About

I started performing comedy and spoken word sets on the small-scale cabaret and comedy circuit. I premiered my debut solo show, Reshape While Damp, at the Edinburgh Fringe.  Following a great reception, I took the show to FIRST: a Festival of Solo Performances, at the Tristan Bates Theatre, London. I also headlined Change, a festival of new writing for Pulse Ensemble Theatre in New York.

I’ve gone on to write and perform my own work across the UK.  I enjoy experimenting with style and content and finding out what works well for audiences in different settings. My performance incorporates monologue, spoken word and song, and my stories can be poignant, surreal and funny – sometimes all at once.

In 2018 I had a very successful 2-week run at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe with my solo comedy theatre show, Despite Everything, Price Still Includes Biscuits. I also toured a story-cabaret show Truth and Truffles during 2017-8 through Live and Local,  performing songs and true-life stories in rural venues with storyteller Cat Weatherill.

In 2019, I toured the solo show to Wolverhampton, Leicester, Birmingham and Burton-upon-Trent.  I had a great run at the Brighton Fringe in May and the Buxton Fringe in July, with brilliant audiences all round.  I had another excellent 2-week run in August at the Edinburgh Fringe.

In July, I delivered a creative travel writing piece and performed poetry at the Borders and Crossings conference at the University of Leicester. In the autumn, I co-organised and performed in the very successful ‘pARTy Lines – a Literary Cabaret’ for Birmingham Literature Festival.  You can read a blog about it here

I also took my solo show to South Scarle Community Centre near Newark and performed a work-in-progress ‘Whose Christmas is it Anyway?’ for PILOT Nights at Warwick Arts Centre. I performed the piece again in Loughborough and Burton-on-Trent to very appreciative audiences.

2020 began with a great show in Leicester at the Cosy Club.  But after that, so much was cancelled or closed due to the spread of Covid-19,  If you are reading this, I hope you are safe and well.

During August and September 2020, I had a wonderful time as part of Live and Local’s ‘Living Room’ project.  I worked collaboratively with residents in the ‘new’ village of Meon Vale in South Warwickshire to create a spoken-word piece for the community.  Entitled ‘Snapshot Stories,’ the piece is based on true-life stories and experiences during the pandemic and also celebrates the place and its environment. We had a great response from the community and we collected material, recorded and filmed in Meon Vale during the 2-month period. BBC CWR featured the project on ‘Coventry Creates.’ In December 2020, following an active and public residents’ campaign, the community in Meon Vale learned that the development plans for the woodland had been withdrawn.

In January 2021, the film was featured in an online festival with theSpaceUK and was also shown online at the Brighton Festival Fringe and the Buxton Festival Fringe. You can read a review from Buxton Fringe here

In September 2021, I delivered a creative travel writing piece at the Borders and Crossings conference at the University of Kent. 

It was great to be back on the boards again in 2022 at a range of rural venues via Live & Local and at the Buxton Festival Fringe.  Listen to a podcast recorded during the festival! 

This year, I was delighted to perform for the first time at the Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham in January.  There was a lovely atmosphere in the Studio Theatre with full houses and a great audience response.

Alongside other members of Birmingham-based Big Script, we have just performed 7 new short plays, script in hand, to a full house at the Highbury Inn!

There are more shows with Live & Local coming up (see gigs page) and I am looking forward to returning to Buxton and Edinburgh this summer. 

Listen to an interview with Paul Levy of Fringe Review about my work  – both writing and performing – recorded in Edinburgh in 2016. There is a later interview recorded at the Brighton Fringe 2019  here

 

Gigs

 

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2023

Saturday March 25th
Despite Everything, Price Still Includes Biscuits (solo show)
Twyford Village Hall
Main St,
Twyford
LE14 2HU
Start: 7. 30 pm
Tickets: £12.00  / £9.00  in advance from 01664 840774 and available online via Live & Local here

Sunday March 26th
Despite Everything, Price Still Includes Biscuits (solo show)
Rolleston Club,
15, Burnside
Rolleston on Dove
DE13 9DN
Start: 7. 30 pm
Tickets: £12.00 from johnernest@johnephillips.plus.com or 01283 813833. More information online via Live & Local here

Wednesday April 5th
Wednesday Mic Fever (spoken word set) 
The Legacy Centre
Birmingham

Saturday April 22nd
Despite Everything, Price Still Includes Biscuits (solo show)
Rous Lench Village Hall
Radford Road
Evesham
Worcestershire
WR11 4UN
Start: 7. 30pm
Tickets £12.00 / £10.00 from b.herdman@btinternet.com or 01386 793651 and available online via Live & Local here

Tuesday  May 16th
Despite Everything, Price Still Includes Biscuits (solo
show)
The Stourport Civic Theatre Hall
Stourport on Severn
Worcestershire
DY13 8UJ
Start: 7. 30 pm
Tickets:  £13.00 / £10.00 from Box Office  01299 823339  and available online via Live & Local here 

Thursday July 13th & Saturday July 15th
Buxton Festival Fringe
The Green Man Gallery, 8.30pm
new solo show – more details to follow!

August 4-19th (excluding Sundays)
Edinburgh Festival Fringe
The Space @ Surgeons’ Hall, 5pm. 
new solo show – more details to follow!

Reviews

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Despite Everything... Buxton Fringe Review 12.07.19 CROPPED‘A sprinkling of nicely observed Victoria Wood-style songs add to the charm of her multi-layered subtle little show.’

– Ludlow Fringe, 2017
★★★★☆

‘Paul’s deadpan delivery casts a spell over her audience.”   

–  Edinburgh 49, 2016
★★★★☆

‘Naomi’s style of delivery is gentle, engaging and alert to audience responses Indeed the point of the biscuits she hands out is to provide a short break in which we can talk to each other. This is a fine comic celebration of modern Britain,  whose only comic victim is the odd Government minister.’

British Theatre Guide, 2015
★★★★☆

‘Terrific deadpan delivery of material that is topical and relevant. Audiences loved it!

Alexa Kelly, Artistic Director,
Pulse Ensemble Theatre, New York

Naomi Paul wowed the audience with her own brand of deadpan Jewish humour.’

– Jewish Telegraph

‘Fabulous: sharp, cultural, witty, poignant and very, VERY funny.’

Audience member, Birmingham Fest

‘A quietly intelligent and entertaining show… highly recommend it. She is wonderful!’ 

– Audience member, Edinburgh

 

 

Workshops

I’m an experienced workshop leader, facilitator and teacher, working with a diverse range of participants in various settings.

‘Her writing, performance and considered wit guarantee a great session.’

‘The air buzzed with creative tension as we scribbled away.’

I’ve given workshops for Writers Without Borders on the structure of poetry and using humour. I also deliver performance workshops to help participants develop their stories for an audience, and co-ran a short course for Writing West Midlands called True Words – Personal Storytelling.

‘We astonished ourselves with the actual and potential humour in what we managed to create.’

‘The kindness, openness and gentleness of the group. An excellent place to try out difficult things.’

Read about a recent workshop for Bilston Writers here

Read a Review

Contact

curtains

If you would like to book a performance or workshop, please use the form below and I’ll send you more information.