Creative Industries NOW! Symposium

Keynotes from John Yorke & Dermot Daly, industry panel, and a bold gig-theatre performance exploring story, identity and creative futures.

o Keynote Speech 1 – John Yorke: Understanding the True Power of Story – 11:00

§ John Yorke is a producer, consultant and lecturer on all forms of narrative – from speech writing and advertising to drama – and the author of Into the Woods and Trip to the moon. As former Head of Channel Four Drama, Controller of BBC Drama Production and MD of Company Pictures, John has tested his theories during an extensive production career working on some of the world’s most lucrative, widely reviewed and critically acclaimed TV dramas, from EastEnders to Shameless, Life on Mars and Wolf Hall.

o Keynote Speech 2 – Dermot Daly: Being Black & British: Before, During and After Drama School – 12:30

§ Dermot is a maker and educator working with drama to collaborate on, tell, and hone stories that seek to question and engage. he has worked regionally, nationally and internationally, on, and for, stage, screen, and radio drama; winning performance awards for his radio drama work (BBC NBF fellowship prize, 2009) and being part of an Olivier nominated season (Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre, 2007), as well as numerous directorial awards for his film work as a writer/producer/director. His book is a call to action and a challenge to all those who teach, lecture, direct, parent, produce, cast and/or train, Black performers in Britain – and those performers themselves, to listen more, ask more, feel more and be more.

o Creative Industries NOW! Panel – 14:30

§ Feat: Boundless Theatre, A New Direction, Wandering Artists Collective and more. plus Audience Q&A. How do we live in The marketplace & still make art? What are the realities for creatives and those working in the creative industries in 2026? How do you forge your own path and work towards a career in the performing arts? How do we tell our stories, what stories can we tell, and who gets to tell them?

o Performance of Isn’t This Where We Came In? – 17:30

§ A Gig-theatre piece directed by MA Theatre Directing alumnus Anna Millington. A meta-theatrical journey inspired by the pulse of Pink Floyd’s The Wall. This performance fractures time and memory, exposing how nostalgia becomes a tool for power. History loops. Truth blurs. The familiar turns strange. As the past collapses into the present, five performers drift through a world where perception is everything and nothing is fixed. Directed by Anna Millington, written by Liberty Blake. Cast: Alec Murray, Jaspar Albright, Joshua Uquhart And Anna Millington