Marianne Elliott Joins Pentabus Board

Marianne Elliott, the Olivier and Tony Award-winning director of War Horse and Angels in America joins Michelle Terry and others on the Pentabus board. Pentabus have just finished a sell-out UK tour of Tim Foley's Driftwood, in a co-production with ThickSkin, and are opening recruitment for a Trustee Treasurer.

Elliott is an internationally acclaimed director, having directed War Horse, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time, Angels in America, Company, and Death of a Salesman on West End and Broadway. She is the only woman to have won three Tony Awards for Best Direction.

She was an Associate Director at The National Theatre for ten years and is a former Artistic Director of the Royal Exchange. Her debut film, The Salt Path, starring Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs, premiered at the Toronto Film Festival and is released in the UK on May 30th.

Her upcoming productions include the world premiere of Nick Payne's The Unbelievers at The Royal Court Theatre, starring Nicola Walker and designed by Bunny Christie.

Pentabus recently completed two sell-out national tours. Driftwood, by Bruntwood winner and former Channel 4 Writer-in-Residence at Pentabus Tim Foley, toured the UK in a co-production with ThickSkin, playing venues including the Traverse, Edinburgh, the Lowry, Manchester, Chichester Festival Theatre, and Leeds Playhouse. Make Good: The Post Office Scandal, a new musical by Jeanie O'Hare (book), Jim Fortune (music and lyrics) and Maimuna Memon (additional music), played village halls and theatres around the country in a co-production with New Perspectives, to mark both company's 50th anniversaries. Pentabus Artistic Director Elle While directed Make Good and co-directed Driftwood with ThickSkin's Neil Bettles.

Marianne Elliott joins Pentabus at a time when arts organisations face increasing funding difficulties, after many years of standstill funding and increasing costs and uncertainty. These challenges are especially acute for touring organisations, and Pentabus, as the nation's rural new writing company, faces particular challenges as it works to bring world-class theatre into isolated communities, champion rural stories around the UK, and nurture the next generation of rural talent.

Elliott joins a board Chaired by Nuala O'Kane, former Shropshire Community Health Trust chair, with Joel Hall, Senior Digital Programme Producer at the University of Oxford, as its vice chair. Michelle Terry, Artistic Director of Shakespeare's Globe, and award-winning actor and writer Emma Dennis-Edwards (Consent, Channel 4, Funeral Flowers, Edinburgh and UK tour) are among the other creatives on the board, which opens recruitment for a Trustee Treasurer today.

Marianne Elliott commented on the announcement, "It's great to join the Pentabus board. They champion new writing, and they tell important stories with flair and heart. It's a critical period of time for theatre, especially touring organisations, and I'm delighted to play my part in helping Elle and her brilliant team."