Nell Coleman wrote, directed and starred in her first play when she was six years old and followed that, predictably, by becoming a dancer, actress, director and writer.

A period of surprising sense and reticence followed her marriage to an actor while she went into production (five sons), moved to Canada, worked in the orchards, and wrote radio plays for the CBC. Returning to England, and still with many mouths to feed, there was a hotel in the West Highlands, the administration of a stately home, a flourishing soft toy business – and of course, writing. All very quiet and respectable until she was lured back to the theatre once more and embarked on a late-flowering career as a choreographer and director. The writing grew more flamboyant, too. Musicals, masques and plays replaced newspapers and magazine articles, and working with a group of Tudor players whetted a new appetite for costume making. Under her company name, A Stitch in Time, she supplied actors, re-enactors and museums with historically accurate and wearable clothes for all periods. She is now semi-retired but continues to alternate writing with directing, costume making and embarrassing her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

RADIO PLAYS - Mostly for CBC, Canada

STAGE PLAYS - Bedtime Stories (Edinburgh Writers’ Guild)

MUSICALS

Jelly Babies (composer, David Foreman)
(for Brighton Fringe)

The Highland Way (composer, Ken Roberts)
(for Applecart Theatre Company)

Medieval plays, Tudor plays and a masque.
(written and directed for Kentwell Hall, Suffolk.)

Glory Days. (composer John Osborne)
(for North American experience tour of Canada.)

SELECTED WORKS

• Corrigan’s EPB, 1993
  
• The Osmid Version Hodder, 2001