BIOGRAPHY
Director, CEO, Theatre Maker, Producer and Educator
Since 2025, I have been a freelance consultant and creative theatre professional principally working with partners within the TYA/applied theatre genre. This includes cultural organisations, performing arts companies and individual artists working on all scales across England. These partnerships are as a director, mentor writer and dramaturg; as a producer of tours and projects; venue programming and working in higher education.
Since embarking upon my freelance career, I have become regular reviewer for London’s leading theatre online platform, Everything Theatre, as well as becoming an assessor for the London Fringe Theatre Awards.
Between 1997 and leaving in January 2025, I was Director/CEO of Half Moon Theatre in London’s East End – a small-scale young people’s venue and touring company and a long-standing National Portfolio Organisation of Arts Council England. At Half Moon I oversaw the development of one of the most respected and influential theatre companies in the UK, offering a unique synergy between professional theatre and participatory programmes. In partnership with my colleague Jackie Eley, we purchased our venue for the charity and completed a major physical transformation through a series of capital development projects, valued at almost £2m, into a fit for purpose theatre.
Some of my creative projects have included the curation of Exchange for Change and Narratives of Empathy and Resilience – these sector significant artform development programmes challenge perceptions of the work produced in the young people’s sector. These extensive programmes particularly engage artists from non-theatre backgrounds (design, digital/new media, dance, spoken word) and those who are under-represented in the sector, as well as emerging young people’s theatre companies. Much of this work subsequently toured nationally through Half Moon Presents, the company’s producing arm.
I have directed, written, adapted and devised over 50 pieces of work, many award-winning, across many age ranges from babies to teenagers/young adults. A selection of my most recent credits include Ten in the Bed [2024], Hot Orange [2023], Daytime Deewane [2022], Party [2021], Dust [2020], and Crowded [2019], as well as a cannon of work presented bi-lingually in English and BSL including: Baa Moo Yellow Dog [2009] (also adapted for TV in 2010), Icicle Bicycle, [2007] Igloo Hullabaloo [2006] and My Friend Snow [2005]. I am known for directing a series of spoken word theatre pieces, including The House That Jackson Built [2019] and Fairytales Gone Bad [2016].
During my time as a lecturer in Applied Theatre and Education at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, I led on post- and under-graduate academic course leadership including MA in Theatre Education. In addition to teaching, mentoring and supervision, I undertook a series of consultancy for external clients including Arts Council England, West Yorkshire Arts Marketing, West Yorkshire Playhouse, The Magenta Partnership, Abbey Theatre/Museum of Modern Art, Dublin.
I started my career as a special needs and drama teacher in secondary schools in Liverpool and London in the 1980s. I was Head of Community and Schools Programmes at the Royal Shakespeare Company and Head of Education at English National Ballet. I am proud to have been Chair of the Trustees of Apples and Snakes (2014-2023); a Trustee of Paines Plough including 3 years as Chair (1996-2012) and Trustee of the National Student Drama Festival (1994-2000). I also undertook a 8-year tenure as a governor of Goodrich Primary School, Southwark (2006-2012).
I was awarded a British Empire Medal for services to theatre and young people in the 2017 Queen’s Birthday Honours list.
