Theatre rising stars recognised in The Stage 25 list

Twenty-five individuals or partnerships tipped to be future stars of the UK theatre industry feature on a new list unveiled to celebrate 25 years of the prestigious The Stage 100.

Backed by titans of the theatre including Andrew Lloyd Webber, Cameron Mackintosh and Sonia Friedman, The Stage 25 is made up of 25 theatre-makers with the potential to make their mark over the next 25 years. The Stage 25 includes performers, producers, directors, designers, writers, theatre-makers of all different kinds.

First published in 1997, The Stage 100 traditionally reflects the 100 most influential people working in the theatre and performing arts industry. For 2022, the list has been re-named as The Stage 25 and features the 25 theatre-makers The Stage believes will go on to great things over the next quarter-century and become stalwarts of future editions of The Stage 100.

The only requisite for consideration for the list was that the individual or partnership had not previously featured in The Stage 100. A number of those featuring in The Stage 25 are at the very beginning of their careers, while others are more established.

To compile the list, The Stage canvassed 50 industry experts along with senior theatre journalists. The suggestions were then considered by a judging panel made up of senior staff and writers who chose 19 of the 25 entries. The final six entries were personally championed by some of theatre’s highest-profile figures – former number ones from previous editions of The Stage 100 – who were keen to help celebrate and help promote the next generation of theatrical talent.

THE STAGE 25

Atri Banerjee, director. Productions include: Harm, Hobson’s Choice, Utopia

Daniel Brodie and Matt Parritt, producers. Productions include: On Blueberry Hill, Misty, A Day in the Death of Joe Egg, The Rocky Horror Show, The King and I, Anything Goes, Death Drop

Emily Burns, director and writer. Productions include: The Comeback, National Theatre’s Romeo and Juliet (Nominated by Sonia Friedman)

Ryan Calais Cameron, actor, writer and artistic director. Productions include: As actor: Mogadishu, The Westbridge, The Dug Out. As writer: For Black Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When the Hue Gets Too Heavy, Typical, Queens of Sheba (co-written with Jessica L Hagan), Rhapsody, Retrograde 

David Cumming, Felix Hagan, Natasha Hodgson and Zoe Roberts – SpitLip. Productions include: Operation Mincemeat

Seiriol Davies, performer, writer and composer. Productions include: Mess, How to Win Against History, Milky Peaks

Fly Davis, set and costume designer. Productions include: Ocean at the End of the Lane, Caroline, Or Change, Groan Ups, Pericles at the National, Othello at Sam Wanamaker Playhouse

Sha Dessi, performer. Productions include: Les Misérables (Nominated by Cameron Mackintosh)

Carly Mercedes Dyer, performer. Productions include: Anything Goes, West Side Story, A Chorus Line. Nominated by Howard Panter and Rosemary Squire

Chris Foxon and George Turvey, Papatango Theatre. Productions include: Foxfinder, Trestle, The Funeral Director, Shook and Old Bridge 

Ameena Hamid, producer. Productions include: Death Drop, Wonderville, The Show Must Go On! Live, Dick Whittington, The Wiz

Shanay Holmes and Chris Steward, producers. Productions include: West End Musical Brunch, West End Musical Celebration, West End Musical Drive In

Jessica Hung Han Yun, lighting designer. Productions include: Equus, Seven Methods of Killing Kylie Jenner, The Mirror and the Light, Fairview, Blindness

Ola Ince, director. Productions include: Is God Is, Romeo and Juliet, The Convert, The Knife of Dawn

Nimmo Ismail, director and writer. Work includes (as director) : Holding Space, Glee and Me, The Christmas Star, Fragments (as writer) : Three Dales, New Ways of Looking, Hatch (Nominated by Vicky Featherstone)

Ollie Jones and Clem Garritty, Swamp Motel. Productions include: Isklander Trilogy – Plymouth Point, The Mermaid’s Tongue, The Kindling Hour, The Drop

Amy Letman, creative director, Transform, Leeds. Productions include: The Believers Are But Brothers (Javaad Alipoor), The Darkest Corners (RashDash), Idol (Jamal Gerald), When It Breaks It Burns (coletivA ocupação)

Lorn Macdonald, performer. Productions include: Trainspotting, Mouthpiece, Declan, Life Is a Dream

Evie Manning and Rhiannon White, co-artistic directors, Common Wealth Theatre, Bradford and Cardiff. Productions include: Our Glass House, No Guts, No Heart, No Glory, We’re Still Here

Katy Rudd, director. Productions include: The Almighty Sometimes, The Ocean at the End of the Lane, Camp Siegfried

Abdul Shayek, artistic director and joint chief executive, Tara Theatre. Productions include: A Final Farewell, Swarm, The Mountaintop

Luke Sheppard, director. Productions include: In the Heights, & Juliet, The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13 ¾ (Nominated by David Ian)

Arielle Smith, choreographer. Productions include: Lots.Of.Varied.Expectations, Jolly Folly

Lucy St Louis, performer. Productions include: The Phantom of the Opera, Motown the Musical, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, Man of La Mancha (Nominated by Andrew Lloyd Webber)

Luke Thallon, performer. Productions include: Leopoldstadt, Albion, Camp Siegfried

Angela Thomas