Photo credit: Seán T. Ó Meallaigh

RESEARCH

My research interests are:

  • collaborative processes in the creation of new plays and musical theatre

  • pedagogy for actor-training within musical theatre, specifically pedagogy for acting sung text / song lyrics.

Work I’ve presented at conferences or published in journals includes:

Conference presentation: Convention, adaptation and dissension in new Scottish musical theatre, paper presented at the Song, Stage and Screen XIII conference at the University of Leeds, 2019.  This paper discussed three recent Scottish musicals (Glasgow Girls, My Left Right Foot, and The Choir), identifying them at different points on the intersection between the ‘ceilidh play’ and Broadway, and exploring their political implications in a changing Scotland.

Journal article: Creating a new Scottish musical: Composing and staging The Choir - an interview with Ricky Ross and Dominic Hill.  Studies in Musical Theatre (2016) vol. 10 number 2. pp.253-260.

Book review: Actor-Musicianship by Jeremy Harrison.  Studies in Musical Theatre (2017) vol 11 number 3. pp. 314-316.

Book review: Acting Stanislavski: a practical guide to Stanislavki’s Approach and Legacy by John Gillett. Journal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism (2016)  vol. 31 number 1. pp. 161-162.

Book review: The Fundamentals of Directing by Ric Knowles.  New Theatre Quarterly (2016).

Book review:  Acting through Song: Techniques and Exercises for Musical-Theatre Actors by Paul Harvard.  Studies in Musical Theatre (2015) vol. 9 number 3. pp. 287-289.

For my M.Ed in Learning and Teaching in the Performing Arts (Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, 2019), I created a research project around pedagogical structures in the teaching of acting-through-song, with the involvement of a number of conservatoires and drama schools around the UK.

TEACHING

I’m currently a part-time Lecturer in Musical Theatre at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (I co-ordinate the 2nd year projects module, and oversee the processes of programming and casting third year productions). For the RCS I have also taught for Adult Short Courses and Junior Conservatoire, and coached individuals through the Transitions Programme.

I’ve previously taught or directed for Oxford School of Drama, Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts, London College of Music, University of Cumbria, Arts University Bournemouth and SLP College Leeds. For GAMTA in Glasgow, I was Programme Leader for BA Musical Theatre (2016-2020) where my directing included Sunshine on Leith (Websters’ Theatre); Bugsy Malone; Just So; Oklahoma!; Flora the Red Menace; Rent; and LaChiusa’s Bernarda Alba.

I studied BA (hons) English and Philosophy (University of York, 1999-2002), then did an MA in Directing for Theatre (Goldsmiths College, London, 2003). I later did an M.Ed Learning and Teaching in the Performing Arts (Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, 2019). I became a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy in 2012, and was awarded Senior Fellowship in 2020.