Stage Management Journeys 2025
Join us for a roundtable Q&A with Stage Management professionals moderated by Academy Dramaturg Lloyd Trott.
If you are considering a career in stage management, studying technical theatre arts, planning a career transition, or in the early part of your career journey, Stage Management Journeys will inform and inspire you about the incredible opportunities ahead of you.
Panellists will include West End producer Martyn Hayes, former Director of Technical Production at the Royal Opera House Mark Dakin and stage management lecturer Bex Snell. The panel will discuss their varied careers and different stage management pathways from film production to live events, West End stage management and more.
In its third year, RADA hosts Stage Management Journeys in honour of RADA Technical Theatre & Stage Management graduate and long-standing National Theatre Stage Manager, Trish Montemuro.
Your ticket will include a networking reception providing the chance to meet with the panellists and other stage management professionals as well as a display of Stage Management items from the National Theatre’s archive.
Following the roundtable you will also have the opportunity to visit RADA’s annual Costume and Production Exhibition. The exhibition features the amazing work of our current Technical Theatre Arts students on the Postgraduate Diploma in Theatre Costume, Foundation Degree and BA (Hons) in Technical Theatre and Stage Management courses.
With special thanks to Satoko Yamaga Macdonald.
Mark Dakin
Mark Dakin is best known for his role as TAIT UK Principal – Placemaking and works globally out of TAIT’s King’s Cross office in London. He is a dyslexic art school dropout with a commitment to building inclusive, equitable, and brave places of work and an aptitude for the detailed work of culture change.
Building on over 45 years of professional theatre experience as a Technical Director, Production Director and Project Manager for UK’s performing arts organisations, including the Royal Opera House, the National Theatre, English National Opera, Theatre Royal, the Young Vic, Cameron Mackintosh Ltd, and the Really Useful Group.
He is also a Fellow and Trustee of the Association of British Theatre Technicians, an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Central School of Speech & Drama, a Co-Director of Stage Sight, an Associate at Tangle, a member of the Theatre Artists Fund Advisory Committee, the Industry Ambassador for the Mulberry Production Art Academy and is currently also a Trustee of The Genisis Theatre Design Program and The Bush Theatre.
Martyn Hayes
Martyn Hayes began his career working backstage in various West End theatres, including the Duke of York’s, the Vaudeville, and the Aldwych. Early in his career, he worked as a Staff Stage Manager for RADA. He production managed numerous West End and touring productions, including Camelot, Café Puccini, The Boyfriend, Rowan Atkinson The New Revue, Holiday, Guys and Dolls, Kiss Me Kate, Les Misérables and The Phantom of the Opera.
Currently, he is an independent producer and has originated, developed, and co-produced the UK tour and West End production of the play Dear Lupin, starring James Fox and Jack Fox. He also originated, developed, and co-produced Into the Night, a play based on the Penlee lifeboat rescue, the production winning The Offie Award for Best Online Production of 2022.
Throughout his professional journey, he has worked internationally, including in the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Japan, and a wide range of countries across Europe and South America.
Bex Snell
Bex Snell graduated from RADA, having specialised in Stage Management. She is currently the Interim Deputy Programme Leader for Production Arts and Stage Management Lecturer at Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
Theatre credits include: King Lear (The Shed, NYC and Wyndham’s Theatre), Giant (Britten Studio, Snape Maltings), Gone Too Far! (Theatre Royal Stratford East), Much Ado About Nothing (Duke of York’s Theatre), Dolly Parton’s Smoky Mountain Christmas Carol (Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank Centre), Footloose the Musical (Dubai Opera House), The Trials (Donmar Warehouse), The Mousetrap (St Martin’s Theatre), Mrs Dalloway (Arcola Theatre), The Producers (Yvonne Arnaud Theatre), Twelfth Night (Shakespeare’s Globe), The Taming of the Shrew (Shakespeare’s Globe), The Merchant of Venice (Shakespeare’s Globe), Hamlet (Jerwood Vanbrugh Theatre), Albert Herring (Buxton Opera House), Lucio Silla (Buxton Opera House), Deny Deny Deny (Park Theatre), Le Grande Macabre (Barbican Concert Hall) and The Fairy Queen (Barbican Concert Hall).
Where to find us
Gielgud Theatre
Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
Malet Street
London WC1E 6ED
+44 (0)20 7908 4800
Getting here
By tube
Goodge Street Station: Northern Line 2 minute walk
Euston Square: Hammersmith and City, Metropolitan, Circle Lines
Tottenham Court Road: Central and Northern Lines
Russell Square: Piccadilly Line
By train
You can easily reach us by public transport links from London's major railway stations. The most accessible include Euston, King's Cross / St. Pancras and Waterloo