Eleanor was awarded a Stage One Producers Bursary in 2005 and Start Up Fund Award in 2010. In 2009 she was a finalist in the British Councils Young Performing Arts Entrepreneur Award. Ahead of this year’s Olivier Awards she has been nominated for Best New Comedy with Handbagged (Vaudeville and UK Tour) and Best Revival for My Night With Reg (Apollo Theatre). Recent productions include: 1984 (Playhouse Theatre); Jeeves & Wooster (Associate Producer, Duke of York’s Theatre); This Is Ceilidh and Ready, Steady, Ceilidh! (London Wonderground and Edinburgh Festival). Eleanor has worked for the Young Vic, Royal Court and Gate Theatres, Mark Rubinstein, Jenny Topper, Blue Box Entertainment and Hubbard Casting. Eleanor sits on the Board of the Society of London Theatre (SOLT).

At the moment you are…
About to watch the last performance of My Night with Reg which finishes tomorrow at the Apollo and then I’ll be at the Olivier Awards where Reg and Handbagged are both nominated. We are also co-producing Agatha Christie’s The Secret Adversary with the Watermill Theatre. Which plays in Ipswich this week as part of a short tour.

What does Stage One mean to you?
For me, Stage One is about empowering you, as a producer, to take the plunge: through the bursary which enabled me to strike out on my own, Start-Up which gave me confidence to raise large amounts of investment, or advice and inspiration from my mentor, Stage One has given me an extra spring in my step. It’s also about a a community of producers; getting to know your peers, finding friends with whom to share the good times and the bad times and meeting the next generation of Producers eager to make things happen.

Last show you saw and loved?
I went to see the workshop performance of The Girls in the Village Hall in Burnsall, Yorkshire. It is the new musical based on Calendar Girls by Gary Barlow and Tim Firth, produced by David Pugh and Dafydd Rogers. There was an amazing atmosphere with everyone crammed into a tiny room more usually used for badminton and ballet lessons. It’s going to be a great show.

What are you looking forward to in 2015?
With the Tricycle Theatre, we are taking the Queen and Margaret Thatcher on tour in Handbagged in the autumn. I am not from London and I didn’t see a West End show until I was 21, so I particularly value our network of theatres across the UK. I can’t wait to see Moira Buffini’s brilliant play in 12 different cities.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve been given?
I love advice and I’ve received a lot of it over the years. Mostly it’s wonderfully contradictory: Always ask for advice; don’t always take the advice you are given; everyone is making it up and nobody knows anything; be confident; never give up; know when to walk away; bounce right back; make shows you like with people that you like; look after your investors. Actually that last one is pretty much the golden rule.

My Night With Reg is currently playing at the Apollo Theatre untill Saturday April 11th
Handbagged 2015 tour starts in September at the Canterbury Marlowe Theatre
Agatha Christie’s The Secret Adversary is on tour until Saturday 9th May

To find out more information on Eleanor Lloyd Productions please click HERE