Ben Deery  returns to the RSC following last year's stint as Edmund in the Young People's Shakespeare production of King Lear. This time he is playing Publius in Titus Andronicus and Lieutenant Sponger in A Mad World My Masters on the Swan Theatre stage.

Rose Reynolds  makes her debut at the RSC, playing Lavinia in Titus Andronicus and company in both Mad World My Masters and Candide. Passionate, feisty country mouse at heart. Must love long walks and possess ample knowledge of the weather.

Edward Blagrove  is a director of BMH. Founded in 2005, they have spent the last eight years performing plays, concerts and a musical, mainly in Oxfordshire but they are also regulars at The Dell. Edward is immensly proud of the achievements of BMH and the springboard it has been for many professional actors.

Ellen Mateer  is a founder-member and performer for The King's Troupe. She is a mum of three children, who also perform in the troupe and is also the partner to the chief props maker (right now a production line of papier mache severed heads is filling our kitchen).

Tim Stoneman  is a member of the HMS Collingwood's theatre company. He has been involved in the Royal Navy's theatrical productions for several years, either behind the scenes or on stage – often typecast as a larger-than-life and somewhat threatening character.

Viv Graver  is a retired teacher, who taught Shakespeare for more than 30 years in the north of England. Her blog is a series of interviews with RSC cast and creatives about their path to Shakespeare and how they first came to it, at school and elsewhere.