MEL DRAKE has worked with Nadine George since 2017, after being introduced to the work by Professor Ros Steen. Subsequently she attended The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama where she was awarded an MA in Voice Studies.
She trained as an actress at Queen Margaret College, Edinburgh, gained a Postgraduate Certificate of Education from Moray House Institute, is a Fellow of the Higher Education
Authority and an accredited teacher of Nadine George Voice Work.
Internationally Mel has facilitated workshops at Teaterhӧgskӧlan, Malmo, Sweden, Espace Saint-Roch, Paris, Johann School of Music and Teatru Salesjan, Malta, where she has recently been involved in the direction of Coriolanus 2024.
‘I never cease to be astonished at how much she manages to uncover in extending their range and confidence. Mel creates a bond of trust with the young company, seeing them grow and develop their own Roaring Voice’. (Polly March, director Coriolanus 2024)
In the UK Mel runs regular workshops and Masterclasses in Nadine George Voice Work, including a Performance Training Masterclass with the National Theatre of Scotland, Solar Bear and Access Scotland Venues.
‘Mel is an exceptional voice teacher. She gives fully of herself to all her students and has the ability to inspire and empower each one’ (workshop participant)
Production work has included, Coriolanus, The Merchant of Venice, Bill’s Best Bits, Two Noble Kinsmen & The Two Gentlemen of Verona (Teatru Salesjan, Malta) Polly March, Pride and Prejudice (sort of*) (Edinburgh Lyceum) Paul Brotherston, All the Time in the World & Sheep (Tron Theatre) Martin O’Connor, Emancipation Acts (Glasgow Life/Merchant City) Alan McKendrick, Under Milk Wood (Tron Theatre) Gareth Nicholls, I Promise I Shall Not Play Billiards (Tightlaced Theatre) Jen McGregor, Touched (Cygnet Training Theatre) Amanda Knott, Earthquakes in London (RCS) Joanna Bowman, Attempts on her Life (RCS) Emma Baggott, She Loves Me (RCS) Vik Sivalingam and countless productions for The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.
Aside from theatre professionals and creative artists, Mel’s work is wide and varied including clients in the business sector, teachers/lecturers, doctors, barristers, motivational speakers, therapists, the British Paralympic Curling Team and Sign Language Interpreters.
Mel has a particular interest in working with D/deaf actors and has been instrumental in introducing Nadine George Voice Work to the BA Performance Course at The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. Her recent publication ‘Next Year’s Words await another Voice’: British Sign Language and Voice Work with D/deaf actors at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland can be found in the Theatre, Dance, Performance Training Journal, Volume 10, Issue 3 October 2019 published by Routledge.
Alongside Rita McDade, Mel presented A Tale of Two Cultures (PechaKucha) at the Scottish Parliament as part of Scottish Innovation 2017 and Developing D/deaf Cultural Engagement (Culture Republic) at Glasgow Film Theatre.
I believe in this work wholeheartedly as a development of the person and therefore the voice, the two are inextricably linked. I had never encountered this way of working before. Mel Drake 2025.