History of Theatre Royal Stratford East: 2004 - present

Kerry Michael is a second generation Greek Cypriot who was appointed as the new Director of the Theatre Royal Stratford East from September 2004. His inaugural production The Battle of Green Lanes, based in London’s Cypriot communities received huge national and international interest and attracted over 40% of first time theatre-goers.

He first joined Stratford East in 1997 as a full-time Associate Director and in 2002 became Deputy Artistic Director. Credits include various new plays including Jamaica House by Paul Sirett, which had a site-specific performance on the top floor of a tower block in Stepney, new musicals Make Some Noise and One Dance Will Do, the last four Stratford East pantomimes, the Jonzi D hip hop show Aeroplane Man, an adaptation of Jules Vernes 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and the musical Sammy.

Other directing credits include work on the London Fringe, the Edinburgh Festival, the King’s Head, the Gate Theatre, a season of new work at Teatro Technis and a residency at the Contact Theatre in Manchester, where he worked on a number of projects, directing two plays for the Playwrights festival and producing the British premiere of the late Ken Saro Wiwa’s final testimony, On The Death of Ken Saro Wiwa.

Other work includes producing and programming the re-opening season at Greenwich Theatre in 1999, and an extensive amount of dramaturgy and script development work for various companies including the National Studio, Ken Hill Trust and Soho Theatre.

Kerry believes it’s of the greatest importance that coming to the Theatre Royal continues to be as affordable as possible. "Our concessionary ticket prices are probably the best in London", Kerry is proud to say, "with none of the usual restrictions on availability you find elsewhere".

"I’m particularly proud of our new partnership with the Refugees and the Arts Initiative, who are now based with us. They develop and support professional artists who are seeking or have been granted refuge in the UK. I think it is an initiative of great importance and an example of a way of thinking that goes back some fifty years. Joan Littlewood championed the idea of providing a stage for local working class voices. My predecessor, Philip Hedley, staged more Black and Asian new work than anyone else in the country. I want to continue in that vein by recognising the new communities coming into the ever-changing East-End.

I want the Theatre Royal to be at the forefront of change. We are developing exciting new shows which express the new voices in our community and bring in new audiences, who will keep ours the liveliest theatre in London".

Kerry is a member of Equity’s International Committee for Artists Freedom, and company secretary of the Refugee and the Arts Initiative.

Kerry Michael, Theatre Royal Artistic Director in the news. To read the article by Aleks Sierz in the Sunday Times, click here