Martin's Best's particular artistry springs directly from the great tradition of the mediaeval troubadour and the renaissance minstrel. Since the earliest days of his career he has lived the role of the `singer of tales', the wandering performer who fuses music, storytelling, drama and the power of words to awaken and unite audiences in many lands.

He trained at the Guildhall School of Music and the Royal College of Music in London and was soon afterwards recruited by the Royal Shakespeare Company to fulfil a unique role, touring the world with the company, performing in their productions as singer, lutenist and guitarist, while also working as the company's official researcher, arranger and composer. During his five years with the RSC he developed a strong sense of the power and importance of words and, working with John Barton, Terry Hands and Guy Wolfenden also gained deep insights into the techniques of dramatic expression both as an individual and working with groups.

He has been involved in devising, composing, performing and musically directing theatrical productions of many and varied kinds, from The Hollow Crown with John Barton to Sense and Nonsense with Peggy Ashcroft; from the musical direction of Peter Brook's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream to A n Afternoon of Ad Lib Anarchy with Robert Graves, Bernard Miles and Spike Milligan at the Mermaid Theatre, London.

His art was internationally recognised when he won the International Edison Award for the best recording in Medieval and Renaissance categories, confirming his pre-eminence in this genre, receiving the accolade of ‘the world's first great contemporary troubador'.

The first intimations of the integrated way of working which eventually led to the Corporate Theatre and the concept of `Radical Openness' can be detected in the 1970s, when Martin Best, having left the RSC, was pursuing a successful career as a performing musician and `Singer of Tales'. He regularly toured North America , travelling to many cities and College Campuses and enthralling large audiences with ancient songs, stories and ballads, sung and told to his own accompaniment on the lute, the guitar, the psaltery, and the Oud.

Several American Universities invited Best to visit them as Artist in Residence. Some offered him the opportunity to run a course of his own design with the freedom to choose the students himself. He always chose people with a basic ability to sing; otherwise, he was looking for a mixture of disciplines and abilities. This was because one of his passions has always been to ensure that what we call ‘Art' should reach people who are not necessarily professional artists. "I wanted (and still want) to do this" says Best, "because I believe that art is a manifestation sent to us from heaven itself, that it binds us together, that it reveals to us our humanity and it encourages our thinking and our perceptions to be rich and rigorous."

The first such project took place in 1975 at the Ivy League College of Dartmouth, New Hampshire, over a six week period. Eight students were trained in the disciplines of body, voice, movement and speech and then worked on a dramatic anthology which included poems by Walt Whitman, Allen Ginsberg, Robert Frost, Shakespeare and songs specially composed from traditional sources. The programme was designed to express the hopes and aspirations of the young people taking part. The performances were accompanied by a fantastic musical band and were generally considered ‘unforgettable'.

A number of such programmes followed, hosted by different American Universities including Oberlin and The University of British Columbia. This led to a Summer School based around the concept and held at a beautiful Manor house in Dorset , England . Applicants were invited through the Humanities Departments of six American Colleges. From 1984 for the next 5 years, students came every summer, living in the house and working every day on specially-devised material while learning to discipline their bodies, voices and minds in preparation for a performance given to local people as the climax and fulfilment of the course.

During this time some sponsorship was received from Volvo and Best began to reflect on the relevance of what he was been doing to the development needs of leaders in business organisations. Some experimental work was carried out in co-operation with the Connexions Group in London , and then Shell International requested some coaching for their Head of Organisational Effectiveness in a wide range of communication techniques. This was highly successful and led - through a recommendation - to the Norwegian State Oil Company, Statoil, and to the coaching of their entire leadership team, their Natural Gas Division leadership, and many project leaders within the company throughout the first half of the nineties. By this time [1996] The Corporate Theatre had been formed and was also working for Tesco, Ericcson, Ciena Europe, Swedbank, Wolff Olins, Rufus Leonard and others.

In response to the needs of these companies, a number of processes were developed to enrich communication within client organisations at all levels of working context.

In 1999 The Corporate Theatre was commissioned by BP to carry out a continuing programme of work. This initiated the current phase of development which includes the introduction of the concept of Radical Openness, delivered through a variety of workshops which are explained elsewhere on this website. This phase has also seen the formation of a faculty of distinguished associates who work with the core team as and when each workshop requires. The Corporate Theatre is now a recognised market leader, working with a variety of clients in the UK , Europe , Asia , and the United States .