GUFF ABOUT ME. People ask, so I thought I'd put it here.
I wanted something more, something that gave me creative control, something that allowed me to express the idiosyncracies of my paticular psychopathy in a socially acceptable way.
The thought of stand up pertrified me, so naturally, that's what I decided to do.
In Nov 2010, after spending one day a week, for 6 weeks, with Tony Allen, I performed my first 5 minutes of stand-up comedy to an 'upstairs-room-in-a-pub' audience. It felt like coming home.
I was told the next step should have been playing the circuit, honing the craft, learning the ropes of the comedy world. I've never been good with being told .
COMEDY & beyond.
For 15 years, I was an actor. What I enjoyed most was working on new writing, being part of the first cast of a play. I've been lucky enough to have a varied acting career, and I've worked with some brilliant companies, directors, scripts and actors. (I met some real arse-biscuits too, but I prefer not to dwell on them). Isn't it wonderful when you can make what you love your job?
I decided to write a one hour show for The Edinburgh Fringe. A learning curve as steep as the North face of the Eiger, why not?!
In August 2011 I performed for the first time at The Edinburgh Fringe as part of the Free Festival, with Laughing Horse. It was terrifying, exciting and utterly exhilarating.
Since then, I've been a sort of itinerant fringe-nomad; I've been back to Edinburgh, and to fringes all over the place, including Brighton, Camden, Dublin, Glasgow, Gotenburg, Stockholm, Perth and Adelaide, and to the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. I really love travelling, meeting with artists all ove the world, developing a Fringe 'family' and having the chance to collaborate with a myriad of practitioners in so many different ways- telling stories, directing, writing, devising.
In 2016, I performed for the first time at NZ Fringe. I fell in love with it, and with Wellington- a city hat hums with the same frequency I do. So much so that I now divide my time between the UK and Wellington, working at all the things I love. Comedy brought me here, but comedy is only a small part of what I do- telling stories, directing, writing, devising.
SINGING THE BLUES
All my life, I wished I played an instrument. It never occured to me that my voice was an instrument until Mike 'Dr Blue' made me sing. The band was called 'Dr Blue & the Prescription', and we played favourites from Chicago and the Delta- and some
original songs by Mike 'Dr Blue' himself. There is something about
singing the Blues that is utter magic and release. I absolutely love it.
Now Mike 'Dr Blue' sings solo and plays guitar and harmonica;he is a composer and musical director for The Poetry Army. We write his albums together, and I sing on some of the tracks too. I'm married to the bugger, so there's clearly some nepotism there, and I may be biased, but I think he's bloody marvellous. Check him out at www.mikedrblue.com
ACTING work includes;
Leena Harvey-Wells in Playing With Fire (David Edgar) at The National Theatre (Olivier),
directed by Michael Attenborough
Padma in Midnight's Children (Salman Rushdie). RSC at the Barbican, Uk Tour &
The Apollo Theatre, Harlem, New York,
directed by Tim Supple & Melly Still
Leila in Ghostdancing (adapted from Terese Racan) at The Lyric, Hammersmith,
directed by Kristine Landon-Smith
Mrs Gupta in A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry) at West Hampsted Theatre,
directed by Kristine Landon-Smith
Manjit in Avoid London for BBC Radio 4,
directed by Oion O'Callaghan
Kaukab in Maps for Lost Lovers for BBC Radio 4,
directed by David Hunter/Shabina Aslam
Woman in Song of Solomon for BBC Southern Counties,
directed by David Batcock
I've also appeared in in a nice little scene in London Boulevard,
directed by William Monahan.
