Debs makes highly visual, playful and affecting theatre with storytelling at its heart. A director with a keen dramaturgical eye, Debs is equally at ease working with classical texts, new writing and devising. Her work and approach is always focused on playfulness and is particularly influenced by her extensive collaborations with John Wright and her work at Shakespeare’s Globe.
Debs is highly experienced in working with musicians. A recent project, Promised Land, turned an underground supermarket loading bay into an early ’90s rave with all the music played live on brass instruments. Her most recent project is a musical adaptation of a classic novel on which Debs is working closely with the MD Joseph Atkins and a cast of actor-musicians.
In early 2020 Debs directed Olivia Mace’s adaptation of Bleak House for Creation Theatre, in a site specific production for the historic Norrington Room of Blackwell’s Bookshop, Oxford.
“rich and nuanced” – ★★★★ , StageTalk Magazine
“The ingenuity of the staging…under the direction of Debs Newbold fleshes out the mammoth bones of [t]his tale with colour, wit and style“, Henley Standard
“I loved it. Newbold’s background as a storyteller is abundantly clear in her direction…a joy to watch“, Abstract Marks
Debs also recently directed Rising Up. The play, Debs’ debut as a playwright with songs by Sean Cooney, premiered at HOME Manchester, on 16th and 17th October 2019 before going on national tour.
“visceral and affecting…a piece of theatre that needs to be seen and heard”
Dominic Walsh, At The Barrier
Rising Up, performed by actors Joanna Holden and Helen O’Hara and musicians Lucy Farrell, Sam Carter and Jim Molyneux, will embark on a second national tour in 2021.
Debs Newbold Selected Directing Credits
2020 BLEAK HOUSE, Blackwell’s Bookshop, Oxford, Creation Theatre
2019 RISING UP, HOME Manchester & UK Tour, Manchester Folk Expo & HOME
2019, THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM (R&D), Stratford Circus, Komola Collective
2019 PROMISED LAND, Durham International Brass Festival, Mr Wilson’s Second Liners
2018-19 FERAL, UK Tour, Canopy Productions
2018 (as co-director) HOW TO BE AMAZINGLY HAPPY, Lawrence Batley Theatre/Edinburgh Fringe, Victoria Firth
2018 CLASS MATES, Square Chapel Halifax (rehearsed reading), Draycott-Trimm
2015 – 18 SHAKESPEARE’S STORIES, Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, Shakespeare’s Globe Education
2014 THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR (asst. director), Shakespeare’s Globe, Shakespeare’s Globe Education
2014 KING LEAR RETOLD, Shakespeare’s Globe & UK Tour, Debs Newbold/Shakespeare’s Globe Education
2013 (as co-director) HER CONJURING VOICE with Emily Portman, Kings Place, Alan Bearman Music
2011 THE SNOW QUEEN TRAIL, Rose Theatre Kingston
