Audrey Cook is a queer, non-binary theatre maker from Teesside, known for their camp and surreal style of storytelling. Their work is bizarre, anarchic, whimsical, and downright daft. Audrey likes to play within the familiar until it is no longer familiar – taking what we would consider ‘cult’ or ‘classic’ and completely turning it on its head.
Alongside theatre making, performing, directing, and writing, Audrey is an artist heavily involved in community arts in the North East. They have been assisting with projects throughout the region, keeping underrepresented communities in the local area embedded into the arts and culture scene.
Audrey graduated from Rose Bruford College with a BA in European Theatre in 2020. They have been working in arts and culture in the North East since their first commission with ARC in July 2021. Since then they have worked for organisations such as Alphabetti Theatre, Curious Arts, Tees Valley Arts, Borderlands, Moving Parts Arts, MIMA, Tees Women Poets, and the Auxiliary – amongst many others.
Audrey says: ‘ARC was my main exposure to theatre and live performance as a teenager, so on a sentimental level, it’s amazing to now be considered an associate alongside artists that inspired me to become a theatre maker in the first place! – on a practical level, it is a venue where the values gorgeously align with my own in terms of how to support artists, and how to care for the local communities that surround the building. To work with a building that you’re not fighting with for the correct support, both as an artist, or as an audience member – it makes my job as an artist a lot easier, and a lot more liberating!
Audrey’s previous work includes:
Ricky the Itch – SIRF Festival (Aug 2022); Queer Fringe @ Pineapple Black (Sept 2022); Alphabetti Theatre (Apr 2023); The Bis Hartlepool (May 2023); Stockton Pride at ARC (Jul 2023)
Feed the Bird – Alphabetti Theatre (Nov 2022)
How This Email Found Me – ARC (Nov 2021)
The Golem Steals Your Shoes – Tees Valley Arts (Sept 2021)
Audrey is currently working as a writer for MIMA and The Tees Women Poets, writing poems and local folk tales from the minds of young children until October 2023.
They are also collaborating with ARC on Bus Stop Goths, a theatre performance and community led exhibition, due to arrive in April 2024. The project highlights the goth and alternative subcultures of Teesside – bringing local, modern day community stories into the world of folklore and fantasy.
Follow Audrey on Twitter @PigInTheCityy
Follow Audrey on Instagram @short.and.ginger