Drama School Training
I trained in Classical Acting at The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama graduating in 2009. Prior to this I trained in an acting studio learning the American Method techniques. That was pretty intense.
Since then I have performed professionally in film, commercials and theatre. I love acting!
Acting teacher
I teach my own acting workshops for trained actors entitled Psychodynamic principles in playing ‘The Seagull’ at Theatre Deli Studios.
The workshops explore the concept of the unconscious using Freud’s model of the mind and defence mechanisms as outlined by Anna Freud. The actors investigate the unconscious of their given character and explore how defence mechanisms work, what they might look like as well as exploring the hidden feeling beneath the defence.
I have taught classes in Acting for Film and Foundation in Acting courses at Metropolitan Film School. The main focus is on understanding character and text analysis using Uta Hagen’s object exercises.
I also coach actors in preparation for auditions for film and theatre.
Festivals, awards and experimental plays
I got really into theatre making and working with a crazy bunch of highly creative people. I started making more and more work with Les Foules. We collaborated with MKA Theatre on ‘Please Don’t Talk About Me When I’m Gone’. The Vaults Festival awarded us with an Origin Award for Outstanding New Work.
‘What unexpectedness there is – and there’s plenty – lies in the plain dysfunction of the dialogue in the five disparate but linked playlets that fill the programme’s intense and unsparing hour. Within this dysfunction there is some sense of tradition running through, with an abundance of echoes from vaudeville and music-hall, Beckett and French existentialism.’ London Theatre 1. Four star review by Alan Franks
Artist in residency at Casa Latin American Festival
Artist in Residency award at Casa Latin American Festival
I received a bursary for developing the play ‘Project Belgrano’ at the Casa Festival London 2015
Here is a little taste of what the play was about:
Tea for two - a meeting takes place between Margaret Thatcher and Leopoldo Galtieri or at least two people who are a little bit like them. They are neighbours whose back gardens abut one another. The small patch of land between their private properties becomes the battleground for a larger dispute. Over a shared maté, a cup of tea, answerphone messages and a dinner party with Pinochet we watch them discuss, fight and defend the idea of themselves by staking a claim to a little piece of land.
CLICK HERE for the taster tape
Participation in Theatre Research
2016 - I performed in a Staged Reading of The Snakes by Marie Ndiaye. This was part of a larger academic project about translation for the stage called ‘Translation, Adaptation, Otherness: “Foreignisation” in Theatre Practice’ led by Dr Margherita Laera at the University of Kent and sponsored by the UK’s Arts and Humanities Research.
CLICK HERE to view Margherita Laera’s archive of research findings.
Participating in International Western Company's performance Calling Y "Z"
Collaborating on a piece of Performance Art.
International Western Company asked me to work with them on Calling Y “Z”. They wanted a scene to be improvised between a couple around the breakfast table. This scene served as a glitch within the style of the larger piece. The company create live installations and performances in darkness utilising industrial/domestic torches and morse code as an exclusive means of communication. This was presented at Chisenhale Dance Space London.
CLICK HERE to view footage of the piece
Working with new writing
2018 - I worked for Kali Theatre Company on the development and staged reading of the new play ‘Noor’ by Azma Dar, directed by Poonham Brah which was presented in the War Plays Festival in London.
It’s great to work with different theatre companies in the development stages of a story. Kali Theatre Company make new theatre by South Asian female writers.
Working as a Set Designer
After training as an actor I was given the opportunity to design for the stage at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. This gave me a chance to learn the discipline of design work and I was able to think about story telling from a wider angle, not just the perspective of one character. The aesthetic value of theatre design can heighten or hinder a scene. I learnt how to work with that tension in mind.
The Winter’s Tale 2010
Antony and Cleopatra 2011
Three Sisters 2012
The Broken Heart 2013
As You Like It 2014
Art to an interest in Theatre Research
I assisted in Ross Brown’s AHRC funded research project, 'Noise, Memory, Gesture: The Theatre in a minute’s silence’.
I video documented the performances and public responses to a series of 3 flashmob events, in which participants performed memorial silences. These performances provided dramaturgical material for a second stage of practical studio-based scenographic experimentation with silent theatre. The project was futher developed at the Prague Quadrennial 2007.
Don't Wait for the Phone to Ring
2016 - I like to make work about the things I see and hear. Here is a piece I made at home one day in response to visiting Mount Etna.
I was exploring how the body moves in space. I was interested in how a flattened map attempts to represent three dimensional shape through contour lines. I wanted to see what that might be like if it was drawn on the body.
CLICK HERE to see the video performance
Art Work
I studied Fine Art at Chelsea College of Art. This piece is called ‘Song Book Nails’. It captures some of the aspects of my visual work. I made this in 2005 and it continues to be relevant to the way I like to work now. I love collage and tactile materials. It is made out of wire, nails, latex, leather, wirebrush and hair which are pierced or hidden in the leaves of a musical score.
Click here to view more art work