Natalie wrote and directed her first play, Is That Baby What (2010), whilst studying towards an MA in English Literature at the University of Aberdeen. She graduated in 2012 with the George Bruce Prize for Creative Writing, the Seafield Medal for English Literature and the Margaret Doughtery Essay Prize. Natalie is part of the Traverse Young Writers and has had several short plays showcased at the Traverse. These include Do You Know Where Your Daughter Is? (2013), Sour (2014) and Dogface (2014). A reading of Natalie’s newest play All That Is (2015), will be presented at the Galway International Festival by Druid.
0131 629 0292
info@strangetown.org.uk
Meet more of the Team
Daniel Orejon
Daniel Orejon is a theatremaker and performer. He has been commissioned by the Edinburgh Multilingual Stories Festival and collaborated with Scottish Youth Theatre and the Edinburgh International Science Festival. He is the artistic director of the Crested Fools, with whom he has created award-nominated show The Rotting Hart. He specialises in projects that focus on multiculturalism, queerness and mental health, with a special fondness for all things Hispanic.
Ellie Duncan
Ellie is a Scottish theatre-maker, facilitator and performer, who graduated with a First Class BA (Hons) in Drama and Dance with Kingston University and Edinburgh College in 2023.
Ellie has been involved in the industry from a very young age and has experience and training in both Film and Stage. Ellie is fascinated about moments of history and implementing that into her work. In 2023, she wrote and co-directed her own show ‘The Fool’ which was set in the regency era and performed in The Voodoo Rooms.
Ellie enjoys exploring theatre through improvisation and play and strives to create work that activates the voice of young people, whilst having a lot of fun in the process.
Sophia Irvine-Fortescue
Sophia is the Workshop Assistant for the Friday 5-7s Intro to Drama and Friday 8-12s Theatre Skills classes.
Marion Geoffray
Marion Geoffray is a performer, theatre-maker and creative practitioner with over ten years of experience in the performing arts industry. She is also the director of Theatre Sans Accents, a bilingual theatre company in Edinburgh that produces original performances with/for International diverse artists based in Scotland. She’s interested in exploring themes of identity, communication, home and relationships while playing with cultural, linguistic and geographical boundaries. Her practice is predominantly devised, ensemble-based, collaborative, multi-sensory and playful, but she recently started to explore writing as a starting point of her creative process.
Recent credits include: Spring! (director), Out of the Box devised with Lyra young artists, MEuseum (Imaginate/MCFB Where We Are project), MARYLAND (performer), Arts in Tongues (producer and creative lead – winner of CE Collaboration Award), Danger Duvall: Space/Time Adventurer (co-creator & performer) and KNOTS (creator and performer), Lost in Translation: A Bilingual Journey (co-creator & performer)
Pollyanna Esse
Pollyanna has worked with Strange Town for 2 years assisting various workshops. She graduated from Edinburgh University in 2022 with a Fine Art degree and is now training to be an Art Physiotherapist.
She has worked in theatre throughout her life and found her love for directing and producing in her final year of her undergraduate degree. In 2022, she wrote and directed her own Fringe show, going on to work for a New York based Theatre company. There she produced a programme for young and emerging playwrights as well as taking their show to Fringe in 2023. Some of the playwrights she mentored have now been commission to write for multiple theatres in New York. She has always had a love for arts education and giving people the space and opportunity to express themselves.
She has worked for Edinburgh International Festival for the past 2 years as their Digital Content Officer. So she has an strong organisation head too as well as being a creative at heart!
She recently set up Ophelia Hare Arts, where she aims to develop creative experiences that challenge the barriers of pay for early career creatives. She believes that no matter who you are, you should have access to the arts and experience the freedom of expression.
James Beagon
Youth Theatre Manager
James is a director, playwright and creative learning facilitator who has lived and worked in Edinburgh for over a decade.
He has worked with Strange Town since 2015 and has written and directed a number of Strange Town productions including Stolen Futures (Traverse Theatre, June 2019) Beneath the Surface (Traverse Theatre, June 2022), Heart of the Storm & Something Special (Scottish Storytelling Centre, Dec 2021), Over the Waves (Traverse Theatre, June 2023) and My Kind of Weird (Traverse Theatre, June 2024). In addition to his role as Youth Theatre Manager, he leads the Tuesday 8-25s and Wednesday 11-14s youth theatre groups.
Previous credits with his own group Aulos Productions include the award-winning Fringe productions First Class (2014) and Gobland for the Goblins (2017) and the award-nominated Women of the Mourning Fields (2015) and Antigone na hEireann (2018).
James has worked extensively as a freelance drama practitioner with companies including East Lothian Youth Theatre, Lyceum Youth Theatre, Youth Theatre Arts Scotland, Theatre Sans Accents and Acting Out Drama School.
He holds an MFA in Directing from Edinburgh Napier and an M.A. (Hons) in Ancient and Medieval History from Edinburgh University and has run workshops and guest-lectured at both institutions.
