Dramatist

I write all kinds of work across multiple media. It has been performed all over the world, in all kinds of places, by both professional and community artists. I am deeply grateful to all of them. I’ve made work for and with Audible, the BBC, Big Story Trust, Birmingham Rep, Bristol Old Vic, Cheltenham Everyman, Colet Court, City of York Council, Digital Drama, Fairfax House, 4Front, Idea Hat Productions, ITV, Love Arts Festival, Merchant Adventurers Hall, National Centre For Early Music, Plymouth Theatre Royal, Polka, Riding Lights, Saltmine Theatre, Sixth Sense, Spiteful Puppet, Three Choirs Festival, University of York, World Vision, York Explore Libraries & Archive, York Minster and multiple collaborations with York Theatre Royal. My work has twice won me play-writing residences at Leeds Playhouse as part of the BBCs Northern Exposure programme. My adaptation of James Leasor’s Passport to Oblivion was awarded ‘Best Drama Special’ at the 2020 New York Festival Radio Awards and The Barren Author was a 2021 finalist in the (‘Offies’) Off-West End Theatre awards.

Teacher

I am a playful practitioner and believe that, through play, truly meaningful changes can occur in the lives of participants and facilitators. I have worked within various settings including Arts Organisations, Care Homes, Faith Organisations, Festivals, Heritage Organisations, Homeless Shelters, Medical Schools, Mental Health Charities, Military Bases, Museums, NHS, Primary Schools, Prisons, Probation Services, Recovery Groups, Secondary Schools, Theatres, Universities and YOIs.

Applied Theatre work includes The Dementia Project, The Restorative Justice Project, The Armed Forces Community Project, various Intergenerational Theatre projects, Mental Health Advocacy, Comedy in Recovery, and work with marginalised young people focussing on literacy and raising aspirations.

I am regularly asked to lead skills workshops and extended training in Acting (specifically Stanislavski & Meisner), Comedy, Devising, Direction, Improvisation, Script-Writing, Voice & Workshop Facilitation

I am a fully qualified Secondary Drama teacher (PGCE) and have planned and delivered schemes of work, participatory projects and workshops in schools around the country supporting the following subjects: Drama KS1, KS2, KS3, KS4 and Post 16. English at KS3 & KS4. History at KS4, R.E at KS2, KS3 and KS4. PSHE and Citizenship at KS3 and KS4. 

I’m also a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA) and have regularly taught various University modules at Undergraduate and Postgraduate level at the University of Leeds, York. St John University, York College, & the University of York. Subjects have included Acting, Applied Theatre, Children & Young People, Comedy, Directing, Ensemble, Playwriting, Scriptwriting, Workshop Facilitation, Performance Histories and Political Theatre. My published research can be found in the Comedy Studies Journal and RiDE: the Research Journal for Drama Education.

Clients have included Arts & Minds, Changing Lives, Claptrap Theatre, City of York Council, City Varieties, Converge, Coventry Belgrade, Elevate Festival, Four Wheel Drive, Good Vibrations, Kainos, Leicester Probation Service, Leeds Grand, Next Door But One, Opera North, Playback Theatre York, Settlement Players, Script Yorkshire, STEAM, Teach First, Voice Care Network, West Yorkshire Finding Independence Project and York Theatre Royal.

Director

I was the Artistic Director of Out of Character Theatre Company between 2014 & 2022. All of the company members have lived experience of mental illness. Together we made work that seeks to overturn stigma, provoke discussion, inspire social change and, most of all, entertain and surprise our audiences. I directed the company in productions that span theatre styles including adaptations of Shakespeare, autobiographical work, Cabaret, Documentary Theatre, Postdramatic Theatre, Audio drama and Satirical Revue. We were recently awarded for our work in equality and cultural diversity.

I was also the Associate Director of Riding Lights Theatre Company responsible for creating and directing new touring productions into places which normally don’t have access to theatre. I also regularly make and direct work which seeks to liberate the voices of unheard communities in accessible and innovative ways. Recent Projects have included The Nuisance Inspector which told the devastating verbatim story of the 1930s housing clearances using immersive live audio and In/Significant which reflected ideas about healthcare from research conducted with psychiatrists, psychologists, carers and mental health service users.

As well as making theatre for conventional theatrical spaces I have also staged site-specific work in Army Barracks, Cathedrals, Care Homes, Gardens, Historic Houses, Libraries, Museums and in Town-centres.

Improviser

I am currently co-artistic director of Fool(ish) a new collective of talented improvisers making (secret and not so secret) shows in libraries, theatres, outdoors and online. We swear that we will ‘never do the same show twice’. I am passionate about Improvisation and am regularly coached and mentored by Craig Uhlir (A member of Deep Schwa - Chicago’s longest running Harold team who himself trained with Del Close and Charna Halpern). I have also done courses at UCB, IO and am a graduate of the Second City Conservatory Programme. I was a guest performer, for Deep Schwa, on the MainStage at The Annoyance in Chicago. I created and produced the long-running & joyfully anarchic short-form improv comedy night Right Here, Right Now creating a space where absolutely anything could happen. I also perform with Fool(ish) performing long-form shows in festivals, theatres and vowing never to repeat the same show twice.