About Tamara

Oh hello, I’m Tamara.

I’m a writer, performer and theatre-maker who lives in London and hails from Vancouver.

I’ve been described as ‘laugh-out-loud’ (Vancouver Presents) and a ‘wonderful raconteur’ (There Ought to be Clowns) with ‘stylistic audacity’ (Georgia Straight).

I create solo shows, live performances and plays that draw from my background in acting, playwriting, comedy, improvisation and dance. My work often looks at the past (and the present) in new ways by foregrounding lesser known stories and characters, especially women. I’ve made shows about East End music hall star Marie Lloyd (Wink the Other Eye), Mary Shelley (Fantasmagoriana), my own grandparents (What You’re Missing) and South London teenagers in the postwar years and today (A Secret Life).

I see theatre as vital as a live, communal experience in a world which often divides and separates us. My work explores intergenerational dialogue and, centring on relationship and emotion, strives to encourage collective healing and solidarity. My new solo show, Holocaust Brunch, looks at the ways we remember and talk about the Holocaust (and don’t) and asks: how can we honour the past whilst breaking free from it?

Holocaust Brunch is currently in development with support from Camden People’s Theatre, JW3, the British Columbia Arts Council and Chutzpah! Festival for the Performing Arts. I’ve previously worked with the Bush Theatre, Theatre503, Hackney Showroom, King’s Head Theatre and C Venues (Edinburgh Fringe). My work has been nominated by the Jessie Richardson Theatre Awards, longlisted by the BBC Writersroom Scriptroom and awarded the Lucy Cavendish College Alumnae Award for Contribution to the Arts.

I have trained in acting at the Royal Central School of Speech & Drama, studied and performed longform improv with Monkey Toast UK and completed the Royal Court Young Writer’s Programme. I also have degrees in literature from Yale and Cambridge universities.

In the future, I’d love to make shows in other languages (I speak French, Spanish and some Dutch).

What else can I tell you? I’m vegan, left-handed, a cyclist, an activist, a diehard novel reader, and culinarily acclaimed.