Photograph by Kev Howard as part of N18, Great Exhibition of the North

Thank you for visiting my site. I am lucky to have collaborated with so many brilliant people and companies over the last 13 years and hope to continue to do so.

Telling stories is my passion and as a Theatre Maker I aim to make work that credits the intelligence of the audience and invites you to take ownership in the storytelling act.

Whilst I come from a theatre background, collaborating with practitioners from other disciplines is embedded in my practice and I am really interested in the skills-sharing and surprises that can come from working in this way.

I enjoy wearing lots of hats and I see each one as an opportunity to learn and inform the work I create as a whole. These bonnets include Directing, Performing, Writing and Facilitating. 

I also work as a Clown Doctor  with a brilliant team of sillybillies for TinARTS at a range of local hospitals. You can find out more about this here.

The Stage Opinion piece
Interview with Broadway World

Example projects...

Story Team: a new tale for Cumbria

Over the summer of 2021, I worked with Theatre by the Lake, Cumbria Libraries and a whole host of brilliant young people across the county, to create a brand-new story!
Each week, a story mission would be set and young people could either send in their ideas online or come along to a face-to-face workshop.
And what a time, Crow and I had! You can see some of the ideas submitted here and can find out more about the project here
The full story will be released soon!



​Chicken Licken: a Tale Jam
A Durham Gala and Ruth Mary Johnson Production
Written by and Directed by Ruth Mary Johnson
Musical Direction by Calum Howard
Performed by Calum Howard, Liam Scarth and Ruth Mary Johnson
(​March-April 2019)

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Chicken Licken: a Tale Jam - Touring Spring 2019
Graphics by Wayne Gamble
​Illustration by Rebecca Johnson

The Winter's Tale, National Theatre (Jan-Feb 2019)


​Photo by Ellie Kurttz www.elliekurttz.com 
​://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/shows/the-winters-tale
Example review

Story Gigs...

​Izzy Gizmo: A Story Gig (Based on the book written by Pip Jones and illustrated by Sara Ogilvie) and Perfectly Norman: A Story Gig (based on the book written and illustrated by Tom Percival) were co-created with community groups across County Durham.
Each song was written and composed with each group to tell the story of the picture book and brought to life by the amazing Musical Directors Calum Howard and Jeremy Bradfield and wonderful Actor-Musicians Phil Davids, Tamara Camacho and Assad Zaman. Written, directed and performed by Ruth Mary Johnson with props created by Rebecca Johnson.

You can view the full videos here https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKuygKmrXOx0_g4YC3qv-hw and here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUcZKr5usqw 
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Photo by Topher McGrillis
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Photo by Marion Botella
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Photo by Marion Botella
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TalePieces - The Fables of Bewick and You, 2018 - a digital response to the Great Exhibition of the North as part of the N18 programme bringing together a cohort of artists from across the North.
​Video created by Alan Fentiman for the N18 project as part of The Great Exhibition of the North.

​Much felt thanks to all the brilliant photographers shown on this site for their beautiful work and allowing me to use their images.
Topher McGrillis http://tmcgphoto.uk/
Richard Kenworthy http://richardkenworthy.com/
Sophie Teasdale https://www.sophieteasdale.co.uk/
Mark Savage http://marksavagephotography.blogspot.co.uk/
Rob Irish ​https://www.rob.irish/