My professional life began in the early 1970’s, after training as an Actor Teacher specialising in Voice & Drama. From early days I had felt called to speak the words of great writers like Shakespeare, whose work was an inspiration to me, a gateway through the imagination to spirit.
William Blake wrote:
“The human imagination: throwing off the temporal that the eternal might be established.”
This was a time when many Repertory Theatres burgeoned throughout the United Kingdom, and I learned the exciting spell-craft of the Actor. I also taught Drama, fulfilling a burning sense of altruism, which was stimulated by a wish to help others, and based on privileges of childhood. For seven years I moved between the magic of Theatre and the ritual of Education, before being offered Summer Stock in the USA. This experience brought with it broadening horizons, as a blanket of drowsiness lifted from my consciousness, and I began to clearly perceive the interconnectivity of life within the Universe.
Whilst in New England I discovered much about my spiritual lineage through a series of remarkable encounters with natural landscapes, spiritual teachers and transcendental visions. These ‘rites of passage’ began preparing me for the unfolding pathway of work as a Sound Healer, and diluted my career as an Actor.
I felt wholeheartedly drawn to the sacred teachings of the Native American people. Of how they lived in co-creation with nature, honouring the pulse of the Great Mother’s earth-soul, and the holy wind or breath, made living by the Great Father of the sky. Subsequently, I trained with a Shaman.
Lamentably, this time of discovery was cut short by the information that my dear Mother was terminally ill, and so I returned to the UK voiceless with grief, nursing her for a short time before she passed away. Suddenly life changed utterly………
This was 1980 and my career as Voice Coach began after an encounter with Cicely Berry, under whose auspices I taught at the ‘Guildhall School of Speech and Drama’. In 1981 I became the Head of Voice at the prestigious ‘Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art’, continuing until 1998.This was a period of accelerated growth through the laboratory of teaching, my own private practice, and by meeting major teachers from the growing wisdom culture of the human potential movement, with whom I trained.
In addition, I worked pervasively throughout the theatre industry: at the ‘Actors Centre’, with major companies such as the ‘Actors Touring Company’ and in West End Theatre.
In 1998 I was invited to be the Resident Master of Voice at ‘Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre’. The project had just opened, and Mark Rylance as Artistic Director wanted his actors to use authentic voices, resonating the words of the bard with a respect for Form and a zest for Truth. For ten years this remarkable experience was lived, alongside which in 2001 I was invited to be the Head of Voice at the newly reformed constitution of the ‘Drama Centre London’.
My role of Master of Voice has allowed me to travel the world facilitating Masterclass processes, training premier theatre companies such as ‘Classic Stage Ireland’, ‘Chicago Shakespeare Theater’, ‘Long Wharf Theater Connecticut’, and Moscow’s ‘Arts Lab’.
Clients have included the luminaries of the entertainment industry such as Maria Aitken, Frances Barber, Minnie Driver, Kathryn Hunter, Josie Lawrence, Janet McTeer, Julia Ormond, Vanessa Redgrave, Jonathan Cake, Simon Callow, Jack Davenport, Julian Glover, Ross Kemp and Mark Rylance.
In addition, my work as a Master of Presentation, (www.stewartpearce.com) has allowed me to work with many eminent personalities such as Diana, Princess of Wales, Dame Anita Roddick, and the presenters of the LONDON 2012 OLYMPIC BID. My client list extends throughout the corporate arena, with personnel from companies such as: ALLEN & OVERY, L’OREAL PARIS, BT, BBC, ITN WORLD NEWS, MCKINSEY & CO, MERRILL LYNCH, GOLDMAN & SACHS, WPP, MOMENTUM PR DUBAI, VIDAL SASSOON, REUTERS,BARCLAYS,BA and MCKENZIE BOSTON.
My book and CD: THE ALCHEMY OF VOICE were produced in 2005,and I regularly appear in the media addressing the humanitarian issues of voice and persona as powerful expressions of human nature.