Carran Waterfield

ALLi Author Member

I am an independent theatre and performance maker. I am also an experienced creative teacher.
I founded and led the international touring company Triangle Theatre (UK) creating over 40 productions of physically driven theatre with accompanying educational and outreach programmes. Most recently I have begun the journey into self-publishing, having had some of my work published in journals, magazines and edited collections.

During the 80s and early 90s, I worked as a Drama/English/Media teacher in Coventry for nine years, following a brief time working in Theatre-in-Education in the late 70s. The inception of the National Curriculum drove me away from formal teaching. In 1989 I created and performed my first solo show and established a fledgling youth theatre, Bare Essentials and my company Triangle. For many years I received voice and movement training from several European-based practitioners and teachers including artists from Pantheatre, France and Odin Teatret, Denmark. With me as artistic director and key practitioner Triangle became well-established and funded for several years touring internationally with the work, some of which earned prestigious awards.

Between 1995 and 2000 Triangle was resident company at the University of Warwick’s Institute of Education where I led projects training teachers in creativity. My practice remained physically driven with European and Asian influences.

During the 2000s Triangle became resident company at The Herbert Museum and Art Gallery in Coventry. The work expanded training actors in immersive interpretation and participatory techniques. We installed small incidental exhibits in the museum’s foyer. We mounted large-scale immersive experiences involving groups of children and local communities. We founded and led The Little Herberts: a performance art group for children.

In 2010 I moved from the West Midlands (UK) to the North West (UK) navigating a new region collaborating with the universities of Salford and Manchester, teaching movement at ALRA North, developing an extensive residency at Heron Corn Mill in Cumbria and working on a significant research project concerning Performance and Poverty for the University of Manchester. All this was supported by a renewed way of moving within the natural and built environment.

In 2011 my work changed direction. I began to address and reflect on my creative journey by following a healing thread. I have focused on finding a way to understand my ancestral story through the healing power of meditation, movement and awareness which has been a feature of all my recent work. I have been collaborating with movement therapist Sandra Reeve and am discovering a way of making work outside the conventions of an established subsidised sector. My poetry has been featured in Sandra's edited volume 'Body and Awareness' The journey has been both challenging and rewarding.

Most recently as well as serving my local community as an elected Labour councillor, I have self-published a fully illustrated children’s chapter book 'Redhair and Daffodil Friend'. Its roots were formed as part of my first solo project back in 1989: Life is cyclical and I have found history does repeat itself.