Julia Hayford-Welsing

Julia Hayford-Welsing is a London-based writer and director. She read English at UCL and trained at City Lit and Venture House, and has directed and produced theatre for over twenty years — including London's first Shakespeare production staged with B Boys and live rappers, at the New Players Theatre.

Since 2016 she has run Awakened Stage, developing new work and leading workshops in storytelling, communication and confidence for community groups, NHS teams and adults managing anxiety. That work sits alongside over three years coaching in the NHS, and it feeds the writing directly: the drama is where the same questions get asked without having to be answered.

In autumn 2026 she opens Narrow Gate Acting School at the Granville Centre in South Kilburn, training actors towards a production every six months and offering funded places to talented people in the community.

As an actor she has played Medea and Cassandra for Peter Meineck's Aquila Theatre, at the Bloomsbury Theatre and on tour in the United States, and the Cheshire Cat in Andy Arnold's Alice in Wonderland, also at the Bloomsbury. She played Hedda Gabler in a sold-out run at the Etcetera Theatre, and appeared opposite John Malkovich in Stephen Frears' Mary Reilly.

Narrow Gate Creative is her production company. It is currently developing Chilli Me and Hayford.