The Primary Shakespeare Company
Luke graduated from University College London with a BA (Hons) in English Literature, subsequently training as an actor at the Webber Douglas Academy. After working extensively as a performer in both this country and abroad, he re-trained as a teacher in 2005.
He is now a member of the senior leadership team at Holy Trinity and St Silas School, coordinating drama and EAL. He continues to work as a freelance theatre practitioner and director for a range of arts organisations and is also a Visiting Lecturer at the Central School of Speech and Drama. Luke is a Specialist Leader in Education for The Camden Teaching Network.
Neil trained as an actor–musician at Rose Bruford College of Speech and Drama. He was Artistic Director of the Greenwich Youth Theatre and worked as a freelance director in children’s theatre across the UK. Neil and Luke trained as teachers together at South Bank University. After working in several London primary schools teaching music and drama, he joined the National Theatre as a learning associate. He has since written Education packages for The National Theatre and The Barbican. He writes plays for children as well as lecturing on applied theatre at Drama Schools and Universities.
WHO WE ARE
Kirsty graduated from the University of Bristol with a BSC in Social Policy. She completed her PGCE at Oxford Brookes. She began her teaching career as a year 3 teacher in Camden and has worked across all key stages. She spent six months implementing Play Based Curriculum in Colombo, Sri Lanka. After returning to Camden she became Deputy Head Teacher at Holy Trinity and St Silas Primary School in Camden. Kirsty was instrumental in planning and delivering the pilot Shakespeare projects at her school.
Jeremy Harrison worked in theatre, film and television as an actor-musician, director, musical director and composer before going on to lead the Actor-Musicianship and Theatre for Young Audiences training at Rose Bruford College. Jeremy’s interdisciplinary theatre interests have led him to work in multi- sensory theatre contexts, where he has been exploring ways of engaging young people with complex needs in collaborative projects with artists from a range of disciplines. He works regularly with leading companies in this field including Oily Cart and is the Creative Advisor to the Margot Florence Foundation, a Kent-based charity promoting arts engagement for children with complex disabilities.
Luke Hollowell-Williams
Artistic Director
Neil Carter
Programme Director
Jeremy Harrison
Special Schools Advisor
Kirsty McCreadie
Development and Administration Director
Board of Trustees
Denise Rawls
Denise is Executive Director at the National Network for the Education of Care Leavers (NNECL) a charity supporting care leavers into and through further and higher education. Prior to NNECL Denise was a civil servant for three decades where she gained valuable experience in education, the criminal justice system, health and safety and international trade. She moved into the not-for-profit-sector in 2016 to focus on strategic planning, managing public affairs, marketing and income generation for charities and social enterprises, her roles included Head of Communications at the National Theatre and Public Affairs lead at FareShare.
Denise is a part-time MA student at Goldsmiths studying Black British Literature (and Drama).
Fiona Mallin-Robinson - Chairperson
Fiona Mallin-Robinson's experience within the arts and philanthropy sectors spans organisations large and small, in the UK and abroad. Previously Marketing & Development Director at English National Ballet and a National Events producer at Opera Australia, Fiona has worked as an independent consultant since 2006, specialising in strategic planning, marketing and income generation for charities and arts organisations. Fiona is an Arts Adviser for John Lyon’s Charity, Strategy Adviser for Scene & Heard, on the Board of Trustees for the Musical Theatre Network and works for the international philanthropic collaborative Partners for a New Economy.
Nick Stuart
Nick Stuart was educated at Harrow and Oxford. He joined the Department for Education and Science in 1964 and served as Private Secretary to the Minister for the Arts (Jenny Lee) in 1968-69; the Head of the Civil Service (Sir William Armstrong) and to successive Prime Ministers (1973-76). He also served as an Adviser in the Cabinet of the President of the European Commission (Roy Jenkins) in 1978-80. He was appointed CB in 1992. He went on to hold a number of posts as Director General in the Education and Employment Departments between 1987 and 2001 when he retired as Director General for Lifelong Learning.
Since retirement, he has been active in a number of voluntary roles. He served on the Boards of the QCA, UfI Learndirect, CAFCAFF, and the London University Institute of Education; chaired the John Lyon’s Charity and the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust.
Susan Fletcher
After a forty-year career in book publishing, during which she co-founded Headline Book Publishing (now part of the Hachette Group) and was Deputy MD of Hodder & Stoughton, Sue Fletcher gained an MA in Theatre & Performance from Queen Mary, University of London. In 2016 she co-founded Shakespeare in the Squares, a not-for-profit outdoor touring company which takes a Shakespeare play to a number of London garden squares for one night only.
Sue Sandle
Sue is an experienced fundraiser and marketing professional with a broad portfolio of skills developed during a career encompassing charitable, educational and corporate sectors. With expertise in philanthropic giving, trusts and foundations and membership schemes, Sue is Head of Development at Chiswick House & Gardens Trust. She joined CHGT from ArtsEd, where she was Director of Development & Marketing for seven years. Prior to that she was Deputy Director of Development at the Donmar Warehouse Theatre, a role that followed several years working as a fundraising consultant.
Tim Yealland MBE
Opera Project
Tim studied singing at the Guildhall School of Music and at the Munich Hochschule. His performing career included work in opera and theatre, including the title role in Don Giovanni for Opera 80/ETO, and roles for Opera Factory, ENO, ROH, Opera North and the Chichester Festival. His passion for education has led him to devise and direct projects for most of the main opera companies and orchestras, here and abroad, working in every kind of school and environment, as well as in prisons. He led the education work at English Touring Opera for 16 years. He has written and directed 4 large scale community operas, all with casts of over 200: One Breath (Sheffield), A House on the Moon and Zeppelin Dreams (Wolverhampton) and One Day Two Dawns (Cornwall, winner RPS Music Education Award in 2010). He has also written the libretti for and directed many operas for young people. He works regularly at the Casa da Musica in Porto, devising large-scale new pieces with mixed ability casts. He works regularly alongside old and young people with special needs. He was made an MBE in the 2019 New Year’s Honours.
Dr Toyin Okitikpi
Dr Toyin Okitikpi is a qualified social worker with over 40 years’ experience in the field of social work and social welfare both as a practitioner and as an academic. He has been involved in research and has written and co-authored academic publications. He currently sits as a panel member on a number of tribunals. He is also a Trustee of Turner Schools Academy.
Susan Lawrence
Susan is currently the Headteacher at St Mary's CofE in Brent. Her school has been involved with Primary Shakespeare Company for 10 years, and we are delighted to welcome her to our board of trustees.
Susie Baty
Director of
communications
Susie graduated from the University of Leeds with a BA in Communications and History of Art. Prior to joining the Primary Shakespeare Company, Susie spent almost twenty years working her way up through theatre, animation, film and television art departments with credits including Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were Rabbit, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and A Very English Scandal for the BBC. Susie has a 10 year old daughter growing up through the London state school system and is passionate about the integration of the arts into all facets of a child's education.
