I am an academic and theatre director currently based at Coventry University. I studied English Literature and Language at Queen's University Belfast before going on to complete a PhD in Theatre and Media at the University of Ulster researching self-referential/self-reflexive dramaturgy, especially the concept of the 'play within a play', tracing the history of this phenomenon and exploring whether we can trace a continuity in this device throughout a variety of historical periods and contrasting genres.

 In 1990, after working for some time as a freelance actor, I co-founded Sightlines Theatre Company, Belfast and worked with this company as Artistic Director for six years mixing multimedia with live performance in a variety of touring productions. During this period, I continued to work as a freelance actor, writer and director with numerous theatre companies throughout Northern Ireland and as a writer/performer for BBC Radio Ulster as well as part time teaching at the University of Ulster.

From 1997 onwards, I became Strand Leader in Drama at the University of Birmingham, moving on to become Course Director of the BA Drama Studies degree at Bath Spa University in 2006. From 2007, I have been working as Senior Lecturer/Assistant Professor on the BA Theatre and Professional Practice and Acting: Stage and Screen degrees at Coventry University. My duties there have included the writing and administration of modules and degree programmes, timetabling and room booking, quality assurance and monitoring, recruitment/retention and supervising HPL staff. I have experience in setting up and delivering COIL projects and have undertaken training through the Erasmus+ Scheme in collaborative Online International Learning and Cross-Cultural Dialogue Facilitation. I have also organized and led field trips to Paris to visit the Palais Garnier, Theatre De L’Ouvre and Theatre De La Ville, Copenhagen (Betty Nansen Teatret), Stockholm (Riksteatern and Kulturhuset), Prague (National Theatre) as well as several trips to Finland, Poland and Hong Kong to perform and conduct joint workshops.

Having worked as a director for many years in ‘conventional’ theatre, I developed an interest in the interactions between performer and audience in the live event, most especially ‘self referential’ and post modernist theatre and this fascination with the ‘live’ event eventually became entwined with our ideas of ‘liveness’ in digital spaces, especially those spaces that are separated both geographically and temporally. I have been developing skills as a multimedia director and recently worked as Director/Script Editor on the pilot for a Netflix Series, ‘Pigeons” filmed in Cluj-Napoca, Romania in January 2022 and currently in editing for a 2023 release.