Directing & workshops

In 2021, I co-founded and became artistic director of Braw Clan theatre company. In the time I was there, we achieved charitable status, forged excellent community links, introduced our flagship Soup and a Story series, held rehearsed readings with professional and community actors, facilitated workshops, and brought the company through to completion of its first full professional production with rave reviews.

Truth be told, I had to be talked into taking this job even though I had long wanted to direct. Up until that point I had considered my writing and acting experience to be two separate skillsets but this prolonged period of deep engagement with text, story, and people allowed me to bring all of my professional experiences together in a really exciting way.

After a few years working alone on my writing, it was a joy to be in a rehearsal room again. Not only that, but to have partners in creativity - from performers to sound, lighting and design - everyone pulling in the same direction, feels like the purest kind of artistic quest. Theatre is messy, collaborative and risky — or should be — and that suits me down to the ground.

I urge artists to be brave, bold and bolshy; to believe in yourself and the value of your work, especially now when the world is so fragmented and it's harder and harder to create. Heads up, everyone — there's work to be done and not enough time. We're not promised tomorrow so what are you waiting for?

I fully believe in artistic crossover, in our ability to lift each other up, support each other's ideas, and contribute to the world in a meaningful way. Audiences —whether reading books, watching films, participating in theatre, or quietly studying photographs and paintings — are really what it's all about. People. There's no other reason for doing anything. Art is here to make people feel better, or to make them think. Hopefully both.