Simon Russell Beale has been described by The Independent as "the greatest stage actor of his generation." He worked extensively with the RSC early on his career, going on to collaborate frequently with director Sam Mendes. Since then he has received many awards for his work on the London stage, and has starred in many successful films and television series.

Amy Rutherford is a Canadian playwright and actress. Her plays include Mortified, The Public Servant and Out of the Woods.

John Rwothomack is a Ugandan-born, UK-based actor, writer and theatre director.

He trained as an actor at Rose Bruford College of Performing Arts, London.

His plays include Far Gone (Kampala International Theatre Festival, 2019; Sheffield Theatres, 2022).

Sara Ryan is a Professor of Social Care at Manchester Metropolitan University. She is the author of Justice for Laughing Boy: Connor Sparrowhawk - A Death by Indifference, about the death of her autistic son Connor while in an NHS care unit.

Mark Rylance is one of the most acclaimed actors of his generation. He has played many of the great Shakespearean roles, both for the Royal Shakespeare Company and as Artistic Director of Shakespeare’s Globe (1996-2006).

He has won numerous awards for roles in London and on Broadway, most famously in Jez Butterworth’s Jerusalem, in which he created the role of Johnny ‘Rooster’ Byron. He won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Steven Spielberg's Bridge of Spies (2015), and played the part of the BFG in Spielberg's film adaptation of Roald Dahl's book. On television he played Thomas Cromwell in the BBC's acclaimed dramatisation of Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall, directed by Peter Kosminsky.

As a writer, his plays include I Am Shakespeare (Chichester Festival Theatre, 2007) and Nice Fish (co-written with Louis Jenkins; Guthrie Theater, US, 2013; New York and West End, 2016).

Mark Rylance was knighted in the 2017 New Year honours list.

Photo by Simon Annand

Nabilah Said is a playwright, arts reviewer and poet whose plays have been presented in Singapore and London. Her plays include: Inside Voices (VAULT Festival, London, 2019); ANGKAT (M1 Singapore Fringe Festival, 2019); and yesterday it rained salt (reading at Bunker Theatre, London, 2017).

In 2018, she founded Lazy Native, a theatre collective that champions Southeast Asian narratives in theatre.

Nabilah is a former arts correspondent with English-language broadsheet The Straits Times and contributes reviews and features to ArtsEquator and Exeunt Magazine. Her short stories and poetry have been published by multiple Singapore publishers. She holds an MA in Writing for Performance at Goldsmiths, University of London.

Danusia Samal is an actress, writer and singer from London who spent part of her childhood in the Middle East. Her plays include: Bangers (Cardboard Citizens & Soho Theatre, 2022); Out of Sorts, winner of the Theatre503 International Playwriting Award (Theatre503, London, 2019); and Busking It (Shoreditch Town Hall  & HighTide, 2018).

Jeremy Sams is a British theatre director, writer, translator, orchestrator, musical director, film composer, and lyricist.

His writing credits include: The Good Life (Fiery Angel, UK tour); A Damsel in Distress (Chichester Festival Theatre); Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (West End and Broadway); the musical Amour (Broadway); and Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Wizard of Oz (West End and Toronto). He has translated many works for the stage, and has worked widely as a musical director, and composer for stage and screen.

Diane Samuels is a playwright whose work has been widely produced. Her play Kindertransport won the Verity Bargate and Meyer-Whitworth Awards, and was first produced by the Soho Theatre Company in 1993. Subsequently it has been translated into many languages, performed in the West End, Off-Broadway and all over the world, and revived numerous times.

Other plays include: The True-Life Fiction of Mata Hari (Watford Palace Theatre, 2002); Cinderella’s Daughter (Trestle Theatre tour, 2005); 3 Sisters on Hope Street with Tracy-Ann Oberman (co-produced by Liverpool Everyman/Playhouse and Hampstead Theatres, 2008) and Poppy + George (Watford Palace Theatre, 2016).

Her plays for younger audiences include One Hundred Million Footsteps for Quicksilver Theatre Company and Chalk Circle, Frankie’s Monster and How to Beat a Giant at the Unicorn Theatre.

Her musical, The A-Z of Mrs P, with music and lyrics by Gwyneth Herbert, had its world premiere at Southwark Playhouse in 2014.

For BBC radio, plays include Swine, Doctor Y, Watch Out for Mister Stork, Hen Party, Tiger Wings and Psyche.

She also works as a teacher/facilitator of creative writing to all ages.