I’ve been involved in theatre in various guises for over a decade. Longer if you include working Front of House at the Oxford Playhouse many many moons ago!
Darkstuff Productions
I’m currently Creative Producer for Darkstuff Productions, having worked with the brilliant writers and company founders Simon Harvey Williams and Phil John since 2012 when we produced our first adaptation of Moby Dick. It was a site-specific promenade production at the Bierkeller Theatre, Bristol. Since then I’ve worked on a number of other DS shows including Nudge (Wardrobe Theatre) and our ACE-funded updated version of Moby Dick, this time on board Brunel’s SS Great Britain, which we staged in 2019.
We’re currently co-writing a bevvy of fantastic new plays, the first of which, ‘Possession‘, is in production in Totnes currently. Grab your tickets here (and if you missed it, don’t worry, we’re bringing it to Bristol next year, watch this space!).
Light & Lark
I’m also Creative Producer with Light and Lark, a theatre production company founded by the awesome Natalie Remington. We ran a series of workshops for our project Milk Monologues in the autumn and winter of 2021/2022. The workshops are the basis for us to gather the lived experiences of early infant feeding by mothers and parents. It was an ACE fully-funded project which reached over 500 people, delivered 14 workshops live and online, and worked with extraordinary people from a variety of backgrounds.
We are currently applying for funding for phase two of the project in which we will deepen our initial forrays into this area. We will be returning to some groups from phase 1 to develop and workshop new ways of telling and sharing their stories. We’ll also be expanding by reaching new mothers and parents, whose stories we have yet to uncover. I will be writing a draft script as part of phase 2 which, in phase 3, we will look to turn into a toured performance.
Other credits
Over the years I’ve undertaken a number of roles in theatre including stage manager, production manager, assistant director and producer.
In my younger and more formative years, I had the great honour of being Chair of the board of directors for the Common Players and Treasurer of Crediton Arts Centre. I also worked with some truly brilliant and inspirational Devon-based production companies including Brown Paper Bag, Shakespeare in the Square, and the Common Players. With the Common Players, we worked in collaboration with Exeter Northcott Theatre to produce Speaking in Tongues and later Talking Heads. I also worked with Bath-based Butterfly Psyche on their gorgeous production Fertility Objects (also notable for being the moment when I first met Natalie Remington!).
In 2019/2020 I was awarded a place on and took part in the Papatango WriteWest producer’s scheme.
Playwriting
Unsurprisingly, I also write. My play ‘Special Advice’ was one of four winners of the Bike Shed Theatre ‘New Blood Bare Bones’ New Writing competition in 2012. Other short plays have been performed at the Rondo Theatre Bath and the Bierkeller Theatre Bristol. My latest play ‘Possession’, co-written with the Darkstuff Productions team (you can read more about that experience here!), is in production at the Barrelhouse Ballroom, Totnes, Devon, ahead of a Bath/Bristol tour in 2024.
