Originally from a working-class background in rural Leicestershire (Rutland), I live near the river in London, where I write drama, journalism & poetry. I often direct and co-produce my theatre work.
After drama school, and stints in media assisting, I moved to Norwich to complete a part-time MA in Creative Writing (Scriptwriting). 3 shows; MENTAL Play, Transformer & GREEN_Space enjoyed ACE funded development and tour dates in the South East. Two digital literature projects and a radio piece followed. A new play, Back to Terra Firma received a staged reading at The Bush Theatre Studio in June 2024 and has been programmed at Theatre 503 during 2025.
There is a book slowly pushing its way into the world…recent published poetry can be found here. My theatre CV, including residencies, awards & conferences is here, and for recent arts journalism, please visit here. I have had work in: The Stage, The Byline Times, and freelanced for Good Morning Britain.
All of my work is infused with a passion for synthesis of the art-forms and social affairs. When not writing-making, I lead communications for purpose-driven organisations, dance, walk, do yoga and watch reality TV. I am a Dyspraxic individual and volunteer Mentor for the Social Mobility Foundation.
Back to Terra Firma is a new one-act play for four actors that received a staged-reading at The Bush Theatre Studio in June 2024. Enthusiastic feedback for the audience was captured here, and the platform was well attended by industry, friends and colleagues. If you would like a link to the film of the staged reading, please send a line via the Contact Form. Learn more about the story ~
2080, the UK is divided into two powerful cities and sprawling cooperative farmlands. When Ollie, a city saleswoman, visits the southeastern farmland to sell medicine to James, an unusual love affair ensues, complicated by a radicalised boy, who fell on farmland terra firma six months ago, and has been taken in for rehabilitation.
Set in a strangely familiar version of the UK, Back to Terra Firma is a speculative love story about how people seek to save others and themselves, set against a backdrop of healthcare scarcity and climate change.
Lives of F (#LivesofF) is a series of narrative poetry-films made with found-footage and describing the life-cycle of a Millennial: Baby ‘F’. Sometimes F is a girl/woman – ‘Effy’, sometimes a boy/man – ‘Fred.’ But always they are consummate performers living out significant moments through performance metaphors. No. 1 ‘Birth’ draws on Synchronised Swimming, No. 2 ‘Infancy’ is full of Circus…etc.
Birth – Synchronised Swimming
Infancy – Circus
Effy’s Adolescence – Trampolining
Fred’s Adolescence – Singing
Young Adulthood – Acting
Adulthood – Film
Lives of F is my first pure literature project supported by Arts Council England and punctuates a shift towards exploring the scope of digital literature. A blog on the project & some thoughts on the relevance of UK arts funding can be found via the National Centre for Writing podcast.
See perusal script below
David swings on a pendulum of party highs and existential lows. Emma’s social anxiety is peaking as she rarely leaves her Mum with dementia. Petr is a Slovak whose move to the UK sends him into a mire of workplace frustration and depression. Told through fast-paced drama, poetry and film, MENTAL Play presents an unlikely peer group at a tender stage of life.
MENTAL Play is a dark comedy about three twenty-somethings in a pilot mental health support group. Three twenty-somethings; one mental journey. Inspired by the socio-political move towards ‘parity of esteem’, MENTAL Play uses sensory stimuli to present private worlds and wicked social commentary.
The show was originally developed in partnership with OMNIA House, Mind*, Writers Centre Norwich and Norwich Arts Centre. In 2015, MENTAL Play toured to – Camden People’s Theatre, Brighton Emporium, Peterborough Key Black-Box and The Abbey Centre, Westminster, where simultaneous giggles were heard from both young and senior audience alike. As a company, we were happy to welcome markedly diverse audiences of theatre goers, public service workers, mental health patients and many who identified as disabled or marginalised. Particularly heartening were the ‘thank yous’ offered to members of the tech’ and creative team following shows and Q&As, no more so than at The Abbey Centre. Some quotes from MENTAL feedback post-cards and industry representatives:
Mark Richards (Producer – METAL) –
‘A multi-sensory exploration of the challenges of maintaining a positive mental attitude whilst undertaking group therapy! Sensitive but with a critical and sometimes comic eye, the show explores our desire to create a ‘care-full’ community in the 21stcentury, and the various mechanisms employed by individuals to support their personal healing ‘journey.’
‘Excellent and thought-provoking! Really enjoyed!’ – audience member
Niamh De Valera (AD, Blue Elephant Theatre) –
‘A thoughtful look at the complexities of mental health issues and treatment’.
‘An important show about an important subject…thank you!’ – audience member
CAST
2015
David Dominic Lindsay
Emma Sophie Ormond
Petr Cal Jones
Marion Alison Mead
2014
David Simon J. White
Emma Rebecca Finch
Petr Cal Jones
Marion Bev’ Bishop
‘Tamsin Flower’s play is deftly directed and utterly convincing, with strong performances by the cast. The text explores the difficult issues around mental health without flinching. The characters conflicting needs are brought vividly to life and uncomfortable truths explored. A challenging and original piece of theatre.’
Martin Figura (Spoken Word Artist)
‘An original and sophisticated piece of new writing by an author uniquely placed to tell this story (…) real class and depth.’ – Producer/Afonica on AWIE
‘ …adept at creating rich worlds and engaging characters and addressing interesting topics in a striking and unusual way. Clearly a skilled writer.’ – Agent, Casarotto Ramsay Associates
‘Tamsin is an artist and writer with great integrity and vision’ – Director, Colchester Arts Centre
While spending time on the MA in Creative Writing Programme at UEA, I immersed myself in the culture of poetry within the UNESCO City of Literature. This included project management for The National Centre for Writing, The Literacy Trust & National Portrait Gallery, as well as producing platforms for emerging page poets. However, my own poetry took a back-seat until Spring 2023. Since picking up the poetry quill again, I have had work published in the following journals ~
MAGMA ~ My Life as Orlando – part 1
Ink, Sweat & Tears – Girls Smell
The Lake – Mindfulness at Kew Palace
Cerasus – The Churn and Burn Communications Office
During 2020’s 1st lockdown, I unearthed a story that had been gestating since childhood, and with it – a host of family scrapbooks dating back to the mid-1800s. These scrapbooks, charting the accolades of the men in my mother’s family, were kept by the women.
As a piece of auto-fiction about the women in my mother’s family, it uproots the landscape of Northern Ireland via the POV of the gentry and skips in time between experiences of: displacement, poverty/wealth, learning difficulties and self-determination. It’s working title is ‘Treasure Reclaimed’ and it’s a thing close to my heart, which I am working on with a mentor.
‘The Verbatim Green_Space Play Project’ encompassed the making of an outdoor verbatim play from a highly diverse collection of audio-interviews with volunteer gardeners of The Environment City.
Based at three of Peterborough’s burgeoning community gardens, this Creative People & Places Commission saw audiences witness their own words performed within a fictitious framework in the green spaces themselves.
Running at 40 mins, GREEN_SPACE is a family show of light and dark shades, boasting moments such as a woman giving birth to a melon, a water-pistol offensive and choreographed interludes of live pop-flute. It also touches on prevalent themes of the interviews, such as: mental wellbeing, reclamation of identity, belonging and envisioning the future of these spaces.
Audience Quotes:
‘This was the best story that I’ve ever heard’ (Emma, young audience member)
‘Enjoyable, well acted, good music – good mix of fun & serious.’
‘We loved it…Lets see more! Thank you all.’
‘Very enjoyable. Made me laugh but was serious @ bits. Was great. Didn’t know what to expect.’
‘Bravo! Enjoyable, informative, fun.’ – Mark Richards, Producer, METAL Culture.
GREEN_SPACE was devised with Actor/Musician, Sufia Manya and actor, Roger Wentworth; and was edited from the words of volunteers at Westraven Big Local, The Olive Branch Community Garden and The Green Backyard. It was supported by the PCC Leadership Fund. This project would not have been possible without the kindness and advocacy of the late Wull Robertson. Interviews can be heard here: Soundcloud & on the Stream-Lyric Newsflow
TRANSFORMER (working title) is a mid-scale show for two actresses and two male dancers about female transformation in western film. It explores the narratives around womanhood through the prism of a dysfunctional mother-daughter relationship. Norma is trapped in a journey down memory-lane, from the smoke of pre-censorship gambling dens to the hope of a 1940’s pleasure cruise. But Eddie is ambivalent about her mother’s antiquated standards and must find a way of doing career/love/life in twentieth century ways. Finally, motherhood brings Eddie and the audience into the present day and a transformation neither she nor her mother ever expected.
In Spring 2016 Stream-Lyric undertook four weeks of intensive show development as the first resident company at The Key Theatre and also as part of my Time & Space residency at Metal Culture. The research and development version of the show was consequently platformed at Cambridge Junction’s Hotbed Festival in the Main Space. As a result, Cambridge TV also broadcast the R&D version of the ‘play with dance’ and an accompanying interview.
‘I’m really impressed, the dance and drama worked really well together.’ – Sheena Carman, Arts Programme Manager, Vivacity.
‘I really enjoyed the Mother-Daughter relationship and the way it went into shadow in the 1940s.’ – Audience member.
TRANSFORMER’s writing/research process included screenings of the stimuli films in partnership with FRAME Film Club based at Metal. These were widely attended by very diverse audiences whose contributions to the two-way Q&As unveiled a wealth of cultural expectations and individual responses to genre and the roles of women within/without the frame. The show’s dramaturgy and script was further developed in 2017 in partnership with the University of Kent’s Network of Research: Movies, Magazines and Audiences (NoRMMA) and the Melodrama Research Group. An audio recording of responses to the first discussion workshop can be found on Sound Cloud – TRANS Kent.
A link to The Melodrama Research Group’s Blog on the session: UniKentBlog
TRANSFORMER was developed with performances from TrashDollys Dance Theatre and actors, Rosanna Miles and Katie Withers with the support of Arts Council England and Vivacity Arts.
