ABOUT
I am a Theatre Director and Acting Practitioner with bases in London and Bristol with a specialism in working with young people.
I specialise in making theatre about political acts of bravery, documenting riots, protests, moments in history. I am currently researching neurodivergence in actor training and making a show about ADHD and messy bedrooms.
I trained as a Theatre Director at the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester (Hobsons Choice, Queen Margaret, Adieu, Producers). I have an MFA in Theatre Directing from Birkbeck.
My theatre credits I am most proud of include, Where Will We Live? (Southwark Playhouse) - a documentary play weaving installation, verbatim, song and protest together, and created with 150 Lambeth residents and workers.
Places Between Places - a devised piece made with the National Youth Theatre and Tall Stories, designed to boost self-belief in young people excluded from mainstream education. I ran Stepping Up for a full year, supporting young people in their storytelling skills, and using performance to boost confidence skills for life.
The Pulverised, a co-production between the Arcola and the York Theatre Royal, which I produced with my company, Changing Face. Following an explosive premiere at the National Theatre of Strasbourg, where it won the prestigious Grand Prix de la Littérature, The Pulverised arrives in the UK with a new English translation.
HOME, by Nadia Fall is a piece of verbatim play, exploring the lives of young East Londoners living in temporary accommodation, in the aftermath of the London riots. We decided to focus on the music coming out of East London around 2013, produced and created by these young people as a form of protest, joy, and artistry. Produced by LAMDA.
Women's Stories of Ford Dagenham was an exhibition and piece of documentary performance I curated, directed and devised with the Queen's Theatre Hornchurch. Made with over 100 women who worked at Ford Dagenham in the 60s, 70s and 80s, this piece was a political commentary on East London's HERitage. See the video we created for schools above.
Other directing credits include BUNNY by Jack Thorne (UK Tour); Dare to Dream (Arcola); Where Will We Live (CPT); It Is So Ordered (Oxford Playhouse; Park Theatre); HOME, Light Falls, The Seagull (LAMDA); Dance Nation (Rose Bruford); Love & Information (Farnham Matings)
I have been an Associate and Assistant Director on the following productions - Queen Margaret by Jeanie O'Hare directed by Elizabeth Freestone; Producers by Mel Brook directed by Raz Shaw; Hobson's choice by Tanika Gupta directed by Atri Banerjee; Adieu devised by the Royal Exchange Elders and Young Companies directed by Byrony Shanahan (all at the Royal Exchange); The Divided Laing (Arcola and UK Tour).
I am a Faculty Member at LAMDA where I direct Rep shows and teach across the Acting and Directing departments. I am an Associate for the National Youth Theatre and as Associate Practitioner at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.
My research specialism whilst teaching at drama school is actor training in neurodivergence. See my published article here on Architectures of Access.