Flinders University Drama Centre staff and alumni, along with the South Australian acting and singing communities, are mourning the death of legendary voice teacher Helen Tiller. Drama Centre Manager and Flinders Directing graduate Dr Christopher Hurrell remembers the legendary teacher who served as mentor, friend and confidant to many. 

Helen Tiller taught voice at the Flinders Drama Centre through the 1990s and in that role, pioneered the work of Estill Voice Training, and its application for actors. This work was a revelation for many of us.

As a result, the Drama Centre was home to the first actor-training programme in the world to provide Estill-informed voice training.

Helen came to Flinders after a successful career as a performer in music theatre, opera and television. She was the first female television news reader in Australia. She conducted workshops for professional music theatre companies – Phantom of the Opera, Showboat, The Lion King – and was an experienced Estill Trainer in Australia.

After her retirement at Flinders, several of her former students, including Sally Nimon and Michaela Cantwell worked to perpetuate her legacy as voice teachers in the Drama Centre.

She also had her own consultancy, in which she worked with voice clients across the spectrum of speech, voice, singing and remediation. As a result, she has left behind a new generation of expert specialist practitioners and teachers. Since 2022, three of her former students, Rosie Hosking, Lauren Henderson and Katrina Ryan have been helping us renew the legacy of Helen’s work at the Drama Centre, by reintroducing Estill–informed practices into the voice curriculum.

Helen was keynote speaker to the first ever Pan Asian Voice Symposium in Singapore in September, 2007. She worked with State Theatre, Brink Productions, Flying Penguin Productions, Vitalstatistix and Windmill Theatre Companies and taught at Sydney University’s National Voice Centre, the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, Italia Conti School of Music and Drama in London and Astro Broadcasting Corporation in Kuala Lumpur. She trained television news readers in South Australia and has worked at ABC News and Current Affairs, Imparja TV and at Channel 10, and worked as accent coach on the films Wolf Creek and Hey Hey, It’s Esther Blueberger.

Helen’s contribution as a teacher was not just to drive innovation, but to do so with love and care for the way she brought the work into the world. Perhaps one of the greatest compliments a teacher can have is to see their inspiration live in others who maintain the work and bring it into their teaching. On that basis alone, even before we look at the rest of her accomplishments, Helen leaves a powerful legacy.

Thank you, Helen, for your transformative impact on so many of us!

Through my work with Helen at Flinders Drama Centre, I discovered a voice both spoken and singing, and learned an approach to voice that has been with me ever since… Those seeds, planted long ago now, are still with me in my own vocal care and form the basis of my work with actors and anyone who comes to me looking to take better care of their voice. 

Craig Behenna, Acting graduate – 1999

I first met Helen when I came to Drama Centre as a young, ambitious singer with no real idea of what to do next. I was looking for a teacher; what I found was a mentor, a confidant and a friend.

I still don’t know what Helen saw in me, but from day one she took me under her wing and taught me not just a method of singing, but a discipline; a way of moving through the world and finding answers to difficult questions.

Sally Nimon, Acting graduate – 1997

I was incredibly privileged to work with her as a voice and accent specialist on many of the productions I directed. Helen was a highly gifted teacher; an incredibly loyal and loving friend and I owe her a great deal.  She has been there at some of the most significant times of my life, and I can’t quite believe that she is gone.

David Mealor, Artistic Director – Flying Penguins, Acting graduate – 1993