PORTFOLIO OF WORK
Past Present Future
IN NEITHER CAMP
September 2021 - September 2022
I have been awarded a Develop Your Own Creative Practice Grant from Arts Council England to develop my writing skills.
As a learning-disabled artist it is a challenge to be taken seriously in the arts and I want to show through example what learning-disabled artists can achieve. My ambition professionally is to gain the confidence to call myself a ‘writer’ in my own right without needing support. Writing helps me voice what I truly mean and feel. Through writing I can tell a meaningful and clear story.
To date, I have written stories about historical figures or told other people’s stories. I don’t want to limit the stories I tell. I want to tell stories about my own lived experience, and to find my own voice. There are a number of separate aspects of my life that I would like to explore including barriers that learning disabled people face and low expectations.
Photo courtesy of photostockeditor.com
WITH MIND THE GAP
ANNA - FORUM THEATRE
Present
Daughters of Fortune: Anna -
Workshop Exploring Learning Disability and Parenthood
Anna is an interactive Forum Theatre workshop that explores a series of true-life scenarios that are experienced by learning disabled people when they become a parent.
Anna is the story of Anna Bolton, a woman with a learning disability who is pregnant. We find out about the barriers that Anna faces, how she is feeling, how boyfriend Tony is coping and what Dad thinks.
I am one of three performers in this two hour workshop and I was part of the research team for Mind the Gap's Daughters of Fortune project.
A HIDDEN HISTORY R&D
July 2017
The R & D of Bradford: A Hidden History was generally a great success and exceeded expectations. There were 6 ‘Sharings’ of this promenade production over two days at Bolling Hall Museum Bradford. As Lead Artist Daniel wrote the script with support from Dramaturg Mary Cooper and directed the piece with support from Mentor Director Tom Wright.
“In writing the play I wanted to find stories that weren't about the textile industry and mills, which everyone associates with Bradford’s past. I wanted to surprise people with hidden stories in Bradford’s history and there were so many to choose from.”
HIDDEN HISTORY
My recent project - July 2021
Three live outdoor theatre events bringing history to life in Bradford, Elsecar and Halifax
BRADFORD - A HIDDEN HISTORY
July 3 & July 4 2021 - Bolling Hall Museum, Bradford
Travel through time in one of Bradford's oldest buildings to see the stories of three little known local characters brought to life.
Meet a servant determined to change the fate of Bradford by summoning a ghost; an apothecary angry at the rejection of his remedy for a dying patient, and a young woman who must stand up for what she knows to be right.
Performance dates and times:
3 July and 4 July at 11am, 12.30pm, 2pm, 3.30pm
EDGAR - A HIDDEN LIFE
July 10 & July 11 2021 - Elsecar Visitor Centre
After half a century in silence, hidden away in an asylum, Edgar Bower just wants to return to his beloved home in Wentworth village. Hope is lost until Social worker Lily Fletcher resolves to solve the mysteries of Edgar’s past.
Edgar is a play about secrets and shame, poverty and prejudice - but most of all it is a play about the sustaining power of love.
Performance dates and times:
10 July and 11 July at 11am, 12.30pm, 2pm, 3.30pm
DEEDS NOT WORDS
July 17 & July 18 2021 - The Piece Hall, Halifax
‘I went to gaol a rebel but I have come out a regular terror’. Halifax born Laura Annie Willson was twice imprisoned in 1907 for her actions in support of women’s suffrage.
During her campaigning she encountered violent assaults and threats but she was never deterred and declared, ‘If they could sentence me for thinking I’d have been sentenced for life.’
Throughout her life Laura Annie followed the suffragette motto of ‘deeds not words’. When she saw the need for change she did something about it!
Deeds not Words tells the story of the suffragette years of this truly remarkable woman; mill girl, agitator, engineer, innovator, house-builder – and MBE.
Performance dates and times:
17 July at 11am, 2pm, 3.30pm
18 July at 11am, 12.30pm, 2pm, 3.30pm, 5pm