Joanna Bowman makes her RSC debut this year directing The Two Gentlemen of Verona. Her previous directing credits include Doubt (Dundee Rep. Nominated for Best Director, Best Production, and Best Design, 2025 Critics’ Awards Theatre Scotland (CATS) Awards); Escaped Alone (winner of Best Director, Best Production and Best Ensemble, 2024 CATS Awards).

Joanna was Associate Director at the Tron Theatre between 2022 and 2025. She is a National Theatre Connections Mentor Director and a Creative Associate of Vanishing Point.

Dr Jessica Chiba is an Assistant Professor at the Shakespeare Institute of the University of Birmingham. Her research focuses on the intersection between Shakespeare and Philosophy, especially where questions about language and poetry intersect with issues surrounding human existence and knowledge. Her further research looks beyond English to consider how the translation of Shakespeare plays a part in intercultural communication in our world today.

Professor Michael Dobson is Professor of Shakespeare Studies at the University of Birmingham and Director of the Shakespeare Institute. He is also an honorary governor of the Royal Shakespeare Company, a trustee of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, extra-parliamentary secretary to the All Party Parliamentary Group on Shakespeare, and an honorary member of the Academy of Sciences of the Higher School of Ukraine.

Michael Grady-Hall is an actor, facilitator and theatre maker. His work here includes Twelfth Night, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Venice Preserved, Imperium I & II, Oppenheimer, The Shoemaker’s Holiday, As You Like It, Hamlet, All’s Well That Ends Well, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Cardenio, The City Madam. Michael is co-founder of Three’s Company and Smooth Faced Gentlemen. He also works as an Associate Learning Practitioner with the RSC.

Ellen Hartley has been a voice and text coach at the RSC for over eight years. Her work here includes A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Hamnet, and Julius Caesar. She is currently working at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre on Twelfth Night. Ellen teaches all areas of voice work on both acting and professional voice practice courses at a number of drama schools. She has a particular interest in developing and promoting inclusive practice, particularly supporting neurodivergent actors to access text exploration.

Jacqui O’Hanlon is Deputy Executive Director and Director of Creative Learning and Engagement at the RSC. Jacqui leads the RSC’s work with schools, universities, communities and partner theatres. She is passionate about equitable access to high quality arts learning. Jacqui is an Evidence Associate for the Cultural Learning Alliance. She was appointed as a Commissioner for the Durham Commission in Creativity in Education and received an MBE for services to the arts.

Prasanna Puwanarajah is an actor, director and writer. His work here as Director includes Twelfth Night and Venice Preserved. His work as director includes The Reluctant Fundamentalist (National Youth Theatre/Finborough/The Yard/Summerhall, winner: Lustrum Award, shortlisted: Carol Tambor Award, Amnesty International Freedom of Expression Award). As film director Ballywater (BIFA, longlisted: Douglas Hickox Award for Outstanding Debut Director, CIFF23 Audience Award). As Actor his television appearances include Too Much, The Listeners, The Crown, Ten Percent and Line of Duty. He is currently an Artistic Associate at the Donmar Warehouse, a Trustee of the National Youth Theatre and an Ambassador of The Theatrical Guild.

Graham Saunders is the Allardyce Nicoll Professor of Drama in the Department of Theatre and Drama Arts at the University of Birmingham. He is author of Love me or Kill me: Sarah Kane and the Theatre of Extremes (Manchester: MUP, 2002), About Kane: the Playwright and the Work (London: Faber 2009), Patrick Marber’s Closer (Continuum, 2008), British Theatre Companies 1980-1994 (Methuen, 2015), and Elizabethan and Jacobean Reappropriation in Contemporary British Drama: ‘Upstart Crows’ (Palgrave, 2017). His latest monograph, Harold Pinter, was published by Routledge in 2023.

Justine Themen is a Theatre Director and Change Maker, committed to placing an integrated approach to artistic excellence and creative engagement at the beating heart of contemporary theatre. She previously held the role of Deputy Artistic Director of the Belgrade Theatre and Co-Artistic Director for its City of Culture 2021 programme.

Justine was one of the first Leadership Associates at the RSC. She is currently a Governor of the RSC and will direct the next First Encounters with Shakespeare tour - King Lear - this autumn.

She is also a Fellow of the Clore Leadership Programme and sits on the Board of the Birmingham Opera Company.

Samuel West is an Associate Artist at the RSC. His work here includes Twelfth Night, Hamlet and Richard II and as director As You Like It (Swan Complete Works) and Hamlet (RSC Fringe). In various media West has played Brutus, Hal, Henry V, Coriolanus, Benedick, Bertram, Bassanio, Macduff, Octavius, Demetrius and the Bishop of Winchester. He is also a trustee of the Campaign for the Arts.