The Team

Our core team is made up of Joanna Carrick, David Newborn and Jimmy Grimes. We also have lots of fantastic artists and other team members who work on our projects throughout the year.

Joanna Carrick
Our Creative Director and founder of the company, Jo has directed over 30 plays and films. She has developed a unique process for researching and developing scripts which has resulted in a number of sensitive and compelling plays and films. Her unique style has also led to a reputation for creating ‘Shakespeare as it should be’ – exciting, modern, magical and anything but boring.

David Newborn
Our Producer, as well as a writer and editor too. David came onboard after teaming up with Jo at drama school, since then he has produced all of Red Rose Chain's projects. He has also developed company links with major organisations and funders, leading to the company’s new role as Film Education Body for Suffolk as appointed by Screen East in 2009.

Jimmy Grimes
Jimmy took on his first professional acting role with the company aged just 17. From then on he began training and became a member of the core team in 2001. He is a versatile actor on both stage and screen, as well as leading many of the company’s workshop projects with young people. He is also our designer working on a range of projects from theatre posters, film design and this website!

Our extended team
None of the work we do would be possible without the talented artists, technicians and other professionals we work with. The cast members from performances at Theatre In The Forest each year have taken on the exciting challenge of performing in the woods. Our crews on both film and theatre productions have poured every waking hour into the finished products. We’re excited to see many of them return year after year, and if you'd like to be a part of this team, check out our jobs page.