Roxana Silbert is a theatre director, and Artistic Director of Hampstead Theatre (from 2019).

She was Artistic Director of Birmingham Repertory Theatre (2012-2019); Associate Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company; Artistic Director of Paines Plough Theatre Company (2005-2009); Literary Director at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh (2001-2004); and Associate Director of the Royal Court (1998-2000).

Michael Simkins is an actor and author, and is a familiar face both on TV and on the West End stage. Musicals include Sam Carmichael in Mamma Mia!, Billy Flynn in Chicago, Paul in Sam Mendes’ award-winning production of Company (Donmar Warehouse and Noël Coward Theatre), and Oh! What a Lovely War at Stratford East.

In 2011 he fulfilled a lifelong ambition by appearing in a Gilbert and Sullivan spectacular on Friday Night is Music Night. Theatre credits include Hay Fever (Duke of York’s Theatre), Yes, Prime Minister (UK tour and Trafalgar Studios), Donkey’s Years (Harold Pinter Theatre), Mary Stuart (Apollo Theatre), and Democracy (Wyndham’s Theatre).

In addition Michael has appeared in hundreds of TV dramas, usually as policemen or unsuspecting husbands. Film credits include The Iron Lady, V for Vendetta, and Topsy-Turvy.

Michael is also a best-selling author, journalist and broadcaster. Books include What’s My Motivation, the Costa-nominated Fatty Batter, Detour de France, The Last Flannelled Fool, and most recently The Rules of Acting. He is a regular contributor to the Daily Telegraph and The Times, as well as Radio 4’s Today and Front Row. His adaptation of Roger and Charlie Mortimer's Dear Lupin toured the UK and was seen in the West End in 2015.

Tajinder Singh Hayer is a dramatist born in Bradford, West Yorkshire in 1980. He has written for BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio 4, the West Yorkshire Playhouse, Peshkar Productions and Menagerie Theatre Company. He teaches creative writing at Lancaster University. His plays include: Ghost Stories From An Old Country (Papatango New Writing Prize, 2021), You: The Player (West Yorkshire Playhouse, 2012), On Top (Old Red Lion, 2012), 1001 (Peshkar's Youth Theatre, 2009), Passengers (Oldham Coliseum, 2008), and Mela (West Yorkshire Playhouse, 2008).

Lemn Sissay OBE is a British poet, playwright, performer, broadcaster and speaker. He was the official poet of the 2012 London Olympics and the Chancellor of the University of Manchester. He won the 2019 PEN Pinter Prize, and his memoir My Name Is Why reached number one in the Sunday Times bestseller list.

His adaptation of Kafka's Metamorphosis was staged by Frantic Assembly in 2023.

Stuart Slade was born in Bristol and now lives in London. He is the Artistic Director of Kuleshov Theatre and the Creative Director of Ivanov Films. His plays include: Glee & Me (Judges' Prize, 2019 Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting; Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester, 2021); BU21 (Theatre503, London, 2016; Trafalgar Studios, West End, 2017); and Cans (Theatre503, 2014), nominated for two Offies – Best Play and Most Promising New Playwright.

Gillian Slovo is a South African born novelist, playwright and memoirist. Her work for the theatre includes Grenfell: in the words of survivors (National Theatre, London, 2023), a verbatim play from the testimony of residents at the heart of the Grenfell Tower tragedy.

Anna Deavere Smith is an American actress, playwright, author, and teacher. She rose to prominence with her verbatim theatre pieces Fires in the Mirror and Twilight: Los Angeles 1992. She is also known for her performances in the films The American President, Philadelphia, and Rachel Getting Married, and her recurring roles on TV’s The West Wing and Nurse Jackie.

Smith is the recipient of the MacArthur 'Genius' Fellowship, two Tony nominations, and she was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Drama. She received the 2012 National Humanities Award from President Obama.

Ian Smith is a critic, writer and musician. He has held posts as a lecturer in modern and Renaissance literature at the Universities of Oxford, London, Warwick and Boston.

Kellie Smith is a playwright and screenwriter. Her plays include: Wilderness (Hampstead Theatre Downstairs, 2019); Jonestown (shortlisted for the 2015 Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting); and The Monstrum (NT Connections).