I am a freelance director from London, UK, and winner of the John Fernald Award, 2023.
Drama is for entertainment as much as exploration. I want to create joyous and hopeful experiences for an audience who can leave their day behind. But those stories should also be relevant and expose the human condition under stress. I relish in characters who are full of contradictions. I like stories that pose questions, that contain moral quandaries for an audience to unpick for themselves on the bus home.
My craft and subject interests are wide-ranging. I love text and verse as much as music and opera. I am particularly interested in use of the voice - an under-appreciated tool - as well as where an audience sits, how that influences the production, and what kind of space best enables a story.
On stage, I want to explore more new work, comedy, verse, gig-theatre, musicals, opera, site-specific productions and how food can relate to story-telling.
My directing work has focused on new plays, including those by writers who are under-represented in British theatre. I'm really good at finding potential in scripts and helping writers to articulate their ideas. I'm proud to have worked on a variety of stories and genres: from the award-nominated Spun at Arcola Theatre - the debut play by Rabiah Hussain about a friendship unravelling, which I identified from an open submission process - to Byron: Angel & Outcast at Cadogan Hall, which wove classical piano between the verse and prose of Lord Byron, and which I toured to Astana, Kazakhstan.
I have worked as an assistant and associate director in studios and larger scale venues, including with the director Lucy Bailey on Witness for the Prosecution at London's County Hall. As a facilitator, I have worked on multiple projects with 13-18 year olds from diverse backgrounds in Hackney, East London. And I have significant and varied producing experience, gained through seven years of lead producing for Arcola Theatre.
In addition to stage work, I am keen to explore screen, having begun to direct behind camera in 2022. I also have a podcast series in development.