Theatre, Dramaturgy, Scripts
My theatre-making and scriptwriting activities consist of four strands: plays, scripts and theatrical presentations that I write for other people to perform such as the abridgement of Othello I did for the National Youth Theatre; ensemble performances in which I collaborate with and perform with others on stage such as the monologue I wrote about the classical music composer George Bridgetower and performed with Chineke! Junior Orchestra in the Clore Ballroom of the Royal Festival Hall; presentations in which I write and perform solo such as Africa Beyond’s multimedia project Translations and dramaturgy in which I workshop other people’s scripts. The trailer above is for the digital film Lockedown Locked In to which I contributed the monologue A Good Day which won Best Original Script at the Athens International Monthly Art Film Festival, 2021.
Othello, National Youth Theatre, 2021
In collaboration with Olivier award-winning director, Miranda Cromwell, I abridged, adapted and workshopped Othello for the National Youth Theatre 2021 REP company’s UK touring production. The play toured to Bolsover Castle near Sheffield and to Royal & Derngate in Northampton.
Black Mozart/White Chevalier, Representing Classical Music in the 21st Century, University of Exeter, University of Birmingham and Royal College of Music, 2020
I composed a 30 minute play text for this year-long Arts & Humanities Research Council funded project bringing together scholars, industry professionals and a playwright (me) in a series of symposiums to debate how the classical music industry is being re-shaped by efforts to diversify its participants and working practices.
New Play Dramaturgy Intensive: The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington DC , 2019
I was assistant dramaturg on this intensive workshopping eight plays in eight days. Led by acclaimed dramaturg Mark Bly, the project focused on enriching the participants’ experience of the dramaturg as the key resource in the rehearsal room to the playwright and director.
The Spit of Me, The Free Word Centre, Ongoing
The Spit of Me is an artistic, biological and social investigation into the body’s relationship with time, culture, migration, memory and identity refracted through the wonder of DNA. Inspired by my grandma’s anecdotes of German ancestors, I combine literature, performance, movement, historical archives, digital media, game theory and participation in The Spit of Me to dig beneath the superficiality of skin to uncover the hidden histories that connect us to each other and the rest of humanity through genetics and migration.
Verbalized, UK and South Africa 2010
Produced by Sustained Theatre, the British Council & South African State Theatre, the Verbalized tour was a unique collaboration between five poets from the UK and five poets from South Africa as part of a long term cultural exchange linking artists and arts companies in Britain and South Africa. Touring in Leeds, Sheffield, Birmingham, Bristol and Manchester in England and in Pretoria, Johannesburg and Cape Town in South Africa, the project explored new ways of creating, devising & discussing poetry as a theatrical presentation.
A Good Day, Locked Down/Locked In, 2020
I composed a 10 minute monologue for this international digital film and women’s project addressing domestic violence during the pandemic lockdown. Featuring writers, actors and other artists from the UK, USA, Turkey, Russia and Australia the project was devised and directed by Baris Celiloglu.
Winner: Best Original Script, Athens International Monthly Art Film Festival, 2021
Winner: Best Experimental Film, Berlin Indie Film Festival, 2021
Winner: Audience Award, London Lift Off Film Festival, 2022
Winner: Barcelona International Film Festival, 2023
Winner: Best 1st Time Director – Feature, World Class Film Award, 2023
You’re Never Too Young to Change the World: The Life and Times of George Bridgetower with Chineke! Junior Orchestra, Imagine Festival, Southbank Centre, 2020
Researched and composed a 60 minute monologue written specifically for Southbank Centre’s Imagine Festival, dramatising the life of black virtuoso violinist George Bridgetower who inspired Beethoven’s Kreutzer Sonata. Performed the monologue with the 60 piece Chineke! Junior Orchestra in the Clore Ballroom of the Royal Festival Hall.
William Shakespeare’s Coriolanus at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and The Old Church, Stoke Newington, 2019
Adapted and directed by Freny Nina Pavri, I acted in and co-produced a re-imagining of Shakespeare’s Coriolanus exploring the Kurdish language and political situation Zoroastrianism and the ancient connection to the Zoroastrian world. I was dramaturg on a consequent preparation for a full length, touring production.
Brand Shorts, Purcell Room, Southbank Centre 2010
As part of 2010's London Literature Festival, I took part in a symposium exploring cross-genre possibilities. Sharing the bill with playwrigtht, Howard Barker and artist Mikhail Karikis, Collaborating with sound artist Gary Stewart of Dubmorphology and filmmaker Rob Rainbow of The Light Surgeons, I presented new work that explored how the body links the living, the dead and the unborn.
Translations, Africa Beyond, Africa Centre, Bernie Grant Arts Centre, 2008
This performance focused on the persona and aspects of the Vodun trickster god Legba, tracing a journey of how African mythology left the shores of Africa to find new expressions in the New World of the Americas and Caribbean. I collaborated with musician Zak Akhimien who provided sound direction with photographer Craig Dow on film and visual projections.
Let's Get It On: A Festival of New Voices, Bush Theatre, 2008
Part of The Bush Theatre’s 24 plays in 4 days, an extract of my first play, Indefinite Leave to Remain was selected for the Westwords/8 Boroughs Creative Writing initiative of the best new writing and received a rehearsed reading at the theatre. Embracing work from the widest possible cultural perspectives, emerging writers worked with professional directors to develop their scripts from the page to the stage, and mentored were mentored by Bush Theatre writers.
Looking for Katrina, Battersea Arts Centre 2005
In my first piece of theatre, I collaborated with three other performers - Johanna Thea, Dwayne Gumb and Miguel R Ramon Rueda - in this live art project inspired by the myriad geographical, social and emotional effects of Hurricane Katrina.