Paul Jenkins

Paul is a professional theatre director and performance maker based in Cardiff. He has created and collaborated with Sherman Theatre, Birmingham Rep, The Globe & performance ensembles such as Gob Squad and Belarus Free Theatre. He has worked as an actor, director and writer with The Factory theatre company for over 10 years. His interests include Shakespeare, documentary and verbatim performance, contemporizing classics and immersive, interactive & site-specific live theatre events.

Theatre credits include:

LOVE Cardiff – 50 YEARS OF YOUR STORIES – writer and co-creator of large-scale participatory theatre project involving 5 communities and over 50 participants celebrating the diversity of Cardiff and the Jewish immigrant ‘Sherman Brothers’ who founded Sherman Theatre. 2023.

PORT TALBOT GOTTA BANKSY – verbatim project telling the community’s story of Banksy’s “Season’s Greetings”. Large R&D with Sherman Theatre Summer 2023. Supported by Arts Council Wales, Sherman Theatre & Port Talbot Plaza. Mentored by Alecky Blythe. 2023.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eo_0KdPecUs

TWENTY16 – verbatim performance ensemble of 20 sixteen-year-olds from mid-Wales theatricalizing their experiences of 2016 (Brexit, Trump, etc). Theatr Iolo & The Welfare, Ystradgynlais. Short-listed Wales Theatre Awards 2017.

https://www.theatriolo.com/paul-jenkins-and-tracy-harris

THESE TREES ARE MADE OF BLOOD – political cabaret performance based on ‘The Mothers of The Disappeared’ of the Argentine ‘Dirty War’. Co-created with director Amy Draper & composer Darren Clark. Southwark Playhouse & Arcola, London 2017.

PROJECT IKARUS – Devised contemporary take on the classic myth of Icarus, retelling refugees experiences. International Theatre Forum Sofia 2018. Invitation to Meyerhold Institute, Moscow 2020/21. Supported by Wales Arts International.

AS YOU LIKE IT – RSC Open Stages with Sherman Theatre, 2016.

US PROCLAIMED – assistant director & dramaturg on devised project with Mess Up The Mess. Directed by Gethin Evans 2017.

THE CHERRY ORCHARD – assistant to Rachel O’Riordan on radical re-imagining of Chekhov’s classic by Gary Owen. Sherman Theatre 2017.

As writer/performer includes:

JULIUS CAESAR – playing Caska/Trebonius in The Factory’s improvised/immersive production at Marylebone Theatre, London & Willow Globe, 2023.

SONNET SUNDAY – performer/maker in immersive promenade performance of all Shakespeare’s Sonnets in and around The Globe London, 2019.

THE ODYSSEY – performer in interactive and improvised version of Homer’s classic. The Factory/Creation Theatre, directed by Tim Carroll.

EUREPICA – commission by Belarus Free Theatre to write a short as part of an invited group of European playwrights. Performed Minsk, Stockholm and The Almeida 2011.

Awards & residencies:

FEAR OF DROWNING – runner up Wales Drama Award 2012 (writer).
FIRST PERSON SHOOTER – produced by Birmingham Rep, nominated for Meyer-Whitworth writing award 2010 (writer)
NATURAL SELECTION – winner Kings Cross new writing award 2005.

• – Wales/Germany dramaturg exchange programme with National Theatre Wales & Goethe Institute, 2019.
• – BBC Writers Academy: story structure training with John Yorke. Episodes of Doctors, Eastenders & Casualty.
• –  Creative Wales Award: Drama that Breathes (an exploration of interactive performance) with Coney, Tim Crouch, The Globe, Grotowski Institute, Belarus Free Theatre.
• –  Artist in residence at Alma Alter 2010-2012. Experimental theatre laboratory lead by Nikolai Giorgiev in Sofia, Bulgaria.
• –  Associate Artist, International Forum, Berlin Theatertreffen 2009.
• –  National Theatre studio attachments 2009 & 2011.
• –  JMK directors programme 2017/18 at Sherman Theatre.

Workshop leader & teaching:

GAMTA (Glasgow Academy of Musical Theatre Arts) – acting tutor. Director: Love and Money (Year 2) & Our Town (Year 1)
Sherman Theatre – community theatre group leader
NT New Views & Bristol Old Vic – workshop/programme leader on playwriting prog for 14-18 year olds. Bath Spa University – lecturer in script & performance 2014-2016.

Training:

3 year acting diploma @ Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art. MA Writing for Performance @ Goldsmiths College, London. PGCE post-compulsory education @ Greenwich University.

Current details of Paul’s work can be found at www.theatr3.com