Cast your eye over the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School’s alumni, and the role call is a strong one.

Leading names including Daniel Day-Lewis, Jeremy Irons, Miranda Richardson, Helen Baxendale, Pete Postlethwaite and Stephanie Cole all crossed the threshold with an unblinkered determination to do everything within their grasp to make their belief in the theatre their fundamental purpose in life.

“Being offered a place at the Bristol Old Vic was slightly surreal, to be honest, but I knew I had to accept,” explains Tim Howe, who is the senior manager for youth and community at the Torch Theatre, Milford Haven.

“I was offered quite an exclusive directing course, and thinking of all those names that had walked through the doors before me was slightly intimidating.  But the time I spent there changed my entire perspective.”

Born and raised in Northamptonshire, Tim knew from a very young age that his life was going to revolve around the theatre.

“I never had that overall defining moment when I knew that this was where I’d end up, but the theatre has always been an important part of my life,” he explains.

“I was lucky in that I had parents who believed that if I wanted to do a particular thing, then I should be allowed to give it a go.  And even though they weren’t in the least bit theatrical – mum was a nurse and dad worked in education – they supported me all the way.

“As a result I began to feel the ambition, the hope and the aspiration to make drama work.”

His aspiration was further enhanced by his drama teacher at Bishop Stopford School in Kettering.

“It was just a bog standard secondary school but our drama teacher didn’t just care about teaching but about enabling her students to experience absolutely everything in putting on a production.  And this included writing the entire show to answering letters from parents. We were never treated like kids and this went a long way in helping us believe in ourselves.”

Following A levels, Tim received an unconditional offer to study drama at Aberystwyth University.

“I didn’t visit the town until the very first day of term,” he says.

“ I remember travelling down the hill to the college thinking where in the world had I got to? And in many ways, Aberystywth is a bit like being here on Milford Haven.  You either love it or you hate it but the surroundings fitted my creativity so well.

“Sometimes I was working on five or six productions so it was pretty intense and sometimes stressful, but the way in which we were taught was exceptional.  The tutors were really good at dampening people’s egos without it ever feeling toxic and they never made us fall out of love with drama.”

As a result of his degree course at Aber, Tim applied for a place at the Old Vic.

“It was quite an exclusive course for directing, and I went along to the audition not really thinking that I’d get offered a place.”

But two days later, Tim discovered that he’d been accepted.

“It totally changed the way in which I viewed directing,” he explains.  “In a production there are lots of actors but only one director, so it’s very easy to start feeling the pressure of how to make the thing work.  I’m telling people all the time, to stop trying to be original, because this sets you up to be disappointed.  Just embrace the fact that we’re forever borrowing ideas from other people, myself included, and this is what helps us to enjoy a production and find our own sense of ownership.

“And this is what I’m finding with the young people I’m working with here at the Torch.  It’s easy to assume that young people are more self conscious than adults, but if you create the correct space for them to perform in, then they lose all sense of their inhibitions.  It’s only embarrassing if you’re embarrassed .”

Following his time at the Old Vic, Tim did some freelance directing in London before being appointed the director in residence at Eton College, Windsor.

“This was another rather surreal experience where I met some wonderful people such as the fantastic Patricia Hodge who I sat next to at dinner and King Charles, who was then the Prince of Wales.

“But being at Eton opened my eyes to how unfair it is that students at schools such as this have so many more opportunities than other children,” he said.

“Surely all children should have the right to study drama as well as all the other arts at their respective schools, but sadly the money just isn’t there.”

From Eton he spent some time at Beijing before returning to the UK and directing in St Ives and the Sherman Theatre, Cardiff.  In January 2023, he was appointed senior manager for Youth and Community at The Torch.

“It’s a wonderful theatre for children and young people as it’s a producing theatre, which is quite unique for a theatre of this size.  We produce around three of our own shows a year which gives the youngsters a wonderful insight into how an entire production is put together.  They also get the chance to share the space with professionals…people who were once like them and who had the aspiration to follow their dream.

“In many ways I feel as if I’m opening the door for these children by giving them the space, the guidance and the opportunity to talk about how they want to move forward, just like I was given the opportunity all those years ago.”

The Torch Youth Theatre meets on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings and caters for children between the age of 7 and 18.  For further information, visit the Torch website.