The first quarter of 2018 is a somewhat crazy, and exceptionally important time for Common Chorus. By the end of March we will have produced the two most ambitious projects we have ever undertaken, and between them they represent the opposite ends of what I set the theatre company up to make. The weekend of 16th / 17th of February saw us complete ‘A Wind of Change’; a large scale community theatre project that took us, and our collaborators InterACT, a year and a half to complete. Around 60 participants contributed to… Read More

For the past 5 years I have been working on projects alongside Prof. Steve Bottoms in Shipley & Saltaire as part of the Multi Story Water project. It has been a really important part of the journey for me, and Common Chorus owes a lot to the ideas and ways of doing things that I developed on MSW projects. All good things must come to an end, but I am really pleased that I have had a chance to direct this one last, and personal favorite, piece ‘This Islands Mine’. I very much… Read More

After the Flood was a site based theatre performance commissioned by Multi Story Water for the Leeds Waterfront Festival 2016. Set six months after the devastating Christmas time floods in Leeds (and many other places) we were tasked with creating a performance that responded not just to what happened, but also how people have responded for better and worse in the clean up and beyond. Oh, and it had to be suitable for a family audience at a festival. After the Flood was actually the third piece in a series of collaborations… Read More

Watch the mini documentary about the show above. “There is a sense that this company has got ‘under the skin’ to develop a play that has found both the misery of addiction and the communal hope – even joy – of those that are rediscovering dignity and self-worth. Those that literally have been given back their lives. … You don’t have to be an addict to recognise its relevance to all of our experiences.”             – The Public Reviews Recovery Stories and Drink with a Chimp are… Read More