Independent writer and theatre artist, Margot Edwards has been based in Margaret River, since arriving from Sydney in 1990. She brought her collaborative approach to gathering and creating stories with her, specialising in improvised theatre-making, group-devising or experimenting with process, With over 35 years in practice as a community artist, Margot weaves ideas and story threads from ensemble and group gatherings, in festivals, communities and events throughout the south west.
As independent producer-writer, her latest collaborative project, The Tipping Point, is engaging communities to unpack climate anxiety through improvisation, poetry, puppetry, movement, story telling and listening. Next stage creative development, with multiple established, mid-career and emerging artists, indigenous cultural custodians and environmentalists will bring The Tipping Point performance and workshops to Perth, Margaret River, Balingup and other regional communities in 2025-26.
Developing in tandem with her long-standing women’s audio trilogy – The Wilding Stories – both projects share our stories of strength in the face of adversity. As audio installation, The Wilding Stories and associated workshops has been empowering groups of women in collective listening and conversation circles touring south west WA festivals since 2021, including Bunbury Fringe 2021-22, Margaret River Readers and Writers Festival 2021-22, Denmark Festival of Voice 2021, Nannup Music Festival 2023 and Wild Village Festival, Dwellingup 2022-23, plus small home venues and bookshops in the South West and Fremantle in 2024.
As a performance writer, Margot specialises in playwriting and spoken word, creating modern folktales, and live lyrical chorus work, exploring allegories of empowerment in relation to self and other, connection to country, spirit of place and environment. Her spoken word stories often draw on magic realism stemming from her roots in dramatic storytelling and mythology, and collaborations exploring status, and long term ‘outsider’ impacts on vulnerable people or places.
As a long-standing active regional theatre artist based in South West WA, she works with people of all ages, from diverse walks of life, playbuilding and writing, creating and sharing story including collaborations with First Nations artists, and workshops in schools, libraries, community & women’s health centres and with adults with disabilities DADDA Bunbury, DSC Bsn, founding Artzability MRiver in 2009.