Madelaine Moore
Artistic Director
Madelaine is an award-winning Theatre and Screen Director, and Artistic Director of female-focussed theatre company, The Thelmas. She was recently shortlisted for the prestigious Sir Peter Hall Director’s Award. She was one of three Directors in the 2020/21 Old Vic 12 cohort, and has recently been awarded an MGCfutures Bursary to develop a radical adaptation of Aphra Behn’s Restoration comedy, The Rover.
You can see more of her work here
Madelaine’s work is strongly informed by her interest in disrupting traditional gendered narratives and tackling big ideas through a feminist lens. She enjoys exploring themes of social justice and political issues in surprising and irreverent ways through playfulness with form, and drilling down into common tropes and subverting them. She works in two main areas; professional text-based theatre, and in participatory settings, particularly within the male prison estate.
Her debut short film ‘Twitching’ is currently receiving accolades on the US festival circuit. She wrapped shooting on her second short, ‘For Good Or Ill, Rain Will Come’ is currently in post production.
Theatre credits include: Edith (Lowry & Theatr Clwyd), Gobble Gobble Gobble Gobble Goblin (Old Vic Theatre), Ladykiller (National Tour, Brits Off Broadway), Evelyn (Mercury Theatre, Southwark Playhouse), Algorithms (Soho Theatre, Netflix Stage to Screen Winner), Second Person Narrative (Arcola Theatre), The Awakening (Jack Studio), FATTY FAT FAT (Soho Theatre, Origins Award winner), Santi & Naz (VAULT, Origins Award winner)
An alumna of Central School of Speech and Drama’s MA Applied Theatre course, she has worked in a freelance capacity with companies including National Theatre, BBC, Good Chance Theatre, Old Vic New Voices, Shakespeare Schools Festival, Lyric Hammersmith, Tricycle Theatre, Cardboard Citizens, Roundhouse, Synergy Theatre and Unlock Drama. She has been a visiting lecturer at St Mary's University Drama and Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and worked extensively in prisons and alternative education units.
Prior to this she completed her acting training at Arts Educational.
Guleraana Mir
Executive Director
Guleraana Mir is an award-winning writer and theatremaker, passionate about telling authentic stories that celebrate, not stereotype. You can find out more about her work here.
Guleraana's debut play Coconut was The Thelmas' first co-production with Ovalhouse, where it premiered in London in April, followed by a national tour. It earned her an OFFIE nomination for most promising playwright.
Other writing credits include:
ADOCTORS (BBC) Series 24, 2 episodes, 2023
ALL THE SMALL THINGS (BBC Children’s)
MISFITS (co-writer) Queen’s Theatre, Hornchurch
SANTI & NAZ (co-writer), VAULT Festival 2020
THE BIGGER PICTURE (audio), commissioned by Tamasha and SOAS
COCONUT, Ovalhouse & national tour
Guleraana specialises in developing new work through devising and writing with young people and community groups, and leads writing programmes for artists of all ages at a number of institutions including National Theatre and Royal Central School of Speech and Drama.
She is currently writing multiple episodes for DOCTORS, working on her first mainstage play I AM THE GHOST OF QANDEEL BALOCH, supported by Genesis Kickstart Fund &HighTide, has an original TV series in development with afshan d’souza-lodhi, and is under commission from Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch and Theatre Royal Stratford East (for their young company).
Guleraana holds an MA in Educational Theatre in Colleges and Communities from New York University.