About

I am a lecturer on the BA (Hons) Technical Theatre degree course. I teach across all three years of the programme. Through shared modules and shows I also work with students on the BA (Hons) Costume and Set Design degree and the BA (Hons) Theatre Arts degree.

Teaching responsibilities

My teaching is focused on the Stage Management and Production Management aspects of technical theatre. I work with students in both the classroom and on theatre productions at Derby Theatre as well as other venues in Derby and beyond. The aim is to ensure that students get to work in as professional an environment as possible on a variety of shows and in a range of venues over the three years of the degree programme. I also teach on modules that put theatre production practices into a range of historical and contemporary theoretical contexts and which develop the research skills of technical theatre students.

Research interests

My PhD thesis examines the work of contemporary British playwright Philip Ridley. I am also exploring the relationship between Stage Management and how they use space backstage and in the rehearsal room. I'm also interested in exploring the history of theatre production practices and technologies.

Membership of professional bodies

• TaPRA (Theatre and Performance Research Association)
• STR (Society for Theatre Research)
• IFTR (International Federation for Theatre Research
• SMA (Stage Management Association)
• ABTT (Association of British Theatre Technicians)

Qualifications

• MA Theatre and Film Studies, University of Sheffield
• BA (Hons) Combined Studies (English and History), Cheltenham and Gloucester College of Higher Education
• I am in the process of completing my PhD thesis at the University of Sheffield

Recent conferences

I have presented at several conferences and symposia. Highlights include

• TaPRA 2018, ‘I wasn’t part of that theatre world, I was an outsider’. Philip Ridley: On the edge of centre (History and Historiography Working Group)
• What Happens Now Conference 2014, 'In-yer-Ears': The Language of Philip Ridley’s Mercury Fur
• Panel Chair at
  • TaPRA PGR Symposium 2016 (also co-organiser)
  • STR New Researcher Network 2015
  • TaPRA (History and Historiography Working Group) 2015

Experience in industry

Prior to joining the University of Derby, I worked in Stage Management (as Cath Booth). Theatre companies I have worked with include Sheffield Theatres, Nottingham Playhouse, The Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester, The Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, and the Royal Shakespeare Company. I still maintain many industry contacts which I am able to bring into the classroom when appropriate.

Between August and November 2022 I will be Company Stage Manager for the RSC's First Encounters National School's Tour of Twelfth Night.

Recent publications

• ‘Tales from the East End: Dialogic and Confessional Storytelling as Therapy (?) in the Plays of Philip Ridley’ in After In-Yer-Face: Remnants of a Theatrical Revolution (ed William Boles) published by Palgrave Macmillan, 2020

• ‘You and your boys stabbed cigarettes out on his face all night.’ Violence in Philip Ridley’s Ghost from a Perfect Place' in the Cambridge Companion to British Playwriting since 1945. (forthcoming)