Fourth Annual Stage Management Journeys at RADA

The fourth Annual Stage Management Journeys seminar, in honour of RADA graduate and National Theatre London (NTL) stage manager Trish Montemuro, was held on July 7 2026 in RADA Studios.

The event featured a compelling panel of speakers from industry highlighting a variety of career paths through stage management and technical theatre: West End producer and former RADA Stage Management tutor Martyn Hayes; RADA Stage Management & Design Graduate and now film production manager Francesca “Fran” Reidy; former National Theatre stage manager and now producer at the Globe Cynthia DuBerry; and RADA graduate and currently Deputy Stage Manager on “Pride” at The National Theatre London Sophie McLean.

The panel was moderated by RADA Academy Dramaturg Lloyd Trott, and attendance included current and prospective RADA students together with industry leaders from the National Theatre and Olivier award-winning actress Sara Kestelman. The panel discussion was complemented by a display of archival materials from the National Theatre highlighting the works of Tom Stoppard.

Martyn’s kicked off the panel by outlining his career, which spans every aspect of technical and stage management, a “pinball” journey that ultimately led him into production. In the early 1980s he was Staff Stage Manager at RADA where he mentored Trish Montemuro and later took on the role of production manager at the Tricycle Theater (now the Kiln Theatre), where he helped Trish to get her first job after graduation. Martyn continued his journey into production management for large musicals including “Phantom of the Opera” and “Les Miserables,” associate producing shows from “Mama Mia” to “Lion King” across the world and then becoming a freelance independent producer on the West End. rom there Martyn moved to the National Theatre (NTL), bringing Trish and her friend and fellow RADA graduate Jane Suffling along with him. Through decades of experience in all aspects of theatre, Martyn maintained his friendship with Trish, in his words “The Wizard of Oz behind the curtain, turning all the wheels and pushing all the buttons to create the illusion and the magic… There’s a Broadway saying that a good stage manager is part air traffic controller, part therapist, and part magician. Trish was all of those things!

Cynthia Duberry’s interest in theatre started early when she became involved with supporting performances in youth theatre and festivals, but she knew that she did not want to be a performer herself. When a tutor asked her if she was interested in stage management, Cynthia recalls “I hadn’t really even heard the term ‘stage management’ … I was like, “what is this?’ Then I started reading up on it ...” Cynthia applied for the Stage Management program at Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh and recalls “I realized this was what I wanted to do. I realized it would be part of my whole life.”

Friendly introductions and chance meetings played an important role as Cynthia navigated her career journey. In the West End she “worked on a wonderful show with Kenneth Branagh”, who then referred her to stage manager Jane Suffling at the National Theatre for consideration as a potential ASM. Cynthia laughs that “I popped in for 8 weeks and left 11 years later!” After more than a decade at the NTL, today she is a producer at the Globe.

Francesca “Fran” Reidy also fell in love with technical theatre at an early age and got involved in youth theatre doing stage management and DSM’ing. At 15 she did 2 weeks’ work experience at the National Theatre and then went to RADA to train, where she – like Cynthia – encountered Jane Suffling from the National Theatre. Fran found that her interests were expanding, so she stayed on at RADA after completing the RADA Technical Theatre course to train as a set and costume designer, working in costume before returning to stage management. When the COVID pandemic hit and the live theatre world ground to a halt, Fran recalls the shock, “I was someone that knew what I wanted to do from 12 years old and was doing it. It was all great. And then suddenly our whole careers disappeared.” Searching for “What on earth do I do now?”, Fran diversified into film. 5 years later, Fran is a film producer developing her own exciting slate of work around the world.

Like Cynthia and Fran, RADA graduate Sophie McLean knew from an early age in Swansea Port Talbot that she wanted to be involved with the theatre. She got involved with school shows and recalls that she was never interested in becoming an actor or singer; instead, she gravitated to technical theatre, working with the art teacher building the sets for school plays. Post-RADA and working with a youth theatre group from Swansea, Sophie’s team was selected by a National Theatre Connections program for a play at the NTL’s Dorfman Theatre. In a “very jammy” coincidence, someone noticed the high quality of her work on a performance and as Sophie finished her RADA studies, she received an email for an interview at the National with Stage Manager Jane Suffling. Sophie reflected, “So my first job was at the National. And that’s a ridiculous thing to say! And I am just really lucky that the people there looked after me.”

In the Q&A session, the panel shared examples of challenges that they had overcome on the job: balancing the emotional investment of a performance with everyday life; solving complex problems step by step under pressure while coordinating across multiple departments; staying calm and conveying confidence while handling difficult personalities under emotional stress; and solving seemingly impossible technical issues for complex productions that change in real-time.

Panel coordinator and RADA dramaturg Lloyd Trott, who taught Trish as a RADA student in 1980-81, reflected on the value of reading and of holistically grasping a play to bring it to stage. He noted that “Trish’s belief was that stage management was a vocation. And she expected the people working with her to think that way … as a devotion to the whole business of stage management.”

Afterward, attendees networked with the panelists and industry guests over drinks while perusing stage management bibles and hand-written notes from Trish's archives at the National Theatre London highlighting plays by Tom Stoppard. The event segued into the RADA Costume and Production Exhibition in the Jerwood Vanbrugh Theatre.

Many thanks to the panelists for generously sharing their time and experiences; to members of the RADA President's Circle for their attendance; to RADA alumna and NTL Stage Manager Jane Suffling for her invaluable help in organizing the event, coordinating panelists and bringing so many participants and colleagues from industry; to NTL Archives coordinator Rebekah Hayes for the thoughtful archival display; and to Satoko Yamaga Macdonald for sponsoring the event in honour of Trish Montemuro.