Hello
Hello there! Welcome to my website, nice to have you here. Please have a look around and feel free to be in touch if there’s anything you would like to know a bit more about.
A little bit about me…Well, I am an English born, Australian raised, Scottish based artist. I do a bunch of different things but they broadly fit into the categories of theatre maker, writer, actor, clown and interdisciplinary artist (this last description feels like a cheat because it just means I work across different mediums…). I make work for all ages, and in recent years have had a slight focus on making work for younger audiences. I am passionate about using my arts practice to create a more sustainable future and idealing make people smile in the process. I truly value silliness. Life is challenging and we need to be able to laugh (especially at ourselves!) I am proud to be one part of a theatre company Snap Elastic with good friends Eszter and Claire.
Some things I’m proud of…
“a performer and storyteller dedicated to instilling a sense of wonder in her audience”
Broadway Baby
My solo Waves (‘a miniaturist gem’ The Observer) has been presented extensively including to Edinburgh International Children’s Festival, Auckland Arts Festival and New Zealand International. It received funding from Creative Scotland to tour Scotland through Independent Arts Projects in April 2020 however due to the Covid-19 epidemic it has been postponed. It is still due to tour in regional Australia in 2021.
I am currently developing a new play The Bush that’s set against the Kelly’s Bush Green Ban of the 1970s & early 80s. It’s an incredible story centred on thirteen ‘genteel housewives’ who, together with the Builders Labor In 2019 I was mentored on the play by playwright Oliver Emmanuel through the Playwrights Studio Scotland Mentorship programme.
My clown show The Bean Counter has been presented at UK festivals Latitude, Deer Shed and Solas and twice at the Edinburgh International Children’s Theatre Festival Family Day at the National Museum of Scotland.
A little bit more about my practice and commitment to environmental sustainability
I start from the point of view of wanting to use my arts practice to help create a more sustainable environment and future. in order for humans to be able to create a sustainable future together, we are going to need to radically shift the way we think about the way we live on this planet. In order to make this shift, we need to alter our ways of thinking and doing; our culture. To get to where we need to be to cope with the ongoing catastrophe that is climate change, we need to be constantly adapting and changing, not staying where we are- because that has got us into this mess. We must imagine other futures and this means thinking in new ways, taking risks, and experimenting- and these things must be made desirable and encouraged from a young age. ‘Great’ art is a potential way of making these new ideas both tangible and attractive.
Sustainability is at the core of my practice. As an artist, I aspire to make work that is political, challenges societal norms and advocates new ways of seeing and being in the world. I create works that are imaginative, thoughtful and daring, grounded in a deep concern for our planet’s future, a sense of shared responsibility and fascination for the Everyday. I am passionate about environmental sustainability and want to be part of a movement that shifts our culture toward a more sustainable future. This thread can be seen throughout my work:
•My first play, When Alice Cooper met Prince Harry was created as an attempt to transform everyday objects into something wondrous so that audiences looked again at what they have, and perhaps, in doing so not yearn for the ‘new’.
•My most recent theatre work Puffin, made together with Snap Elastic theatre (Eszter Marselko and Claire Willoughby), explored uncertainty in the face of climate change.
•I am currently researching a new stream of artistic work, Blue Cow that explores contamination and how our desire to tame our natural environment has dramatically impacted specific communities.
• During my residency at Sura Medura, Sri Lanka, I chose to focus on the intersection between sustainability and gender, and work with local women and girls. This follows on from an ongoing commitment I have made to tackle, UN Sustainable Development Goal 5 Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.
•I worked for three years at the Institute for Sustainable Futures (ISF) Sydney where I supported a wide range of sustainability projects and vastly deepened my knowledge and passion for finding creative ways of solving environmental challenges. While there I created an environmental super hero Captain Eco Pants.
•With Creative Carbon Scotland I have worked on a development of Blue Cow as part of their Culture/shift program and led a creative storytelling workshop about climate change adaptation.
•I have been employed to create a sustainability action plan for Independent Art Projects.
•I regularly attend events focusing on art and sustainability, including Adapt/Modify at the Wellcome Trust and events as part of Creative Carbon Scotland’s Green Tease programme.