Ellie Macdonald

Pronouns: She/Her/They

As opportunities to participate in mainstream theatre have been limited by my background, I have sought to create my own spaces to explore theatre. In terms of experience, I have produced and directed queer performance takeovers at the Pitt Rivers Museum’s annual ‘Party at the Pitt’ LGBT History Month celebration and the first ever ‘Pride in the Chilterns’ event. As both spaces were challenging to navigate, both physically and metaphorically, I worked carefully on how to “queer” the cisgendered, heteronormative, colonial space of the institution. In doing so, I drew upon the rich history of queer street performance, having roving queer performers interact with audiences throughout the night, as well as having a mainstage among the collections. In the run up to the events. I have also worked extensively within cabaret, producing my own shows to fundraise for vulnerable QTIPOC youth projects. I have also been able to insert immersive elements into these performances in order to engage even the most reluctant of spectators and make stigmatised subjects more accessible.

I am eager to gain more experience in traditional theatre spaces, as well as gain more experience in working with VR and immersive performance. I would like to create pieces in the future that place the audience in a participatory position or challenge them to consider their status as observers. For me, deconstructing the invisible social barriers around audience participation has always been an intriguing concept. Additionally,

I also am interested in work that has a more integrative approach to other artforms. Drag, circus, voguing and burlesque, to name a few, are often ghettoised to small local circuits, and the potential they have within theatre has often been overlooked. Art created within these spaces is often risk-taking, experimental, community-creating and exposes the human condition in a different way than traditional theatre. It also often challenges an audience to reconsider their preconceived notions about the marginalised communities these art forms come from.

I am actively looking for mentorship within this industry, especially from directors who have experimented with different forms of storytelling, or used game mechanics within live theatre. I am excited about the utility of audience choice within different pieces of theatre work, a concept which hopefully will become more integrated within even more traditional productions.

Credits

Training