland, Germany, Switzerland and to great acclaim in New Zealand. He is also principal speaker & storyteller for the West Midlands Eurythmy Young Stage Group, having toured with them and contributing to the form and direction of their programmes.
As Theatre Director he directed the first ever Oberufer Shepherds play, performed in Mandarin, in Beijing, China in 2013, and has acted in and directed the Oberufer Paradise and Shepherds plays at Rudolf Steiner House London for the past 5 years with great success. In 2016 he directed Shakespeare’s “the Tempest”, as part of the 400 year anniversary festival held at Rudolf Steiner House, London, to great acclaim and a 6****** reveiw.
In 2017 he founded The Speech and Drama Studio in 2017 and currently works in training students in the arts of Steiner Speech and Drama in conjunction with Agnes Zehnter, Am Wort, Dornach Switzerland. Geoff also is active in teaching, touring and performing worldwide and is affiliated to Lemniscate Arts USA.
For those who understand the sense of speech
The world reveals itself as picture.
On those who hear the Soul of speech
The world unlocks itself as Wisdom.
To those who live into the Spirit of speech
The world bestows Wisdom’s strength and power.
To those who can love speech
It grants it’s own creative might.
Thus will I turn my heart, my sense
Towards the spirit and the soul of words,
And in my love for them
Begin to feel, for the first time
Myself entire.
Rudolf Steiner
The Stars Spake once to humankind;
It is world destiny that they are silent now.
To be aware of the silence can become pain for earthly-man.
But, in the deepening silence, there grows and ripens
What Man speaks to the Stars.
To be aware of this speaking can become strength for Spirit-Man!
Rudolf Steiner
Hair International
1972-74 the rock musical “Hair” Director Steven Curry Woof and Chorus
Michael Hall Players, Director Danielle Gaillemin:
1984 The School Superintendent Gogol's "The Governement Inspector"
1985 The Prince of Verona Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet"
Portal Productions - directed by Graham Dixon (1) and Christopher Marcus (2, 3 & 4):
1989-1995 Professor Capesius R. Steiner's Four Mystery Dramas:
"The Portal of Initiation"
"The Challenge of the Soul"
"The Guardian of the Threshold"
"The Soul's Awakening"
The Rose Theatre Company -
1991-1992 Gloucester Shakespeare's "King Lear"
directed by D. Langman.
1992-1993 Dukes Senior and Frederick, Shakespeare's "As you like it"
William directed by G. Josephson
1993-1994 Simonides, Helicanus, Shakespeare's "Pericles"
Leonine, 1st Fisherman directed by C. Marcus
1995-1996 Dr Gradgrind, waiter, Charles Dicken's "Hard Times"
young Tom Gradgrind, directed by M. Sharpe.
Stephen Blackpool
1998-1999 Klingsor, Trevrizent, Rose Company's adaptation of
Gurnemanz, Red Knight, Eschenbach's "Parsifal", facilitated
Sir Bors by R. Ramsbotham.
directed by D.Skinner and K.Mackinnon
2000- Irish Bard “Pericles Players” The Children of Lir directed by Sadie Jemmett
2000-2010 Conductus Leader “LudusDanielis”and “LudusPassionis directed by Wolf Niklaus and ScholaTeatruWiejskiegoWegajty Marcel Peres
2005-2006 King, Storyteller Pericles Theatre Company“The Bench”
directed by VasileNedelescu
2007-2009 King and Storyteller Teatrodella Stella “the Princess who went
To the heart of the earth” directed by Mario
the United States and Canada.
Boghetto. Toured Italy Holland U.K. Eire
2008 Gower, Helicanes Pericles Theatre Company production Pandar Cerimon
VasileNedelescu of Shakespeare’s “Pericles” directed by
2010-2013 Reciter “WaterIslands” a Eurythmy Masters
performance devised and directed by
Geoff Norris and Maren Stott still in
repetoire having toured Switzerland
Germany, U.K. Eire, and New Zealand
2011 Reciter, Storyteller “Contrasts” Young Stage Group
West Midlands directed by Maren Stott
and Geoff Norris
2012-2013 Reciter,Teller, Poet “Ishtar” Eurythmy Masters performance
devised by Chantal Heijdeman and Geoff
Norris directed by Bettina Grube and
Melaine MacDonald
2013- 16 Reciter, Storyteller “Imptomptus” West Midlands Young Stage
Group directed by Maren S and Geoff N
Reciter, Storyteller “One Smile of Light” West Midlands
Co-director
Actor –Director Shakespeare “Songs of Love and Celebration”
Actor –Director “The Tempest” Shakespeare
2016-18 Reciter, Storyteller“Dreamscapes” and “Of Stars and Bones”
Co-director Eurythmy West Midlands
As well as numerous roles in The Rose Theatre Company's Children's Shows 91- 99: The Lad with the Goatskin, Peronnik, In the High and Far Off Times, and The Golden Bird. All were adapted by the Company and brought to life with a unique blend of acting, movement, colour, voice and song, celebrating the imagination, and enthralling children of all ages (5-90) throughout Europe.
“Incandescence” medley of Hopkins, Lawrence &Thomas
"The Caged Skylark" in praise of the works of G. M. Hopkins
"Though I sang in my chains” the poetry of Dylan Thomas
"Athirst in Spirit" Centenary Celebration of the poetry of
"Flames of Silence" D. H. Lawrence.
"Hear the Voice of the Bard" a medley by William Blake
"The English Spirit" a poetic journey from Anglo- Saxon to
Modern times.
"The Wasteland"
"From the Four Quartets" T. S. Eliot.
"Cats"
“The Pangs of Love” Songs Sonnets and Soliloquy’s
By William Shakespeare
Teacher of Speech, Drama, Improvisation, and Movement.
Ringwood-BottonEurythmySchool [visiting teacher 1981-1985 ]
LondonSchool of Speech and Drama. [1979- 1991]
LondonSchool of Eurythmy [1980- 1987]
The Centre for Social Development [1981- 1987]
The MountCamphillR.SteinerSchool [Therapist 1981-1987]
MichaelHallWaldorfSchool [1981- 1989]
EmersonCollege [teacher and director 1986- 1988]
Directed "Pericles"1987
“Midsummers Night’s Dream"1988
"The Coventry Cycle 1986-87-88.
The Hague Speech School [visiting teacher 1985-1988]
Michael Hall Steiner School Speech and Drama teacher and Voice
Coach(1994-2009)
The SpringValley Waldorf Speech Drama and Movement (2012)
Teacher training (Beijing, China)
Geoffrey also taught Speech and Drama as visiting faculty member of “the Hague Eurythmy Academy/ HS Leiden” for 17 years from, 1997 to 2014 where facilitated movement improvisation, gymnastics and directed poetry, storytelling and drama performances.
He performs regularly with Maren Stott, and the Young Stage Group Eurythmy West Midlands and acts as co- director together with Maren.
For many years he was an actor, acting coach, and speech coach with the Rose Theatre Company, and helped run the company as its treasurer till its closure in 2000, as well as being an actor and core carrying member of Portal Productions (1989- 1995). He was also engaged as theatre-consultant/singer/actor with “Schola” TeatruWiejskiegoWegajty till 2015, and has given numerous workshops and performances internationally including two 3 week residential courses in Waterville, Maine, U.S.A. [1988-1989.] and one week courses at Kibbutz Harduf Israel [1986], The Rose Theatre Summer School 2000 at the Penquoit Centre in Wales and at TeatruWiejskiegoWegaity, Poland [1998-2000] where he was also voice coach for the company. He has also given numerous workshops as member of the Rose Theatre Company, Portal Productions, Eurythmy West Midlands whilst on tour. He currently runs the Speech and Drama Studio and in co-operation with AmWort ,Dornach Switzerland has graduated and is training a number of students in the Speech Arts
Geoffrey has been a member of the Anthroposophical Society since 1976 and a student of the School of Spiritual Science since 1978. He has taught Steiner’s Creative Speech since 1979.