Nail Bar

National Youth Theatre StoryFest | London | 2026
Director: Natasha Haws

A three-part immersive soap opera by Afsaneh Gray and Kelly Jones, staged inside a disused shop on Holloway Road transformed into a nail bar. Created in response to the changing high street, the piece explored community, connection and the relationships that exist within these spaces.

Direction

Working closely with Afsaneh and Kelly, I developed a fast-paced, heightened soap that played with the conventions of the genre while finding a distinctly theatrical language. Audience interaction was built into the experience, with the audience becoming part of the world of the nail bar.

The unusual space became a key part of the directing challenge, requiring shifting focus, clear storytelling and playful ways of creating moments of intimacy within an open environment. Sound and physical storytelling were used to expand the world beyond what the audience could see.

I loved working with the writers, whose generosity and openness to experimentation made the process genuinely collaborative.