About Told by an Idiot Team Abdul Shayek Abdul Shayek is Artistic Director and joint CEO of Tara Theatre. He was previously the founding Artistic Director & CEO of Cardiff based theatre company Fio, and prior to this he was Artistic Associate at the National Theatre of Wales. Before all of that, Abdul worked as a freelance theatre practitioner, across London, the UK and internationally. He is a member of the British Council’s Arts and Creative Economy Advisory Group, a trustee of The Space and mid-Wales dance company Impelo. Abdul was a Clore Cultural Leadership Fellow (2013-14), during which he spent time at Film4 and M&C Saatchi. He is a visiting lecturer at various educational institutes. As a director and theatre maker Abdul's work is rooted in creating innovative productions, projects and experiences, alongside identifying and developing artists and new audiences. He has worked across Theatre, Opera, TV and Film. He has staged contemporary classics and adaptations of novels. In his first 18 (pandemic ridden) months of leading Tara Theatre, he has created an audio walking project in response to the pandemic which will be touring UK festivals, theatres and civic spaces, commissioned 12 new monologues with national and international writers and made a site-specific gig theatre piece, as well as developing a virtual reality experience. He has also led or supported the development and delivery of a range of local, national and international artist and sector development initiatives. “Shayek is fast emerging as a key voice for the theatre sector – both on and off stage.” (The Stage, January 2022. Stage 25).