As a young writer I was angry with injustices in the world and thought it was my duty to write about these horrors to inform the audience. My aim was to produce one long scream on stage. Doing this might have felt important and meaningful, and possibly shocked some audiences, but invariably the message only reached people thinking just like me. My bubble.

A very special encounter with artist Enrique Vargas changed my attitude completely. I realised that a gentle, kind approach to the audience had an incredibly powerful impact. So, over the years I have worked with audience awareness and attention. And by applying a method of gentle inclusion in my shows I endeavour to create experiences that gives the audience the opportunity to reflect, feel and partake on their own terms. Every audience member matters.

Artists have the wonderful privilege of exploring and channeling the human experience in ways that can be communicated to others in poetic, absurd, mythological and narrative forms. Artists are alchemists, analysts, bin-men, shamans, shape-shifter, soap-box preachers, gardeners and detectives. In my work every person contributing to the performance is an artist. Each actor, sound designer and administrator contributes to the synergy of creative ideas that becomes a unique performance.

You need to cross town at a specific time, acquire a ticket and assemble with stangers for a couple of hours in a space with limited seating. That’s theatre. It is seems like such a time and energy consuming experience, compared with the cornucopia of dopamine hits offered on the screen in your pocket.

So, what do you get in return? At the core of each performance is presents. The theatre experience is taking place right now in a shared, physical space. A performance allows you to let go of all societal distractions and invites you to immerse yourself in one story, one subject for a while. An experience just for you. A performance is about you being allowed to reflect with strangers on a shared subject. A performance connects you with history, with human questions, with otherness and recognition. With all our ansestors who have shared stories throughout time. A performance is a radically human experience.

Without stories there is chaos. Nothing has meaning. Every person tells a story about who they are and what they do in the world. When an unexpected event happens in the person’s story – like a divorce, job loss, illness – this story breaks down. We call this a crisis. A crisis is not only something bad. It is a gap in the story, because it can’t continue as it used to. This gap is an opportunity to rebuild the path – or construct a new totally one.

We have always shared stories in order to understand ourselves, to navigate communities and to touch the awesomeness of the universe.

Stories are all around us. Now more than ever, due to our extensive use of screens. I believe we need to become aware of how stories work, how they effect us and what power they can have on us. When studying dramaturgy, eons ago, our professor told us that theatre makers can only hold the audiences’ attention on stage for 7 minute intervals. Today, studies show, that our attention span is assessed to 8 seconds. If that sounds extreme just consider how quickly you scroll through social media posts. What does this mean for storytellers? Should we reduce and simplify our messages? Compromise on quality? Or find new ways to navigate this new challenge on our attention?