My first novel, THE ABSENCE, is currently awaiting publication. I also write short stories and micro fiction. Several of my pieces have been published online and either won or been shortlisted for various competitions.
Short stories include:
'Constance' Short story, Finalist Globe Soup Open Short Story Competition, Finalist LISP Short Story Competition.
'The Blind Painter' Micro fiction, 100 words, winner of Globe Soup Micro-fiction Competition.
'Wheel of Fortune' Micro fiction, 500 words, finalist in Globe Soup Micro-fiction Competition.
'Lucky Girl' Micro fiction, 100 words, finalist in Globe Soup Micro-fiction competition.
Scripts Produced include:
'Not The End' For M6 Theatre Company as part of their 'Love in the time of Corona' project. Monologue about a young carer in lock down. May 2020.
'Flight' For Make it Write Productions, a monologue about a woman fleeing a controlling husband, during lock down. May 2020.
'May Fly' For Original Man Theatre Company, Monologue produced as part of a Corona Lock down project. April 2020.
'The Ark and the Dove' For Michele O'Brien, The Storyteller. One woman show, part of the Isle Of Wight Literary Festival. February 2020
'Little Red Riding Hood' For BumbleFly Theatre and Forest Forge Theatre Co. December 2019. A three-hander, storytelling piece for a family audience based on this and several other well known fairytales. In two acts with songs.
'Winter Came' Long-listed for The Bruntwood Prize 2019. A play that deals with bipolar disorder and sudden adult death syndrome.
'Rumpelstiltskin' For BumbleFly Theatre and Forest Forge. November 2018. A three-hander, storytelling piece for a family audience based on this and several other well known fairytales. In two acts with songs.
'The Great Escape' For The Garrick Theatre, Stockport as part of their New Writing Festival, May 2018
'The Great Escape' Make it Write Productions at The Hope Street Theatre, Liverpool. Nominated for Best New Play Award and Best Actor award in Liverpool Fringe Awards 2018.
'The Frog Prince and other tales' For BumbleFly Theatre and Forest Forge. November 2017. A three-hander, storytelling piece for a family audience based on this and several other well known fairytales. In two acts with songs.
'The Elves and the Shoemaker' For BumbleFly Theatre. November 2016. A three-hander, storytelling piece for a family audience based on this and several other well known fairytales. In two acts with songs.
‘Hansel and Gretel’ For Bumble Fly Theatre November 2015
Directed by David Haworth, ‘Bonkers D.I.Y. vibe’ The Stage. Two act play with songs and storytelling, a medley of folk tales contained within the structure of the children lost in the woods narrative.
‘The Signalman’s Tale’ For Forest Forge Youth Theatre, April 2015
Devised story based on reminiscence of life in a railway station. Directed by Megan Purdie. A one act, modern fairytale with songs, for a cast of 52 young people, aged 12-16.
‘Hansel and Gretel’ For Poole Lighthouse. December 2014
Directed by Kirstie Davis. An adaptation of the classic story for two actors, various puppets and a snowman! For an under-fives and family audience.
One act play with songs for a cast of 2.
‘Battle Lines Uncut’ For Forest Forge Youth Theatre. April 2014
Directed by Lucy Phillips, devised with the company,
A one act play about war. For a cast of 40 actors aged 12-16.
‘Battle Lines’ Trilogy. For Forest Forge Theatre Company March 2014
‘The Call Up’ Directed by Kirstie Davis, A small Hampshire village community experiences the First World War, a story told by Edwardian music hall performers.
‘Keep Smiling Through’ Directed by Lucy Phillips. Three Hampshire evacuees tell their story of WW2 through playground games.
‘In Our Name’ Directed by David Haworth. The challenges presented by modern war to a Hampshire community seen through the eyes of a Military Wives choir.
This Trilogy of work, created over a year of research within the Hampshire community performed by a cast of three as stand-alone plays, a double bill or the full trilogy in one night!
Three one act plays for a cast of 3.
‘Falling for You’ For Forest Forge Theatre Company. June 2013
A reminiscence based drama dealing with the issue of falling in the elderly community.
A one act play with songs for a cast of 4
‘The 1960’s Play’ For Salisbury Playhouse September 2012
A reminiscence based drama devised with and performed by a company of community elders.
‘I Heard An Angel Singing’ For ‘Play Tank @ Theatre 503.London. November 2011
Directed by Vanessa Pope. The action takes place on Earth, close to Heaven. A Mortal Man, close to his end, prone to over-dramatise, searches for God in the hope that he will find salvation. One act play for a cast of 2.
‘Celebrate!’ For Andover Lights Arts Centre Community Project. May 2011
Directed by David Haworth. Looking at the ways a community celebrates events from the 1950’s to present day. Partly devised with year 10 students and elders of the community.
A one act, devised piece for a cast of 60 young people and elders of the community.
‘First Kiss Goodbye’ Winner of Dialogue new writing competition. Salisbury Playhouse. 2011
Exploring the frightening phenomenon of Sudden Adult Death Syndrome. Dan and Kelly have just started going out, her mother doesn’t know, one night he kisses her for the first time and then she suddenly dies. Everybody looks for something or someone to blame.
Full length play for a cast of 4.
‘When We Were Thirty’ For Forest Forge Theatre Company. June 2011
Based on reminiscence workshops with elders of the community. A play about what it was like to be 30 years old between the 1930’s and 1970’s.
One act play with songs for a cast of 3.
‘Operation Oliver’ For Hampshire County Council Library Services. October 2010
One man show, interactive educational piece for primary schools, looking at life in a Hampshire Victorian workhouse.
One act play with songs and magic for a cast of 1.
‘MiTunes, Our lives in Music’ For Year 10 students at two schools in Andover plus elders of the community. May 2010
Funded by Creative Partnerships and Test Valley Borough Council.
Directed by David Haworth. Based on reminiscence, devised with the company, a play for large community cast plus professional actors. Exploring how music plays a vital part in our lives.
One act play with songs for a large cast.
‘Ashputtel’ For Forest Forge November 2009
New adaptation of the classic Brothers Grimm version of Cinderella.
Full length, multi-role play with songs for a cast of 4.
‘The Open Road’ For Proteus Theatre Co. April 2008
Directed By Mary Swan. Based on reminiscence workshops with elders of the community. A play about freedom and driving.
One act play with songs for a cast of 2.
‘To The Marrow’ For Forest Forge February 2008
Co-written with Sean Aita. A play about obsessions, death and gardening.
Full length, multi-role play for a cast of 3.
‘Lysistrata’ For Bournemouth and Poole College. June 2007
A modern interpretation of the classic anti war play by Aristophanes. Also performed by Salisbury College, Directed by Mark Powell.
Full length play, for a large cast.
‘A Christmas Carol’ For Forest Forge. November 2006
A new adaptation of the Dickens classic.
Full length, multi-role play, for a cast of 4 plus puppets.
‘The Good Person of Boscombe’ For Bournemouth and Poole College May 2006
A new interpretation of Bertolt Brecht’s ‘The Good Person of Szechwan’ Set in modern day Bournemouth.
Full length play for a cast of 16.
‘Going Out’ For Salisbury District Council. November 2005
A mixture of Verbatim and devised theatre based on true life stories of people with experience of the mental health service.
One Act play for a cast of 10.
‘Out Of Joint’ For Forest Forge, May 2005
Directed by David Haworth. A play about the lives of excluded children. Based on interviews and workshops with students from a pupil referral unit as well as other students in danger of permanent exclusion from secondary school.
One act play for a cast of 2. Schools tour.
‘Tales from the Arabian Nights’ For Forest Forge, November 2004
A new adaptation of the classic story cycle.
Full length, multi-role play with songs for a cast of 4.
‘The Great Escape’ For Forest Forge, Sept 2004
A play about imagination as a weapon in the fight against Cancer. Based on work with Cancer patients. Set in the day-care room of a Hospice, three patients re-enact the heroic World War Two story of the great escape, as they face their own mortality. A play of pain and hope.
One act play for a cast of 3.
‘The Tinder Box’ For Forest Forge, December 2002
New adaptation of the classic fairytale, for a schools audience.
One act, multi-role show with songs for a cast of 3.
‘The Pony Drift’ For Forest Forge, September 2002
A play exploring the wild world of the pony drifts of the New Forest.
Full length, multi-role play for a cast of 3.
‘A Bit of a Blow’ For Forest Forge, August 2001
A local brass band rallies round to save their threatened rehearsal hut.
Full length play with music for a cast of 3.
WRITING:
I have been writing for theatre for 20 years. My interest in writing grew out of devised work with Forest Forge Theatre Company in the late 1990’s. Since then I have written many professionally produced plays as well as several large scale community pieces and work for younger performers including youth theatres and college students. I have written several issue based plays with groups of young people that developed out of a devising process with the cast. I have also adapted classic stories for the stage and created original pieces of my own. One strand of my work has been reminiscence based and verbatim theatre where I see my role as researcher and interviewer equally important as that of writer. I lead writers' groups and creative writing workshops for all ages. I have written lyrics for songs in several productions and have recently worked as a verbatim song writer. I was Associate Director at Forest Forge between 2004 and 2015 and was Writer on Attachment at Salisbury Playhouse.
'In Our Name' part of the 'Battle Lines' trilogy.