To celebrate 25 years of The Stage 100, The Stage has today announced a new list celebrating 25 individuals or partnerships tipped to become the future stars of the UK theatre industry.
First published in 1997, The Stage 100 traditionally reflects the 100 most influential people working in the theatre and performing arts industry. For 2022, following another year that has challenged theatre to its limits, we chose instead to look forward to celebrate those likely to leave their mark as the industry recovers.
The Stage 25 comprises 25 theatremakers The Stage believes will go on to great things over the next quarter-century and become stalwarts of future editions of The Stage 100. Some of those featuring in The Stage 25 are at the very beginning of their careers; others are more established. The only criteria for entry was that the individual must not have previously featured in The Stage 100.
The Stage 25 includes performers, producers, directors, designers, writers, theatremakers of all different kinds. 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 including Andrew Lloyd Webber, Sonia Friedman and Cameron Mackintosh, who were keen to help celebrate and help promote the next generation of theatrical talent.
Alistair Smith, editor of The Stage said: “The Stage 100 is 25 years old and we wanted to mark this milestone, but it felt like the wrong moment to be looking backwards. Instead, we thought now was the time to celebrate the future of theatre. So, this year we are delighted to present The Stage 25 – 25 superb theatremakers we believe will go on to great things over the next quarter-century and become stalwarts of future editions of The Stage 100.
“The Stage 25 includes performers, producers, directors, designers, writers, theatremakers of all different kinds who share one thing in common: they make us excited about the future of our industry.
“With Covid cancellations across the country, this can sometimes feel like an unremittingly bleak time for theatre, but the array of superb talent included in this list should give us all great hope for its future.”
THE STAGE 25 IN FULL
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
