Sarah was born in Dundee, Scotland. She trained at Chelsea School of Art (sculpture) and with the legendary Jaques Lecoq between 1989 and 1991 at Ecole International de Theatre Jacque Lecoq in Paris. She has worked extensively in theatre, both movement and text based, as well as creating installation performance works. Between 2015-2017 Sarah performed her award-winning solo show THE RED CHAIR, a Clod Ensemble production directed by Suzy Willson with music by Paul Clark. The dramatic text of The Red Chair is published by Bloomsbury Methuen. 

In 2023 Sarah worked with Sacha Wares on Inside, a virtual reality storytelling project for the National Theatre, Karavan Ensemble's Human Rights Bingo and Melanie Wilson’s Oracle: The Dreaming Species (hopefully more about that soon). Sarah continued her work on experiments in emotion completing the filming of the Merry Andra studies with a view to showing them this year, 2024.  

Sarah has been a long-term collaborator with Clod Ensemble. During the pandemic Sarah participated in (zoom!) research for Black Saint and The Sinner Lady and a revisit to Clod's first ever show The Feast During The Plague. The group were asked to respond to tasks collaboratively, and also individually by recording one's solo improvisations and sharing them over the course of the research.  The pandemic afforded Sarah space to immerse herself in ideas that sprung from this process and she was inspired to shoot-off at times, making independent filmic responses to the prescribed material. Sarah also made a series of her own film studies during this time, which form a remarkable diary of pandemic experience and are currently being edited into a film. Sarah was also commissioned by ARTLAB to make 5 x 5 minute educational films for children. This curious and rare period was a kind of gestation and a slow-motion epiphany - it's been fundamental to where Sarah is now as an artist.  

Other Clod work includes Under Glass (Autumn Tour 2017) The Lowry Salford, Sadler’s Wells (at Hackney Showroom, London) Attenborough Centre (Brighton) Wales Millennium Centre (Cardiff) The Red Chair solo show 2015-2017 An Anatomie in Four Quarters Sadlers Wells (London) The Lowry (Salford Keys) Millennium Centre (Cardiff) ZERO Sadlers Wells (London) Bristol Old Vic Mayfest (Bristol) The Corn Exchange (Brighton Festival) Malvern Theatres (Malvern) Silver Swan Turbine Hall (Tate Modern London) The Red Ladies (National Theatre co-production) Trafalgar Square & National Theatre Forecourt Greed BAC (London) The Pleasance (Edinburgh Festival) & International Tour, For One Night Only BAC (London) Kiss My Echo BAC (London) Lady Grey Purcell Rooms (London)

In June 2015 Sarah performed with Tim Crouch in An Oak Tree at The National Theatre. Between 1993 and 1998 sarah was a company member of The Young Vic which created the award winning Grimm Tales (& International Tour) for 5 years under the directorship of Tim Supple and Melly Still. Other Young Vic work includes: More Grimm Tales (Broadway & International Tour)) The Jungle Book, As I Lay Dying and Twelfth Night (Olivia); RSC/Young Vic co-production The Comedy of Errors (Adriana) The Other Place (Stratford) The Young Vic UK & International Tour (including India & Pakistan). Other theatre/installation work includes: Electra (Electra, Cryptic (directed by Cathie Boyd Caracas, Venezuela, Quimper, France) A Call In The Night (Leeds Playhouse) directed by Jude Kelly Lipstick Tango directed by Sarah Harper (Croydon Warehouse) Gormenghast, David Glass Ensemble (Lyric Hammersmith, UK Tour) Beulah Land, ICA directed by Lucy Baily. The Last of The Just The Best Tellers Richard de Marco Edinburgh Festival & UK Tour, New End Theatre (London) The Madman & The Nun directed by Olivia Fuches The Duke of Cambridge, London Performance Installation works include: Iraq and Every Other Bloody War #1 (Propeller Island) Watch This Space (Young Vic) and The Toilet Project (The Architecture Association, Public Toilets, Newham) both with Dan Milne & The Space Project  TV & Film includes: Alan Partridge Knowing Me, Knowing You (2 episodes BBC TV Talkback productions) The Creatives (BBC TV, talkback)  The Sea Watchers by award winning filmmaker Lizzy Oxby.

teaching

Sarah is a qualified yoga teacher specialising in YIN yoga. Sarah volunteered as a tour-guide for Take Shelter at Downs Junior School while her children were at school there. Pre-pandemic she led ARTLAB workshops for Tate Modern and ARTLAB commissioned Sarah to create 5 short educational films during the pandemic. Sarah also created and led Finding Voice Workshops for art graduates at Reading University. As part of The Red Chair tour of Scotland, Sarah led Creative Writing Workshops for Clod Ensemble (open to all age groups the participants’ ages ranged from 14 yrs to mid 70’s). Also Red Chair movement & writing workshops at Down’s Junior (Brighton). Sarah has also led or assisted workshops for Clod Ensemble, The Young Vic, Polka Theatre, West Yorkshire Playhouse (Jude Kelly) and The Royal Shakespeare Company. With School Of Creation Sarah co-led "creative core" workshops with various groups including professors from the London Institute, advertising students and city workers from the corporate sector. Sarah has also created and led sculpture projects for ACAVA (Hammersmith, London) and poetry workshops with Eastside (London) as well as organising and leading workshops with BIGFOOT, Supernova and House Of Fairytales.