Biography

I have worked internationally as an artist and as a designer and director for theatre and films and as an arts consultant on local and government projects. I have taught art in London secondary schools and have lectured in art and design at graduate and postgraduate level including The Slade. London and The Centre for Performing Arts and WA Academy of Performing Arts, Australia.

My theatre career includes credits with the Royal Ballet, Scottish Ballet, South Australian Opera, Australian Ballet, The Treatro colon Buenos Aires, The New National Theatre Tokyo, The Abbey Theatre Dublin, Channel Four Television and United Artists Films. Drawings, paintings and photographs are included in many public and private collections. As well as designing for International Companies I have worked on small scale projects and with exciting modern dance companies including CandoCo and Union Dance. I have often subverted traditional theatre spaces to create forms of staging where the audience and actor relationship is transformed in new and more dynamic ways.

My approach and thinking about theatre was influenced early on and to a large extent by Stephen Joseph, the pioneer of Theatre in the Round and later as the design assistant to Nicholas Georgiadis, known for his ballet and opera designs. I worked extensively as an art director on major advertising campaigns and las the arts consultant in collaboration with architects, planners, city councils and state government agencies on a number of major projects and studies, particularly in Australia, where is was appointed as the first Administrative Director of the Perth Institute for Contemporary Art (PICA).

I became interested in alternative therapies after a life threatening car accident in 1972 and I have studied and practised a wide range of alternative healing modalities including Yoga and Homœopathy. I trained as a Yoga Therapist with the Yoga Biomedical Trust in London and I developed a particular interest in yoga for people with disabilities and special needs. After moving to Northern Ireland with my partner, writer film maker and poet, Csilla Toldy, I opened a Yoga Studio in Newry as well as attracting funding for a range of film and video projects.

Most recent work includes residencies in Belfast and Dundalk, three solo exhibitions and directing The Bloom Mystery at the Rostrevor Inn as well as being the lead negotiator in bringing the Stephen Joseph Association under the umbrella of the ABTT.