Julia Darling (1956-2005) was a poet, playwright and fiction writer. Her collected poems published in Indelible, Miraculous (Arc, 2015) bring together her collections Sudden Collapses in Public Places and Apology for Absence along with earlier and unpublished work. Eating the Elephant & Other Plays brings together many of her works for stage and radio. It includes Attachments which was written as a play for Live Theatre and adapted to screen as Cold Calling. Julia’s two novels Crocodile Soup (1998) and The Taxi Drivers Daughter (2003) received much critical acclaim. Julia collaborated with many artists, musicians, photographers and was Fellow in Literature and Health at Newcastle University. She won various awards, most notably the Northern Rock Foundation Writers Award 2003 and in 2014 was named a Local Hero and honoured with a bronze plaque on Newcastle Gateshead Quayside. She is fondly remembered through the annual Julia Darling Travel Fellowship Award for creative writers.  For more information visit juliadarling.co.uk

Julia Darling

Writer

Barbara Williams is a writer, teacher, and choreographer from South Shields. She began writing through creative writing modules on her English Literature degree, during which she penned two plays performed by Newcastle University theatre society at venues such as Northern Stage. She went on to write jukebox musicals for South Tyneside Academy of Musical Performance during her time as head choreographer and assistant director, securing two NODA awards. Pupil Premium is her fifth play and first professional commission. Barbara has a PhD in English country house novels and currently teaches English at Whitley Bay High School.

Barbara Williams

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Writer

Alex is a writer of stage, screen and radio from Northumberland. His stage work includes the Offie Nominated ‘All In a Row’ and the West End Transfer of ‘Silk Road’. The Guardian called his work ‘lively, compassionate and darkly humorous’ and The Times ‘Sharp witted, effortlessly engaging and surprisingly sweet’. Alex co-created the award winning web series Eastenders E-20 and Match Not Found. His BBC4 Radio drama ‘Our Liam Of Lourdes’ won pick of the week and he has a feature film currently in development. Alex lives by the beach in the North of England and loves to travel throughout Europe. 

Alex Oates

Writer

Elijah is a playwright and actor from Middlesbrough. He is also an Associate Artist at Live Theatre where his writing, Fag Break, was first performed in a 10minutes to... scratch evening. He was granted the Young Writer residency at the Customs House for the Takeover festival 2019 where his play Isolation 

premiered. Since then he has his piece ‘NASA lie the Earth is flat no curve’ as a part of Three Shorts at Alphabetti Theatre. He is so thrilled about the play he has written for Yarns From Hyem and is delighted to be commissioned by a company which has supported his artistic development.

Elijah Young

Writer

An established actor, writer and director Tracy was recently awarded a Doctorate from Newcastle University. As an actor and director, she has worked with many theatre and media companies in the UK and abroad. Since moving back to the North East Tracy has worked closely with Live Theatre, Newcastle upon Tyne, including lead acting roles in A Walk on Part and Me and Cilla, and as a director and lead drama facilitator for Live Theatre’s outreach and development programmes. She is currently developing a performance project in conjunction with Live which examines a local campaign against the fossil fuel industry.

Tracy Gillman

Director

Andy Berriman

Director

Andy is a film and theatre director from Stockton-on-Tees. He co-founded the award-winning Arden Theatre Company before attending the Met Film School at Ealing Studios. He has worked as a director and video designer for, among others, Vivid Theatre, Odd Man Out & Zen Gun. In 2015 he wrote and directed the award winning BFI funded short film A Six & Two Threes, followed in 2018 by Elsewhere, starring Molly Windsor and Mark Addy. Andy is really excited to work on Yarns with Blowin’ a Hooley with their ethos of creating accessible, entertaining, relevant theatre, and offering opportunities to actors and artists living in the North East. 

Hannah Marie Davis is an actor from Bishop Auckland and graduate of Guildford School of Acting. She is an associate artist with company Nothing to Perform where she regularly collaborates with the London Film School screenwriters. She also had the opportunity to workshop and stage a TV pilot ‘Skeletons’ with N2P as part of Camden Fringe. Her credits include Ugly (Tristan Bates Theatre), A New Leaf (Old Red Lion), Five Years (The Pleasance), Othello (Cockpit Theatre & Brunel Museum), Petroleuse (Lyric Hammersmith), I’m Sorry But (Bread & Roses Theatre) and credits whilst training include The Wasp, Earthquakes in London, DNA & Road. Hannah has also worked with ‘Head and Wrecker’ productions on a music video for the band ‘On Video’ called Adversary. She is very interested in new writing and is thrilled to be working with Blowin' A Hooley on Yarns from Hyem, marking her professional debut in Newcastle.

Hannah Marie Davis

Actor

Paul Joseph

Actor

Paul Joseph trained at National Youth Theatre, Bretton Hall and Mountview. 

Theatre credits include: One for the Road (Frinton Summer Theatre & Jermyn Street Theatre); Every Now and Then (Arcola); My Imaginary Friend Patrick Stewart (Theatre 503); Jerusalem (West End); One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (Leicester Curve); Faith and Cold Reading (Live Theatre); Beware Soft Mud (Old Vic/Vineyard Theater, New York); Riders to the Sea (ENO/Coliseum); Branded (Old Vic); 24 Hour Plays (Old Vic); Reverence (Southwark Playhouse); Macbeth (Pleasance). Film and TV include: The Last Hours of Laura K (BBC); Holby City (BBC); Doctors (BBC); Wire in the Blood (ITV); Rollin’ with the Green (Northern Film & Media); Mr Dorothy (Gabriel Bisset-Smith). 

Radio: Brave Old World (BBC Radio 4) 

Full CV: www.pauljoseph.org.uk

Harriet Ghost

Actor/ Producer

Harriet is from the West end of Newcastle and discovered her love of theatre in a local community group at the age of 13, playing 'Third Witch' in Macbeth from under a blanket. As a chronically shy teen, Harriet considered a Psychology Degree at Liverpool University a ‘safer’ option but her passion for acting overpowered her nerves and in 2011 she trained at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, New York, choosing crippling debt and pipe dreams over job security. Since her return to the UK, Harriet has worked in film, TV and theatre with recent credits including Ken Loach features Sorry We Missed You and I, Daniel Blake and ITV’s Vera. As co-founder of Blowin’ A Hooley, Harriet is dedicated to supporting talent in the North East and making theatre more accessible to non-theatre-goers.

Sam Stafford

Actor

Since the age of five, Sam has always loved performing. Whether that be on the stage or singing in the shower. Growing up, Sam has devised, written and performed in comedies and sketch shows. After graduating from LAMDA in 2019, Sam has recently finished recording The Waringham Chronicles at Audible and just completed a run of The Prince of Homburg at The Space in London. Sam is so excited to be back home and working with Blowin’ A Hooley Theatre, and cannot wait to share these brilliant shows with the North East.

Michaela is from Gateshead and trained at Manchester School of Theatre, graduating in 2018. She has since performed at The Royal Exchange as part of Co:Lab Festival, in a devised piece of immersive theatre. She performed in the West End Tour of ‘Mary Stuart’ directed by Robert Icke at The Lowry, Salford and most recently she played Candy in ‘Vignettes’ at Hope Mill Theatre, Manchester. Michaela is also a spoken word artist and was selected to perform her own writing in ‘SHOOK’ in the West End at Above The Arts Theatre, Covent Garden. Before training in Manchester, Michaela performed at Live Theatre in ‘The Heights’ directed by Phil Hoffman. She also performed in a number of other plays and musicals in venues across the North East with Niceswan Theatre Company from 2009-2014. She is absolutely delighted to be back in the North East and working with new writing and a fantastic creative team.

Michaela Forbes

Actor

Micky had no aspirations to be an actor until he was kicked out of an art lesson and made to sit in on a drama class; a punishment that re-directed a troubled youth to pursue a career in the arts. The Tyne and Wear-born actor graduated with an HND in Drama, Applied Theatre and Education in 2010 and has been honing his talent ever since. Micky’s early credits are predominantly for the stage before his TV debut in CBBC series Wolfblood in 2016. That same year, he landed the part of Ivan in Ken Loach’s I, Daniel Blake, and was delighted to work with Loach again in 2018 on Sorry We Missed You. In 2019 Micky was selected as one of 21 actors nationally for the BAFTA Elevate programme, designed to support people from under represented groups in the film and TV industry with a bespoke 12-month programme focused on professional development. As co-founder of Blowin’ A Hooley, Micky is passionate about creating opportunities for local talent and making theatre more accessible.

Micky McGregor

Actor/ Producer