Rupert Goold - Artistic Director, Almeida Theatre

Rupert Goold is Artistic Director of the Almeida Theatre.

He was appointed in February 2013 and took up the post full-time in September 2013.

Rupert’s association with the Almeida Theatre Company began in 2008 when he directed Stephen Adly Guirgis’ The Last Days of Judas Iscariot.

His world premiere production of American Psycho was based on the novel by Bret Easton Ellis and co-produced with Headlong and Act 4. Although programmed by Michael Attenborough, it was Rupert’s first directorial Almeida production as Artistic Director, running from 3 December 2013 – 1 February 2014. American Psycho opens on Broadway Spring 2015 at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre.

In 2014 Rupert directed the World Premiere of Mike Bartlett’s new play King Charles III. Following a sell-out run at the Almeida, King Charles III transferred to the Wyndham’s Theatre, is currently on a UK Tour and opened on Broadway 1 November 2015 at the Music Box Theatre.

Rupert was Artistic Director of Headlong Theatre from 2005 to 2013, Associate Director at the Royal Shakespeare Company from 2009 to 2012, and Artistic Director of Northampton Theatres from 2002 to 2005. He has twice been the recipient of the Olivier, Critics’ Circle and Evening Standard Awards for Best Director.

As a freelance director Rupert has directed revivals, opera, musicals, new plays, farce, pantomime, youth theatre, installation work, comedy and Shakespeare (including two films) around the world and for a wide range of commercial and subsidised organisations. These projects include, on Broadway, Enron, Macbeth with Patrick Stewart, for the Almeida Theatre, King Charles III, Merchant of Venice, Medea. Founder, Headlong Theatre, Faustus, Six Characters…, King Lear, Enron, Earthquakes in London, Decade, The Effect and other, Made in Dagenham (Adelphi), BAFTA- winning Richard II (BBC), Macbeth, 2011 Peabody Award (West End, BBC), No Man’s Land (Duke of York’s), The Glass Menagerie (Apollo Theatre), Time and the Conways (NT), Turandot (ENO), Le Comte Ory (Garsington Opera).

This year, Rupert’s first feature film, True Story, was released, starring James Franco and Jonah Hill.

John Cassy - Founder, Factory 42 (BBC's The Green Planet AR Experience & more)

John Cassy is Founder and Chief executive of Factory 42, one of the UK's leading immersive content studios. The company's mission is to reimagine the future of entertainment and has a multi-disciplinary team made up of artists, producers, engineers, animators, writers, researchers, gamers and an architect and a neuro-scientist.

Commercial partners include Sky, the BBC, Google, Facebook, Magic Leap while the company also works with a wide range of publicly funded organisations ranging from Innovate UK and AHRC to the Natural History Museum, Science Museum, Tate and Royal Academy. The company also works with talent including Sir David Attenborough and the environmentalist Chris Packham. Prior to founding Factory 42, John spent 10 years at Sky, Europe's largest entertainment company, where he ran TV channels and commissioned programming on on subjects as diverse as arts, Premier League football and golf's Ryder Cup. He is a Trustee of London's Almeida Theatre and on the Advisory Board of the National StoryFuture Academy. He has an MA from St John's College, Cambridge and is an Honorary Professor at University of Exeter.