Michelle Barrington

Co-Founder & artistic Director

Michelle has a BA Honours Degree in Creative Performance (Acting). Throughout her studies, she embraced the variety of skills offered and excelled in performance, directing, devising, production as well as completing her degree by producing and performing a show for Brighton Fringe Festival. Whilst training Michelle directed ‘Punk Rock’ and ‘The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time’ both by Simon Stephens.
Her performance credits during her studies include; Nina in ‘The Seagull’, Marie in ‘The Woyzeck Project’, Amy in ‘San Diego’ and Annie in ‘Sleeping Around’.

With her love of directing, producing and performing whilst training; Michelle wanted to continue making her own work post training. As a friendship and combined work ethic grew with Eleanore during their training together, they came to the decision to join forces, and so Blown Fuse Theatre was born.

Michelle directed Blown Fuse’s production of 'Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons' by Sam Steiner, which was performed at the Clifftown Theatre (Southend) and the Hen & Chickens Theatre (Islington) in 2017. 

After co-devising the piece that came to be known as 'TAPE', she portrayed 'Left' in the regional tour, playing at The Hen & Chickens Theatre, The Clifftown Theatre and The Warren Venue at Brighton Fringe Festival.

Eleanore Frances

Co-Founder & artistic Director

Eleanore Frances is an actor and theatre-maker with a BA (Hons) in Creative Performance (Acting). She is Co-Artistic Director of Blown Fuse Theatre, where she develops work that integrates storytelling, performance and accessible technology.

Her stage credits include Athena in Woven The Musical, Woman 2 in Songs for a New World, Hamlet in Hamlet in Pieces and Sylvia Plath in Becoming Esther at the Brighton Fringe Festival. She has also trained in the Meisner Technique with Scott Williams of The Impulse Company.

Eleanore is committed to ongoing professional development and is expanding her practice in theatre writing and dramaturgy. She has a particular interest in disability advocacy in theatre and in supporting new writing from marginalised and underrepresented artists. Her work is guided by a strong focus on representation, inclusion and the diversification of the arts.

She is passionate about working with communities and has delivered creative work directly with trans people and women in the criminal justice system. Alongside her artistic practice, Eleanore is a Director and regular collaborator with Elevator Arts CIC, where she supports the design and delivery of arts programmes for children and young people.

Roxanne Carney
Executive Producer

Roxanne is an events and theatre producer born and bred in Essex. She makes work that creates discussions around social injustices. Roxanne likes making work around ‘the Essex stereotype’, feminism and our environment.

Her professional narrative is filled with supporting and nurturing queer and disabled artists whose stories are captivating and urgent. She is drawn to supporting and making art that reflects on history and inspires change.

As a producer, Roxanne champions work that is political & autobiographical - this can take on many forms as well. She really enjoys nurturing artists and making collaborations happen. She creates accessible and safe spaces for participants, audiences and artists.

Roxanne is Exec Producer of Blown Fuse Theatre, but works with other artists and companies.
Click here to view her website.

Sadie Davidson
Poet In Residence

Sadie Davidson is a multi-award winning slam poetry performer and writer. She has published two poetry collections and has lived experience of homelessness, poverty, domestic abuse, substance misuse and the criminal justice system.

She channels these experiences into both writing and into facilitating creative writing workshops to benefit others in similar circumstances. She has worked in schools, recovery centres, with at-risk teens, young carers and many others.

She is a big fan of Terry Practchett, has two children, and spends a lot of her time talking.

kate austen
writer in residence

Kate Austen is a writer and theatre maker from Essex. She studied BA Acting at East 15, and has worked in the industry for more than fifteen years across a wide range of theatre, including touring, outdoor productions, T.I.E., and the Edinburgh Fringe.

Her first play, Find Me, was a self-verbatim exploration of female identity, developed from a year’s worth of voice notes and collaborative devising. After workshops with actors, it was later staged at The Vaults in Waterloo. The process sparked her passion for writing, inspiring her to create new worlds and characters from the ground up. In 2020, while pregnant with her son, she joined the prestigious John Burgess Playwriting Group—where her baby quickly became the unofficial group member.

In 2021, she was commissioned by the Minack Theatre in Cornwall to write a site-specific play for their youth theatre, an experience she found especially meaningful. Working closely with young performers helped shape the piece, and she was later touched to learn that one of the participants had even written a sequel.

Kate was a Mercury Theatre playwright in 2023/24, developing a play about the eviction of Travellers from Dale Farm in Essex. Her research process was extensive: she studied documentaries, consulted journalist Katharine Quarmby, author of No Place to Call Home, and, through that connection, conducted verbatim interviews with Father Dan Mason, the priest who supported the Travellers during the eviction. She also attended Mass to deepen her understanding of Catholicism. The play The Farm is currently being considered by several theatres.

Ongoing learning remains central to her practice; to approach sensitive subjects responsibly, she has completed Trauma-Informed Practice training and is a qualified Mental Health First-Aider.

Find Kate at www.kateausten.co.uk

Alison Garner
Associate Artist

Ali is a creative producer, theatre maker & director of Elevator Arts CIC. Through imagination, play, and intervention, her work breaks boundaries - making the everyday extraordinary.

Ali’s background is in creating inclusive, accessible and collaborative theatre and visual art outside of the usual confines of traditional institutions. She has a particular interest in site-specific, immersive performance. 

Ali's past work includes roles as Artistic Director of Left Luggage Theatre & First Floor Theatre with Rachael Young and has worked working with companies such as Punchdrunk, Wildworks and in creative learning at New Wimbledon Theatre (ATG).

In 2020 Alison established Elevator Arts, a CIC devoted to delivering life enhancing, transformative & empowering arts projects with young people in Southend & South Essex.