Robert Merriam
Acting & Dialect Coach
Robert trained in Musical Theatre at The Royal Academy of Music, graduating with Distinction while also obtaining the Recital Diploma (DipRaAM). He has a 1st Class Bachelors Degree in English Literature from The University of Edinburgh and has trained in puppetry alongside Oliver Hymans at the Little Angel Theatre. While at school, he obtained a PCertLAM Diploma with distinction, awarded by the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.
He is a skilled actor and singer with extensive experience performing classical and contemporary texts. A natural affinity for accents led him to explore phonetics and he has assisted multiple students from China and Taiwan with their spoken English, preparing them for the UK drama school auditions. Many of these students have gained admission to prestigious schools and all have seen considerable improvements under his tutelage. Robert wrote his dissertation on renaissance drama and specialises in teaching performance of classical verse. He recognises the challenge these kinds of texts present even to fluent English speakers but achieves great results by assuming no prior knowledge and taking an attentive and adaptive approach to his teaching. His pedagogy is rooted in empathy and he believes that all students have the ability to improve with patient study and an equally patient guiding hand.
His notable roles include Signor Naccarelli in The Light in the Piazza (Royal Academy of Music), Father in Ragtime (National Youth Music Theatre), Rafe in Four Play (Mountview), Ensemble in The Boy Who Sailed the Ocean in an Armchair (BEAM 2023). He regularly appears as a founding member of the improvisational comedy group Offcuts at a range of London venues. He is represented by SImon Pontin at Leodis.
