ABOUT
Actor
Director
Improviser
Director:
Emma is a freelance theatre director. For Liverpool's Royal Court Theatre Emma has directed Haunted Scouse by Gerry Linford (March 2024); Bingo Star by Iain Christie (March 2023). Stocking Fillers, (Dec 2022). Hey Bunny Get Loose by Wendy Dickinson (May 2022).
Previously Emma directed critically acclaimed productions at Brighton, Manchester and Liverpool Fringe Festivals. Notably, New Dawn Fades: A Play about Joy Division and Manchester by Brian Gorman, (Dancehouse Theatre, Manchester 2018); King of the World by Brian Coyle (Liverpool & Manchester Fringe Festivals, 2018); Two by Jim Cartwright (Manchester Fringe Festival 2018); Bleeding with Mother by Sarah Cassidy (53Two, Manchester 2017); We Apologise for the Inconvenience by Mark Griffiths, (3MT, Manchester, 2017); A Passion for Rationals (Sara Harris, Brighton Fringe Festival 2014).
Actor:
Emma began her acting career in 1990. Featuring in a lead role alongside Pete Postlethwaite, in BBC screenplay, Needle. Written by Jimmy McGovern and directed by Gillies MacKinnon.
Whilst represented by Independent Talent agency in London, she began a successful career in television, most notably as series regular Maxine Price in Casualty (1992). Short films and features followed through her work with director Sandra Goldbacher in Seventeen (with Rachel Weisz, 1996), Piccadilly Circus by Night and The Governess (with Minnie Driver, 1997).
Notable theatre work includes The Good Hope alongside Frances de la Tour at The Royal National Theatre and UK tour, (2002); David Mamet’s Oleanna (Norwich Playhouse) and The Woods (The Finborough Theatre); Educating Rita (Norwich Playhouse) and Terms of Abuse (Hampstead Theatre).
Recent Theatre Productions as an actor: Death & the Maiden by Ariel Dorfman, Hope Street Theatre, Liverpool, Sept 2019. Directed by Margaret Connell and produced by Siobhan Noble.
Improviser:
Emma began improvising in 2007. She set up Liverpool Comedy Improv in 2015 and is one of the leading teachers of improvised comedy in Liverpool and the North West. She has founded improv teams The Unscriptables, The Hee Ha’s and Boss Birds Improv (Liverpool's first all women team).
Emma was trained in improv by The Maydays (Brighton/London) and has received further training from Rachel Mason & Susan Messing (Second City, Chicago); Rich & Rebecca Sohn (Annoyance Theatre, Chicago); Michael Gellman (Second City, Toronto), Shawn Kinley (Loose Moose Improv Theatre, Canada), Armando Diaz (iO, Chicago & Magnet Theatre NYC). She attended Copenhagen Improv Festival in 2019 training with Jaime Moyer (Second City Hollywood & Westside Comedy, Los Angeles). During the pandemic she learned from many world practitioners online including, David Razowsky; Jay Sukow; Will Hines (UCB); Brian Palermo (The Groundlings); Michelle Gilliam (Improv MKE); Laxmi Priya (Improv Comedy Bangalore); Geoff Michalski; Aretha Sills (Viola Spolin school); Billy Merrit; Jonathan Pitts and many more.
Emma has a first class degree in English and Philosophy; PGCE in Drama and an MA in Applied Theatre from Central School of Speech and Drama.