David is a theatre director, actor, writer and educator. He is Head of Acting at the Royal Academy of Music and Royal Academy Opera overseeing the training of all singers and opera students. After reading English at Oxford University he trained as an actor at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. He is an Associate Artist at The Orange Tree Theatre where he was Artist In Residence from 2012-14, directing Ibsen’s Love’s Comedy, the European premiere of It Just Stopped (Sewell), and was Associate Director of The Middlemarch Trilogy, as well as performing in many plays. 

In 2019 he devised and directed Giant,an outdoor production for children in Epping Forest involving tree climbing and a celebration of trees through music, stories and poetry. In 2016 he was co-librettist of In Parenthesis a major new opera commissioned by Welsh National Opera to commemorate the centenary of the Battle of the Somme. From 2014-16 he was Director in Residence at King’s College School, where his work included directing three large-scale Community Productions (The Pilgrim of Love, The Merton Mysteries and The Man Who Planted Trees). 

Alongside his work in the theatre David is an experienced Bushcraft instructor, traditional woodsman, artist and storyteller, and offers a wide range of inspirational outdoor workshops for children and adults.