EMMA WILLIAMS
Emma is a professional theatre director, writer and dramaturge. Her long-term collaborators are: designer puppet maker and performer Dik Downey from Opposable Thumb Theatre, performer and writer Vic Llewellyn and director and lighting designer Chris Collier. She is co-artistic director of Em&Vic Theatre. She is interested in stories that have been overlooked, and strives to make joyous work of the highest quality.
RECENT DIRECTING CREDITS:
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Don Quixote (is a very big book) - Opposable Thumb Theatre Dramaturge, Co-creator and Director This one -man puppet show is an adaptation of Cervantes' great novel “Don Quixote”. It is a brutal and comedic journey, revealing the parallels between the iconic character of Don Quixote and the aging performer. It is now touring internationally having finished a sell-out run at The Wardrobe Theatre Bristol in 2025 and Manipulate festival 2026 
Big Boys Don’t Cry -Opposable thumb theatre Director & Dramaturge A devised puppet show exploring masculinity using action men, crisps, a dead body and real tears. It toured internationally form 2021 – 2024 
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No one is Listening - Em&Vic Director & Dramaturge A heart-breaking and joyful ride through the landscape of forgetfulness, ghosts and memory loss, this one man show written and performed by Vic Llewellyn toured between 2024/25 in Somerset and Devon. 
MDH Puppets Do a movie - Wardrobe Theatre Co-director with Chris Collier A devised Christmas show where puppets interpret and present the Christmas classic Die Hard. After a sell out two months run in 2023 it was remounted in the summer of 2024. 
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Pinocchio - Taunton Brewhouse
Writer and Director
Originally commissioned by Strike a Light the show was remounted in 2025 for Taunton Brewhouse as a main house Christmas show. Using a live band, youth ensemble and a drummer dressed as a gorilla it presents a new slant on a classic tale.
Writer and Director
Originally commissioned by Strike a Light the show was remounted in 2025 for Taunton Brewhouse as a main house Christmas show. Using a live band, youth ensemble and a drummer dressed as a gorilla it presents a new slant on a classic tale.
For a more comprehensive list of productions, please download my CV.
HER WRITING CREDITS INCLUDE:
The Desert Daydreamer
With Royal Welsh College of Music and drama. Adaptation of Gabriel Garcia Marquez short story "Innocent Erendira" and Other Stories for large-scale outdoor puppetry performance in Dyfrnn gardens. The Snow Queen and Pinocchio With Strike a Light. Christmas productions performed at Gloucester guildshall and Quackers friars. The Kings for Popelie Theatre company. The Butterfly Lady for Dorset AONB. The Kingcombes Travelling Show for Dorset Wildlife trust. She is passionate about scripts that respond to physical locations and historical narratives. |
The Wicked Girls
Writer in residence for A Poetic City at Red Lodge Museum A Poetic City is a multi-partner, city-wide programme led by Bristol Cultural Development Partnership. In September 2020 Emma worked at The Red lodge Museum as writer-in-residence . She researched the lives of girls that attended Mary Carpenters reform school in the late 1800’s. This Culminated in a podcast The Wicked Girls of Red Lodge. The work is now being developed into a full-length production. The initial stages of this have been supported by Hawkwood College and The Francis W Reckitt Arts Trust”. 
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TEACHING
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Emma spent 9 years directing large-scale productions for Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. She was in charge of a cast of over thirty 1 and 2nd year undergraduate students from multiple departments and a team of 6 professional theatre makers, designers and production managers.
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She worked part-time at Bristol City College as a visiting lecturer on the FdA Theatre media performance course. Her role consisted of constructed planned and delivered lessons focusing on, directing, text, voice and movement technics, theatre space, multi-media performance, audition skills and clowning. In addition she used my background in outdoor arts, puppetry and site specific performance to deliver bespoke sessions on devising new work in these areas.
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She has directed performances for Bath Spa University working with 3rd year undergraduates on their final performance. She has delivered one to one tutorials with Ma Students and a range of lecturers on Michael Chekov techniques and contemporary puppetry practices. She has run masterclasses on directing, devising, and auditioning techniques at UWE
She worked at Theatre Bristol as an artist support associate and has a comprehensive knowledge of the landscape of live performance in the Southwest. She has been able to offer this as an additional resource to students enabling training and volunteer opportunities and an insight to initiatives and funding strands available for emerging artists.
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WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY EMMA WILLIAMS
Pinnocchio/ Williams and Williams
Gladys and the Electric Palace
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The Kingcombe Traveling Show
The Butterfly Lady
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