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'What impresses most is
the organic inspiration of
the ensemble'

THE GUARDIAN

'Sensitively and inventively directed' 
THE STAGE

'Compelling, starkly stripped-back, modern dress production... Finding the mordant humour in the ego-driven power politics and a fresh visual shorthand, the production never relaxes its grip'
THE INDEPENDENT

'A hip Romeo and Juliet... Impossibly cool... You can feel the terrible, impetuous flushes
of first love and you want it
work out for them.' 

THE STAGE

'Dashes a knowledgeable audience’s preconceptions and make them feel the whole thing, whole-heartedly, all over again'
A YOUNGER THEATRE

Hello, I am a director for stage + screen and an artist and curator of other happenings.

Most recently I was Creative Associate at Clean Break (2022-2024) working with the artistic leadership team and across projects as a director, dramaturg and facilitator with partners at the Royal Court, National Theatre, LIFT and more.

The breadth of my directing work includes "stereotype smashing"reimaginings of the classics (The Stage); regular collaborations with emerging and established writers, from the UK, Kosovo and Afghanistan.

I have been commissioned by the British Council Lebanon, European Union National Institutes for Culture, AUB, The Lowry and New Diorama Theatre. For 6 years I was co-artistic director of multi award winning international ensemble The Faction. During my tenure the company presented five critically acclaimed repertory seasons, UK midscale tours, international engagements and major commissions. 

For The Faction my work includes King Lear /الملك لير in Beirut which I co-directed with Lebanese director Sahar Assaf, marking the first time Shakespeare was performed in Lebanese Arabic, which has ignited further collaborations. I directed the company’s first short films Medea/Worn and My Last Duchess commissioned for the #LoveLowry programme (during the Covid-19 pandemic) which have been nominated and officially selected for festivals across the world. 

Independently, my work with contemporary writers includes developing and presenting work with documentary and journalistic genesis including No Demand No Supply: a Reworking of Lebanon’s Sex Trafficking Scandal for Shubbak Festival, and regularly working with Palindrome Productions Sahar Speaks programme, bringing the stories of women Afghan journalists to the stage. I regularly work with Off WestEnd and the Adopt A Playwright scheme directing emerging writers work for west end rehearsed readings. 

Recently, I completed an MA in Art+Politics
from Goldsmiths University. My pratice is wide-ranging but finds commonality in where movement, text and politics meet. I hope to move people through work, in body/thought/feeling. I am from a working class family and class identity and intersectional class politics are important frames for me that I bring to a collaborative artistic practice.

People often ask about my route into theatre, and that is a winding tale. I studied drama at school with a brilliant teacher - Áine King - being introduced to playwrights such as Edward Bond and Sarah Kane and performing at the Brighton Fringe. I then went to university and trained as a designer, all the while working front of house, or even once as the industry's worst ever follow-spot on Les Mis... I spent most of my 20s working a variety of jobs (including feeding pigeons in Trafalgar Square) and worked in both film and design industries. Then a friend asked me to direct a show for the Edinburgh festival – and it was in that rehearsal room things made a beautiful messy sense. 

I am a
Trustee of NSDF and I served as a board member for New Diorama between 2013-2021. I am a Lincoln Center Directors Lab alumni and a member of the founding committee for the Directors Lab Mediterranean, endorsed by the Lincoln Center.I was in the intial cohort of resident assistant directors at the Almeida Theatre (London) and an assistant practitioner of Themba theatre in Johannesburg.


 

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