Immersive actor, creative and director
Amie Burns Walker is Co-creator and Associate Director of ‘Immersive Great Gatsby'.
She graduated from QMU in 2009 with a BA (Hons) in Acting and Performance.
What are you currently working on?
I recently developed 'Immersive Forty Elephants’, an immersive and currently all-women theatre company, inspired by Alice Diamond and her all female gang that terrorised London in the 1920’s.
My next project is an immersive community show with Harrogate Theatre, ‘Our Gate’ written by Rachael Halliwell and supported by ACE. We have been in R & D and pre-production online, running monthly workshops and producing a podcast and radio show.
If you haven't guessed, I love immersive theatre and empowering audiences to take part. I run workshops to help other actors and creatives develop the tools to make their own shows.
Tell us more about your career path since leaving QMU.
My career path has largely been forged by accident and happenstance!
I left drama school thinking I wanted to be an actor but soon realised that I wanted to make art and encourage other people and audiences to make art too. The most rewarding work I make has been with communities, young people and my friends.
I co-created ‘The Great Gatsby Immersive Experience’, one of the UK’s longest running immersive theatre shows. I also directed the West End transfer and Korean production.
What are your most memorable experiences of being a QMU student?
"QMU is where I met my best friends and we still laugh at the bonkers exercises we undertook with absolute seriousness and conviction."
I remember the heart-breaking decision to close the Gateway Theatre but I’m so glad that performing arts continues at QMU, thanks to the dedication of its tutors who always went above and beyond for us.
What advice would you give to students and new graduates starting out?
I would recommend exploring ‘The Artist's Way' by Julia Cameron. I wish I had found it sooner, it’s really important to find a balance in your life and ways to support your health and wellbeing, to ensure the decisions you make are for your happiness and not because you think it’s what you should be doing.
Don’t live in horrible places, don’t comprise on your happiness and don’t feel that returning home is a failure.
And, do your taxes!
