Marlowe Theatre welcomes Atri Banerjee, Pim Baxter OBE and Dr Kerry Jordan-Daus to their board of trustees

Fri 2 May 2025

The Marlowe Theatre has announced the appointment of three new trustees to its board. Award-winning theatre director Atri Banerjee is joined by former National Portrait Gallery Deputy Director Pim Baxter OBE and senior education leader Dr Kerry Jordan-Daus.

Banerjee is the Artistic Lead at the Gate Theatre. His theatre directing credits include Look Back in Anger (Almeida Theatre), Julius Caesar (RSC) and The Glass Menagerie (Royal Exchange Theatre/UK tour) among many others. In 2019, the director and translator won The Stage Debut Award and was nominated for the UK Theatre Award for Best Director for his production of Hobson’s Choice at the Royal Exchange Theatre.

Banerjee is delighted to be joining the board of the Marlowe Theatre, where he previously directed ERROR ERROR ERROR in collaboration with RSC Shakespeare Nation, and opened the national tour of his RSC production of Julius Caesar.

Banerjee will be joined on the board by Pim Baxter OBE, who has over 35 years executive experience of strategic leadership in the arts, heritage and the creative industries. She was at the National Portrait Gallery for 22 years, until October 2019, including as Deputy Director, and prior to that at the National Theatre for 10 years.

Rounding up the stellar trio is Dr Kerry Jordan-Daus, who has served education throughout her professional life. She has been a senior leader in schools in Sussex, the West Midlands and Kent, before moving into Higher Education, where she led on teacher education and partnership development. Leaving Higher Education in 2022, Jordan-Daus is currently the Chief Executive Officer for Veritas Multi Academy Trust, a group of schools in East Kent, and is also acting CEO for Rainham Mark Education Trust, as well as being the Kent Lead for WomenEd, an international grassroots campaign network to challenge inequities.

The new trustees join the Marlowe Theatre as it is about to embark on its journey to produce, and grow its work with young people in Kent.

Chairman of the Marlowe Theatre board, Jonathan Church, commented: “We couldn’t be more delighted to announce our three new trustees, who between them bring a wide and diverse range of experience and expertise to the Marlowe board. They join a committed and passionate team that continues to support the Marlowe as it goes from strength to strength.”

Chief Executive at the Marlowe Theatre, Deborah Shaw, added: “An artist, an educator and an arts and heritage leader is the perfect combination to join the existing talents on our board, as we embark on our journey to produce large-scale touring theatre, open a new Creative Learning Centre in an 800 year-old heritage building and to grow our industry-leading training and talent development programmes across primary, secondary, further and higher education in Kent.”