André Ptaszynski
André Ptaszynski died in July 2020 and is much missed by all his colleagues at Matilda The Musical and The RSC.
As producer or lead co-producer, André won Best Musical Olivier or Standard Awards for five different shows over one 10-year period, including one revival. He subsequently won a further two Olivier Best Musical Awards, one as producer (Groundhog Day), one as executive producer (Matilda The Musical). He produced more than 50 shows in London, New York and on tour. With his company, Pola Jones, he produced a number of comedy series for the BBC including winning a Montreux Bronze Rose for Steve Moffat’s Joking Apart. For many years he was the promoter for a wide range of comic talent from Dave Allen, Victoria Wood and Rowan Atkinson to Eddie Izzard and The League of Gentlemen.
André was Chief Executive of the Really Useful Group from 2005 to 2011 and for the last 18 years until 2019 he programmed Andrew Lloyd Webber’s West End theatres including the Theatre Royal Drury Lane and The London Palladium. He was on the board of the National Theatre for nine years as well as on the board of the Society of London Theatre (also ex-President), Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts and the Bowness Theatre Festival in the Lake District. In 2016, with Matthew Warchus, he produced Tim Minchin’s new musical Groundhog Day at the Old Vic and on Broadway.
Denise Wood
Denise was Lead Producer with the RSC for ten years. Working alongside Artistic Director Michael Boyd, she was responsible for the planning of the artistic programme worldwide and for overseeing the producing of the Company’s repertoire. Her numerous credits as a producer for the RSC from 1995-2012 include Michael Boyd’s Olivier Award-winning eight play Histories cycle in 2006-2008 and Gregory Doran’s acclaimed 2009 production of Hamlet with David Tennant. She has worked on Matilda The Musical since its inception, premiering the production in Stratford and London before leaving the RSC to pursue a freelance career.
Griselda Yorke
Griselda Yorke is Executive Producer at the Royal Shakespeare Company where she has oversight of all staged productions. She works alongside Denise Wood as Executive Producer of Matilda The Musical. Shows she has produced while at the RSC include Gregory Doran’s international tour of King and Country and the musical of The Boy in the Dress.
Before joining the RSC Griselda was Executive Producer for the pioneering immersive theatre company, Punchdrunk. Previously Griselda was Executive Director at Cheek by Jowl, producing and touring productions in three languages in the UK and around the world. Prior to that she was a Producer at the Barbican Theatre where projects included Robert Wilson and Tom Waits’ The Black Rider and Merce Cunningham’s Events. She has worked in New York, with Pomegranate Arts. Griselda sits on the Board of Improbable.