NHS YARNS

Rogelio Braga

Rogelio Braga is an exiled playwright, novelist, essayist, publisher, and a human rights activist from the Philippines. They had published two novels, a collection of short stories, and a book of plays before they left the archipelago in 2018. They was a fellow of the Asian Cultural Council in New York to research in 2017 on the narratives of dispossession, ethnic conflicts, and nationalist tensions in Southeast Asia for their theatre practice. Their first play written entirely in English, Miss Philippines, is currently under development commissioned by the New Earth Theatre in London.

Braga is a Project Manager of Kanlungan Filipino Consortium, a migrant’s rights charity while co-chairs the Status Now Network, a coalition of almost a hundred organizations across the UK campaigning for the regularization of all undocumented migrants and those in the legal process living in the country. They is currently doing their MPhil/PhD in English and Humanities for a practice-based PhD in creative writing (novel) at the School of Arts, Birkbeck, University of London on a research project on the diasporic nationalist identity formation of Filipino migrants in the UK.

Naomi Joseph

Naomi is a theatre-maker, writer and actor.

Recent commissions include: Letters To Hope (Lights Up, Arts at the Old Fire Station), Bridge Explorers! (a Bridge Explore and Test Commission, Creative Barking and Dagenham in partnership with Imagineer Productions)

Previous work includes: Criteria, (TeaFilms, BIAFF Diamond Trophy Award Winner), a spoken word short which examines cultural identity and bereavement. Its companion theatre piece, Motherland, has been performed at various venues including Redbridge Drama Centre, JW3, Omnibus and the Lyric Hammersmith)

Naomi also works extensively in role play and communications and has worked with the police, the NHS and corporate companies.

Butshilo Nleya

Butshilo Nleya is a Zimbabwean dramatist, director, festival curator, and teacher of dance and drumming. He has lived and worked in the UK since 2002 creatively engaging with his heritage against a backdrop of identity politics and interculturalism. At the heart of his practice is the pursuit of the story which he attributes to growing up in a multi-ethnicity township with regular visits to his ancestral village and extended family. In 2020 he rewrote Anna Mudeka’s biographical play Kure Kure Far Away directed by David Farmer. The same year he graduated from the University of York where he honed his writing. There, he wrote Words as Bullets premiering at the York Festival of Ideas and performed at the Great Yorkshire Fringe. He also co-wrote Three Women Walk into a Bar; which celebrated invisible women in York’s history. His short absurdist play 379 Gukurahundi on the Ndebele 1980s genocide received a reading at Culture Word Manchester. Butshilo is an ISPA global fellow and completed the RYTDS directing residential. His other works include workshops and performances working with schools, MIND, Mencap, Trestle theatre, The Old Town Hall, WOMAD festival, Princes Trust, British Council, Underbelly festival, and extensive work in Zimbabwe.

Gail Egbeson

Gail Egbeson is a 26-year-old writer-performer. Her first play “Jollof Court” started its life as her Master’s Dissertation and later went on to headline Lagos Fringe 2019 and Lagos Theatre Festival 2020. It has also been performed in renowned theatres in London such as Lyric Hammersmith, Bunker Theatre and Theatre Peckham. An extract of “JOLLOF COURT” was commissioned into a full-length youth adaptation in 2019 titled “JOLLOF WARS” which toured for Black History Month at community theatres and schools within London.

From there, JOLLOF WARS gained a sold-out run at Vault Festival 2020 which recieved recommendations from Lyn Gardner and Time Out London as the festival's top picks. Gail is currently part of The Mercury Playwrights Development Program in association with Josef Weinberger Plays where she is creating a brand new full length play.

Guleraana Mir

Guleraana Mir is an award-winning writer, theatre practitioner and one half of The Thelmas, a female-led theatre company devoted to empowering women to redress the equality imbalance in the arts. She is passionate about telling authentic stories that celebrate, not stereotype.

Writing credits include: Santi & Naz, VAULT Festival 2020, The Bigger Picture (audio) as part of Decolonising History 2019, commissioned by Tamasha and SOAS, University of London, We’re Just Getting Started, Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester 2019, Make Noise (audio) as part of Forgotten Women 2018, Mano’s, Mulberry School & RichMix 2018, and Coconut, Ovalhouse and national tour 2018. Guleraana’s play Misfits (co-written with Kenny Emson, Sadie Hasler and Anne Odeke) premieres at Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch in November 2020 - More info here

Thom Petty

Thom grew up in the North-west of England and studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh. He went on to specialise in anaesthesia and has worked in the NHS for the last 15 years. He went on to train as an actor at LAMDA and his professional credits include Les Liaisons Dangereuses (Donmar Warehouse), 1984 (West End), Mary Queen of Scots (Working Title) and The Drifters (Starcross Entertainment). As a writer, Thom’s first full length play COAST was a finalist in the 2019 Platform Presents Playwright Prize and his short film CHACONNE won Best Short Film Screenplay at Amsterdam International Film Festival. His poem HOSPITAL SONNET, written in April this year when he was working in intensive care during the pandemic, was broadcast on ITV and is being curated by Hydrocracker as part of a larger project. His short film REST IN, filmed during lockdown, received an Honourable Mention at the UK Seasonal Short Film Festival. Thom’s work explores class divides and the meeting of art and science.

Photo Credit: Pete Bartlett