A professionally trained theatre director, I have made a career out of working with text by bringing it to life. As a tutor, I look to find ways of helping students do just this. In my classes I work with students to unlock the texts they are studying - honing their analytical skills, providing them with a deeper thematic understanding in order to achieve their academic objectives. English Literature, though, is both a subject for school and for life and I believe the best way of achieving top grades is to cultivate a genuine excitement about literature - from Shakespeare to Steinbeck. My classes, therefore, though rigorous, will never be boring and I hope that by the end my students will share Haruki Murakami's opinion that “the most important thing we ever learn at school is the fact that the most important things can’t be learned at school”.