Our Team
SCRUM is run by a democratic collective of theatre-makers and artists.
Dominic Applewhite
Co-Lead
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Dominic (he/him) is one of SCRUM’s elected Co-Leads. He began his career as a child actor, with early roles including Valentine Logue in The King’s Speech, and Andrew Cooper in The Inbetweeners. Recent screen credits include The Thief, His Wife and the Canoe for ITV and JJ Abrams’ Overlord for Paramount Pictures. He is a musician, being a graduate in Music from New College, Oxford, and also works occasionally as a freelance filmmaker.
(he/him)
Rebecca Banatvala
Artists’ Development
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Rebecca is an actor and writer.
Theatre credits include: Northanger Abbey (Orange Tree Theatre, Bolton Octagon, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Theatre By the Lake); Sap (Paines Plough Roundabout, Soho Theatre / UK Tour); I F*cked You In My Spaceship (VAULT Festival); Much Ado About Nothing (RSC); Mrs Puntila and her Man Matti (Royal Lyceum Theatre); Rotterdam (UK Tour); The Three Musketeers (The Dukes) and Trident Moon (Finborough Theatre).
Screen Credits include:
Grace (ITV), Vigil (BBC), The Syndicate (BBC), Love Death and Robots (Netflix), Emmerdale (ITV) et The Princess Switch 3 (Netflix).
Rebecca’s first play A Piece of My Liver was shortlisted for the Tony Craze Award, she is currently developing a show to take to Edinburgh next year and is part of the BFI Darkroom development lab developing her first feature.
Florence Brady
Artists’ Development
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Florence Brady is an actor, singer and performance researcher who trained at Rose Bruford and the Gardzienice Centre for Theatre Practices. She is currently completing a PhD at the Royal College of Music, exploring communal singing in diverse contexts through materialist feminist frameworks. Recent stage credits include: The Kaspar Hauser Experiment (touring 2022) and Kidding (Edinburgh Fringe/The Park Theatre).
Jerrell Cumberbatch
Development Assistant
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Despite initially pursuing a career in Law and being offered roles at some of the world’s most prestigious firms, Jerrell turned these down to work in the creative industries. Since then, he has worked on the development, curation and production of a variety of arts, cultural and heritage projects - with a focus on live arts and charitable arts projects.
Current/previous notable projects he has worked on include The Black Business Incubator & Exchange at Somerset House, “Dreams/Sonhos” powered by Chelsea & VERSUS, as well as 1-54 Art Fair London 2023 & 2024
Lucie Dawkins
Co-Lead
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Lucie trained at the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale, where she was the Cullman Scholar in Directing. She works for Cheek by Jowl as an assistant director and dramaturg. Recent credits include Garage (New Nordics Festival), The Hands that Could, A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Sea Witch, The Dog Pack Play (Yale School of Drama), Styx Songs, WOLF/ALICE, The Ugly One (Yale Cabaret).
Outside the theatre, you’ll find her in museums, working in outreach projects focussing on decolonisation and mental health.
www.luciedawkins.com
Gráinne O’Mahony
Communications
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Gráinne's (she/her) background is in acting and film production. She studied English at Oxford University and then trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. Acting credits include Danny Boyle's Pistol (FX Studios), Doctors and Father Brown (BBC), The Elephant Man (Bristol Old Vic), Fireworks (Theatre Royal Plymouth/VAULTS), Lonely Laura and Her Sister Niamh (Tinite Films), and the Christmas campaign for HSBC/The Alzheimer’s Society (That Lot). Further credits in Disney+ and AppleTV miniseries are forthcoming. She was nominated for The Stage Debut Awards for her role in The Elephant Man.
Claire Parry
Communications
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Claire is a Lecoq-trained multi-disciplinary theatre-maker/clown/performer/writer/director/musician. She is the writer-performer of three solo shows - you can see I am Claire Parry (very funny stand-up) at Edinburgh Fringe this summer (the twist - it’s not stand-up!!). She also composes and devises original music and is looking for ever-inventive ways to approach theatre, comedy and music from an interdisciplinary platform. She works regularly with The Three Inch Fools to direct/movement-direct their multi-rolling, multi-instrumental take on Shakespeare. She also teaches Lecoq techniques and clowning, including at Central School of Speech and Drama. When she’s not clowning around, you can catch her singing with the BBC Symphony Chorus or learning Polish.
Our Board of Trustees
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Trustee
Sir David is a Non-Executive Director of the Economist. He is currently Chair of Council, Roehampton University, Senior Independent Director on the Cambridge University Press and Assessment Board, President of Coram (the oldest children’s charity in the UK), Chair of the National Equality Standard advisory board, Chairman, Rare Recruitment, Chair of Bath Mozartfest, Chairman of Chapel Street Community Schools Trust, and Chair of The Institute of War & Peace Reporting Europe, and former Chairman of Sadlers Wells.
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Trustee
Dominique is a VP at The Walt Disney Company, where she leads the global charge on transforming tax, ESG, and financial reporting with precision and vision. With 25 years’ experience spanning Corporate Legal, Tax, Treasury, and operating model transformation, she’s a master at turning complexity into clarity. She’s passionate about helping creative start-ups build strong bones—governance, structure, and strategy—so their bold ideas can thrive. A lifelong arts enthusiast, Dominique believes in the power of performance to move hearts and minds, and brings both sharp expertise and boundless enthusiasm to her role as Trustee in the vibrant world of theatre.
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Trustee
Niamh was previously the Executive Director of Cheek by Jowl and had also served as the Senior Producer with the Hofesh Schechter Company. She notably worked at the Royal Shakespeare Company and managed the World Shakespeare Festival as part of the Cultural Olympiad of London 2012. Before her move to the UK in 2011, she contributed to Dublin's Gate Theatre, touring the theatre's productions to festivals worldwide.
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Trustee
Heather is the Digital Content Producer for the Donmar Warehouse, and formerly worked as Digital Programme Producer at the Newlyn Art Gallery & The Exchange, and Live Stream Producer for the Bush Theatre. She was a Young Digital Creator for the Old Vic Theatre, and holds an MA in Creative Producing from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama.
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Trustee
Ben Quashie is the tallest award-winning Producer and Director in the game, with eight years of experience across theatre, film, audio, and comedy. As a queer, mixed-race, working-class creative, Ben brings a practical, collaborative and values-led approach to storytelling - centred on joy, care, and artist development. He has worked for the Royal Court, English Touring Theatre, Brixton House, Brighton Dome & Festival and more, contributing to over 70 productions and earning 39 award nominations and 8 wins. Ben is drawn to work that centres hope, humour, and underrepresented voices and is currently also a trustee of Nuu Theatre & Boundless Theatre.
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Trustee (Chair)
Ramin is a Tony & Olivier Award winning producer. Theatre producing includes The Prince of Egypt (Dominion Theatre), Company (Gielgud & Jacobs Theatre, Broadway, Winner of 4 Olivier Awards), The Ferryman (Jacobs Theatre, Broadway, Winner of 4 Tony Awards); 1984 (West End & Broadway); Showboat (New London Theatre, West End); Nativity! (National Tour); Gypsy (Savoy Theatre, West End, Winner of 4 Olivier Awards); Annie (First Class National Tour & West End).
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Trustee
Penelope is a producer, fundraiser, and theatre-maker. She's currently a producer for the Production Exchange and POPELEI. She was the Development Director for both RADA and Tamasha Theatre Company, and prior to that worked as a development officer for the Royal Court Theatre. Her first full-length play She’s Just Something That’s Happening was longlisted for The Women’s Prize for Playwriting in 2021.
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Trustee
Ella is a Senior Strategy and Policy Advisor at HM Treasury. She trained in development with the Philharmonia Orchestra before working as a Development Coordinator for Opera Holland Park. She was formerly Senior Business Development Executive for Brexit at Pinsent Masons.
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Trustee
Mihaela is a prominent computer scientist and a professor of Machine Learning, AI, and Medicine. She currently holds the John Humphrey Plummer Professorship at the University of Cambridge and is a Fellow at The Alan Turing Institute. Her research focuses on developing machine learning methods for healthcare applications. She has received numerous awards for her work, including the IBM Exploratory Stream Analytics Innovation Award, the IEEE Darlington Best Paper Award, and the Oon Prize on Preventative Medicine.