THIS IS US

Artistic Co-Directors 

Ben May and Sarah May are Artistic Co- Directors of Play On. Previously they founded and ran young people’s theatre company, The Mayhem Company between 2002 and 2013 hosted by SE1 United at Southbank Centre. The Mayhem Company had a proven track record of producing high quality theatre with young people in collaboration with professional artists, including; The Riot Act (Royal Festival Hall); Beautiful Blows for 50th Anniversary celebrations of Festival of Britain (Royal Festival Hall); Elephant 21 (Royal Court Theatre Local 2010 – Time Out Critics Choice****); Real Life Sex Makes Baby (Royal Festival Hall); See You Tomorrow (Southwark Playhouse); Butterfly Club  (Southwark Playhouse 2008 published by Methuen 2010);  DeLuxe  (Southwark Playhouse); 100°Fahrenheit (Southwark Playhouse) and Hamelyn Heights (Young Vic Studio).  

For Play On Productions: Macbeth (Theatre Peckham) and Romeo and Juliet (Newhaven Fort)

 Ben May is Leader of Creative Arts and Enrichment at Charter Bermondsey Southwark. 

Sarah May is a novelist and playwright. She has published 7 novels, her recent novel ‘Becky’ was published by Picador this year. She is also a Creative Writing Tutor at Faber Academy, Faber & Faber. 

Advisory Board

Emma Walkey-Williams is Assistant Principal at Compass School Southwark. Previously, as Head of English, she was responsible for raising attainment and fueling progress consecutively over three years. Through interleaving content and raising the profile of English across the school, she was able to develop the department into an innovative and inclusive space for all learners. She started her teaching career at Harris Academy South Norwood where she led on the Shakespeare's School project annually. Emma is passionate about empowering every young person to realise their academic and personal potential, dedicated to the vocation of education and an advocate for change in the local and wider community. 

Martin Nichols was the Head of Drama at Collyers 6th Form College for twenty years. He was Artistic Director of the New Venture Theatre in Brighton for four years. In his retirement he has continued to direct both original and classical pieces and has rediscovered his teenage enthusiasm for film-making. He is passionate about the need to improve the teaching of Shakespeare in schools by foregrounding their essentially dramatic nature and is therefore very excited to support Play On Shakespeare.