Gianni Schicchi
or where there’s a will
In September 2025, I was commissioned to write a new spoken-word overture for the exciting new OperaUpClose production of the Puccini classic Gianni Schicchi, or, Where There’s a Will. The show tours from March 2026.
Featuring some of the most famous music in opera and inspired by wildly popular modern-day ‘whodunnits’ such as The White Lotus and Knives Out, Gianni Schicchi (or Where There’s A Will) brings Puccini roaring into the 21st Century.
Set in the fictional seaside town of Harmouth, a wealthy second-home owner is throwing one last seasonal soirée. As the evening quickly unravels, the local ‘fixer’ Gianni Schicchi enters the fray and things go from bad to worse for the entitled liberal elite. Who should be held to account in a world where everyone is out for themselves?
A stellar cast bring this brilliantly subversive and satirical take on Puccini's family farce to the stage, with a newly commissioned spoken-word overture, under the “sharp and intelligent” direction of 2025 Sky Arts Award winner PJ Harris.
The production received 4 star reviews in The Stage and The Times, and glowing feedback from reviewers and audiences alike.
Pride In The Shirt
a football & arts project for the LGBTQIA+ community
Pride In The Shirt is a sports & arts project, combining active and creative sessions for the LGBTQIA+ community across Hampshire and surround areas.
The project aims to understand the current barriers to inclusion for the LGBTQIA+ across the ages looking to get involved in sport and movement, using creative activities to open up conversations and look to change the national conversation.
From October 2025 to January 2026, Pride In The Shirt has worked with youth groups across the New Forest, including Breakout Youth and spudWORKS’s Together group, as well as AFC Bournemouth’s Community Trust at their Ringwood Hub.
These sessions culminated in the creation of a zine that tells the story of young people in a rural area like the New Forest looking to be active and move, with contributions, creations and ideas brought together by Holly Ward to create a vibrant, entertaining, moving story. There was also a commemorative football kit, interpreted by Megan Diehl from participant designs. You can read the zine in full HERE.
In Pride Month 2026, our work and the impact it’s had so far was featured on the Arts Council Blog.
Work is currently ongoing to bring the project into its next phase, and to expand its reach into the Southampton and Bournemouth areas. From September 2026, we’ll be running new sessions with AFC Bournemouth and their LGBTQIA+ supporters group Proud Cherries. Interested? Email proudcherries@gmail.com to express your interest.
City Reflections 2
Illuminating Southampton’s Stories
Carrying on from February 2025’s City Reflections 1, which celebrated Southampton local heroes, Southampton Forward and partners brought a new series of exciting, dynamic light projections to Southampton for February 2026.
City Reflections: Illuminating Southampton’s Stories
Along with 5 other Community Curators, representing a community from the diverse Southampton area, I’ve been assigned the Southampton City Gallery Archives, representing the LGBTQIA+ community.
The project was beyond a privilege to work on, allowing me access to the amazing works stored in the city’s archives, and involving my community in the selection and curation of the items and stories to be celebrated. We’ve created a dynamic story inspired by our experiences, that can speak to the wider experiences of Southampton locals - of finding generosity, welcome and reinvention within this amazing city.
Huge thanks to the Southampton Gallery and City Council teams, to the Southampton Forward team, and to key artists such as Lucy Ash, whose work, creativity and allyship we could not do the project without.
City Reflections: Illuminating Southampton’s Stories is an animated light projection trail that will run across four evenings in February 2026, bringing the city’s history to life in bold and creative ways. Six historic buildings across Southampton’s Old Town and city centre will be transformed with large-scale projections, immersive soundscapes and storytelling inspired by the city’s art, maritime and archaeology collections.
New Forest Pride 2026
Forest Arts Centre, New Milton
Friday 17th -Saturday 18th July
I’m super excited to be on the team of this year’s New Forest Pride, bringing the much loved event back to the Forest for 2026. Supported by Culture In Common and partners, we’re hosting the event across 2x days, Friday 17th and Saturday 18th July, at Forest Arts Centre.
The event opens with award-winning Sam Nicoresti’s one-woman show Baby Doomer on Friday 17th, followed by a full-day programme of events on Saturday 18th July, across music, comedy, theatre, cabaret, drag and a variety of workshops and interactive events.
Full programme HERE.
Follow us on Instagram for up-to-date announcements and info!
Press release:
New Forest Pride returns for 2026, with the support of Culture In Common and partners. Hosted by Forest Arts Centre across Friday 17th and Saturday 18th July, NFP brings an exciting programme of local and national LGBTQIA+ talent to New Milton, across comedy, music, art, spoken-word, theatre, drag and cabaret, with workshops, participatory sessions and a host of stalls from local organisations and sellers. This year, the programme is being curated with the support of local LGBTQIA+ residents, with particular involvement from Breakout Youth's groups in New Milton and Marchwood, and spudWORKS in Sway.
New Forest Pride is beyond thrilled to have internationally-loved comedian Sam Nicoresti to open this year's event on Friday 17th July, and to welcome to the forest across Saturday 18th July the likes of Queer Joy Movement, pirate troubadour Theo Dussek, BOY Theatre before they head to this year's Edinburgh Fringe, and Mother Nature herself as mistress-of-ceremonies.
All are welcome to come out to this year's New Forest Pride in New Milton, with the theme 'Joy In Resistance'.
Transcribe is a writing development project, supporting 4x trans+ writers from the Hampshire region and surrounding areas to develop new work on the theme of trans+ experiences, and to enhance their craft and writing experience. Transcribe also commissioned trans+ artist Juno Celesteto create new designs inspired by the work of the commissioned writers. I’ve been working in tandem with Beyond Reflections in our joint efforts to uplift and empower the trans+ community, and the project is supported by Arts Council England, ArtfulScribe, John Hansard Gallery, QueerAF and WeMakeSouthampton CIC.
The project has been a joy to work on from the start, and our commissioned writers Nicola Beck, Jared Mustafa-Holzapfel, Vic Rodriguez, and Carmilla Williamson have done an incredible job of articulating the trans+ experience in creative, inventive and engaging ways. Their work has been compiled in a limited run anthology, with designs and illustrations by Juno Celeste, and will be available with an accompanying video version soon.
Across June 2026, we also ran 2x FREE writing workshops, ‘Pride Done Write’, in Southampton at John Hansard Gallery. These were co-facilitated with our commissioned writers.
