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Stuff You Might Want to Know About Me

Stuff You Might Want to Know About Me

Stuff You Might Want to Know
About Me

This is the bit of my website where you get to find out a little bit more about what I do and how that might work for you.

I am a spoken word artist, writer, playwright/theatre-maker, multimedia artist, designer, actor and activist. A gatherer of the untold stories of women. An outspoken queer feminist performer with a candid voice and an unhealthy obsession in the Virgin Mary. A creative genius with the attention span of a gnat and an incapacity for boredom.

I use my voice as a performer as a tool for my activism around all forms of equality and diversity including Feminism and LGBTQ+ Rights.

Supported by both the Arts Council of Northern Ireland and Derry City and Strabane District Council as an individual artist.

I’ve been a featured performance poet/spoken word artist at various festivals and events over the years. These include Stendhal, Body & Soul, CreatEVE & Women Aloud NI, That’s What She Said, Queertopia and Edinburgh Fringe, Open House Festival.

And in the year of the pandemic, I became involved in building an online community of poets and spoken word artists who connected and supported each other’s work. Headlining and performing at events and open mics across the globe.

A freelance artist and facilitator with 14 years of experience working in the arts with young people and adults from ages 8+.

My practice as a facilitator has always been founded in a learner-centred approach. Establishing the needs, wants and ideas that the group/individual may have. Taking direction from the group dynamic and building the workshop/project around those parameters

I offer workshops in creative writing, creative approaches, poetry, writing for performance, finding your voice in spoken word, finding empathy for the development of characters in storytelling, story-gathering, identity and prejudice/discrimination. I have a history of working with marginalised groups.

Let’s have a cup of tea and see how we can work together –  Contact Me!

Mel Bradley – SPOKEN WORD ARTIST, WRITER, THEATRE MAKER, ACTOR, DESIGNER, BURLESQUE AND DRAG ARTIST

Things What I Do…

My Skills

Facilitation:

The ability to empathise with a group, or individuals, build trust and establish their needs to enable them to craft out the path towards their desired outcome, find their own voice and style.

Digital skills in:

Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, After Effects, Audition, Premier Pro; DaVinci Resolve; Pro Tools; QLab; Resolume Arena 5; MS Office Suite; WordPress; iMovie.

Also handy with a sewing machine!

Highlights – A Timeline

Working as a cross-discipline artist, I’ve gathered up a variety of experiences.  You can check some of these out with a bit more detail in my portfolio section, but for now, here is a glimpse at some of the highlights in my history of artistic practice.

2022

I completed a PG Certificate in Audio/Visual Post Production through Queen’s University in Belfast.

Thanks to funding from Derry City and Strabane District Council’s Arts And Cultural Practitioner Fund, I was able to develop the script and soundtrack for my show, For The Love of Mary. Along with support from The Irish Writers’ Centre, Dublin who provided a bursary for mentor support the show was performed for the first time as a ‘work in progress’ on International Women’s Day at Studio 2 in Derry. Then later in the year, it was performed as part of Bród na Gaeltachta in St Ann’s Parish Church, Killult. Further funding from University of Atypical’s D/deaf and Disabled Artist Support Fund allowed me to develop the visual element of the show with support from a mentor in this. The full production was then performed in Echo Echo Dance Theatre Company.

2020

A New Era, A New Approach

This was the year that changed the world and how we make and share art in the world. We’ve all come to use digital platforms as the norm in our every day lives. It’s presented us with some challenges on how to present live theatre.

Poem ‘Derry’ was published in North Star, a collection of writing from Women Aloud Northern Ireland members compiled at the beginning of lockdown.

Proud To Be – I was commissioned to write the showcase play for the Proud To Be project from The Playhouse, Derry. Devised and created in lockdown over Zoom with workshops and interview/conversations with participants from the LGBTQ+ community. ‘Beyond The Labels of Me’ became the first play to be live-streamed from The Playhouse theatre stage across the world and across multiple digital platforms as part of the new Digital Playhouse.

Funded and supported by Derry City and Strabane District Council’s Arts & Cultural Practitioners Award, my spoken word show ‘Ms Noir’s Seven Deadly Sins’ was live-streamed as part of Derry Halloween 2020’s online programme of events. Responding to ever increasing Covid-19 restrictions, I worked with an incredible creative team to create a piece of live theatre (with pre-recorded elements) reaching audiences as far as Australia.

Also in 2020, in response to the pandemic, I began making reuseable facemasks. I refined the template over the space of 6 months to give a 3D fit that is snug but breathable. Then I began designing my own fabrics too. I even take commissions. Check out my shop to see what’s available. Oh, I sell reusable cloth bags as well. All made from 100% cotton fabric.

2018

Another Great Year!

In 2018 I went back to the All-Ireland Slam final after winning the Aspects Festival Slam, the Ards/North Down heat and placing in the All Ulster final. Being a National Slam finalist, I then had the opportunity in June 2019, to compete in Hammer and Tongue’s National Slam final in London. Performing in the Elgar Room at the Royal Albert Hall.

I received my second SIAP award from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland. The project was to research and write a new collection of work entitled ‘For the Love of Mary’. Continuing my artistic practice, gathering of the stories of women. With a focus on Marian iconography and grotto shrine culture and reflection on the position of women in Ireland. As a showcase, my first solo exhibition documenting the process, debuted in October 2019 at Eden Arts Centre, Derry. A full-length one-woman show has been written and I plan to perform this in 2022.

I was also appointed as the first Community Writer in Residence with The Rainbow Project, Derry through the Irish Writer’s Centre, Dublin, funded by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland. During this project I facilitated group work to create a zine for publication and a podcast to archive and showcase the resident creative writing group’s work. The first zine was launched during LGBT Awareness Week. And in 2019, also during LGBT Awareness Week, the Writing Rainbows’ second zine was launched as an annual project.

2014

What A Year!

As an actor, I went on tour with Life and Love: Lesbian Style by Hilary McCollum. Under the direction of Patricia Byrne of Sole Purpose Productions, we performed at The Players Theatre, Trinity College, Dublin as part of the International Dublin Gay Theatre Festival. Here I became a recipient of the Eva Gore Booth Award for Best Female Performance awarded to the Ensemble Cast.

Later that year, we performed in The Black Box, Belfast as part of Belfast Pride. And then back to The Playhouse, for Foyle Pride Festival.

I received my first SIAP award from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland for the writing and development of an experimental piece of performance theatre. ‘You Maiden, I Mother’ was performed with dancer Zoe Ramsey and directed by Tonya Sheina. The piece premiered at Echo Echo Dance and Theatre Company’s International Festival of Dance 7th November 2015.

2012

First Time at the All-Ireland

I was a finalist in the All-Ireland Poetry Slam competition at Ó Bhéal in Cork, representing Ulster.

The piece that I performed there, ‘Thursday Night Pain’ was later published in O’Bhéal’s collection for the All-Ireland Poetry Slam Finalists.

 

2009

My First Slam

I started out as a slam poet back in 2009 and cut my teeth performing in noisy bars. The scene was small and we were just finding our feet, it took many years to get there. At this time, slams were the only way to get to perform spoken word. My first slam was the Derry Heat of the All-Ireland Slam 2009, held in Café Del Mondo. I performed a piece called ‘Lipstick’. In 2019, I was asked to bring an early piece to Edinburgh Fringe Festival to perform it with Loud Poets, it was my first ever spoken word piece.

My introduction to spoken word and all it can do, the fantastic possibilities, came from ‘The Sunday Session’, organised by Echo Echo Dance and Theatre Company. Back then, I had been writing Gothic/Horror prose and sharing these gruesome tales to a wonderfully supportive room full of arts practitioners from a variety of disciplines.

Get in Touch

Testimonials

Fiona Umetsu

“…a much-valued member of our festival team, being involved with all design aspects… all the stage tech, visuals, sound and projections… She has worked tirelessly for our festival and is never afraid of a new challenge.”

Fiona Umetsu

Rosemary Tumilty

“Mel Bradley! That was terrific!… Each of the deadly sins were delectably delivered…..can’t wait to see and hear more writing from you. Wonderfully delivered too by the way… all in a perfectly rounded performance. Congratulations.”

Rosemary Tumilty

Cathy Carson

“I am utterly mesmerised every time I watch Mel perform. She is consistently passionate and unflinching and her connection with the audience is palpable. Her intelligent, insightful writing demonstrates a deep understanding of what makes us all human and I am always left with a feeling of knowing more about humanity and often, myself… As someone new to the spoken word scene, I feel Mel’s work set the bar for what can be achieved with the art form.”

Cathy Carson