Aiden is a theatre maker who grew up in Berkshire, before moving to Bristol to work for Theatre Bristol, an umbrella group that supports performers and producers. He read Performing Arts at Bath Spa University, where he found his voice as a solo performer, and is also an alumnus of both The Watershed’s Future Producers program and Marisa Carnesky’s Radical Cabaret School. As a writer and performer, Aiden has toured shows at UK theatre festivals based on Great Expectations, Virginia Woolf’s Orlando, and Katie Hopkins.
During his time on Birkbeck’s MA Text and Performance course, Aiden discovered that he can write earnest and personal work that is still provocative and worthwhile. His final dissertation piece, The Sodomite, for which he receives the Michael Ross Award, is both a tongue-in-cheek retelling of the biblical story of Sodom and Gomorrah, and an earnest reflection on Catholicism’s relationship to the LGBTQIA+ community. Aiden is passionate about gender and performance, including how queer aesthetics such as drag and cabaret can tackle cultural accessibility.
Because he tends to make solo performances, Aiden splits his time between producing and writing and devising in the studio. The support and advice Aiden has received from the staff and his peers, both at Birkbeck and RADA, has supported him in these endeavours, but due to the pandemic, his experience of developing The Sodomite has felt solitary at times. With the help of the Michael Ross Award, Aiden will be able to give The Sodomite the attention it deserves, while also exploiting his classmates’ creativity and tenacity more equitably.
