FIONA LAIRD

Artistic Director and Founder

Fiona is a highly-regarded and award-winning director, writer, composer and lyricist and is also the Founder of the National Youth Arts Trust Her many directing credits include The Merry Wives of Windsor (RSC) Stephen Fry’s Cinderella (Old Vic) Oh What a Lovely War, Peter Pan, Frogs, Guys and Dolls (National Theatre), numerous other plays and musicals in London, regionally in the UK, and in cities throughout Europe, as well as her own play Beyond Belief in London and on Broadway. Fiona has written on theatre for The Times, the Telegraph and the Guardian, has appeared many time on BBC Radio4, and is deeply committed to widening access to the performing arts, and to the power of theatre to regenerate and change outcomes.

MARK LOCKYER

Principal Actor and Artistic Associate

Mark is widely considered to be one of the finest Classical and Shakespearean actors of his generation. His theatre credits include major roles in The ALchemist, The Tempest, ROmeo and Juliet, King Lear and The Taming of the Shrew (all RSC) Laertes in Mark Rylance’s Hamlet (Shakespeare’s Globe) Malvolio in Twelfth Night (Bristol Old Vic) and Theatre of Blood, Fuente Ovejuna, and Bartholemew Fair (National Theatre) Mark lives with bipolar disorder and has also experienced time in mental health settings, and prison, and experienced a period of homlessness. He is now an Ambassado for St Mungo’s

EMMA DOLMAN

Executive Producer

Emma has twenty years experience in arts management, from working in arts development with rural and urban communities, to arranging large-scale events, cross-genre collaborations, Artistic Direction of venues, and work both for and with people of varying physical abilities. Since 2017 Emma has been working successfully as a freelance theatre producer, working with a variety of dynamic theatre companies on strategy, production and promotion, and devleoping partnerships and projects, and in taking theatre to underrepresented audiences.

DOMINIC McHALE

Outreach Director

Following a successful career as an actor in the 1980s and 90s (including with Fiona Laird at the National Theatre), Dominic has spent the last 20 years working extensively as a Drama Facilitator in a variety of settings. he has worked with NYT/Cardboard Citizens, The Roundhouse, Generation Arts, Synergy Theatre and the Lyric Theatre. He has also worked in several Criminal Justice Settings including Cookham Wood Young Offenders Institution (for the National Youth Arts Trust), Feltham Young Offenders Institution, and HMP Doncaster. He also has experience working in Pupil Referral Units, and in social care with adults experiencing homelessness, substance misuse, and mental illness.

KITTY BENFORD

Assistant Director

Kitty is a working class theatre director with nearly ten years experience co-creating with young people and communities to tell transformative stories. Growing up and expereincing real-life challenges - including losing a parent at a young age, oberving the prison system, and being a young carer - Kitty understands first hand that theatre can and dos change lives. Her recent credits include The Jolly Christmas Postman (Royal and Derngate), Fantastic Foxes (Curve Leicester) and National Theatre Speak Up

STEVE HARMAN

Project Adviser

Steve has had a successful international career in business, working in a variety of cultures and witnessing many of the challenges this charity is addressing. Steve was brought up in a mining and teaching family in Durham, a grounding that has resulted in his involvement in many charitable causes over the last 25 years – including more recently work for Help for Heroes, the Kings Foundation and this charity. Steve is also involved in mentoring and supporting young adults who are at difficult stages in their lives.

GEORGE FREEMAN MP

Project Advisor

Elected to Parliament in 2010 after a 15 year career founding, funding and managing high growth ventures, George has served as UK Minister for Science, Research & Innovation over the last 14 years. George is Co-Chair of the All Party Group for the Children of Alcoholics, is deeply committed to social enterprise and cross-party working and has a long history of successful social enterprise as Founder of Businesswise Learn To Earn (1996), MindTheGap (2003), The Norfolk Way (2008), The Bridge of Hope (2019) and The Big Tent Foundation & Festival (2017).

TANIYA JAMIL

Understudy/Cover ‘Hamlet’

Supported by the National Youth Arts Trust, Taniya (who is from a single-parent household and has experienced many financial and circumstantial barriers to Performing Arts training) completed an MA in Acting at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in 2024. Since then she has performed in two short films (Success is Served. dir Renee Louise Bottern and the Downfall of Tray the Wonderhorse, dir Robyn Rainsford) Hamlet is her first professional theatre engagement.