Trained at Rose Bruford College of Speech and Drama in Kent, Claudia began her career as an actor in regional and touring theatre, on the London Fringe and at the Royal Court Theatre before becoming a writer and director. She has directed a wide range of work – from children and young people’s plays to full scale, professional Shakespeare productions – mainly in non-theatre venues such as schools, community halls and open air sites.
Claudia has completed successful script commissions for Salisbury Playhouse/Salisbury Cathedral, Creative Partnerships Kent, Theatre Royal Margate and Vienna’s English Theatre. Plays professionally produced for Kent-based theatre company Chalkfoot Theatre Arts include Sisters of the Moon (a series of short stories featuring female protagonists, developed from world folklore), The Sea Morgan’s Child - an adaptation of an ancient story from Somerset - and Queen Elizabeth’s Elephant, which grew out of a community storytelling competition. You can find a list of plays written by Claudia here.
As a Creative Agent and Practitioner under the government funded Creative Partnerships initiative, Claudia collaborated with artists, teachers and pupils to bring about positive change in schools through creative learning. She has also been a workshop leader, consultant, trainer and facilitator for a number of local authorities, charities and arts organisations (including Creative Partnerships Kent, Music for Change, Future Creative and Chalkfoot).
In the last decade she helped to create a community flash fiction project with Dorset Writers Network and took the temporary role of Artistic Director for Juno Theatre Salisbury as they delivered an Arts Council funded showcase of five new plays by female writers at the Salisbury Arts Centre.
Claudia now works as a freelance copywriter, producing website content, magazine articles, blogs, press releases, video scripts and creative ideas for a wide range of businesses. Clients have included a national magazine publisher and an award-winning global digital marketing agency. .
Image above from The Sea Morgan's Child. “This timeless retelling of a near-forgotten legend is about loss, adoption, over-protectiveness, acceptance, pain, grief, happiness, rejection and exclusion. It's a lot to pack in to the playing time but Claudia Leaf's direction is eloquent. The result is a powerful and pretty topical piece.“ The Stage
