Alumni: Directors, Producers and Theatre Makers

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Canning, Ben

Course: BA English and Theatre

Graduated: 2010

Job Title/ Company: General Manager / Sonia Friedman Productions

Date of Case Study: July 2020

Biography: I am currently General Manager at Sonia Friedman Productions (SFP): a West End, Broadway and international theatre producing company. My role is to oversee and general manage new commercial productions as well as transfers from UK subsidised theatres and New York.

After Warwick, I had a summer job in administration at the Windsor Festival and coordinated the events at the Theatre Royal, Windsor. I was fortunate to get an internship at SFP and, after two months there, I applied and was recruited for the position of General Management Assistant. After four years, I took a year out from SFP and worked as Deputy General Manager at the Donmar Warehouse. I returned to SFP in 2015 and undertook the roles of Assistant and Associate Producer before becoming General Manager.

I feel very lucky to have had the opportunites to work on brilliant new plays, revivals and musicals, and Warwick gave me the best foundation on which to enter this industry.

D

Davis, Emily

Course: BA English and Theatre Studies

Graduated: 2018

Job Title/ Company: Producer at Farnham Maltings

Date of Case Study: June 2021

Biography: I'm currently Producer at Farnham Maltings, an arts venue and theatre producing organisation in Surrey, and I also produce with Poltergeist and Emergency Chorus theatre companies, both of whom I met whilst a student at Warwick. I started producing through the Warwick drama societies and taking shows to the Edinburgh Fringe and NSDF. After graduating, I started at Farnham Maltings as an administrator, and began producing fringe theatre on the side. I've been lucky enough to produce shows in London, Edinburgh and on tour, focusing on devised theatre and new writing. Now my role at Farnham Maltings is Producer, with a focus on producing and commissioning new work for rural and community audiences, supporting our produced and associate artists, and helping to deliver sector support events such as the caravan international assembly. In my spare time, I continue to creatively produce new performance, and also review theatre for Exeunt magazine.

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Farmer, Katharine

Course: BA Theatre and Peformance Studies 

Graduated: 2014

Job Title/ Company: Theatre Director and Producer – Blue Touch Paper Productions

Biography: Katharine’s directing credits in the UK include The Mullah of Downing Street at The Theatre Chipping Norton and Warwick Arts Centre; Other People’s Money at Southwark Playhouse; Kiss Me at The Wardrobe Theatre Bristol and The Other Palace Studio; and Pig Farm at St. James Theatre. Katharine’s production of Gulf View Drive at Rubicon Theatre Company in California won Best Production of a Play (large theatre) at the LA Ovation Awards. She has directed 7 plays at Rubicon, received 16 Ovation nominations and an Indy Award for Best Director. Katharine co-directed 23.5 Hours at the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre in Canada. She holds a BA(Hons) from University of Warwick and a MA in Directing Drama from Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. Katharine has served as Assistant to Sir Trevor Nunn on Scenes from a Marriage; to Zoë Waterman on Sleeping Beauty at Theatr Clwyd and to Lee Lyford on The Elephant Man at Bristol Old Vic.

Date of Case Study: June 2020

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Garrity, Clem

Course: BA Theatre and Performance Studies

Graduated: 2010

Job Tile/ Company: Co-Founder & Creative Director, Swamp Motel

Date of Case Study: August 2020

Biography: Clem studied Theatre & Performance at the University of Warwick, before undertaking a Masters degree in Production Design at The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. Clem co-founded comedy company Kill the Beast and directed all four of the company's critically-acclaimed, award-winning shows The Boy Who Kicked Pigs, He Had Hairy Hands, Don't Wake the Damp and Director’s Cut, all of which have toured the UK and since transferred to The Soho Theatre. Clem co-wrote and directed John Henry Falle's The Story Beast, which was nominated for the Fosters Comedy Award at The Edinburgh Fringe in 2016. He was also commissioned to adapt HG Wells’ The Invisible Man, for The Queen’s Theatre in Essex. Alongside writing and directing, Clem (and his KTB co-founder Ollie) started Swamp Motel, a creative agency that specialises in creating immersive events for brands and businesses.

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Jones, Arthur

Course: BA Theatre and Performance Studies

Graduated: 2014

Job Title/ Company: Production Team, Jamie Lloyd Company and ATG Productions

Biography (max. 150 words): Arthur spent the first three years of his career producing adverts for Maltesers, Martini, Mercedes-Benz and Sadiq Khan – at London creative agency AMV BBDO.

He was then thrilled to transition into producing theatre (his obvious love!), joining The Jamie Lloyd Company and ATG Productions in May 2018. He has spent the last two years working to bring a huge range of work to the stage – from radical reimaginings of classic plays with Jamie Lloyd (including James McAvoy’s Cyrano, Tom Hiddleston’s Betrayal and Emilia Clarke’s The Seagull) to musicals including Dolly Parton’s 9 to 5 the Musical, Pretty Woman, Wicked and Caroline, or Change.

Upon graduating from Warwick, Arthur also started an interactive theatre company (Tit4Twat) with two course-mates. They’ve taken shows to Edinburgh's Underbelly, Camden People’s Theatre, Warwick Arts Centre, Rich Mix and more – and are currently working on a new children’s show.

Date of Case Study: June 2020

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Morris, Anna

Name: Anna Morris Course: Theatre and Performance Studies Year: 2001 Job Title/Company: Playwright, Actor, Comedian Date this Case Study is being completed: 28/07/2025 Biography: I'm an award-winning playwright and comedian, TV actor and writer. For the stage, I've written five one-woman character comedies which have had sell-out runs in the UK and Australia. Last year I wrote my debut play - Son of a Bitch, a darkly comic monologue which I also performed. It premiered at the Edinburgh Fringe (Summerhall) sold-out and won a Scotsman Fringe First Award for outstanding writing. The play transferred to Southwark Playhouse earlier this year and is published by Methuen Drama; https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/son-of-a-bitch-9781350558229 As an Actor, TV roles include Channel 4’s The Windsors and Lee and Dean, BBC sitcoms Outnumbered, Count Arthur Strong, The First Team and ITV’s comedy entertainment show Bad Bridesmaid. This year I'll play Emily Maitlis in Mitchell And Webb's new sketch show I've written for BBC Radio 4 (Anna Morris: Kid-Life Crisis), Nickelodeon, CBBC, ITV, Ch4, BBC and I write for other comedians I have unilateral deafness (since birth) and I'm an advocate for inclusivity for d/Deaf audiences. Son of a Bitch had creative captioning throughout the London run, and 3 BSL performances Son of a Bitch will tour in 2026 (I'd love to bring it to Warwick Arts Centre - I believe my Producers will be reaching out at some point) and I am forever grateful for studying Theatre and Performance Studies. These were some of the best years of my life, and gave me the building blocks to become the creator of many shows. I learnt how to create my own work, take risks and find my strengths in performance I'd love to send some copies of Son of a Bitch to the department or arrange Methuen to send some to your bookshop. I used to love buying my plays from there

Murphy, Nicola

Name: Nicola (Nicki) Copley nee Murphy Course: Theatre Studies Year: 2008 Job Title/Company: Producer / Air TV Date this Case Study is being completed: 04/06/2025 Biography: After graduating from Warwick I managed to secure an unpaid apprenticeship in BBC local radio. I tried to soak up as much as I could from my colleagues there. A few weeks later they offered me paid work as a Broadcast Assistant. After a few months I became staff and was the morning roaming reporter for BBC Coventry and Warwickshire. After a few years I moved over to TV in Salford’s (at the time!) new Media City. I worked on a range of programmes for the BBC including Rip off Britain, Helicopter Heroes and many current affairs documentaries. I moved over to Factual Entertainment and spent six series as Casting Producer on Dragons Den in London. I went freelance and worked across a number of shows including Million Pound Menu with Fred Sirix and BBC’s Call That Hard Work. After Covid I moved to Yorkshire and now work as a Producer for a brilliant independent company, Air TV. I’m currently working on a new series about Yorkshire Country Houses for Warner Brothers Discovery which is airing in autumn

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Owen, Oscar

Course: BA Theatre and Performance Studies

Graduated: 2016

Job Title/ Company: Assistant Producer / Bush Theatre

Date of Case Study: August 2020

Biography: The winter after graduating I began working at Nuffield Southampton Theatres where I supported both the producing and programming departments including producing youth theatre shows, assistant producing shows and programming comedy and one-night events.

After this I joined Bush Theatre as Assistant Producer, shortly before the first season of the new artistic director Lynette Linton. My role includes assistant producing shows in the main-house, leading on working with visiting companies in the studio, reading new scripts and being part of the programming team for the theatre, and supporting artist development.

Whilst at Warwick, I produced Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons for Walrus at Edinburgh Fringe in 2015 and 2016. Alongside my work at venues, I have continued to work with Walrus as well as taking part in the introduction to playwriting group at the Royal Court and offered dramaturgical support for writers and directors working on new scripts.

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Pearce, Kim

Name: Kim Pearce

Course: Theatre and Performance Studies

Year: 2008

Job Title/Company: Freelance Director

Date this Case Study is being completed: 07/06/2025

Biography: Started my career as a staff director for Chichester Festival Theatre and the National Theatre. Between 2016 and 2004, I was Co-Artistic Director of Papergang Theatre, a company focused on supporting the work of UK based South East and East Asian artists. During this time I directed and/or produced orginal theatre works, both new writing and devised, at the Southbank Centre, HOME Manchester, the Arcola and Omnibus Theatre. Currently working as a freelance director across theatre, dance and video games. Recent projects include theatre director for the English language premier ‘May 35th’ supported by Amnesty International, director of acting on Ballet Rambert’s ‘Peaky Blinders: The Remdemption of Thomas Shelby, and voice direction on Dragon Age: The Veilguard and Prince Of Persia: The Lost Crown

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Spiller, Ben

Course: BA Hons Theatre and Performance Studies

Graduated: 2000

Job Title/ Company: Artistic Director, 1623 theatre company

Date of Case Study: July 2020

Biography: I gained BA (Hon) in Theatre and Performance Studies at Warwick, where I was President of the award-winning Drama Society, with whom I acted, directed and produced for productions at Warwick Arts Centre and beyond including the National Student Drama Festival (NSDF). A year later, I graduated from the Centre for the Study of the Renaissance in 2001 with an MA (Distinction) in Culture of the European Renaissance. While at the Centre, I developed my keen interest in Shakespeare by exploring the playwright's work in a European context.

Working as Artistic Director of award-winning 1623 theatre company - based at QUAD, Derby's international arts centre - gives me the opportunity to put into practice my passion to inspire, surprise and affect people with Shakespeare's inspirational language, vibrant characters and exciting sense of theatre, while working towards social justice through shows and workshops.

Directing credits include: Florizel and Perdita (Graeae); Queer Lady M (1623 national tour); A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Barefeet Theatre); Lear/Cordelia (Attenborough Arts Centre and Derby Theatre); Troilus and Cressida (London 2012 World Shakespeare Festival); Emergency Shakespeare (Watch This Space Festival at the National Theatre); Shakespeare’s Summer of Love (Glastonbury Festival); Sinful ShaXXXpeare (RSC Fringe); Ha Ha Shakespeare (Derby QUAD); Midsummer Magic (World Heritage Festival); Ellen Terry - Shakespeare's Leading Lady (National Trust); Macbeth (Derwent Valley Mills); Hamlet (Poole’s Cavern); and scenes from Richard III, Much Ado About Nothing and The Tempest (Shakespeare for Schools DVD).

Acting credits include: The Tempest (Graeae); Stand-Up Shakespeare, Hamlet, Macbeth and Sinful Shakespeare (1623); The Canterbury Tales (Distraction); The Shovel (Ritz Films); The Crucible and A View from the Bridge (Warwick Arts Centre); and Shakespeare in the Hotseat (Headline History).

Dramaturg credits include: Safe Space (D&O Productions); Fair is Foul (Deaf Hearing Ensemble); Troilus and Cressida, The Course of True Love; Sinful Shakespeare, Stand-Up Shakespeare, Star-Crossed Lovers, Emergency Shakespeare, Ellen Terry - Shakespeare's Leading Lady, Ha Ha Shakespeare, Midsummer Magic, and Supernatural Shakespeare (1623).

Writing credits include: articles in Shakespeare Bulletin, Early Modern Literary Studies and the Renaissance Journal; and an essay in Goddesses and Queens: the iconographies of Elizabeth I, edited by Annaliese Connolly and Lisa Hopkins for Palgrave Macmillan.

Awards include: BAFTA for Children’s Learning; Creative Industries Network Award for Best Live Event; and the London 2012 Inspire Mark for The Great Shakespearean Workout.

Further to working with professional artists on Shakespearean productions, I have facilitated Shakespeare workshops with people of all ages at all levels of ability and from various backgrounds including young people and adults with special educational needs, school teachers on their inset days, business managers on their away days.

Other experiences include: judging a regional heat of the BBC Off By Heart Shakespeare schools competition; teaching Shakespeare at the Universities of Oxford, Warwick and Nottingham; Assistant Performing Arts Officer at Arts Council England; A-level Examiner for English Literature and Drama; and facilitating Shakespeare workshops in schools, colleges, universities and youth theatres across the UK including the National Youth Theatre.

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Till, Lawrence

Course: BA English and Theatre Studies

Graduated: 1985

Job Title/ Company: Director and Producer

Biography: Lawrence Till is a BAFTA and Royal Television Society nominated Producer & Director currently Producing SILENT WITNESS for BBC Studios.

With a background in award winning theatre, including over fifteen years experience as an Artistic Director directing plays by new and established writers at the Bolton Octagon Theatre (1992-99) and Watford Palace Theatre (1999-2006).

On leaving the University of Warwick in 1986, he was Youth Theatre Director and later Associate Director at Manchester’s Contact Theatre. He then moved to the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield.

Lawrence’s work as a Director has been toured across the country and International work includes directing THE MYSTERIES in Caceres Spain, BLACK COMEDY for the National Theatre of Turkey and ECLIPSE at the Sydney Opera House for the National Theatre.

Lawrence Produced and Directed SHAMELESS for five years for C4/Company Pictures and Directed six episodes of MR SELFRIDGE for ITV Studios. He Produced HARLOTS for Hulu/Monumental and THE FRANKENSTEIN CHRONICLES for ITV/Netflix/Rainmark Films.

Date of Case Study: June 2020

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Wharton, Louis

Name: Louis Wharton
Course: English and Theatre Studies
Year: 2023
Job Title/ Company: Theatre Maker
Date this Case Study is being completed: 08/05/2025
Biography: Louis is a West Midlands based theatre maker specialising in queer storytelling and interdisciplinary collaboration. Since graduating from Warwick in July 2023, he has worked as a writer, director, and deviser, blending experimental forms with archival research to amplify LGBTQ+ histories. His debut play, These Four Walls, won the Geoffrey Whitworth Award 2024 and was published by Creserelles.
Louis has assisted on productions including NYMT’s Merrily We Roll Along and Oxford Playhouse’s Cancer Bitch, while collaborating with organisations like Leicester Curve, Stan’s Cafe, and Birmingham Rep. Currently, he is an Artist in Residence at SHOUT Festival, developing Breeders - a full-length play exploring Birmingham’s AIDS crisis legacy - and is part of Birmingham Hippodrome’s Origins artist development programme.
Working across theatres and unconventional spaces, Louis creates intimate, community-driven work that centers queer voices and fosters dialogue