FILLE DE MON COEUR (Daughter of my Heart) was first performed at The Regency Town House Brighton, United Kingdom. This was an immersive viseral one hour show that explored the last five years of Antonin Artaud’s life – The Second Writer in our series. This one hour performance explored Artaud’s relationship with writer and actress Colette Thomas. The performance was also supported by a 2 hour art workshop and a follow up show at Proposition Studios as part of the Fringe Festival in August 2024.

Thank you to – Stefan Haselwimmer and Constance Miller – for your outstanding interpretation of this complex relationship and Molly O’Neill for your research and artistry in forming and creating the beautiful projections to support this show.

Founder and Artistic Director – Natasha Higdon

Natasha Higdon is the Founder and Artistic Director of The Writer’s Mark. Natasha is currently working as a Director, Lecturer and Drama freelancer and is based in Brighton, United Kingdom. She has recently directed Salome by Oscar Wilde, which received ‘Must See Show.’ Natasha has always been passionate about community based theatre, which stems from her BSc Hons Degree in Psychology with Performing Arts in the Community, where she studied at Oxford Brooke’s University.

Natasha has continued to teach Drama, Theatre Studies and Performing Arts in Suffolk, London and Brighton. Currently, Natasha is a tutor/director for Third Space based in Brighton and is a Lecturer at Kingston College and Chichester University. Natasha specialises in physical theatre, berkoffian theatre and theatre of the absurd. Her approach is experimental, focusing on music and movement to communicate her narrative. 

Natasha has published materials on: Antonin Artaud and Steven Berkoff, writing for ‘We Teach Drama.’ She has also worked for ‘Go Live Theatre’ as a writer and is presently a Reviewer for Fringe Review where she specialises in reviewing physicalised works, recently for Edinburgh Fringe Review.

Researcher and Designer – Molly O’Neill

Molly O’Neill, I studied Illustration Animation at Kingston School of Art and then a Master’s in Fine Art at the University of Brighton. I have worked freelance for the last few years in both illustration and animation jobs, working with companies such as Be the Fox and Unilever. After working freelance for a while I decided I wanted to have more focus on the concept of my work and since studying for my Master’s I have realised that the focus of my work is usually around nature. 

Due to the current climate crisis, I have been driven to focus my work around empathy for nature and how this can bring us closer to understanding the importance of looking after the environment. I have focused my research on “Deep ecology”. This is a term brought to us by the Norwegian philosopher  Arne Naess, in 1972 and I’m working with the Moving Image as a tool to understand our connection to nature.

Actor (Antonin Artaud) – Stefan Hasselwimmer

Stefan is a screenwriter and actor. He trained at Drama Centre London, has performed at Brighton and Edinburgh fringes and was a lead actor on Rungano Nyoni’s BAFTA-winning film ‘The List’. Theatre roles he has played include Valmont in Dangerous Liaisons (“Stefan Haselwimmer glitters as the Vicomte”, Varsity), Eilert Løvborg in Hedda Gabbler, Deeley in Old Times and Mike in The Memory of Water. He has toured Germany with White Horse Theatre, playing various roles including the Sheriff of Nottingham (Maid Marian), Count Spatula (Neighbours with Long Teeth) and Lord Henry Wotton (The Picture of Dorian Gray). He has also presented a TV special on refugees for BBC Inside Out.

As a writer, he has been selected for Creative England Talent Development, LSF Talent Campus and BFI BAFTA X Crew. He is currently working on his eighth screenplay, a philosophical drama set in and around the South Downs based on his own experiences as a philosophy graduate with mental health challenges. He has also turned his hand to directing, completing several short films and directing Martin Crimp’s Fewer Emergencies at New Venture Theatre. He enjoys playing tennis and walking on the South Downs.

Actor (Colette Thomas) – Constance Miller

Constance is an actor, director and writer. She trained at the Cours Florent and Method Acting Center in Paris, at Giles Forman Center for Acting and the Micheal Chekhov Studio in Brussels. These explorations of her acting craft led her to work with professionals such as Boris Rabay (GITIS), Natalie Yalon, Marjolein Baars or Lenard Petit.

As a bilingual French/English performer, Constance worked on stage in France, Belgium and the UK. Her roles include Anya in the Cherry Orchard directed by Luca Francesch, Merteuil in Dangerous Liaisons directed by Manuel Gilbert or Desdemona in Othelo directed by Ludovic Lamaud. She is also involved in a few R&Ds (research and development) of plays for Pickles Theatre Company as a performer and writer. 

On screen, she has been Phèdre for Margot Poupeville’s Et Ils Dansèrent, Andy (lead) for Lucile Jaillant in Andy and smaller roles for bigger feature films such as Le Talent de Mes Amis by Alex Lutz or Maryline by Guillaume Galienne. With her background being an audiovisual technician, Constance has co-directed, co-produced and co-wrote short films. She is exploring writing for theatre, artistic direction and being a director for immersive theatre.