A thirty year legacy

New Zealand drama teacher Ken Rea – who trained at Auckland’s Gil Cornwall academy and worked at Downstage and the Mercury Theatre – was honoured at London’s Guildhall School of Music and Drama for his thirty year contribution to the institution, which included training pupils Orlando Bloom, Ewan McGregor and Damian Lewis. In a congratulatory message to Rea, McGregor said: “Ken’s opinion always meant a great deal to me, and still does now. When I know he’s in the house when I’m on stage, I still get the wobbles. I still want him to like what I’m doing.” Rea also runs theatre workshops throughout the world and has worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company. He is artistic director of London’s Koru Theatre and for 15 years was a theatre critic for the Guardian.