Guildford

Tania Whatley – Principal and Musical Theatre

Welcome to PQA Guildford.

I trained at Laine Theatre Arts, studying all aspects of Musical Theatre. My theatre work includes, Sunset Boulevard (Frankfurt) playing a Beautician, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat playing Narrator, Barnum as cover Jenny Lind, Great Expectations playing Clara, Robin – Prince of Sherwood playing Maid Marion, and Patsy Cline – The Musical playing Loretta Lynn.

I performed excerpts from Joseph at a Royal Gala in the presence of HM the Queen, and also sung in a charity performance at the London Palladium.

My television appearances include, Happy Birthday Peter Pan, playing Mrs Darling. Die Another Day, Holby City, Home and Away, The Bill, Little Britain, and various appearances in Law & Order and Midsomer Murders.

Pantomime appearances include; Princess in Jack and the Beanstalk, Fairy in Mother Goose, Prince Charming in Cinderella at His Majesty’s Aberdeen, Devonshire Park, Eastbourne and the Ashcroft in Croydon, Fairy Bowbells in Dick Whittington at the Civic, Darlington, Fairy Petal in Jack and the Beanstalk at the Cliffs Pavilion, Southend and again at His Majesty’s, Aberdeen, the title role of Aladdin at the Civic Theatre Darlington, Dandini in Cinderella at the Pavilion in Bournemouth and the Anvil in Basingstoke. Alice in Dick Whittington at the theatre Royal Bath, and again at the Anvil, Basingstoke. I played a flying fairy at The Capitol in Horsham and The Fairy at the Hexagon Reading, in Jack and the Beanstalk.

For the last 2 years I have played Mrs Darling / Tiger Lilly for Spillers in Bognor Regis and Weymouth, and is delighted to be returning to Epsom to play Fairy Godmother as this is where I first trained in Musical Theatre. My son Luke is once again looking forward to watching his Mum on stage.

Samantha – Comedy & Drama

Samantha trained at Guildford School of Acting and has been a professional Actress for over 20 years in Television, Theatre and Radio.

Her Stage work began at The Redgrave Theatre as Miss Forsyth in a production of Death of a Salesman and since then she has appeared in productions across the country which include, Miranda in the Tempest, Titania in A Midsummer Nights Dream, Solange in The Maids by Jean Genet, a Panto in Tewsksbury and many commissioned plays including the Title role in Queen Elizabeth I and Miss Tuffnell in Sherlock Holmes and the Tiger of San Pedro in Alnwick, Northumberland. She has also played Beatrice in the world premiere of Arnold Weskers The Four Seasons in London.

Television has become her main focus since having children and she has been very lucky to have appeared in a wide range of productions not only for independent television companies but also ITV, Granada and the BBC. Those productions include Jenny Bunn in the Bill, Dawn Selby in Casualty, Angie Scothern in Crimewatch , Browitt in Waterloo Road, Dr Angie West in Coronation Street, Jeanie McCormack in WhiteChapel Murders II and as a semi Regular in both Grange Hill and London’s Burning and many commercials!

She has spent almost as many years working with Children as she has been a professional Actress. Performing,teaching, writing and directing in Youth theatres , Teaching History through Drama, Lamda Tuition, Drama clubs, private Tutorials and Teaching Television technique for performing Arts courses and now working for PQA Guildford.

Samantha believes that every child has a voice and Drama is the most exciting medium for that voice to be truly heard…..and along the way they learn to listen to other peoples voices.

Matthew – Film & Television

Matthew trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and has been working as an Actor for 15 years. One of his first jobs on TV was Playing Mr Geary, a slightly unbalanced Butcher to Pauline Quirke’s Faith Addis in the hit BBC Drama ‘Down to Earth’.

Eastenders was his next port of Call, playing ‘Jed’ a Paramedic. Such was the success of his appearance in the Kat/Zoe Slater “You’re not my Muvver!” episode, they asked him back as a returning Artiste for 7 years! Commercials then became regular work. Film Four, Advertising Standards, Pizza Hut and a worldwide campaign for Johnson and Johnson’s Touch and fresh to name but a few.

Recently, Matthew has been seen to “Sign the fession” as the Father in the very Popular Haribo Sweets commercial. The success of this has allowed him to take two years off to look after his three children. They are now in School and he has gone back to the Business. He is represented by the prestigious agency, Johnston and Mathers and has been for 10 years.

His experience in front of the Camera and his knowledge and training behind the lens, will be invaluable to the Students who attend PQA Guildford. As a working Actor, this will bring to the students, current and fresh knowledge of what is going on in the ever changing trends of TV and Film.

Matthew is delighted to be working at Guildford and looks forward to every Saturday morning, to see what the next amazing storyline is, that can only come from young and Imaginative minds.