Over the last few weeks Derek Frood and myself aka ripple, have been busy researching archives, censuses, newspapers, genealogy sites and books, books, books about the old Jewish cemetery on Plymouth Hoe. In 1740 this plot was a family garden; today it is a calm oasis that hides a wealth of history and culture. We have created 15 short pieces; stories, … Read More
Writing workshop @LyricBridport
I will be facilitating a workshop at the Lyric Bridport called… Starting to Write using Site and Autobiography. Come and find out how your own stories can kick start your writing; I will be using anecdote, memory, songs, place and even gossip to help create the first steps of your text. My shows have always been inspired by site, my … Read More
More Coffee with Vera
Coffee with Vera returns to the Plymouth History Festival during May, so if you haven’t had the pleasure of coffee with Vera yet, come along, it’s free. The show runs for 50 minutes and then afterwards there is the all important conversations with the coffee and, if we are lucky the kosher cake! WHEN ? Wednesday 11.5.16 @ 11am & … Read More
Homeward Bound is homeward bound
Next month we will be taking my current show Homeward Bound back to my roots. The show deals with our childhood dreams and I share the hopes of my mother and grandmother and the restrictions that were placed on them. I grew up in Bradford within a three storey household of women, three generations to be precise (one generation … Read More
Tunnelling for Stories
During the month of February I am facilitating, alongside Dr Phil Smith, the Sited Theatre module for first year students at Plymouth University and we will take them away from the safety net of the campus and into new spaces across the city. Ironically we have been based this week at the Plymouth Athenaeum which, among its many spaces, is … Read More
Plymouth Fringe Festival
Plymouths inaugural fringe festival is a week away, over 100 performances in venues all over the city. Plymouth has been in need of this for longer than I care to remember, I have witnessed a lot of theatre makers leaving the region to get their work seen in cities with more opportunities for independent artists. My hope is that audiences … Read More
White Rabbit Red Rabbit
There’s an actor’s nightmare where you dream about being onstage but you don’t know the play you are in or any of your lines. I have had that dream many times in the past, usually when I am stressed about something that is often not related to theatre at all, but obviously, subconsciously, my greatest fear is the nightmare scenario. … Read More
Thinking big by thinking small
Something I wrote for the New Theatre in your Neighbourhood blog
the art of good conversation
I am getting to that point in my life where sometimes I struggle to find the word in a conversation, sometimes a small everyday kind of word that normally you don’t have to even think about. This doesn’t matter when you are with a group of friends, people who know you, who understand because they are experiencing the same thing, … Read More
Plymouth independent theatre makers Forge ahead!
In Arts Professional Adrian Vinken, the chief executive of the Theatre Royal Plymouth says that because of the arts funding imbalance between London and the regions ‘[t]he result is a continuous brain drain where talented new artists get a professional introduction in the regions, but are then obliged to head to London, like Dick Whittington, to gain access to the … Read More