My research interests centre on performance practice, especially directing, acting (and how these are brought together through rehearsal), devising and performer training. My recent research has focussed on Odin Teatret and now especially concerns contemporary directors and directing, and performance-making practices.

I published a monograph on contemporary directing, The Director and Directing: Craft, Process and Aesthetic in Contemporary Theatre (Palgrave Macmillan, 2019) and have since co-edited work, including a journal special edition on contemporary director training, and Making Interdisciplinary Performance: Processes and Practices in Collaboration (with Prof Gianna Bouchard).

My monograph A Question of Skill: Acting and Directing in Contemporary Theatre will be published by Bloomsbury in 2025.

My ongoing practice as research activities includes work with The Bone Ensemble, where I am co-artistic director. Recently, the company created work for the Commonwealth Games cultural programme, and is now creating a 'gig theatre' performance 'The Islander', in collaboration with island communities internationally. This work has regularly been funded by Arts Council England, the University of Birmingham, several Trusts, and commissioning partners. 

Before joining the department at Birmingham, I was a Lecturer in Drama and Theatre Studies at University College Cork, Ireland, and a Lecturer in Drama at the University of Hull.

Alongside my academic work, I have directed and led projects internationally in a variety of situations and settings, including professional productions and tours, in drama schools and universities, in the community and with my own company.

I am a member of the 'scientific committee' of the Journal of Theatre Anthropology, and the 'Ship of Fools' scholarly collective.

I have acted as external examiner for universities internationally, and have collaborated with European and Indian universities.