About Us
Learning Through Theatre is an educational theatre organisation, specialising in physical theatre and specifically, Commedia dell’Arte, a 16th century Italian theatre style that featured stock characters, half masks, physical comic gags (lazzi), rehearsed sequences and dialogue improvised around a structured plot outline. As a natural progression from this genre, we also teach a range of physical theatre including farce, slapstick, bouffon, mime and expressionist performance. In 2015, in response to demand, we began performing as a troupe: Punch’s Progress.
Why Commedia dell’arte?
We believe Commedia is invaluable as a training method for all performers, commedia challenges performers to:
reach beyond their comfort zone
work intuitively as an ensemble
develop control, precision, articulation and expressivity of movement, voice, gesture and emotion
heighten their awareness of presence, audience relationship and stage energy.
Commedia develops the actor-creator who is a multi-skilled and versatile player.
“the actor-performer is author, producer, storyteller, director; he will be required to pass from lead actor to supporting role at a moment’s notice, and will astonish, with his continual twists and turns, not only the audience, but also his fellow-actors.”
Our aims:
To create relevant, original commedia for contemporary audiences to keep commedia alive and vibrant!
To deliver inspiring workshops that provide an enriching and memorable learning experience, supporting learners at all levels of ability
To challenge participants to stretch themselves and to become more confident as physically expressive performers
You can find all our key policies on our policies page:
Our Team
Cheryl Stapleton
Cheryl is Founder and Lead Practitioner of Learning Through Theatre. She performs, directs and teaches as a physical theatre, mask and storytelling specialist working with students of all ages. Starting out as a dancer and performing with the Young Vic Youth Theatre, Cheryl made her way into professional theatre as a stage manager in the early 90’s, touring with productions to Canda, USA, Edinburgh and London. She trained at École Philippe Gaulier and went onto further her passion for Commedia, training with maestros of the form: Antonio Fava, John Rudlin and Dr Olly Crick. Cheryl is also an ISTA Artist and LAMDA coach and travels globally to teach in international schools. She can be booked as an Artist in Residence through ISTA or directly as a LAMDA Public Speaking or Acting coach through this website.
John Broadbent
John trained in the Commedia Dell’Arte with Italian director Carlo Boso and co-founded The Fortunati, an English Commedia troupe that toured the UK and Europe with many productions. John has performed with TAG Teatro di Venezia at the Venice Carnival, London International Mime Festival and on tours of Italy, France and Holland. He teamed up with Chris Howitt on the award-winning Severed Heads (a very English take on the French Revolution) and collaborated with Ophaboom Theatre on many of their comedies. More recently, John toured the solo show Mak the Sheepstealer and played Chief Barker in Saved, a modern Mummer’s play.
John joined Learning Through Theatre to perform in The Breath of Love and A Landlord’s Tale. He also leads workshops as a commedia dell’arte specialist.
James Anderson
James trained at Arts Educational Schools and then at Bristol University and worked extensively around the West country performing with companies such as BareBones Theatre, Theatre West and Shakespeare @ the Tobacco Factory, as well as helping to set up and run The Pelican Theatre in Stroud. For the past 18 years he has been a teacher at Bristol Cathedral Choir Schools leaving this year to return to performance.
James joined Learning Through Theatre to perform in The Breath of Love and A Landlord’s Tale.
Mark Reid
Mark trained in Australia qualifying with a Bachelor of Education in Drama and Dance. Since then he has honed his practice in comedic performance with such practitioners as Marcello Magni, Kevin Brooking, Angela De Castro and Barry Grantham. He has been a core member of Physical Theatre companies such as the Anglo-Brazilian Dende Collective and Forbidden Theatre. He has performed in a variety of venues from the streets of London’s Covent Garden to West End studio spaces.
Mark has performed in three of Learning Through Theatre’s productions: Trouble Inn Paradise, The Breath of Love and A Landlord’s Tale. He also leads workshops as a comedy specialist.
Punch’s Progress
Punch’s Progress is the performance arm of Learning Through Theatre, named as such in 2022. This collective venture consists of four core team members who have worked together on three previous shows, under Learning Through Theatre.
The collective was formed with the aim of creating relevant, original commedia for contemporary audiences. We are conjoined in a mutual love of commedia dell’arte and believe in our shared purpose: to keep commedia alive and vibrant!
Commedia dell'arte, although Italian in origin, influenced the development of cross-cultural theatre throughout Europe and England. We believe it is a vital part of European and British cultural heritage. In 2014, many key players in the theatre community in Italy began an appeal to UNESCO. We join this appeal, taking up the reins for England, to ask UNESCO to recognise commedia dell’arte as intangible cultural heritage that needs to be preserved for the benefit of the world.
Commedia is steeped in theatre history and has so much to teach us, as well as being most excellent fun to perform in - and to watch. Our mission is to share commedia dell arte with as many people as possible, engaging new and diverse audiences with our accessible and entertaining shows that will spread knowledge, appreciation and laughter!
Past Productions
The Breath of Love
Unscrupulous masters, artful servants, the dead and … the undead
The year is 1590 and the wind of change is blowing through the field of knowledge. Doctor Leglimbo, renowned alchemist, is on the brink of a profound discovery – a divine elixir that will open Death’s door and guide the departed back into the light. Missing a key component, he enlists his hapless servant Harlequin to capture the vital vapour … But, when love is in the air and everyone is out to get rich, who knows where their greed will take them?
The Breath of Love (2017-2020) was devised as an immersive Commedia dell’Arte performance-workshop experience, transporting students back to Renaissance Italy to watch an authentic troupe of players perform a traditional style scenario and then take part in an exhilarating workshop to explore the style further. The video on this page is our 30 minute version, recorded in February 2020 to celebrate International Commedia dell’Arte Day at the London Commedia Festival 2020.
What People Said:
“A charming and slick show, demonstrating one of Commedia dell’Arte’s strengths: the ability to create laughter and entertainment from the flimsiest of plots. The skill of the two lead actors, switching between roles, bewitches and beguiles, and in this they are ably assisted by Zanni, their omnipresent servant. It is a credit to the actors’ alertness and comic skills that they incorporated several unforeseen accidents into the show (when I saw it), something many other companies would baulk at.”
“We got to learn how real practitioners work in Commedia and seeing it performed in front of me made it way more understandable”
“The perfect balance between watching and learning, and letting students get involved. It was a really excellent workshop. It was also great that you all seemed to have such good control of a large number of children.”
“Confident, fast-paced and very funny”
Trouble Inn Paradise
Trouble is brewing in Paradise …
When the landlady is called away on a sudden emergency, the establishment is left in the not-so-capable hands of the charming Capitano Noasenso, his head chef Brighella and a hapless new waiter: Arlecchino. Whilst this bungling trio are preparing for a visit from the Restaurant Inspector, two star-crossed lovers plan to meet secretly. But their meeting turns to disaster, as the Inspector arrives...
A story of love, deception and vermin, played in one-act. This 2015-2017 touring production visited schools throughout the UK and played at the Shoebox Theatre, Swindon; Stroud Fringe Festival and Cheltenham Pate’s Theatre Festival. Our inspiration for this devised show was Fawlty Towers and Goldoni’s A Servant of Two Masters. Much of the show was improvised live, with several set lazzi and routines. Seven Commedia characters, and a rodent, played in fast succession by three actors - and several rats.
“We couldn’t stop laughing! Brilliant fun for all the family”
