Michael Fish
Creative Performance Tutor
Michael Fish - Creative Performance Tutor
About Michael
Performer, Composer & Teacher
I am an actor, composer and musician based in Banbury, with more than twenty years of experience performing on stage. My creative work has ranged across classical and contemporary theatre, music and original composition, and that practical experience sits at the heart of my teaching.
I aim to give students strong foundations while encouraging curiosity, imagination and independence - whether they are beginning at the piano, developing as performers, studying music theory or looking to find greater confidence in speech.
A Life in Performance
My life on stage began in childhood and adolescence, performing in amateur productions including The King and I, Orpheus in the Underworld, H.M.S. Pinafore and The Bartered Bride.
I later performed extensively in the work of W. B. Yeats in Sligo, Ireland, under the direction of Sam McCready and Joan McCready. Productions included The Words Upon the Windowpane, Purgatory, The Dreaming of the Bones and The Resurrection.
Over the years I have taken on roles across classical and contemporary theatre, including Winston Smith in 1984, Siward in Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Lucius in Titus Andronicus, Valère in Molière’s Tartuffe and Prince Hamlet in Hamlet. Further roles have included King Oedipus in Sophocles’ Oedipus, Dr Chasuble in The Importance of Being Earnest, and Herbert in my original one-man monodrama Hymnus.
The Michael Chekhov Technique
I studied and practiced the Michael Chekhov acting technique at Michael Chekhov Studio London under the tutelage of Graham Dixon.
This training has had a lasting influence on my approach to performance and teaching, particularly through its emphasis on imagination, physical expression, transformation and the relationship between inner experience and outward form.
Training & Creative Practice
From Training into Teaching
My work with the Chekhov technique developed my belief that creative training should be active and exploratory rather than purely intellectual. Technique provides a foundation, but imagination, physical awareness and personal discovery are what allow it to become expressive.
This approach continues into my teaching. I encourage students to experiment practically, develop confidence in their own instincts and build an approach which can support - rather than restrict - individual imagination.
Composer & Musician
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Pianist & Composer
I have played the piano for nearly thirty years and have composed music for piano, orchestra and a variety of smaller ensembles. Composition has remained a central part of my creative life alongside performance and theatre.
In 2011, I gave a recital of my own compositions and settings of W. B. Yeats’s poetry at the 51st Yeats International Summer School in Sligo. In 2021, I was selected as a finalist in Oscar Navarro’s International Young Talented Composers Competition, for my orchestral suite Impossibilities, inspired by the work of M. C. Escher,
Much of my work has been written for orchestra. Larger projects include Confidential Dances (2022) and The Journey of Dante, an ongoing symphony for orchestra, choirs and soloists based on Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy, which I have been composing since 2023.
Strong Foundations
Technique provides the basis for freedom. I aim to give students a clear and practical understanding of the fundamental skills in their chosen discipline, building knowledge and confidence that they can rely upon as they progress.
I believe strong technique and individual creativity should develop together. My teaching is shaped around the student: how they learn, what they want to achieve, and the skills that will help them become increasingly confident and independent in their work.
My Approach to Teaching
“For dramatic art, intellectualism is the very last thing needed, and sensitive artistic perception the first.”
- Rudolf Steiner
Individual Development
Every student brings different strengths, interests and goals. I adapt the pace, material and emphasis of lessons to the individual, while still providing enough structure to keep progress purposeful and clear.
Creative Independence
My aim is not simply to help students reproduce what they have been shown, but to develop the confidence and artistic sensibility to make their own informed choices. This results in a more independent, expressive and individual way of working.