Tanya has been dancing ballet, jazz and tap since the age of three! She completed her professional training at the Hammond School and is a fully registered teacher of the Royal Academy of Dancing.

Our sister school, the Euridge School of Dancing, located in Exeter, was established in 1986 and has regularly won ballet group and solo sections at the Exeter Competitive Festival. She has staged a wide range of musicals, including ‘West Side Story’, ‘Carousel’, ‘Songs for a New World’ and ‘Seussical the Musical’. At the Exeter Corn Exchange in recent years, she has choreographed the professional pantomimes, ‘Dick Whittington’, Aladdin’ and ‘Cinderella’.

Tanya is also a qualified instructor for the Exeter Gymnastics Club and regularly choreographs national and international championship winning floor routines.

Will Trafford is an Exeter-born actor returning from London to perform in the Exeter Rep season of plays. Will trained at the Euridge School of Dance and Stage by Stage in Exeter from the age of two in acting, singing, and dancing.

He also gained a Higher National Diploma in Musical Theatre from Performers College.

He has been working professionally since he was thirteen,
performing in local pantomimes such as 'Aladdin', 'Jack and the Beanstalk' as the titular characters, and in the musical 'Merlin’s Apprentice' in Taunton playing Arthur.

Most recently he appeared on the Italian TV show Tú Sí Que Vales? as part of the Tap Corps group created by veteran Tap Dog Dougie Mills. 

In 2018 he created a new physical theatre characterisation of the Creature in 'Frankenstein'.

Will trained as a professional modern and tap dance teacher through the Imperial Society.

Ian began his career as a child actor working for Vanessa Ford Company, Churchill Bromley, Orchard Theatre Dartford, Chatham Central Hall and Lewisham Theatre in shows ranging from Henry IV Part 1 & 2 to Peter Pan and even Frankie Howerd’s long-running comedy show.

Ian trained at the University of Exeter and Central School of Speech & Drama, undertaking various production residences at Her Majesty’s, the Palace, Shaftesbury and Dominion Theatres. Further theatre credits in production or stage management include national tours of The Rocky Horror Show, Little Shop of Horrors and The Broadway Version of The Pirates of Penzance. He also joined the Theatre de Bastia in Corsica to lead a nine-month devising project, whilst also studying the comedies of Moliere and training in clowning in the Lecoq style.

Returning to Britain, Ian co-founded Kickline Touring Theatre, for which he has directed national tours of Amadeus, Educating Rita, An Inspector Calls and My Baby Just Cares for Me; he co-produced Twinkle Little Star with Cheltenham Everyman Theatre and was also production consultant for the international cabaret duo, Kit & the Widow for ten years. In recent years, Ian has written and directed Exeter Corn Exchange’s pantomimes, including Beauty & the Beast, Snow White starring Sandra Dickinson, Jack & the Beanstalk, Cinderella starring Rose Reynolds (ABC's Once Upon a Time), another Snow White starring Ella Gilling (BBC's The Next Step) and  and Dick Whittington starring Peter Duncan.

Having gained a PGCE in Drama and a postgraduate diploma in directing text with young people, Ian is the long-standing Head of Drama at the award-winning drama school, Stage by Stage. He has directed over one hundred plays and musicals for the students, including Romeo & Juliet, Waiting for Godot, Much Ado about Nothing, Under Milk Wood, Mother Courage, The Tempest, Starlight Express, Beauty & the Beast, Sweeney Todd, Godspell, Children of Eden, Seussical the Musical and Anyone Can Whistle, locally and at the Edinburgh Festival and Her Majesty’s in London. Ian’s students have gone on to successful careers in the West End, with the National Theatre and R.S.C. and even as Hollywood movie producers.

We are delighted to welcome Daniele to the teaching staff of Stage by Stage!

Daniele is our 1-to-1 singing and extension teacher!

Her extensive professional musical theatre credits, both nationally and internationally, include original West End casts of 'Sunset Boulevard', 'Priscilla Queen of the Desert', 'Acorn Antiques', 'The Sound of Music' at the London Palladium and 'My Fair Lady' at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane. She recently appeared in 'La Cage aux Folles' at Regent's Park and 'The Witches' at the National Theatre.

Daniele also trained in the Estill Voice Training.

SbS members are now able to book half hour or one hour slots weekly.  There is a booking form in the Downloads section and at the reception in Stage Studios. 

‍Biography to follow

Born in Birmingham in 1969, Ian began piano lessons at an early age, and subsequently took up the bassoon, and later the saxophone, flute, recorder, trumpet, trombone, tuba, ukulele and Appalachian dulcimer. He started composing when at secondary school and produced several play scores and an orchestral piece before going on to university. At the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester he studied Composition under Anthony Gilbert, and was commissioned to write a chamber work for Granada Television before further study for his PGCE at Reading.

After working as a teacher in a large comprehensive school in Hampshire for several years, he took up freelance work as a composer and educator, and was Composer-in-Residence for several projects in the southeast. Upon moving to Devon, he has taught in a variety of schools, either as a classroom teacher or project leader. He is currently teaching at Bramdean School, and spends the rest of his working life as a freelance musician and composer. As an MD and accompanist, he is lucky enough to work with a wide variety of amateur theatre groups and stage schools, and is permanently delighted to be associated with Stage by Stage.

Hailing from Exeter, Chris began his own musical theatre career at Stage by Stage.

He subsequently trained at Performers College where he gained the Level 6 Diploma in Musical Theatre.

Chris' professional performances are extensive and varied included appearances on the Royal Variety Performance and an engagement as dancer and choreographer for Collabro at the Royal Albert Hall.

On stage Chris has taken leading roles in 'Aladdin' and 'Beauty & the Beast', with other credits including 'Broadway Christmas Wonderland', 'New Jersey Nights' and the international tour of 'Summer- The Donna Summer Musical'.

Mike was production manager at the Northcott Theatre, during which he supervised the construction of sets and oversaw all technical aspects of numerous plays and musicals, including 'Sherlock Holmes the Musical' which transferred to London's West End, and plays directed by such luminaries as Robin Herford and Sir Nicholas Hytner!

Mike has supervised Stage by Stage productions in Exeter and at the Edinburgh Festival.

He is also technical director for Kickline, producing professional family theatre such as 'Cinderella', 'Frankenstein', 'The Little Mermaid' and 'Merlin's Apprentice'.

Rhum & Clay is a theatre ensemble that tells stories: original shows that are inventive, ramshackle and cinematic. 

The company was formed at l’Ecole Jacques Lecoq in Paris, where the members learnt their craft. They would also spend long hours into the night drinking ‘rhum’ and making masks out of clay. It was these happy memories that inspired the name under which the company perform.

Alongside creating theatre productions, Rhum & Clay collaborate with young people and the next generation of theatre makers through a popular workshop programme.

Rhum and Clay is an Associate Company of The Watermill Theatre.