Ruth has been a leading actor for over twenty -five years; for four of those years she was with the Royal Shakespeare Company and toured the world with Katie Mitchell’s production of Henry VI, receiving a Best Actor nomination for the Manchester Evening News awards for her role as Queen Margaret.  Ruth has appeared in the premieres of the award winning new plays, Kindertransport, for the Soho Theatre and Smoke for the Manchester Royal Exchange and in Ted Hughes modern version of Spring Awakening for the RSC. She is one of a handful of female actors to have played Hamlet in an all female production for Sphinx Theatre Company, a Guardian  article on female Hamlets here.

Ruth is a founder member of theatre collective ripple and an associate artist with Dreadnought South West . Ruth is also an associate lecturer at Plymouth Conservatoire for the B.A. Acting and B.A. Theatre  & Performance courses.

Since 2013 Ruth has written and performed in three solo shows; Coffee with Vera, Homeward Bound and The Secret Listener. She is a 2020 Lab Associate at the Theatre Royal Plymouth and is working on a new show, which will be performed in the Drum at the Theatre Royal in 2021.

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Millicent Fawcett in The Cause, photo by Jim Wileman

Freelance theatre work as an actor includes

  • The Secret Listener an Arts Council funded performance
  • The Cause by Natalie McGrath – Millicent Fawcett – Dreadnought SW
  • Homeward Bound a solo performance commissioned by Theatre West, & Arts Council funded tour
  • White Rabbit, Red Rabbit by Nassim Soleimanpour- Bike Shed Exeter, part of the Molino Group’s art:weapon residency
  • Horizontal Collaboration  UN lawyer-Traverse Theatre, David Leddy, Fire Exit
  • Coffee with Vera a solo sited performance Exeter Ignite festival (winner of the 2014 Wildfire Critics Choice award)
  • Drive in Deco, Gloria, Site specific performance, Part Exchange co, Dir Rachel Aspinwall (Vice Chancellor’s Enterprise award, Plymouth University)
  • Not the End of the World  Ama- Bristol Old Vic, adapted & Dir. Simon Reade
  • Rutherford & Son by Githa Sowerby – Janet – Salisbury Playhouse, Dir. Joanna Reed
  • The Mysteries Mary Magdelen – Royal Shakespeare Co, Dir Katie Mitchell
  • Hamlet  Ophelia- Royal Shakespeare Co. Workshop performance, Dir. Augusto Boal
  • Kindertransport by Diane Samuels – Helga – Soho Theatre Co  Dir. Abigail Morris
  • Spring Awakening adapted by Ted Hughes – Frau Bergman – Royal Shakespeare Co, Dir.Tim Supple
  • Henry VI (Part 3) Queen Margaret – Royal Shakespeare Co. Dir. Katie Mitchell  (Nominated for Best Actress Manchester Evening News)
  • He Who Saw Everything by Robert Temple –  Ninsun/Siduri – NT Cottesloe, Dir. Tim Supple
  • Dolls House  Mrs Linde – English Touring Theatre Co. Dir. Steven Unwin
  • Smoke Jacker -Manchester Royal Exchange, Dir. Braham Murray
  • Orlando Virginia Woolf – Red Shift Touring, Dir. Jonathan Holloway
  • The Roaring Girls Hamlet Hamlet – Sphinx (Women’s Theatre Group) Tour   Dir. Sue Parish
  • Assume the Position ICA, London International Festival of Theatre 1991, Dir. Nancy Reilly
  • The Daughter in Law by DH Lawrence – Minnie – Bristol Old Vic, Dir. Jenny Killick
  • Rutherford & Son by Githa Sowerby – Janet Rutherford – New End, Hampstead, Dir. Wyn Jones

RADIO includes

  • The Forgotten by Hattie Naylor– Sylvanne – Prod. Paul Dodgson, Pier Productions
  • Taming of the Shrew Katherina  BBC Radio 3- Prod. Melanie Harris
  • Watch Out for Mr Stork by Diane Samuels BBC Radio 4- Prod. Tracey Neale

TV & FILMS includes

  • Britz Rachel Stein – Channel 4, Dir. Peter Kosminsky
  • Silent Witness Hattie – BBC, Dir. Richard Signy
  • In Denial of Murder Christine Smith – Hat Trick, Dir. David Richards
  • Messiah 2 Jean McIntyre – ITV, Dir. David Richards
  • Dalziel & Pascoe -Valerie – BBC, Dir. Ross Devenish
  • Down To Earth (2 series) Miss Jessop – BBC, Dir. Ashley Pearce
  • Ruth Rendell Mysteries Harm Done Vicky, Blue Heaven Prods. Dir. Bruce MacDonald
  • Heartbeat Jan Norris – Yorkshire Television, Dir. Gerry Poulson
  • Casualty Gina – BBC, Dir. Jill Wilkinson
  • Joint Account (2 Series) Jessica – BBC, Dir. Mike Stephens
  • Iphegenia at Aulis Chorus, BBC Theatre Night, Dir. Don Taylor
  • Bingo Judith – BBC Theatre Night, Dir. Don Taylor
  • Captain Jack Quaker Woman – Captain Jack Films, Dir. Robert Young
  • The Fool The Girl (opposite Derek Jacobi) – Sands Films, Dir. Christine Edzard
  • Little Dorrit Mrs. Plornish – Parts 1 & 11 – Sands Films, Dir. Christine Edzard
  • Jane Eyre Miss Scatcherd – LWT, Dir. Robert Young