Photos: Steve Barber/Chris Payne/Pamela Raith

Theatre by the Lake in Keswick, in the heart of the Lake District, has a reputation for ambitious work, serving both its local community and the hundreds of thousands of visitors who pass through the region each year.

In 2025, I joined TBTL as Artistic Director (maternity cover for Liz Stevenson). It was a real privilege to take artistic leadership of such a significant and interesting organisation – and in such a different geographic and cultural context to my previous work.  During my 10 months there, my focus was to hold and support a rich existing programme, while also developing upcoming work and new ideas.  

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The immediate programme included TBTL-made productions of Amelia Bullmore’s Di and Viv and Rose, Sonia Jalaly’s Wizard of Oz, and co-productions with some brilliant regional producing theatres including: The Watermill, New Wolsey Theatre, Bolton Octagon, Storyhouse Chester and Scarborough’s Stephen Joseph Theatre.

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I was also able to lead on CumbriaFest - a festival of new work championing Cumbrian voices - with over 40 events across 5 days, including premieres, works-in-progress, scratch nights, workshops and creative social gatherings.

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I'm now continuing my relationship with TBTL as Creative Associate, collaborating with Liz on ongoing artistic planning and idea development - staying connected to an organisation, artists and audiences I’ve deeply come to care about -  and a part of the world I’ll always be so excited to return to.