I’M MICHELE O’BRIEN
An actor, award-winning storyteller, presenter and early years practitioner
I’m an Associate Artist at Forest Forge Theatre Company and I devised and developed my latest touring production I’m Glad I Asked Directed by Steve McCourt and Amy Rose.
By forming Valise Noire Storytelling Theatre I have collaborated and co-created with incredibly talented women colleagues to make work that continues to explore invisible female voices.
I am passionate, experienced and skilled in developing unique and original performances that are playful, with stories that touch the heart.
Arts Council England grants have enabled gradual progression in my work, from 2011 for The Spice Box, which has engaged over 10,000 people of all ages. Involving audiences in the unimaginable journeys taken during Elizabeth 1st's reign to trade spices informed by the book Nathaniel's Nutmeg by Giles Milton
Commissions from The National Trust have brought about an outdoor theatre show Land 2017 - imagining a 2000 year old woman rising from a mound to share her wisdom, and informing about the rare species from the natural world of the Jurassic Coast.
Opportunities to research and share the lives of women from history has seen me play the Bankes Women - Henrietta, Anne Frances Bankes and her Mother Frances Bankes. Recently working with the Cranborne Chase National Landscape to share Maria Ridout's extraordinary life as a carrier allows her story to be recognised.
Current Work
Wonderdomes
Twelve, beautifully crafted, knee-high, display domes are strategically placed throughout a public garden, park or woodland.
Each contains intriguing miniature scenes that invite the public to come closer, observe deeply and make field notes. Following their curiosity and imagination, audiences uncover the astonishing details of local and exotic plants and experience the stories and wisdom of naturalists through the ages.
I’m Glad I Asked
This is a funny, tender heart-felt, one-woman (and a puppet) show drawn from workshops with women of all ages and my experiences with my 91-year-old Mother, Gena.
How often do we hear people say, “If only I asked” when a parent is no longer with us? I decided to take the opportunities I shared with my Mother, to create a deeply personal storytelling theatre that explores the joys, frustrations, shared memories, and love that bind generations together.
Ghost Walks
Poole with its rich history is one of the most haunted places in Dorset. Step behind the quay, down lanes and through narrow alleyways – you never know who you might meet!
Granny Cousins Ghost Walks of Old Poole Town is now in its 21st year. The experience offers entertaining and informative ghost walks around the nooks and crannies of Poole's historic Old Town. Be prepared for anything!
Valise Noire
Theatre Company
I originally founded this storytelling company in 2011 along with two fellow actors. It has since grown and developed to include other contributors.
We create, tell and interpret women’s stories through oral and visual forms. Valise Noire is an organisation born from a collaboration to explore how stories are collected and communicated, exploring cultural and heritage topics. Working with communities, the public and schools, the outcomes of projects are workshops, exhibitions and performances, often in outdoor site-specific locations.
