daNIELLE
JAMES
is an award-winning writer and performer from ireland currently based in london
photo by ben wulf
She writes mostly for theatre, but is also a screen-writer and a writer of poetry and prose. She’s dead keen on words basically.
Her work for theatre has been compared to Sarah Kane and Anthony Neilson (which she is equally delighted and terrified about), and has been described by critics as “exquisitely written”, “bold and passionate”, and “triumphant”.
She is a two-time winner of the Brendan Kennelly Cup for Poetry, and her play “Knives and Forks” was awarded Best Direction (for Hannah Calascione) at the Bitesize Festival Awards.
She is the Artistic Director of Pushback Theatre, a theatre company dedicated to uplifting and platforming Trans+ voices in theatre.
She has worked with artists such as Florence and The Machine, Shania Twain, Cyndi Lauper, Jules Buckley, and Tom Rasmussen.
Her drag act, The Doll, has seen her travel all over the world to spread her unique approach to cross-crossdressing (that is a woman crossdressing as a gay man crossdressing as a woman) to festivals and dingy basements from London to the Alps. She has performed at Glastonbury, Masseria Wave, Mighty Hoopla, and Butlins.
She is a graduate of King’s College London where she studied Theatre and Performance under the tutelage of Alan Read, and Poetry under the mentorship of T.S Elliot Prize Winner, Anthony Joseph. She is currently completing her studies on the MA Theatre and Performance Course at Queen Mary University of London, where her research examines generating theatrical pedagogy for communities who are traditionally expelled from homogenous groups.
She is currently developing her play, “Three Boys” with the Royal Court Theatre.
