Tam Gilbert is a writer, Performance Artist and drama facilitator at Bournemouth-based Persuasion Arts, which she established in 2012. She is also Co-Director at Millstream Theatre, a company for learning disabled actors which is based at Priest's House Museum, in Wimborne.
Posts by Tam Gilbert

Sensing Helen: Dorset History Centre: Training and Initial Research…
January 17, 2018My second blog post comes slightly later than I would have liked; so much has happened in the last few months, it has taken a while to process! The Sensing Helen project is now well underway. We’ve finished our Research, which took us out of Dorset and on a road-trip to ...

Sensing Helen: the story so far…
October 18, 2017It began with a playreading two years ago. Friend and fellow Artist Michele O’Brien and I sat down to read William Gibson’s The Miracle Worker. I was instantly struck with Helen Keller’s childhood story – how she developed a communication system with companion Anne Sullivan – enabling her to interact ...

Jamie Beddard: from sociologist to top-class theatre director and disability arts activist – how did he get there?
April 4, 2017Theatre-maker Tam Gilbert looks back on Jamie Beddard’s glittering career so far, from humble beginnings as a youth worker, to playing a starring role in the National Theatre’s production of the Threepenny Opera in 2016. He’ll return to the stage as The Messiah for a special performance of Handel’s classic ...

Myrtle Theatre Company and Salisbury Playhouse ‘Up Down Man’
March 31, 2016Up Down Man was at Salisbury Playhouse 24 February - 12 March 2016. It tells the moving story of a family struggling with bereavement. Centred around 29 year old Matty Butler (Nathan Bessell), who has Down’s Syndrome, Brendan Murray’s stand-alone play follows on from Myrtle Theatre Company’s 2010 production Up Down Boy (by ...