Faye Draper was born in Blackburn, Lancashire in 1982, where she spent time wondering if she was the only white person who wasn’t racist. After leaving school she escaped to the green fields of Devon to study theatre at Dartington College of Art where she spent time enquiring, questioning and developing ideas; it was at this time she realised she had an irremovable northern accent.
After graduating Faye had discovered three important things:
- She wanted to be back up north; where you can get gravy with your chips, no problem
- She wanted to live in a city
- She wanted to create performances
In August 2003 she arrived in Newcastle upon Tyne. Over the next three years she created performance projects that acknowledged and drew from the lives of the people who she collaborated with. Seeking out new opportunities to collaborate and play allows Faye’s to work to be rich and varied. The majority of Faye’s Newcastle performances were focused on her work with The FATHoM Project. This included Home Truth (2005) and Walking on Egg Shells (2006).
The Lancashire lass then moved to Yorkshire in 2007, where skitting of her accent has been rife! On arriving in Sheffield Faye responded to the relative artistic wilderness with a series of solos, What Kinda Dancer Are Ya? (2008) and Extreme Ways of Being Normal (2008). Faye’s work is often made in unconventional spaces such as a railway museum, a white J reg VW Polo and a ladies toilets. Her work entangles text and movement that shift between humour and truth. Often performing improvised scores, Faye’s passion is to create honest, playful work that allows her and her audience to smile and self reflect.
Most recently she has created Tea is an evening meal, a one woman theatre show that takes place around a large dining table. Faye’s present practice combines facilitating projects in education and community contexts as well as creating work for film, installation and live performance.
Faye Draper - Playful Performance 