Simon Reade is Artistic Director of Bristol Old Vic where he has adapted and directed a one-man touring version of Private Peaceful. His other adaptations for Bristol Old Vic include Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (winner of the TMA Award for Best Show for Young People), Philip Pullman's Aladdin and the Enchanted Lamp and Jill Tomlinson's The Owl Who Was Afraid Of The Dark. He was formerly Literary Manager and Dramaturg of the Royal Shakespeare Company where his adaptations included Midnight's Children (with Salman Rushdie and Tim Supple) and Ted Hughes' Tales from Ovid (with Tim Supple). For the RSC he also wrote the play Epitaph for the Official Secrets Act (with Paul Greengrass) and abridged Shaw's Back to Methuselah (with David Fielding). A former Literary Manager of London's Gate Theatre, Simon has also worked in television drama at Tiger Aspect Productions and the BBC.