Professor Gunduz Jem Kalic is a theatre director, acting coach and former actor long fascinated with the place of the fool within theatre and society , actively working on some exciting projects. Watch the showreel.


Acting Coach

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An actor-trainer for four decades, Gunduz Kalic has coached and taught numerous journeymen and women for stage and screen, specialising in ‘polishing rough diamonds’. In Turkey, the performers Zeki Alaska, Ali Poyrazoglu and Metin Akpinar, all household names/national treasures in Turkey, began their careers as members of a troupe he actor-managed and coached using European training practices then unheard of in the country.

In the UK, Peter Armitage, Janine Duvitski, Alan Ford, Robert Gwilym, Jonathan Kaye, Kevin Lloyd, Christopher Ryan, Tony Scannell, Alison Steadman, Gwen Taylor, Oliver Tobias, and David Yip are among the many actors he coached at East 15 Acting School.

Directors taught by him include Mike Bradwell (founder Hull Truck Theatre and long-time Artistic Director of the Bush theatre), Michael Foot (founder Footsbarn Theatre Company), Hilary Westlake (founder Son and Lumiere), Andy Noble (founder Orchard Theatre), the late Howard Lloyd-Lewis (formerly of Manchester Library Theatre Company).

He mentored the late Richard Wherrett (former Artistic Director of Sydney Theatre Company) and Roger Hodgman (former Artistic Director of the Melbourne Theatre Company). Gijs Scholten van Aschat, Hans Kesting, Joke Tjalsma, Pierre Bokma and Wivinneke van Groningen are prominent Dutch star actors who were once students of his.

Chris Haywood and Monte Dwyer are among the Australian actors and media personalities he trained and the Canadian-New Zealander actor Lori Dungey is also a former student.

As a Lecturer, Senior Lecturer and Principal Lecturer at drama schools and universities, he designed and taught a wide range of undergraduate level modules, classes and / or core content including:

  • Tragic Acting (Greek classics)
  • Tragic Acting (Neoclassics)
  • Tragic Acting (Reinvention of classics)
  • Comedy (Dario Fo)
  • Comedy (Fooling)
  • Comedy (Social Satire)
  • Comedy (Restoration)
  • Comedy (Stand-up comedy)
  • Commedia del arte
  • Improvisation
  • Laban for Actors
  • Modern Drama
  • Epic Theatres
  • Piscator, Brecht, French Neo-Brechtians, British Epic Post-war British Drama
  • Approaches to Directing
  • Directing – including Mis-en-scene
  • Devising
  • Popular Theatres
  • Intercultural Theatres
  • Theatre and Ritual
  • Folk Theatre
  • Theatre in Education
  • Community and Theatre
  • Dramaturgy
  • Writing for theatre
  • Adaptation for theatre
  • Performance Spaces
  • Western Theatre History
  • Radical Political Theatre
  • Pantomime, Melodrama and Music Hall.

His contribution to the pedagogy and thereby the reputation of the renowned East 15 Acting School was significant. He built upon and articulated then Director Maggie Bury’s take on the Littlewood/Theatre Workshop approach by adding European technique and rigour to the training mix, enabling the creation of a distinctive, technically accomplished and influential house style of acting. He initiated the School’s founder-member status within the National Council of Drama Schools (where he served as E15’s representative). He also contributed to the School’s international profile through the generation of links with prominent European theatre schools and companies.

He has in recent years conducted visits to/workshops at Sichuan People’s Theatre China in Chengdu,University of Hyderabad, Pondicherry University and Mombai Wistlingwood Actors Academy in India.