Sally Stockwell

Actor, singer-songwriter & theatre-maker

“ Exceptional, transcendent, theatre of the highest calibre. One of the best shows I’ve ever seen.” (‘We’ve Got So Much To Talk About’) – Art Murmers

Sally Stockwell is a cross-pollinating performance artist and voice & body teacher. She works across theatre, film, television and music. Her practice brings together acting, songwriting, live music, voice, movement and interdisciplinary performance.

She graduated from Toi Whakaari / New Zealand Drama School in 1995 with a Diploma in Acting, and holds a Performance Diploma with Pantheatre (France), specialising in voice and choreographic theatre. Further study in London, France (National Theatre Studio, Philippe Gaulier, Roy Hart Voicework), and Aotearoa New Zealand has continued to shape her approach to voice, performance, and storytelling.

Across more than three decades, Sally has worked professionally across theatre and screen in Aotearoa New Zealand and internationally. She has performed with companies including Circa Theatre, Downstage, Auckland Theatre Company, Silo Theatre, Court Theatre, Centrepoint Theatre and Red Leap Theatre, including as a touring company member. Her theatre and screen work has been recognised with nominations and awards from the Chapman Tripp Theatre Awards and the New Zealand Screen Awards.

Her acclaimed original theatre works, including We’ve Got So Much To Talk About, Firefly and Gravity Hotel (1 & 2), reflect a longstanding fascination with hybrid performance and a drive to let different disciplines feed into one another. Her work blends music, physical movement and text, incorporating original music and live song, rich sonic and visual worlds, and theatrical image-making.

Across her music and theatre work, Sally has presented at festivals including Splore, Auckland Arts Festival, Titirangi Festival of Music, TAHI Festival, Tiny Fest and Taranaki Arts Festival.

Released nearly a decade apart, Weightless (2015) and Little Triggers (2024) map two defining chapters in her life - the first shaped by the death of her brother, the second by becoming a mother.

Sally has taught voice for over twenty years, working with private students, performers, choirs and community groups, as well as in tertiary and pre-professional training settings. Her teaching, like her performance practice, moves between singing, spoken voice, movement, text and embodied Voice & Body exploration. She has taught and guest taught at institutions including the University of Auckland, Unitec, The Actors’ Programme and the University of Canterbury. Her recent Christchurch work includes regular teaching with MOVE Ōtautahi, guest teaching at Hagley Theatre School and vocal coaching with The Court Theatre, alongside workshops and private coaching.

Sally is based in Ōtautahi Christchurch.

“I never got to see Patti Smith but I saw Sally Stockwell” - Katie Wolfe, theatre/film/TV director, 2022