About us – eLearning Action Theatre

OUR VISION

A unique imaginary universe of creativity, fun, passion and professionalism through which we teach English to young learners worldwide.

OUR MISSION

With our informal and friendly approach, we aim to create engaging, high-quality English teaching resources, both live and online, for young people worldwide from our treasure trove of fun characters and drama materials.

Learning English Through Fun Srl is an Italian company based in Turin. It was founded by Rupert Raison, Giorgia Nordio and Lisa Pugliese in 2020. It serves as the online arm of Action Theatre, one of Europe's leading English Theatre in Education companies.

Over the past twenty years, Action Theatre has presented its unique brand of interactive English Teaching Theatre and original English teaching workshows using masks, puppets, and physical comedy. The company has worked with nearly one million children in schools all over North and Central Italy, conducting numerous workshops and running Action Theatre Summer Camps during school holidays.

For more information about our work in Italy: www.actiontheatreinenglish.com

Learning English Through Fun provides original, tried-and-tested materials to kids, parents, and teachers worldwide to teach English through fun.

Our team consists of top professionals in their fields.

MEET THE TEAM

Rupert Raison

Artistic Director and Author

Biografia

Rupert Raison - Direttore Artistic Director and Author

Rupert Raison is the author of most of our materials and the artistic director of the company. He is a leading expert in the field of English Teaching Theatre and with over 50 titles to his name he has created a host of unique comedy characters.
Originally from London, England, Rupert studied at Jacques Lecoq in Paris for 2 years and then moved to Italy to work in physical theatre where he founded the Dizziacs Theatre Company and subsequently Action Theatre to teach English to Italian students.
He has co-written 5 primary school textbooks called Mr. English for the Raffaello publishing company and spent 2 years writing comedy sitcoms to teach English to kids with Rai Divertinglese, the national Italian TV company.
Rupert is delighted to see his characters come to life online and to be able to perform and animate puppets in our videos.

www.rupertraison.com

Lisa Pugliese

Co-founder of Learning English Through Fun & Overall Team Coordinator

Biografia

Lisa Pugliese - Co-founder of Learning English Through Fun & Overall Team Coordinator

Lisa is the driving force behind the creation of all our online materials.
Lisa Pugliese began her professional career as a dancer working in Italy and abroad.
After a degree in Modern Literature from Turin University, she specialised in theatre management.
Subsequently, Lisa started collaborating with Action Theatre where she has been in charge of the distribution, selling and organisation of English theatre teaching projects aimed at Italian schools.
Lisa has the Pearson LCCI Certificate with merit, C1 Level and a Coaching degree from the Scuola Europea di Coaching. In her spare time, she is also an Executive Coach.
Lisa believes that the best way to get results in learning is to have real fun, and that's what excites her most about her job.

Giorgia Nordio

Co-founder of Learning English Through Fun & Content Editor and Artistic Team Manager

Biografia

Giorgia Nordio - Co-founder of Learning English Through Fun & Content Editor and Artistic Team Manager

Giorgia Nordio is the artistic editor of our online materials, coordinating our artistic team.
Giorgia studied Economic History at Ca' Foscari University in Venice and subsequently took a Master’s degree in Entertainment Management at Bocconi University in Milan. She also has a Pearson LCCI Certificate with merit, C1 Level.
Giorgia has been involved in the administrative and project management of many important European theatre companies, collaborating with the Théâtre National de Toulouse, Compagnia I Fratellini Bartoli-Cantarelli-Marcucci in Florence, University of Turin and the Società Cooperativa ArtQuarium directed by Eugenio Allegri.
Giorgia has been the administrator of Action Theatre since its foundation.
What she likes most in her job is that it takes energy, commitment, responsibility, and it brings her joy.

Oliver Millingham

Leading Actor and Recording Artist

Biografia

Oliver Millingham - Leading Actor and Recording Artist

Oliver appears in many of our online videos whilst also being involved in some of the puppetry, singing and voiceovers.
After a career as an Educational Psychologist in Japan, Oliver studied at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School to become a professional actor and has played many Shakespearean characters such as Hamlet, Macbeth, Henry V, Iago and Romeo.
Oliver has performed with Action Theatre for a decade, designed many of our workshows and has lost count of how many performances he has done.
Oliver says of working for L.E.T. Fun, "The joy is that every day presents new challenges and working with the students as they explore the world of theatre, in English, is always a delight. I even get to meet the occasional dragon! I believe that it is important not to take yourself too seriously because life, lived well, should be all about play."

Sara Corbelletto

Teaching Content Creator

Biografia

Sara Corbelletto - Teaching Content Creator

Sara Corbelletto creates the Teaching Content of all our online materials and is responsible for grading English language levels.
After attending the Gypsy Musical Academy in Turin and different courses at the Gaiety School of Acting in Dublin, she worked as an actress in commercials, short movies and TV series and performed with various theatre companies including Liberipensatori Paul Valery and Action Theatre.
She has a TESOL certificate from Trinity College and teaches English part-time to Italian students. She has a Master’s degree in Translation accomplished at the Open University, London.
All her experience has contributed to developing the skills and the creativity necessary for working in the online teaching sector at Learning English Through Fun.
Sara believes it is essential never to stop learning and always through fun.

Massimiliano Feroldi

Graphic Designer and Illustrator

Biografia

Massimiliano Feroldi - Graphic Designer and Illustrator

Massimiliano is responsible for creating our graphic content and for transferring our characters on-screen.
After attending the Artistic High School Primo in Turin and the Pictor Academy, he started working as an author, illustrator and graphic artist in Italy and abroad.
He has published illustrated comic books and graphic novels with various editors, such as Lavieri, 001, Paoline and Il Corriere della Sera.
Besides working in graphic communication and illustration for publishing, he now teaches in primary schools where he develops art education projects.

www.massimilianoferoldi.com

Alberto Bonis

Animator, Video Game Designer and Programmer

Biografia

Alberto Bonis - Animator, Video Game Designer and Programmer

Alberto is lead animator, designer and programmer of our English teaching video games.
Alberto obtained a degree at Belle Arti Academy and studied at the Pictor Academy, developing traditional and digital drawing and storytelling techniques in comics.
He has realised comic books, illustrations and educational illustrations for many editors, such as Prankster Comics, Wyrd Edizioni, USA Éditions, Il Capitello, Edizioni Atlas and Noste Reis.
He has taught art education in primary schools and recently he has been working in the field of coordinated imagery, web design and animation.

www.albertobonis.com

Andrea Bove

Musician & Musical Director

Biografia

Andrea Bove - Musician & Musical Director

Andrea Bove is the composer of most of our online songs and background music.
He has worked professionally as a pianist and keyboard player.
He founded the rock group Dottor Livingstone, which appeared at the Sanremo Festival and he toured for many years with the Orchestra di Ritmi Moderni Arturo Piazza.
He has been collaborating on our live shows for more than 15 years and now provides the sound and musical content for our online materials.

Juliet Turnbull

Actress, Author and Performer

Biografia

Juliet Turnbull - Actress, Author and Performer

Juliet Turnbull is a qualified teacher, actress, singer, and workshop leader. She holds a BA in Drama from Queen Mary, University of London and a Masters in Education from the University of Cambridge.
Juliet has taught in primary schools in the UK and spent several months in Malawi last year leading teacher-training and children’s educational workshops. She also worked in creative spheres in the NGO sector. In addition, she has had voluntary roles in cultural festivals in Europe and Africa.
Juliet has worked with Action Theatre as a summer camp leader for several years and as an actress in the 2017-18 season. Currently, as of September 2023, Juliet is writing play scripts and filming online video tutorials for the "Putting on a Play" series. She is also recording audio for various "Learning Through Fun" projects.
Additionally, she coordinates Action Theatre’s summer camps and leads theatre workshops for students in Italian schools. Juliet believes in learning through fun, which means creating memorable experiences, fostering opportunities to relish the joy in learning, and establishing a safe space where exploration and mistakes are part of the process. Learning through fun ignites enthusiasm to learn even more!

Ina Lark

Actress & Performer

Biografia

Ina Lark - Actress & Performer

Ina Lark is a London-based Finnish musical theatre performer who has been entertaining people all around the world ever since she graduated from musical theatre studies at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts.
Not only has Ina performed in cast production shows in Menorca and Turkey with Live Business Ltd., she also toured all around the UK with Quantum Theatre, performed pretty much everywhere in North Italy with Action Theatre and also worked on Brittany Ferries as an entertainment manager and a vocalist.
Her biggest roles include Helen in Fun Home (Mountview), Sally Bowles in Cabaret (Mountview), Lady Macbeth, Lady Macduff and various other characters in Macbeth (Quantum Theatre), Gerda in The Snow Queen (Quantum Theatre) and Miss English in On Holiday With Miss English (Action Theatre).’

Dario Martinez

Video Maker, Video Editor and Photographer

Biografia

Dario Martinez - Video Maker, Video Editor and Photographer

Dario Martinez is a video maker, video editor and photographer who films and edits our online video material.
He has worked in the theatre sector for many years, shooting theatre shows in established theatres in Piemonte such as the Teatro Regio, Teatro Carignano and Teatro Gobetti.
He has made several documentaries, including Note a margine di un diluvio (runner up at the TTV Festival, Riccione, 2007) and Raccontare il tempo e la cultura degli anni rimossi - Claudia Formica scultrice (2018) in collaboration with the Compagnia di San Paolo and Polo del 900. Dario has also worked in collaboration with the Region of Piemonte, Turin City Council, Codacons and Camera di Commercio di Torino on various video projects.
He supervised filming for the EU project Weevil, which was coordinated by Mondragon Industries, through whom he co-directed the documentary Weevil? We Will! in 2017.
He has also worked on teaching and learning video projects, such as Memorie di famiglia, a film in collaboration with Il Pitigliani - centro di cultura Ebraica, and I grandi ritorni and La vita acquatica for the Gran Paradiso National Park.
He has been collaborating with Action Theatre as a video maker and photographer for over a decade.

Wilbourne Smith

Musician & Musical Director

Biografia

Wilbourne Smith - Musician & Musical Director

Wilbourne Smith is a primary school music consultant.
Wilbourne was only a child when he started learning the Celtic harp as an autodidact, an instrument which has significantly influenced his musical production.
As he nears 70 years old, he can still be found playing in his oldies and goldies rock band as lead singer and guitarist in dubious night clubs around the world.

Simona Bisconti

Puppeteer

Biografia

Simona Bisconti - Puppeteer

Simona is an actress, writer and puppeteer. She has taken part in many of our online videos as a puppeteer.
Born in 1982 in Naples, she studied physical theatre at Performing Arts University in Turin before focusing on dramaturgy and drama interpretation alongside P. A. Simioni using the Sanislavskji method. She completed her Diploma in Storytelling at Holden School and worked in various theatre genres for ten years: puppet theatre, mask, theatre for kids, clowning, burlesque, Commedia dell’Arte and comedy writing. She is also a qualified and practising psychologist.
Simona has worked on national tours in Italian and English as both a performer and author, including for Action Theatre, where she joined as an actress, puppeteer and assistant director. In 2021, she started collaborating with the Belgian-Italian company Forteresse asbl, where she built a mechanical goose and led puppet theatre training for the actors.
In 2022, she published a theatre drama play Matassine with Edizioni 2000diciassette and won the Pontedicarta Critics’ Literary Award. The play debuted on stage with Anna Romano as director and Fattore K as producer and starred Simona, Veronica Mazza and Lia Zinno.
In 2023, she performed in the Commedia dell’Arte show The Italians in England, adapted and directed by Rupert Raison.