Bel Parker

is a theatre director and linguist from London. She studied Arabic at SOAS University, spending a year abroad in Alexandria in 2017 where she worked in a halal butcher. She then trained in physical theatre at Lecoq in Paris and led workshops for Arabic speaking refugees. Back in London, she was associate director for The Big House, a theatre company working with care leavers. There, she spearheaded arts programs, directed plays and short documentaries and films. Now, free-lancing as a director and theatre-maker, she has just come off a run at Seven Dials Playhouse for a new-writing comedy Summoning Sondheim, is preparing for the festival run of her first short film Under The Blanket, and is about to open a new production of Hansel and Gretel, written by Josh Azouz, and developed with a cast from the Big House.