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Lara is a passionate, disabled, Yorkshire-based director and actor who trained at Leeds Conservatoire (BA Acting, 2024). Her directing credits include Sonja by Laura Graham, Bring Me The Head Of Dr Vohra and Assistant Director for Red Ladder’s courses two years running with Cheryl Martin (2025–2026). Her acting credits include ITV’s Gone (2026), Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet at Leeds Playhouse, and R&D with Hull Truck and Graeae Beyond (2026). Kate Maddison-Greenwell sat down

Good ol' Google Meets screenshot! Sophie Clement is a nurse, a long-time performer, and - as of this year - a director. Her debut full production was a bold, multimedia staging of 1984 with Leeds Arts Centre: morph-suited figments, iPads as telescreens, a lighting cue timed to a climax, and a studio layout she fought hard to get. Kate Maddison-Greenwell and Paula Boyle sat down with her to find out how it all came together. TLDR: A first-time director, a year of her life, and

How two producers turned a brilliant challenging script into their first touring production Making independent theatre is rarely as simple as putting on a show. For Rise & Howl’s production of Bindweed, the journey involved script discoveries, workshops, difficult conversations in rehearsal rooms, learning how to market a show on social media from scratch, and even producing across different cities while one of the producers was abroad. Along the way there were lessons about

Actor, director, self-professed Shakespeare nerd and friend of Rise & Howl, Kelly Downes, shares some of her tips & tricks for picking out and breaking down monologues by the Bard. Kelly is a theatre-maker originally hailing from upstate NY. She earned her BFA in Theatre & Performance from Emerson College in Boston MA; before relocating to the UK to earn her Masters in Shakespeare & Creativity in Stratford-upon-Avon. When asked about what made her fall in love with Shakespear