Bella Merlin has been an actor for over twenty years. She trained at the State Institute of Cinematography in Moscow, before attaining her PhD at the University of Birmingham, UK. Acting work includes her critically acclaimed Margaret in Richard III at the Colorado Shakespeare Festival (summer 2012); several productions for Max Stafford-Clark’s company Out of Joint in collaboration with the National Theatre; numerous leading roles in theatres around the UK; television, film and radio roles; and her one-woman play based on Frank Wedekind’s turbulent relationship with his wife, Tilly No-Body: Catastrophes of Love. Merlin has written five books on acting, her specialism being Stanislavsky and (in particular) his later rehearsal practice, Active Analysis. Publications include: Acting: The Basics (Routledge, 2010) and The Complete Stanislavsky Toolkit (Nick Hern Books, 2007); several chapters, articles and web-manuscripts. Merlin also writes songs, including music for Treasure Island at the Colorado Shakespeare Festival and her EP, Scenes through the Tenement Windows. Merlin is currently Professor of Acting at the University of California, Davis. She has also worked with Professor Andy Lavender’s company, Lightwork, on the fact-based drama, Sarajevo Story (Lyric Hammersmith, London), and the performance installation The Good Actor, investigating live and mediated performance (Digital Media Conference). Merlin has taught and directed across the UK (in drama schools, universities and theatre companies) and across the globe (Australia, France, Poland, Japan, Colombia and America).
http://www.bellamerlin.com
Image: Photograph © Brian Nguyen
