News

NEWS

Theatre

Attended the awesome Devoted and Disgruntled annual meeting, hosted by Improbable Theatre in January. What a feast of talented people! Participated in a variety of sessions covering topics like Storytelling, Touring, Solo Shows, Site Specific Theatre and What are We Going to Do About The Next Government? I'm full of plots and plans now, and keen to maintain connections with the great artists and administrators I met.

Was one of 150 women who danced naked onstage at The Barbican Centre in the show, Trilogy, a thrilling piece celebrating women and our power. See my blog http://ladyinbed.wordpress.com for a rave about it.

BAFTA AWARD!

A TV programme for the BBC's Learning Zone, called Skills for Life, on which I worked as the director of the actors was nominated for a BAFTA. The show features teenage learning-disabled actors in a set of scenarios in which they have to cope with a variety of social and sexual challenges. The kids were great to work with and we had a really happy shoot. I'm delighted that all the guys at the production company, Gamelab have been acknowledged in this way. And me too!

I'm thinking up new shows. Want to create another solo-piece and have started excavating material with the marvellous artsitic director of Tour de Force theatre company, Peter Joucla (June 2010).

Appeared in a play-reading at Stratford Circus on 19 June. The play was the winner in a competition run by Spread the Word called 'The 104 Bus-Stop' and I played a 66 year old East End woman (heavily disguised, of course). Great fun.

Flirtshop, my flirting classes are held occasionally throughout the year, at venues at home and abroad, and I now run one-on-one flirt-coaching for the very shy, or those that can't make the groups. The Flirtshop is a gentle, fun and fascinating examination about how to communicate more effectively with anyone at all, but particularly those that you find attractive. As Chris, one of my students in Skyros said ' Informative, entertaining, and surprisingly serious'. That'd be when we weren't chortling away then....

Skyros, The Grange 2010: Courses Dramatic and Flirtatious

12-14 February and 17-19 September: Flirtshop at The Grange, Shanklin, Isle of Wight www.thegrangebythesea.com Also: I'm hosting the Christmas holiday sesh at The Grange with Hazel Carey (more fun than home, I say).

27 June-17 July: Flirtshop at The Skyros Centre for one week, Flirtshop and Comedy Impro at Atsitsa for 2 weeks on the island of Skyros, Greece www.skyros.com

Create Tomorrow Today is an incredible group of facilitators and great minds who have come together to provide inspirational leadership programmes and life-changing courses for business and beyond. In April 2008, we delivered training sessions on communication skills for Roche in Berlin which had a great response. In August 2009, I co-facilitated a presentation skills course with CTT supremo Claire Chidley for the Radian housing group. Check out www.createtomorrowtoday.com 

Presentation Skills courses. All these years of standing up and speaking in front of people for a living have helped me to create a great user-friendly course that has been received with much gratitude to date. I scrub up well, will tell you some great stories of success and failure, and will give out hot tips for nervous communicators. Email me to find out more.