Foreword:
I am grateful to the guidance and knowledge of my lecturers during these two years, and I am proud of the work I have created with my peers. Unfortunately, despite grades that would have allowed me to continue to the final year of my degree, the university could not guarantee that my education would be an equitable/equal experience in 2026.
I started this portfolio after my second year at York St John, so I am slowly adding my work from York St John as I find them. I continue to use and grow on what I have learnt over the past two years, as seen by my projects page
“an outstanding student and theatre maker” - David Richmond (My Academic Tutor & Lecturer)
Brief mention of things I pursued whilst attending university:
Achieved a BSL Level 3 Qualification (2023)
Helped kickstart The UK Deaf Students Union (2023)
Set up the Creatives Society & ran events such as spoken word events
Independently found work experience in the Leeds playhouse (see here for Mr Snow and here for Animal Farm)
Independently pursued more courses (Directing with Kindness, Deafinitely Theatre: BSL in performance, acting intensive course in 2024, and 2025)
First Year (2023-2024):
A year of intense learning & collaboration between my peers to independently create 4 performances backed by performance reflection coursework
Acting Module:
Assessment: find a play and perform it.
I chose Loot by Joe Orton and performed in the role of Hal
Role: Translated the whole of the script in BSL and researched Deaf access and family dynamics in the 70’s, and performed as Hal using BSL.
Big Ideas in Performance Module:
Assessment: Essay on Formative Acting techniques. I chose to write about Constantin Stanislavski, Michael Chekhov and Jerzy Grotowski
Role: Researcher/Journalist
Workshop Facilitation Module:
Assessment: Organizing a Drama Workshop for the rest of the degree cohort, and writing up our research.
Role: Facilitator & Researcher
Spoken Word Module:
Assessment: Spoken word event: The Lost and Found - Created our own pieces and performed them in a spoken word event we organized ourselves, also was required to research different types of spoken and written word and demonstrate it in a zine with our own creative work
Role: Performer, zine maker, Deaf Accessibility Consultant, Performer, Promotional Materials Designer
Political Ensemble Performance:
Assessment: Banksy Performance - Inspired by the works of Banksy
Role: Co-creator, performer & BSL consultant
Making an ensemble performance:
Assessment: Brand new Ancients Performance - inspired by Kay Tempest’s Anthology: Brand New Ancients
Role: Co-creator, performer & BSL consultant
Second Year (2024-2025):
A year of intense learning & collaboration between my peers to independently create 4 performances and 2 Drama Facilitation placements. All of which required a research-based reflection essays afterwards.
Artist as Witness Performance
Assessment: Group-devised performance, which later led to the creation of “The Party”(2025)
Role: Actor, Co-collaborator, Researcher
Auto/Biographical Performance
Assessment: (working on devised solos, duets and group performance)
Role: Actor, Co-collaborator, Researcher
Children and Young People (Facilitation Module)
Assessment: (Workshop facilitation continued)
Drama facilitation with year 8 girls from the Vale of York, weaving in the “Its Not Love” NSPCC campaign into our work.
Drama facilitation with the prison partnership scheme, involving 3 weeks where we went into prison and worked alongside prisoners, evaluating what they needed from drama and finding ways to provide it to them.
Role: Facilitator, Researcher
Theatre for Social Change Module
Assessment: Created a student documentary, Stone Soup
Role: Researcher and Production Assistant
Politically Engaged Practice (PEP) 1& 2
Assessment: For Politically Engaged Practice we were expected to write a portfolio of work;
*Critical Review: On the representation and impact of Sally Cookson’s Wonderboy (Written by Ross Willis)
*Reflection on a performance experiment: In which my group used Documentary theatre and the Theatre of the Oppressed techniques
*Research on a theatre’s practice: How does Back To Back Theatre use innovative strategies to represent their worldviews on stage?
Role: Researcher/ Journalist