I write to promote diversity and equality in the Arts. I work in a job that keeps my mind open on a daily basis. As an Academic Advisor (disabled students) at Royal Holloway University I support PHD, Master and Bachelor students across a variety of subjects from Maths and Physics to Geography and Psychology to Creative Writing and Philosophy with their academic writing. As a member of HCPC and NADP, I'm passionate about providing individual interventions to empower HE students and graduates to manage their mental health in relation to their academic progression, independent learning and self management. Around my practice and my arts writing I am a screenwriter/poet and I direct films. I work with a collective of artists, musicians, sound designers, photographers and filmmakers: Melu Bel Productions. We embrace our diversity and clumsiness! As a synesthete with dyslexia, I write in a multi-sensory way and my feature film is in development with a BAFTA winning, Oscar nominated Producer.
Posts by Elinor Rowlands
Milly Thomas, Dust: closer to sensationalism than sensational
August 11, 2017In-yer-face yet still so distant: Elinor Rowlands reviews Dust by Milly Thomas currently playing at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Dust centres on Alice who witnesses the aftermath of her own suicide. The play grew out of Thomas’ own experience of depression. It is challenging for the audience to connect with Alice ...
Anatomy of a Suicide: three generations of women repeating tales of distress across several decades
July 3, 2017Alice Birch’s experimental play, directed by Katie Mitchell, explores the lives of three generations of women. Currently on show at Royal Court, London Anatomy of a Suicide is reviewed by Elinor Rowlands Alice Birch writer of Anatomy of Suicide, says that she is interested in whether trauma can be passed on ...
Door Ajar Theatre Company’s Thisbe, with integrated BSL
March 6, 2017Door Ajar Theatre Company’s Thisbe is a follow-up to Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, set 14 years after Helena and Demetrius, were lost in the woods. The show features integrated sign language in every performance and played at Theatre Royal, Stratford East 21 - 25 February 2017. Thisbe takes off from ...
Chloë Plumb on the balancing act of mental health representation in the arts
February 21, 2017Balancing Acts ran last month at VAULT festival and was a result of a collaboration between Kaleido Film Collective and Feral Foxy Ladies. Two free workshops in February explore mental health with a particular focus on depression and ways of coping through an introduction to different expressive practices such as ...
Vaults Festival presents Balancing Acts – a textured tale of depression
January 30, 2017Balancing Acts is a subtle yet powerful piece of new writing from the Kaleido Film Collective and Feral Foxy Ladies, part video installation, part physical theatre and part confessional memoir, delivered by Katherine Vince at the Network Theatre, as part of the Vaults Festival. Review by Elinor Rowlands. What is so ...
In Conversation: Portraits Untold: A Celebration
December 13, 2016On 1 December, National Portrait Gallery played host to an event celebrating the culmination of Tanya Raabe-Webber’s Portraits Untold. The project saw four prominent cultural figures in Dame Evelyn Glennie, John Akomfrah OBE, David Hoyle, and Neil Baldwin sit for Raabe-Webber in four different cultural venues and have their portraits created ...
Shining a light on Bobby Baker and Daily Life Ltd
May 11, 2016Letting in the Light, a light-box exhibition organised by Bobby Baker’s charity Daily Life Ltd, lit up the streets of Stratford during the dark winter months of this year and showcased the work of artists who have experienced mental distress. Elinor Rowlands spoke to her about the impact of the ...
Noëmi Lakmaier – Cherophobia
March 21, 2016Artist Noëmi Lakmaier’s latest piece, Cherophobia takes the form of a 48-hour long live durational performance which will see Lakmaier suspended in mid-air using 20,000 helium balloons as part of the Unlimited Festival in September. Elinor Rowlands speaks to her about the roles of discomfort and control in her work. Noëmi ...
Amit Sharma – ‘The Solid Life of Sugar Water’
February 23, 2016Since premiering at 2015’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival, The Solid Life of Sugar Water has picked up rave reviews from national and festival press. Elinor Rowlands caught up with Amit Sharma, the show’s director, ahead of a three week run at the National Theatre in London from 26 February to 19 ...
Siege Mentality – Kate Lovell talks about Bread & Goose’s latest production
January 25, 2016In the latest instalment of the #Viewfinder peer-to-peer interviews, Elinor Rowlands quizzes writer and director Kate Lovell about Siege, her company’s latest project, and disability representation on stage. Theatre Company Bread & Goose is led by Alison Neighbour (Designer/Scenographer) and Kate Lovell (Writer/Director). For Lovell it all began when she went to ...
