Rowan Mackenzie

Rowan Mackenzie is both practitioner and academic. She is Artistic Director of Shakespeare UnBard and facilitates a number of theatre companies for those with experience of the criminal justice system (both inside and outside the walls of prison): The Gallowfield Players, Emergency Shakespeare and Beyond the Walls. These are the first permanent theatre companies of their kind in the UK; entirely collaborative between Rowan and the participants with all decisions made democratically as they work together to edit and perform full-length Shakespeare productions. Her PhD focused on creating space for Shakespeare with marginalised communities including those with mental health issues, learning disabilities, lived experience of the criminal justice system and of homelessness. She has won international awards for her work including a Butler Trust Commendation, Shakespeare Association of America Public’s Shakespeare, Inspirational Educator of the Year and Prisoner Learning Alliance Outstanding Individual. She is currently working on a monograph for Arden’s Shakespeare and Social Justice series, has published in a number of journals and has several forthcoming book chapters. She is described by one of the actors she works with as ‘a force of nature who saves lives, rebuilds lives, sees beyond the labels and creates hope’.