Goldsmiths - University of London

Sue Mayo

SUE MAYO is a freelance theatre maker, and Associate tutor on the MA in Applied Theatre.

Sue completed her B.A. in Drama and Theatre Arts at the University of Birmingham, and then worked a s a performer for ten years, including work at The Lyric Theatre Belfast, the Young Vic, Upstream Children’s Theatre, and Theatre Royal Stratford East.  During this time she continued her training in contemporary dance at The Place, the Laban centre, and X6 Dance Space.  Sue founded Still Standing Dance Theatre with dancer Jane Mooney, and the company won the Bass Ireland Arts award for its contribution to the arts in Ireland.

She subsequently developed her work as a writer and director, working increasingly within Community and Education settings. Sue spent three years as Artistic Director of the Young National Trust Theatre, creating site specific theatre performed in National Trust properties throughout England. She first worked with Magic Me, the UK’s leading intergenerational arts provider, in 2003, and is now Associate Artist within the organisation. Sue developed their work at the Women’s Library, now in its 8^th year, (www.magicme.co.uk).

Sue continues her freelance work, most recently with LIFT on ‘Eat London’, and it’s LIFT living Archive projects, with Full Circle Productions on ‘Another Kind of Silence’, (Edinburgh 2009), and ‘Blooming Snapdragons’, (The Curve, Norwich, and the Royal Society, London 2010),  and as a consultant and trainer, evaluating the National Trust’s ‘London Voices’ project, training artists at the Geffrye Museum, and leading professional development workshops for Magic Me.  She was consultant to the Artists of Bangladeshi Origin network, and the Somali Housing Association intergenerational initiative. Sue has written five libretti for the composer Francis Grier, and edited four editions of prose and poetry by community groups.

In 2011/12 Sue will be working with project Phakama, LIFT, Magic Me and the 2012 Cultural Olympiad.

Sue has taught at Rose Bruford, South London Theatre School, Selly Oak College and Queen Mary University of London.  She is on the Board of Talawa Theatre Company, having previously served on the Boards of Trestle Theatre and Leap Theatre Workshop. She was a founder member of the Refugees and the Arts Initiative

Research Interests:

Work with elders and in intergenerational settings

The role of the artist when facilitating

Cross cultural and post colonial issues within the creative space

The nature of the community created in workshops and rehearsal spaces

The meaning of heritage in the 21^st Century.

Publications

Sharing the Experience, a handbook on intergenerational work, with Langford S.

ISBN 0-9538680-I-X

Chapter, ‘A Fresh Look’, in Enticing the Learning, by Staley Dr J

ISBN 0 704426 072 978807 04426078

Chapter, ‘The touring performance’, in No Longer Dead to me, Ed. Woodhead S. & Tinniswood A.  ISBN 0 7078 02660

Many Connections -article for the Journal for Education in Museums, March 2006

Case study for the Group for Education in Museums, December 2009

Engaging Elders-participation and learning n the Heritage sector: Paper for Local Studies Group, CILIP, June 2009

Bouncing off and Diving in: participatory  work with the LIFT living archive. Paper resented to the CILIP special collections conference, Lanacster 2010

Beyond nostalgia: the temporary community in intergenerational work

Paper presented at TaPRA 2010