About

I am a creative interested in performance, media and participative methodologies. I work across a range of participation and participative platforms  in a variety of settings: from community training projects through to installations and performances.  I set up the community theatre, art and media company ‘MetaPlay’ in 2005, to deliver projects in and with communities and groups to improve access and training in the Arts. Alongside Metaplay, I have been developing my own site-specific, participatory and intimate arts performance practice.

Since moving from London, I started The Poetry Brothel Hastings which has been a delight. We have a small rotating cast of regular, locally based spoken word artists and poets, and we invite a musician and a burlesque artist to guest with us.

Last summer, I also started a more public facing, much looser collective called The Wild Poets: Ecology, Nature, Connection which has its own life, is less cabaret, more experimental and which is still finding its wings.

Both of these collectives build on the work I did as co-founder and director of  The Crimson Word, a poetry collective for shows and events exploring multi-sensory, immersive and intimate poetry and as a regular  performer before lockdown at The Poetry Brothel London and with The Bloody Poets . I have performed intimate 1-2-1  poetry in Barcelona, Berlin, Utrecht, Antwerp, Amsterdam and South Africa. 

My 1-2-1 pop up poetry show TIME=MONEY won an Arts Council award for ‘most promising new company’ in 2013.

I am no longer updating the following performances and appearances page. Please follow me on instagram at debra.watson  or on fb at debrawatsonperformanceandpoetry 

for more information on what I have going on. There are always links on instagram to events that I am doing.