Carran Waterfield is an independent author, performance maker and teacher with several young people’s stories published along with devised playscripts and poetry. She is based in Southport, UK. Born in Coventry, UK she founded and led the international Coventry-based touring company Triangle Theatre (UK) est. 1988 creating collaborative productions of physically driven theatre with accompanying educational and community programmes.

Her talks:

• How I wrote 'Pink Granite'.
• The process of using family history research to create performance works.
• Walk with me from home to coast and back again - experiments with a walking practice

Her books:

• Pink Granite - a tale about roots, stone and a book (CJ Waterfield 2025)
• The Brinepoint Colouring Book- a companion to Redhair and Daffodil Friend (CJ Waterfield 2024)
• Redhair and Daffodil Friend – a tale about friendship, loyalty and minding your own business (CJ Waterfield 2022)
• A Walking Companion (forthcoming) – a walking poetry book documenting her creative walks along the Sefton coastline.

She can give presentations on her work in performance and her writing. She can offer workshops in walking practice, movement and devising

Her performance art work:

• Little Blue Man; (2015) with Universities of Northampton, Manchester, Salford and Move into Life
• Follow the Stone (2021) visual poem Southport coastline, Move into Life;
• Disrupted Meadow (2022) visual poem Move into Life, Castlefield Gallery, University of Sheffield, Dartington Hall.

Her performance repertoire:

• Omega and the Golden Water (1989) Edinburgh fringe and national tour.
• Married Blitz (1990) Best Actress Volgograd Festival of Experimental Theatre;
• Sticks and Stones (1990) Lloyds Bank Theatre Challenge Olivier Stage London;
• The Dig (1992) Fringe First, Independent Theatre Award Short List;
• Tributaries (1994) Japan/India/Scotland collaboration;
• Godiva (1995) UK Denmark tour; My Sister, My Angel (1996) UK Denmark Tour;
• Looking for the Tallyman (1998) Edinburgh Fringe/UK Denmark Tour;
• Whissell and Williams Home Front Training Camp/Coventry Kids in the Blitz (2004) Museums and Heritage Award/Roots and Wings Award, UK, France, Australia;
• Dugout! (2002) Screen West Midlands Selection;
• Nina and Frederick (2002) UK/Denmark/France tour, feature film;
• The Pollard Trail (2006) UK/Australia/Belfast feature in Performing Heritage;
• The Last Women (2009) commissioned by Wellcome Trust, Belgrade Theatre, The Herbert Museum, Warwick University Centre for the History of Medicine;
• Birnam Wood (2010-2016) RSC Stratford, Universities of Salford, Manchester and Melton College; The House (2015) AHRC funded with University of Manchester.

Training and influences: Carran’s theatre and performance training is drawn from mainly European/UK based practitioners and teachers including Peter Slade (Demmery and Slade); Odin Teatret (Barba, Wethal, Carreri, Fowler); Pantheatre (Wise, Pardo); Roy Hart Theatre (Manley, Pikes, Lucca); Jerzy Grotowski (Barba, Cynkutis); Ian Cameron (Gaulier, Lecoq, Pagneux, and Desmond Jones); Sandra Reeve (Move into Life, Suprapto Suryodarmo).

In 2010, after more than twenty years practising in the West Midlands and extensive international touring, Carran moved from the West Midlands to Southport, Merseyside. Here she navigated a new direction collaborating with the universities of Salford and Manchester and developing her outdoor movement practice. She specialised in teaching movement at ALRA North (2010-2016), worked on a major research project Poor Theatres for the University of Manchester (2013-2017) and developed an extensive residency at Heron Corn Mill in Cumbria (2014-2017).

In 2018 she became an associate artist at Edge Hill University whilst making contributions to Southport Constituency Labour Party as Women’s Officer. In 2019 she became an elected Labour Councillor for Sefton Borough Council where she contributed to the development of a cultural strategy for the borough. She stood down from her councillor position in 2024. Also in 2024 she directed an adaptation of her children’s book Redhair and Daffodil Friend with undergraduate students (University of Salford) and continues there as an associate artist.