Our Artistic Associates

• John Lightbody

  Senior Artistic Associate

  John is an actor, voiceover artist and freelance director. Among his many classical roles he has played Richard III, Benvolio and the Ghost of Christmas Present. He has delivered SSF’s workshops for over ten years, and most recently in the role of Senior Artistic Associate has overseen the devising of Teacher Workshops.

• Amy Leach

  Artistic Associate

  Amy works as a freelance Director, and has worked for companies including the Library Theatre & the Royal Exchange in Manchester, the Dukes in Lancaster and The Egg in Bath. She is currently Associate Director at West Yorkshire Playhouse. She enjoys directing both professional and young casts, and loves working for SSF as it feels a real honour to enthuse young people and their teachers up and down the country to revel in the performance of Shakespeare.

• Brian Mullin

  Artistic Associate

  Brian works as a writer, deviser and dramaturg. He studied Theatre at Yale and went on to research Elizabethan theatre at Oxford. He loves SSF's approach to Shakespeare, letting young people jump into the imagination of the world's greatest dramatist.

• Guy Hargreaves

  Artistic Associate

  Guy's experience of watching Shakespeare on stage varies greatly. He has seen both some of the most thrilling, vital & exciting nights in the theatre, along with some of the most dull & boring. Guy is very skilled at remaining optimistic and making an idiot of himself. He works for SSF because young people's take on the stories and language can be at the 'thrilling, vital and exciting' end of things.

• Iain Jones

  Artistic Associate

  Iain is an actor, director and practitioner. As a director he has worked at the Churchill Theatre, Bromley, Greenwich Theatre, Battersea Arts Centre and Edinburgh Festival. He was introduced to Shakespeare at school and loved it. “He's a great storyteller and takes us on adventures that are full of extraordinary characters.” His favourite character is Puck, because he has so much fun.

• Kate Hughes

  Artistic Associate

  Kate (stage name Kate Middleton) is an actor based in London and originally from the West Midlands. She performs in theatre and on screen, and has a penchant for anything period. 

• Natalie Diddams

  Artistic Associate

  Natalie is a theatre director, practitioner and teacher based in Manchester. Last year she won the RoutesNorth Award with My Brother’s Country (The Lowry, ARC and Theatre in the Mill). She is also Associate Lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan University, where she teaches modules on Acting and Shakespeare.

• Rachel Ellis

  Artistic Associate

  Rachel is an actor, director and theatre tutor. As well as working in the mainstream as an actor Rachel has developed her interest in more experimental work involving physical theatre. She is currently Head of Drama at Cambridge School of Visual and Performing Arts and has her own theatre company - Faculty of Wonder.

• Richard Weinman

  Artistic Associate

  Richard is an Associate Director at the Lyric, Hammersmith, where he recently directed Passin’ Thru as part of the Evolution Festival of work by young people. He has been an Associate for the National Youth theatre and the National Theatre Connections project. He is interested in theatre as a way to social inclusion and works frequently with hard-to-reach groups such as NEET young people and young offenders.

• Tom Mansfield

  Artistic Associate

  Tom is a freelance theatre director, trained on the Birkbeck, University of London MFA in Theatre Directing. He is currently working as Youth Theatre Director at Birmingham REP and is a visiting practitioner at the University of Birmingham. He is Artistic Director of the new writing company Upstart and a founding director of Oscar Mike, a new company dedicated to exploring the boundaries between theatre and gaming.