TELEVISION’S Sybil Fawlty gave a comedy masterclass to actors and students to support Oxford’s Creation Theatre Company.

Actress Prunella Scales was on hand to advise six actors how to perfect their delivery of Shakespeare monologues in front of a paid audience, raising £2,000.

Benefiting from the star’s advice were performers currently appearing in the company’s production of Christopher Marlowe’s Dr Faustus in Blackwell’s Bookshop and teenagers hoping to launch a career treading the boards.

The actress has been appearing in films and on television since the 1950s, including her most famous role as John Cleese’s nagging wife in Fawlty Towers.

Creation’s marketing manager Rebecca de la Bedoyere said: “Prunella Scales had come to see our production of Romeo and Juliet at the Said Business School, really enjoyed it and wanted to know if she could be helpful to us in any way.

“We do not get core funding so we have to do a lot of fundraising. We knew she took acting workshops in comedy acting regularly in London, and asked if she could do one here, and sold tickets so people could watch the masterclass.”

She added: “It was a diverse group she was working with.

“She really challenged the youngsters, really giving them a lot of attention to make them think about their parts as if they were professional actors.”

Actor Richard Kidd, who runs the company’s drama club, said: “Doing a masterclass with someone like Prunella Scales, the main thing that comes across is a wealth of experience.

“It only takes a couple of seconds to change something slightly to have a real impact on the audience.

“She was direct and to the point, and very kind to us afterwards.

“The members of the drama club were over the moon to work with someone like her.”

Unlike many of the county’s arts projects, Creation receives no Arts Council, Oxford City Council or Oxfordshire County Council funding.

Its innovative outdoor productions, including in a tent at the Cowley BMW car plant, have attracted glowing reviews from critics.

Floods and poor summers have hit profits in the last four years and although it turned a profit in 2009/10, Creation must keep fundraising to keep running.