Stephen Unwin
Stephen Unwin is one of the UK's leading theatre and opera directors. He founded English Touring Theatre in 1993 and opened the Rose Theatre Kingston in 2008, becoming Artistic Director until 2014. He has written guides to Shakespeare's and Brecht's plays, as well as to Ibsen, Chekhov, Strindberg, and Twentieth-Century Drama. He is also the author of The Complete Brecht Toolkit and So You Want To Be A Theatre Director?
As a writer for the stage, his work includes: Laughing Boy, adapted from Sara Ryan's book Justice for Laughing Boy (Jermyn Street Theatre, London, 2024) and All Our Children (Jermyn Street Theatre, 2017).
He is a campaigner for the rights and opportunities of people with learning disabilities and was appointed the Chair of KIDS in November 2016, the national charity providing services to disabled children, young people and their families.
Jane Upton
Jane Upton is a playwright whose work includes All the Little Lights (George Devine Award, 2016; Fifth Word UK tour, 2017); Watching the Living, an adaptation of two Daphne du Maurier short stories (New Perspectives Theatre UK tour, 2014); Swimming (Menagerie Theatre Hotbed Festival, 2013/Soho/Edinburgh Festival, 2014); and Bones (Fifth Word, Edinburgh Festival/UK tour 2011–2012).
She was the winner of the 2024 Adopt a Playwright Award run by Off West End Plays and Playwrights.