Performer : Writer : Director : Collaborator
“Debs brilliantly captures our imaginations” – Patrick Spottiswoode, Director of Globe Education, Shakespeare’s Globe
Debs Newbold is an internationally acclaimed, multi-award winning storytelling artist who creates fresh, playful work that gets deep under the skin.
She is a performer, director, writer and trainer, in demand all over the world, working class in origin, Brummie to her core.
A fearlessly imaginative story artist Debs has worked for the last 20 years, both in collaboration and as a soloist, to create a vivid body of critically admired work that explores the human condition through theatre. Her creations are funny, deeply felt and often cathartic and the work connects with a wide range of audiences and participants.
As a performer Debs has made work for venues such as Shakespeare’s Globe, the Royal Opera House, the Southbank Centre, the RSC, Hay Festival, Peace Child International and the BBC as well as many other theatres, festivals and community spaces both in the UK and internationally. She is a trained deviser and clown as well as an experienced performer in classical roles, including Shakespeare. She was shortlisted for both an Off West End (OFFIE) and Standing Ovation Award in 2023 for her performance of Lost In Blue at the Lion & Unicorn Theatre London. Debs most recently played the lead in MUTTON, a New Writing piece by Brave Words Theatre (2023).
Debs is a world class performance storyteller and one of the UK’s leading performers in this field. Her genre-defying collaborations with renowned director John Wright (Peter Brook Award winner & founder of Told by an Idiot) have helped re-define contemporary storytelling, resulting in two internationally acclaimed shows: Under Her Skin & Lost In Blue. A third, Outrageous Fortune, due to go on National Tour in 2020 before COVID-19 hit, was made into a film in 2022. Debs works with myths, folk tales, legends and new stories and her highly celebrated trilogy of solo adaptations of Shakespeare’s tragedies have toured to international acclaim since 2014.
Debs works across genres as a writer. As well as her solo shows, Debs wrote and performed the text for Will Pound’s much-lauded gig theatre tour Through The Seasons in 2018. In the same year she also wrote and performed the monologue I Cannot Sleep (2018), part of Rusty Quill’s chart topping podcast series for Historic Royal Palaces. Her play Rising Up, inspired by the legacy of the 1819 Peterloo massacre, opened at HOME in Manchester in October 2019 before going on national tour. In 2020 Debs was commissioned by Peace Child International and the Global Food Security Programme to write four short stories in response to research into the effects of Climate Change on global food production. These stories were presented as part of a United Nations event on early 2021. In 2022 she wrote the spoken word piece The Story of US, commissioned by the NHS Trust, Plymouth and The Drive Project. The piece was premiered in a live sharing experience through which the stories of those working for the Trust were listened to and understood by senior leadership. The work was then filmed and used as a legacy piece to support cultural change for future generations of the NHS trust staff.
As a director Debs has made work for, among others: Shakespeare’s Globe Education (Merry Wives of Windsor, 2014, Shakespeare for Families, 2015-19); Creation Theatre (2020); Komola Collective (2021); Mr. Wilson’s Second Liners (2020); Durham Brass (2019); ArtsDepot (formerly The Bull Theatre, 1998-2000); Half Moon Young People’s Theatre (1998-2002); Rose Theatre Kingston (2011). She is particularly skilled at incorporating live music into her work and often uses devising techniques as part of her creative process. Her production for Creation Theatre, a site-specific musical adaptation of Bleak House (2020), garnered multiple 5 Star reviews. In 2023 she directed Chris Hannan’s adaptation of Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Crime & Punishment for Leeds Conservatoire. In 2024 Debs directed Welcome to Thebes by Moira Buffini at Leeds Carriageworks Theatre.
As dramaturg and writing mentor, Debs has recently worked with Brave Words Theatre on their play MUTTON, Corrine Harrigan and Nick Hart on Tam Lin Retold, and the award-winning folk artist Emily Portman on her forthcoming album.
Debs is also a highly skilled and experienced trainer and facilitator, working internationally alongside companies such as Shakespeare’s Globe, the Southbank Centre, Bright Torches, the Drive Project, Bravo 22, Middlesex University, BestTellers Denmark, Museum of Legends Ljungby Sweden, and many others. Debs also teaches and directs at Leeds Conservatoire.
Debs’ chief specialism and passion is Shakespeare. During her 20 year association with Shakespeare’s Globe Education Debs wrote, taught, directed and performed both for the Globe stage and for the classroom. In 2015 was made an Education Consultant, leading the training and development in narrative approaches to teaching and learning within Globe Education. During this time (2015-19) she also created and delivered storytelling training for professional actors at the Globe. This project ran for several years and saw many actors trained and supported to create storytelling performances of Shakespeare’s plays for families in the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse. As well as training the actors involved, Debs served variously as facilitator, dramaturg and director on many of these performances. The storytelling approach to Shakespeare that she initiated has significantly influenced much of the work that Globe Education now undertakes.
A Fellow of the Young Foundation, FUSE playwright at Leeds Playhouse, Storyteller-In-Residence at the English Folk Dance & Song Society, and former winner of a Scotsman Fringe First Award, Summerhall Acting Award, and the Towersey Festival Audience Award, Debs is a powerhouse story maker and uniquely skilled trainer & collaborator.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ”one unfeasibly talented woman” – Views from the Gods
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ”pulls down the spirit of Shakespeare” – StageTalk Magazine
★ ★ ★ ★ “Newbold is charismatic” – Reviews Hub
★ ★ ★ ★ “one of the UK’s top storytellers” – Broadway Baby
To download Debs’ general Biog click here.
“The best storyteller in all the kingdoms…an incredible and rare talent” – Becky Burchell, Bestival