Our Team

Tajpal Rathore

Artistic Director & Executive Producer

Actor, Writer, Dramaturg

Tajpal is an actor, writer, producer, presenter and dramaturg. He worked in TV & film for ten years before moving into theatre in 2013. He has a LAMDA award with an acting distinction, and graduated in Theatre, Film & TV from the University of Leeds in 2007.

Samran Rathore

Associate Director

Actor, Writer, Spoken Word Artist

Samran is an actor, writer and Spoken Word artist, and attended the Manchester School of Acting in 2014. He graduated from the University of Leeds with a MA in Race & Resistance in 2018.

Our Associates

Saju Ahmed

Spoken Word Artist

Saju's journey started when he began writing under the mentorship of renowned performance-poetry group Leeds Youth Authors, led by Khadijah Ibrahiim. His work challenges social issues and seeks to deconstruct stereotypes. Saju has featured on BBC 1Xtra's Live Lounge, BBC 4's "Rhyme & Reason" and the award-winning documentary "We Are Poets", which saw him compete at the Brave New Voices International Youth Poetry Slam from 2006-08. Saju is of Bangladeshi & Irish ancestry.

Marcus Romelle Harding

Marcus is a multi-talented singer, songwriter, actor, dancer and choreographer with over 15 years’ experience across these disparate artforms. He has toured the UK, USA, Europe and the Caribbean and worked with artists such as 5 Star, Omarion, N Dubz & Tinchy Stryder. Marcus is of Afro-Latino heritage.

Sound Board

Corinne Fowler

Corinne Fowler is Professor of Colonialism and Heritage in Museum Studies at the University of Leicester. She directs Colonial Countryside: National Trust Houses Reinterpreted, a children-led history and writing project, and has published various books related to the subject, most recent being Green Unpleasant Land: Creative Responses to Rural England’s Colonial Connections.

Sharon Watson MBE DL

Sharon Watson MBE DL is CEO and Principal of the Northern School of Contemporary Dance and was previously the longest-standing Artistic Director of Phoenix Dance Theatre – one of the oldest, black-origin dance organisations in the country. Sharon is also a trustee at Leeds 2023 and is committed to diversity and equity within the arts.

Hassan Mahamdallie

Hassan Mahamdallie specialises in diversity in the arts and was a key architect of Arts Council England’s long-standing Creative Case for Diversity policy. Hassan is also an artist, playwright and theatre director, writer and activist. He is the former Director of the Muslim Institute (UK) and the founder of theatre company Dervish Productions.

Yasmin Alibhai-Brown

Yasmin Alibhai-Brown is a journalist, author and regular commentator and columnist on immigration, diversity and multiculturalism issues. She is the founding member of British Muslims for Secular Democracy and is patron of the SI Leeds Literary Prize.

Amanda Parker

Amanda Parker is a business strategist for the cultural and creative sector, and part-time Policy, Research and Communications Director for The Forward Institute. She was the editor of Arts Professional magazine and is the Founder and former Director of Inc Arts UK, which from 2019 – 2022 advocated for the creative, contractual and economic rights of the UK’s ethnically diverse arts sector workforce.